On the night of June 12, 1994, in the eastern Los Angeles suburb of Brentwood, on the coast near Santa Monica, Nicole Brown Simpson and Ron Goldman were killed. Ms. Simpson's condo was near the front of the building on Bundy Drive. The walkway from the street had attractive shrubbery which shielded the entry on the side of her condo. The walkway to the street is blocked by a locked gate. About five feet inside the gate, four stairs take the walkway up past the door of the condo on the left, and then continues back past other ground floor condos to a back gate next to the garages for the building. The gate and the garages open onto a wide alley that runs parallel to Bundy.
There is a railing along the walkway up the stairs at Nicole's condo. To the right of the railing is a small yard about five by ten that is enclosed by a fence. (I found no precise description of the yard's dimensions and estimate the size from a police drawing printed in the book KILLING TIME.) Nicole's body was found curled on her side in a near-fetal position at the foot of the stairs. Ron's was found inside the fenced-in yard in a slouched-seated position facing Nicole's body.
Outside, on the stairs and walkway there was blood everywhere, blood that had flowed from the many stab wounds each had suffered before they died. Neither died instantaneously, hence all the blood on the walkway. From the blood on the ground, shoe and paw prints were evident to the front and to the back.
Inside the condo, the lights were on in the kitchen where a large kitchen knife sat on the counter near the door. The lights were also on in the living room where music was playing. A melting dish of ice cream was sitting on the coffee table. The bathroom had fragrant candles lit around the tub. Upstairs, OJ's two young children by Nicole were asleep in their beds.
The bodies were found close to midnight. The police arrived at 12:17 am. They find Ron's body in the side yard. They survey the site.
At 2:10, Detective Fuhrman and his partner arrive only to be told at 2:50 that the case was assigned to Detectives Van Natter and Lange. They do no "detecting."
Around 4:00, Van Natter and Lange arrive and take over the investigation. Around 6:30, they contact the coroner and tell him not too come until later.
The four detectives go back and forth between Bundy and Rockingham more than once. The two sites are only two miles apart, five minutes drive time.
The coroner did not arrive until 9 am.
A criminalist does not come to examine the crime scene until 10:10 am.
Showing posts with label crime scene. Show all posts
Showing posts with label crime scene. Show all posts
Tuesday, March 1, 2016
The People V. . . . Rockingham Crime Scene
OJ's home in Brentwood is on the corner of Rockingham Avenue and Ashford Street. Ashford comes into Rockingham at an angle so that the lot is a rounded-point long triangle. The driveway is a loop from the bit of Rockingham on the point of the triangle up to the house and then over to Ashford. Both entrances are gated, opened only from inside the house upon a call from the telephone intercom at each gate, by latches near the inside of the gates, and probably from a key pad in OJ's cars.
From the Rockingham entrance, along the property line between OJ's and the neighbor to his south is a six foot fence. On the neighbor's side is lawn and shrubbery. On OJ's side is a walk way that goes all the way to the back yard where there is a tennis court. At the front is the garage, attached to the house, and beyond it toward the back are two contiguous guest houses. There is one entrance from the walkway to the house but the walkway is seldom used. From the Ashford entrance, the driveway loops across the front of the house over to the garage and connects with the drive from Rockingham. In the "court yard" behind the house and in front of the apartments is the swimming pool. From the Ashford entry driveway, there is a winding walkway to the side of the house, back to the pool, and finally ends at the tennis court in the back of the lot.
The Ashford entrance is where the limo driver, Allen Park, waited for OJ on June 12 to take him to LAX. He was early for the 11 pm departure time, arriving about 10:20. He was unsuccessful reaching OJ through the intercom phone until almost 11, though he saw a tall dark figure near the front of the house at about 10:54. He got through to OJ who came out with his golf bag and suitcase a little after 11.
As OJ was going out the door to get into the limo, Kato Kaelin who stayed in one of the apartments told him about some bumps he'd heard in the walkway behind his apartment, like someone bumping into his air conditioner. OJ was already a few minutes late in leaving so he did not himself check on what that might have been.
Detectives Van Natter and Lange arrived around 5 am on the 13th to tell OJ about the death of Nicole and to ask him to pick up his two children. Outside the gate of the Rockingham entrance was OJ's white Bronco, a gift loaner from Hertz. Detective Fuhrman came with the other two. He noticed a spot of blood on the Bronco door. He climbed over the wall when no one responded to their call from the telephone intercom at that gate, fearing that there may have been violence done there as well. The detectives first encounter Kaelin who directs them to OJ's older daughter from his first marriage who is living in the other guest house.
While Van Natter and Lange speak to her and then call OJ in Chicago, Fuhrman hears Kaelin's story about the 10:45 pm bumps behind the apartment. Fuhrman investigates by going around to the front of the garage and back along the walkway to the AC where Kaelin said he heard the three bumps. Fuhrman discovers the bloody glove, goes back to get the other two detectives, and takes them back along the walkway and shows them the glove, a perfect partner to the one found at Bundy.
Van Natter notices drops of blood running from the Rockingham entrance across the front of the garage to the front entrance of the house. To him, it was as though the blood trail that ended at Bundy connected up with the blood trail on OJ's driveway.
A criminalist arrives around 7:10 to examine the evidence at Rockingham, three hours before a criminalist arrives at Bundy.
OJ returns about 12:30 pm from Chicago. He meets with Van Natter and Lange downtown at the police station without a lawyer and lets Van Natter take a sample of his blood.
At 5:30 pm, the police return to Rockingham to go over the house inch by inch.
From the Rockingham entrance, along the property line between OJ's and the neighbor to his south is a six foot fence. On the neighbor's side is lawn and shrubbery. On OJ's side is a walk way that goes all the way to the back yard where there is a tennis court. At the front is the garage, attached to the house, and beyond it toward the back are two contiguous guest houses. There is one entrance from the walkway to the house but the walkway is seldom used. From the Ashford entrance, the driveway loops across the front of the house over to the garage and connects with the drive from Rockingham. In the "court yard" behind the house and in front of the apartments is the swimming pool. From the Ashford entry driveway, there is a winding walkway to the side of the house, back to the pool, and finally ends at the tennis court in the back of the lot.
The Ashford entrance is where the limo driver, Allen Park, waited for OJ on June 12 to take him to LAX. He was early for the 11 pm departure time, arriving about 10:20. He was unsuccessful reaching OJ through the intercom phone until almost 11, though he saw a tall dark figure near the front of the house at about 10:54. He got through to OJ who came out with his golf bag and suitcase a little after 11.
As OJ was going out the door to get into the limo, Kato Kaelin who stayed in one of the apartments told him about some bumps he'd heard in the walkway behind his apartment, like someone bumping into his air conditioner. OJ was already a few minutes late in leaving so he did not himself check on what that might have been.
Detectives Van Natter and Lange arrived around 5 am on the 13th to tell OJ about the death of Nicole and to ask him to pick up his two children. Outside the gate of the Rockingham entrance was OJ's white Bronco, a gift loaner from Hertz. Detective Fuhrman came with the other two. He noticed a spot of blood on the Bronco door. He climbed over the wall when no one responded to their call from the telephone intercom at that gate, fearing that there may have been violence done there as well. The detectives first encounter Kaelin who directs them to OJ's older daughter from his first marriage who is living in the other guest house.
While Van Natter and Lange speak to her and then call OJ in Chicago, Fuhrman hears Kaelin's story about the 10:45 pm bumps behind the apartment. Fuhrman investigates by going around to the front of the garage and back along the walkway to the AC where Kaelin said he heard the three bumps. Fuhrman discovers the bloody glove, goes back to get the other two detectives, and takes them back along the walkway and shows them the glove, a perfect partner to the one found at Bundy.
Van Natter notices drops of blood running from the Rockingham entrance across the front of the garage to the front entrance of the house. To him, it was as though the blood trail that ended at Bundy connected up with the blood trail on OJ's driveway.
A criminalist arrives around 7:10 to examine the evidence at Rockingham, three hours before a criminalist arrives at Bundy.
OJ returns about 12:30 pm from Chicago. He meets with Van Natter and Lange downtown at the police station without a lawyer and lets Van Natter take a sample of his blood.
At 5:30 pm, the police return to Rockingham to go over the house inch by inch.
The People V. . . . The Other Crime Scenes
In addition to the Bundy Avenue Condo in Brentwood, CA, where the bodies were found and the Rockingham Avenue estate of OJ also in Brentwood, there were three other places treated as crime scenes: LAX, Ohare, and the hotel and its environs in Chicago where OJ stayed. If OJ did it, then he had to get rid of the bloody clothes, shoes, and knife somewhere.
At LAX and Ohare airports, the respective police departments examined every room, every trash bin, every dark corner looking for the weapon, shoes, and bloody clothing. One of the reasons that OJ was not charged and arrested immediately after returning from Chicago on June 13 was because these searches were in progress and presumably would turn up the crucial evidence linking OJ to the crimes. After four days of fruitless efforts, no one found anything at either airport.
Similarly, the hotel and its nearby streets and alleys were searched with the same result. Nada. No sign of the bloody evidence.
The hotel room was another matter. They found OJ's blood on a broken glass. The cause of that goes back to when OJ received the call about Nicole's death. He had a glass of water in his hand when he got the news.
Examination of OJ by the police found only the one cut in his left hand on the 13th when they took him in for questioning. OJ did not remember at the time how he had cut his finger. When OJ's doctors examined him a couple days later, they did not even notice the cut.
OJ has played football through high school. college, and twelve years in the NFL. Football is a rough sport and its players are always getting some minor injury or other. Part of football culture is to be tough and to not bother with nicks and scrapes to the point of not even noticing them. Was that the case with OJ? You know what I think.
Back in Brentwood, with no sign of the bloody clothes and knife at LAX or anywhere in Chicago, the yards and trash cans in the neighborhood were all searched. Because the trash had been picked up on the 13th early morning, even the landfill where the trash had been taken was searched with no success. And the golf bag and suitcase OJ had taken with him to Chicago were searched and yielded no sign of the bloody evidence.
Is there the slightest possibility that OJ never had any bloody clothes and knife to have to get rid of? Nothing that the police designated formally or informally as the crime scene produced them. They have never been found.
At LAX and Ohare airports, the respective police departments examined every room, every trash bin, every dark corner looking for the weapon, shoes, and bloody clothing. One of the reasons that OJ was not charged and arrested immediately after returning from Chicago on June 13 was because these searches were in progress and presumably would turn up the crucial evidence linking OJ to the crimes. After four days of fruitless efforts, no one found anything at either airport.
Similarly, the hotel and its nearby streets and alleys were searched with the same result. Nada. No sign of the bloody evidence.
The hotel room was another matter. They found OJ's blood on a broken glass. The cause of that goes back to when OJ received the call about Nicole's death. He had a glass of water in his hand when he got the news.
Examination of OJ by the police found only the one cut in his left hand on the 13th when they took him in for questioning. OJ did not remember at the time how he had cut his finger. When OJ's doctors examined him a couple days later, they did not even notice the cut.
OJ has played football through high school. college, and twelve years in the NFL. Football is a rough sport and its players are always getting some minor injury or other. Part of football culture is to be tough and to not bother with nicks and scrapes to the point of not even noticing them. Was that the case with OJ? You know what I think.
Back in Brentwood, with no sign of the bloody clothes and knife at LAX or anywhere in Chicago, the yards and trash cans in the neighborhood were all searched. Because the trash had been picked up on the 13th early morning, even the landfill where the trash had been taken was searched with no success. And the golf bag and suitcase OJ had taken with him to Chicago were searched and yielded no sign of the bloody evidence.
Is there the slightest possibility that OJ never had any bloody clothes and knife to have to get rid of? Nothing that the police designated formally or informally as the crime scene produced them. They have never been found.
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