Did O.J. kill Nicole? It's one of the most famous unsolved crimes, so well-known that America held its breath while awaiting the trial verdict - and again in 2016 when a special miniseries based on the crime aired on TV. But like any good unsolved mystery, there are as many crazy O.J. conspiracy theories as there are cold, hard facts. There's no dispute that Nicole Brown Simpson, ex-wife of O.J., and her friend Ron Goldman were killed. They were stabbed multiple times and the crime scene was brutal. But what actually happened? Did O.J. kill his ex-wife out of rage or was it something even more nefarious?
Was it white supremacists? O.J.'s son? Or in good old American tradition, is the Illuminati to blame? No one has been convicted criminally for Nicole's death. So, who killed Nicole Brown Simpson? You decide.
If there is a group of people you don't want to mess with, it's drug dealers. Some - including O.J.'s lawyer, Johnnie Cochran - argued that Nicole owed money to some drug dealers. There have been a lot of rumors about addiction. The theory goes that they were looking for her friend Faye Resnick, but somehow, Nicole ended up dead in the crossfire.
Could it be that Jason Simpson, O.J.'s son from a previous marriage, was so obsessed with his stepmom that it led him to murder? That was private detective Bill Dear’s suspicion. He thought that, in a jealous rage after she skipped out on a dinner he organized, Jason killed her. In Dear's version, O.J. was only involved in helping with the clean-up.
Dear was so sure this was the case that he talked about it in a BBC documentary and then published a book. The title? O.J. Is Guilty but Not of Murder. Some people went with his theory, but others thought it was too circumstantial and didn't explain why O.J.'s blood was at the scene in a plausible way.
CTE, or chronic traumatic encephalopathy, is a progressive degenerative disease. The cause? Repeated blows to the head, like one might find in, say, professional football. It leads to atrophy and a decrease in brain weight, among other devastating effects.
The interesting part of this theory is that CTE has been linked to erratic behavior, poor judgment, and other personality-distorting behaviors. Could that be what led O.J. to alleged murder? That's the problem - we can't find out if he has the condition until after he's dead, as diagnosis requires an autopsy.
With so many people believing either O.J. or Jason did it, it's unsurprising that there are some who believe it was actually a joint enterprise. This theory was discussed by the experts on the Real Crime Profile podcast, which included allegations that Jason had previously threatened girlfriends and managers with a knife. Considering that Brown was stabbed to death, this seems suspicious. Plus, the idea that they did it together would explain O.J.'s blood at the crime scene.
Others have pointed out that killing two people in a small enclosure would be very difficult for one person, so maybe a double team does make sense.
O.J. Used A Hired Killer
Photo: Florida Department of Corrections / Fair Use
Not just any killer: a serial killer. This theory actually comes from Clay Rogers, brother of serial killer Glen Rogers, who claims his brother confessed to the murders of Nicole Brown Simpson and Ron Goldman while he was on death row. According to this theory, Rogers was hired by O.J. to commit a robbery but told to kill his wife if she got in the way - which she did.
But you need to remember, Rogers claimed to kill more than 70 people and then recanted, so he's not exactly a trustworthy source.
This theory comes straight from O.J. himself. In his famous book If I Did It, he mentions a second assailant. Killing two people in a small area and inflicting so many wounds is not an easy job for one person, and many think O.J. having an accomplice makes sense. Some have even pointed to Al Cowlings, a former teammate and friend of O.J.'s, as the unknown assailant.
