CHICAGO — When OJ Simpson was charged with killing his ex-wife Nicole Brown Simpson in 1994, investigators scoured a wooded patch near O'Hare Airport looking for the murder weapon.
Simpson had flown to Chicago for a promotional appearance at a golf outing the day Brown Simpson and her friend Ronald Goldman were stabbed to death. An ABC7 report at the time quoted a witness saying that someone looking like Simpson had been seen emerging from a culvert at the edge of a wooded area.
Now, though, there are reports that a 6-inch knife has been found on the former Simpson estate in Los Angeles, and police there acknowledge they are testing the weapon.
TMZ reported that the knife was found buried under the former Simpson residence by a construction worker several years ago. That worker gave the knife to a Los Angeles traffic cop who took it home and kept it, according to TMZ. The knife has only come to light now because the now-retired officer told a friend who worked in the LAPD's homicide division, TMZ said.
Simpson was charged with the murder of his ex-wife and the 27-year-old Goldman, but was acquitted in what has been called the "trial of the century." The story is still the source of media fascination and is being retold in the cable miniseries "The People Vs. O.J. Simpson."
If accurate, the TMZ report would put an end to the yearslong speculation over where the knife had been stashed.
Hours after the murder in Los Angeles, Simpson flew to Chicago, only to fly back the next morning. He said he had flown to Chicago for a golf outing, and told authorities that a cut on his finger was from broken glass in his hotel room near O'Hare.
At the time, detectives searched the lot for a murder weapon and perhaps some bloody clothes belonging to Simpson. No such items were found.
Crews at O'Hare at the time did find knife remnants inside a refuse tank that collects waste from airplane toilets, according to the Associated Press.
The knife got jammed on a compactor in the refuse tank, and crews didn't recover the entirety of the weapon. Investigators said it didn't appear to be the same kind of knife that was used in the slayings.
On Friday, the Los Angeles Times described the weapon as a "buck knife."
Carl Douglas, one of the the former football and movie star's lawyers in the murder case, told the Times that "there were indications that two different knives may have been used. One with a straight edge, and one with a serrated edge."
The Simpson estate, in the Brentwood neighborhood of Los Angeles, was demolished in 1998.
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