TMZ is reporting that L.A.P.D. has recovered a blood-stained knife from O.J. Simpson’s former estate. The real punch in the gut? It’s been in the hands of an off-duty cop for years.
According to the report, a construction worker found a folding buck knife buried on Simpson’s property “years ago,” — possibly as early as 1998 — and gave it to the off-duty officer, only for him to keep it in his home until relinquishing it to authorities in January. Now, the knife is the focus of a “top secret investigation.”
The knife is reportedly extremely rusted and stained, but will be tested for hair and fingerprints under L.A.P.D.’s Robbery Homicide Division. It will also be tested for DNA at the department’s Serology Unit next week.
Our law enforcement sources say the construction worker took the knife to the street, where he saw an LAPD cop. He told the officer where he found the knife and the cop took it.
Turns out the cop — who worked in the traffic division — was off duty at the time, working security for a movie shoot at a house across the street on Rockingham. Our sources say the officer took the knife home and kept it … kept it for years.
In late January of this year, after the cop retired from the LAPD, he contacted a friend who worked in LAPD’s Robbery Homicide Division (RHD). The cop told the friend about the knife and said he was getting it framed to put on his wall. He wanted his friend to get the DR (Departmental Record) number for the Nicole Brown Simpson/Ronald Goldman murder case, which he planned on engraving in the frame.
We’re told the friend was indignant, and told his superiors. The brass was outraged and demanded that the retired cop turn the knife over, which he did.
When living in L.A., it’s not uncommon to utter the phrase, “only in L.A.” This case is the epitome of the adage.
A guy finds a knife that clearly could be a possible murder weapon, hands it over to who he thinks is an off-duty cop — and why wouldn’t he? The cop is in full police gear! — only for the cop to actually be an off-duty guy ‘acting’ on a set. So he keeps it, and only has to give it back almost twenty years later because he was inquiring about getting it framed.
Un-real.
What else is alarming is that even if Simpson’s DNA is found on the knife, he cannot be prosecuted again because of double jeopardy. However, there is of course a possibility the knife belonged to someone else entirely and other DNA is found. And since Simpson was found innocent, the case is still wide open.
It’s also possible nothing is found on the knife at all. It’s entirely evident — if reports are true — this off-duty cop was obstructing justice for years.
Josh Helmuth is the editor of CraveOnline Sports. Follow him on Twitter or like the channel on Facebook here.
Photo: Getty
