The People V. . . . How They Died

According to Marcia Clark's opening statement, Nicole and Ron were slashed to death by a raging OJ in a matter of minutes.  Larger than either of his victims, he dominated  them with his knife and made swift, bloody work of them.

If that were so, the autopsies would show deep, arbitrary slashes and deft killing cuts.  There would be no defensive wounds because his rage would have overcome them rapidly, leaving no time to attempt defensive postures or responses from the victims.  A slashing attack would have left deep cuts on the arms and upper body.  There would be one blade shape in both bodies but that would hardly be an issue because of the speed of slashing and little time for stabbing and pulling out the weapon.

There was one deft slashing cut, the one that crossed Nicole's throat.  And, as you may recall, there were many shallow stab marks, bruises, and abrasions.  In addition, both victims had several parallel skin deep cuts at their throats.  The deep stabs near the throat down between the neck and clavical on Nicole cut an artery.  There was a similar stab attempted on Ron.  There were two stabs to his right side that caused the most damage, one that cut the aorta and and the other that entered his right lung causing bleeding that flooded it.    

Now let me set the stage for the murders.  Based on information available that the prosecution could have had and may have used in the trial, here is what happened prior to the actual murders:

Nicole had been on the phone with Faye Resnick who called her from the rehab center sometime before ten pm.  The children heard their mother sounding very upset during the call.  After she hung up, Nicole went into the kitchen to get out a butcher knife.  She set it next to the kitchen door which was the main entrance to the condo.  She had soft music playing and had lit a number of candles for her bath.  Those may have just been for her or they may have been set up for a romantic date.  She got out some ice cream to calm herself down and relax when the phone rang again.  This time it was her mother who had left her eyeglasses at the restaurant and asked for help to find them.  Nicole called Mezzaluna and caught Ron just before he left work.  He said he'd look for them and bring them over.   

Here's how I reconstruct the murders:

When someone knocked on her door, distracted from whatever Resnick had said to frighten her enough to get out the knife, she opened it and before she could react, she was grabbed by a large man and dragged out the door onto the stoop.  He put a knife to her throat from behind and demanded where the cocaine was.  She probably stomped on his foot and gave him a head butt that broke his nose.  What she hadn't anticipated was another man who came up in front of her with another knife, also threatening her that she needed to turn over the cocaine or else.  

She was not held as tightly from behind by the one who'd first grabbed her, but was not focussed too well because of his bleeding nose.  When she refused to respond, the second man tried to stab her but using her head and hands to parry the knife thrusts, she became a difficult target for the stabbing.  A third man stepped up and stabbed her between the neck and clavicle, seeking to cut a major artery.  It took three tries before he hit it.  

Just then, Ron came onto the scene and challenged the three men attacking Nicole, yelling "Hey, Hey, Hey."  As he attempted to protect Nicole, a fourth man grabbed him from behind and held a knife to his throat, nicking him as he struggled.  He was able to do some damage with his feet so one of the men struck Nicole in the head and she collapsed.  Ron found a way to break free.  Except for the one with the broken nose, the rest then turned on Ron forcing him into the small yard.  He got a few blows in with his hands and also protected himself from their knife thrusts with his hands and head as Nicole had.  But with the three encircled around him, thrusting, he no longer had a chance.  Stabbed from both sides and in the front, especially in the right side, he was losing blood mostly from internal bleeding, weakened, and fell.  As a warning to others who would hold back from the cartel, the leader of the group left Nicole with the "Colombian necktie."

With both victims collapsed, one of the men opened the condo door to go in to search for the cocaine, only he was met by a snarling Akita who charged out the door at him.  At that point, the men decided to leave. noticing pedestrians were on Bundy and might realize what was going on.  They ran out the back gate with the dog biting at them, jumped into a white van/SUV, and drove south.

In my novel, the leader of the cartel murderers came back after the dog was gone, tracked blood in a pair of Bruno Magli shoes stolen from OJ's house, smeared blood on the stolen gloves, and left them near the bodies.

The reason I felt that could have happened was because the barking dog was taken from the scene of the crime by a couple who found him on the sidewalk at 10:55 pm.  They did not notice the blood on the dog until they got him to their nearby apartment.  They called a friend who was willing to take the dog back to take a closer look.  The friend was the one who was able to see Nicole's body.  So there was about an hour between when the dog was taken away and the friend returned with him, found a body at 11:55, and called the police.

As I recall, Professor Briggs, co-author of KILLING TIME, was interested in trying to do a computer simulation of how the crime could occur, given the information from the autopsies.  He was unable to reproduce the crime with only one person.  It took no less than three and the limited space of the tiny yard held no more than four assailants.

The prosecution said the defense bruises and abrasions on Ron were damage caused by bumping into the walls of the yard and then the fall to the ground during the attack.  I don't think so.

One final note, I am still operating on memory from reading ten years ago.  If anyone takes this blog seriously, they can do what I plan to do, look up the trial transcript which is on line, and also reread the key books.