O.J. Simpson's Knife? Discovery Fittingly Bizarre

The recent discovery of a buck knife once buried in O.J. Simpson's yard — possibly the murder weapon used to hack two people to death in 1994 — is as fittingly bizarre as the crime saga that shocked the nation more than 20 years ago.

First, disbelief that Simpson, one of the country's most-celebrated, phenomenal athletes, the smiling face of Hertz car rentals, could be the sole suspect in the brutal double murder of his ex-wife Nicole Brown and a waiter, Ronald Goldman, returning a pair of glasses to her home.

Then, transfixed as Simpson, gun to his head, climbed into his white Ford Bronco with his lifelong friend and led police on a twisting, turning, slow-speed chase through the streets and expressways of Los Angeles, with every mile tracked on live TV.

We gaped at the crowds of cheering people who flocked to the chase. Even today, the phrase "white Bronco" is evocative pop-culture shorthand. More than 95 million people watched the live feed.

When Simpson went on trial, it's as if a real-life mini-series was unfolding on our TV screens as a cast of outlandish lawyers, cops and friends became household names. This trial of the century mesmerized us so much, it's now being relived as an actual TV miniseries starring Cuba Gooding Jr., John Travolta and David Schwimmer.

We learned that this likeable NFL legend, TV pitchman, awkward movie actor and baritone-voiced broadcaster was a womanizing, misogynistic, brutalizing, jealous spouse who beat and humiliated Nicole Brown behind the closed doors of their lavish home.

We wondered what was going through his mind when he donned the "bloody gloves" found at the crime scene and mugged for the cameras — the moment that inspired attorney Johnnie Cochran's most memorable line: "If it doesn't fit, you must acquit."

Simpson's acquittal in the face of overwhelming physical evidence shocked us yet again — and laid bare how deeply divided blacks and whites were in how they perceived the justice system.

Today, we learned thanks to TMZ — a modern-day news outlet feeding our deep fixation on celebrity — that an LAPD officer had this knife in his possession for some time. When construction workers were tearing down Simpson's house, one found the buck knife buried in the yard. He gave the knife to a cop on the street. The officer was off duty and working a nearby movie shoot. Instead of turning the knife over to investigators, he kept it as a memento.

Now retired, we only learn of the knife's existence because he told another officer he intended to frame the knife and hang the display on his wall. He asked him for the Simpson case's "Departmental Record" number to inscribe on the case. Horrified, that officer informed the department.

Now, the knife is being tested for DNA.

The fate of this knife is an eerie reminder of what proved to be a critical part of Simpson's defense — allegations of malfeasance and ineptitude on the part of the LAPD and mishandling of DNA evidence. This is why millions of Americans recognize the name Mark Fuhrman. Too young to get the reference? Let me Google that for you.

Fuhrman found the bloody glove. A murder weapon was never found.

The night of the murders, June 12, 1994, O.J. Simpson left his estate for Los Angeles International Airport and a late-night American Airlines flight to Chicago. He kept his driver waiting for almost half an hour. The driver saw him entering his home shortly before 11 p.m., but Simpson tells him he overslept and was in the shower.

At the airport, a witness reported seeing Simpson hanging around trash cans before the Chicago flight. The limo driver reported a discrepancy in the number of bags Simpson brought to the airport and the number he took on his flight to Chicago.

Prosecutors believed Simpson disposed of his bloody clothes, carrying them to the airport in a bag.

On the overnight plane to Chicago, a flight attendant in first class noticed Simpson was gulping down water and going to the bathroom every 15 minutes.

Simpson had a large cut on his finger the night of the murders. He told detectives he cut himself in Chicago on a glass in his hotel room. Then he told detectives he had cut his hand in L.A. but reopened the wound in Chicago. And later, he told detectives he cut his hand at his ex-wife's house as week earlier and had bled on the ground there.

That's how he explained his blood at the crime scene.

At trial, prosecutors pressed the case that Simpson wounded himself during the stabbing frenzy. Nicole Brown, 35, was beaten in the head and stabbed four times in the neck, according to medical examiner testimony, then her head was lifted for a fifth, final, fatal throat wound.

A 6-inch knife was likely the murder weapon, the medical examiner concluded.

Ronald Goldman, 25, was stabbed in the face and neck — his jugular vein sliced open — and stabbed in the chest, abdomen, left thigh and left hand. He suffered wounds to his hands and forearms as he tried to fight off the killer.

Police found blood at the crime scene, later identified as Simpson's by DNA. They found the blood of the slain in his Bronco.

Detectives found Simpson at the O'Hare Plaza Hotel in Chicago, near the airport, where they informed him of his ex-wife's murder. He checked in at 6:15 a.m., spent two hours there, then returned home to L.A. Detectives said he never shed a tear, and never asked about the safety of his children.

Later that year, in a reflection of people's morbid fascination with this American crime story, the hotel auctioned off the contents of Simpson's room for $2,117.50. A water glass like the one Simpson claimed to have cut his hand on sold for $60.

Though he was acquitted, Simpson was found responsible for the murders in a civil trial and ordered to pay the families $33 million. He's never fulfilled the judgment.

Today, O.J. sits in a prison cell in Nevada, sent there in 2008 for kidnapping and armed robbery — he tried to steal his own sports memorabilia back from someone in Las Vegas. He likes to eat cookies and has gotten fat. He's eligible for parole in 2017.

Prison guards say he keeps a photograph of Nicole Brown next to his bed.

The case remains open. Could this be the murder knife never found? If DNA testing determines the blood of the victims or Simpson is on the knife now entered into evidence, Simpson cannot be retried.

Regardless, those who believed him guilty always will. And those who didn't will not be persuaded by whatever the tests reveal.