A new report from The New York Times points to a possible accomplice in the 1994 murders of Nicole Brown Simpson and Ronald Goldman. The report relates to a hypothetical scenario O.J. Simpson described in his 2007 memoir, published 12 years after he was acquitted of the murders.
What did O.J. Simpson say about a hypothetical accomplice in the 1994 murders?
In his memoir, If I Did It: Confessions of the Killer, Simpson described a scenario in which a friend helped him dispose of the murder weapon and his bloody clothes. Now, the Times report notes that an informant’s account bears similarities to Simpson’s hypothetical scenario.
The report highlights Joseph “Joey” Ippolito, a convicted drug trafficker and friend of Simpson whom federal prosecutors described as an “extremely reliable” informant. According to the Times, Ippolito told authorities he had information about the murder weapon, which was never found. He began cooperating after his arrest in August 1995, while Simpson’s murder trial was nearing its end. Ippolito died in 2006.
Who is Sam Ippolito?
Ippolito’s brother, Sam Ippolito, told the Times earlier this year that Joey left the night of the killings to help a friend. He said his brother returned home with apparent blood on his hands and a bag containing a heavy object, then asked Sam to get rid of it while he showered. Sam said he tossed the bag in a dumpster near a construction site and that he overheard Joey on the phone saying he had just been “helping” Simpson. Sam told the Times he was “100 percent” certain Joey was at the scene of the murders. The account of Joey’s actions that night comes only from Sam.
Sam later tried to retract his account after the Times declined his request for compensation, saying he could no longer reliably recall what happened, according to the Times.
The account is disputed. Former lead prosecutor Marcia Clark told the Times she had no knowledge of Ippolito and said he “had no credible or relevant evidence to provide.” Friends and some of Ippolito’s relatives have rejected any suggestion that he was involved. The allegations remain unproven, and Malcolm LaVergne, Simpson’s former attorney and the executor of his estate, said it is time to put the speculation to rest, TMZ reported.
Simpson, the former star NFL running back, was acquitted of the murders in October 1995. He later went to prison for armed robbery and kidnapping in a separate incident. He was 76 when he died of prostate cancer in 2024, per The Daily Beast.