The FBI released roughly 500 pages in connection with the mid-1990s O.J. Simpson murder investigation in which the former NFL star was acquitted of killing his ex-wife, Nicole Brown Simpson, and her friend, Ronald Goldman. Investigators took a close look at the bloody Bruno Magli shoe print found at the scene, clothes, Simpson’s infamous Ford Bronco and hair samples. Wednesday marks 30 years since the infamous double murder, which shocked the country with its brutality and dominated headlines for more than a year. Rather than surrender to police as he had agreed to, Simpson instead led police on an infamous low-speed chase through southern California, riding in his white Ford Bronco as fellow NFL retiree Al Cowlings drove. Investigators went to great lengths to try and link the shoe print to Simpson. It was his size and came from a rare Italian brand that sold less than 300 of that particular model across the country, according to reports from his trial. At trial, an FBI expert on shoe treads testified that he traveled to two factories in Italy as part of the investigation, the New York Times reported at the time. But prosecutors were unable to convince the jury there was a link between the print and Simpson, and the shoes worn at the crime scene were never found. The documents show investigators tried hard to find a link, visiting the rare shoemaker’s American retailers, scouring through records and interviewing shoe sellers. Before the murders, Simpson had been photographed wearing Bruno Magli shoes, images that the FBI placed into an evidence filing labeled “K32.” In a letter to the court, an FBI analyst wrote that the shoes seen in those photographs were not identical to the shoes that left the print. The files also include details about hair samples and evidence recovered from other clothing items. Simpson won the Heisman Trophy in 1968 as a running back for the University of Southern California, and in 1973 he became the NFL’s first running back to rush for more than 2,000 yards in a single season. He earned the nickname “Juice” after an 11-year NFL career with the Buffalo Bills and San Francisco 49ers. He had a turn in Hollywood and co-starred alongside Leslie Nielsen and Priscilla Presley in “The Naked Gun,” a police comedy. Although the jury found Simpson not guilty of murder charges, his legal troubles continued for decades. He lost a civil lawsuit and was ordered to pay $33.5 million to the victims’ families. He never paid most of it. Years later, at the age of 61, he took part in an armed robbery. He received parole in 2017 after serving the minimum nine years of a 33-year sentence. At trial, Simpson maintained he was trying to get back some of his own belongings when he helped plot and execute an armed robbery in a Vegas hotel. Near the end of his life, he remained in Las Vegas and returned to the public eye on Twitter, now known as X, posting reactions to current events. Simpson died in April after a private cancer battle. The Associated Press contributed to this report.
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