Knife in O.J. Simpson case: DNA test should show if it’s evidence or another false start

Los Angeles police detectives should know soon whether a knife reportedly found on the property of O.J. Simpson in the late 1990s contains any DNA from the football star or two people he was accused of killing.

While the LAPD is doing a variety of forensic tests on the knife, law enforcement sources said the DNA test will likely be the key moment for investigators.

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The sources said preliminary review suggested that the weapon appeared to be unconnected to the brutal 1994 slayings of Simpson’s ex-wife, Nicole Brown Simpson, and her friend Ronald Goldman.

It remains to be seen whether DNA of any kind will be found on the knife given how long it has been since it was reportedly unearthed at the Simpson estate.

Simpson was tried for murder but a jury found him not guilty.

The knife was supposedly found while crews were tearing down the Simpson estate in Brentwood after the property changed hands. But the owner of the firm that did the demolition said no one found a knife.

“I think it’s a joke. I think it’s just filler … no one on my crew found anything,” said Mike Weber, 70. “I had instructed my people, ‘If you find anything, don’t keep it. Tell me, we’ll take the appropriate action.’”

The retired Los Angeles police officer given a knife found by the construction worker called the LAPD to report it years ago, his attorney said Friday.

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When the department showed no interest, retired Officer George Maycott put it in his toolbox for more than a decade, attorney Trent Copeland said.

The LAPD is investigating whether the knife is tied to the deaths of Nicole Brown Simpson and Goldman and is conducting a forensic examination. Department officials say at this stage they have nothing to tie the knife to the slayings.

Copeland said Maycott, who retired in 1998, was working security on a movie set around 2003 when a construction worker at the demolished estate handed him the knife.

“‘Hey look, I found this knife on what I think is O.J. Simpson’s property,’” the worker said, according to Copeland, re-creating Maycott’s recollection of the encounter. “‘It is dirty, muddy and rusted out, but do you guys want it?’ ... Within moments of receiving that knife, he called West LAPD Traffic Division,” Copeland said.

Copeland said his client was put on hold and later told that the Simpson case was over. He was told, “O.J. Simpson has been acquitted and there is double jeopardy ... there is nothing we can do.”

Copeland said his client feels the LAPD is being dragged through the mud.

“He also doesn’t want to be portrayed as the villain here, as the bumbling cop who had evidence here and did not do anything with it .... He did ask what he should do with that knife.”

Los Angeles police said the department was now testing the knife for DNA evidence and also trying to sort out the bizarre chain of events that brought the knife into their possession.

“I don’t know why that didn’t happen or if that’s entirely accurate or if this whole story is possibly bogus from the get-go,” LAPD Capt. Andrew Neiman said Friday. He added that the timing was “interesting,” referring to a current television miniseries about the 1994 killings and subsequent trial that has attracted a massive following.

Twitter: @lacrimes

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