Disclaimer: This article contains mentions of murder. Reader discretion is advised.
Ronald “Ron” Goldman, a native of Buffalo Grove, Illinois, worked several jobs after moving to California, reported People Magazine per The Los Angeles Times. Goldman was 18 when he and his family moved, and he started working as a tennis instructor, headhunter, and waiter. His aspirations also included modeling and acting when he began working as a waiter in Brentwood’s Mezzaluna, an Italian restaurant.
Goldman, who was good friends with O.J. Simpson’s ex-wife, Nicole Brown Simpson, first met her in Starbucks. After that, the two shared a platonic close, “innocent and casual” friendship, per another Los Angeles Times report. Moreover, People Magazine stated that on June 12, 1994, Brown Simpson was at Mezzaluna for dinner with her family. That same night, she and Goldman were stabbed to death outside the former’s home. The 25-year-old waiter went to Brown Simpson’s home to return the glasses her mother left at the restaurant.
Per ABC News, one of Nicole Brown Simpson’s neighbors found the crime scene sometime around midnight. Authorities found evidence at the scene and at O.J. Simpson’s house that incriminated him. PennLive reported that Ron Goldman’s autopsy revealed he struggled with the assailant, who then stabbed him 25 times. Nicole Brown Simpson’s autopsy revealed she died of a total of 12 stab wounds. The crime scene, as well as the autopsies, suggested that Brown Simpson died first, following which the killer murdered Goldman, reported Grunge.
Ron Goldman: Who was the suspect in his murder and why?
ABC News reported that during a search of Nicole Brown Simpson and Ron Goldman’s murder scene, authorities found a bloody glove. They found a second glove at O.J. Simpson’s house and blood on his white Ford Bronco. At the time, Simpson was in Chicago, and his alibi checked, but during an interview with police, they noticed a cut on the former NFL star’s finger. They also found blood evidence on the driveway of his house, reported CNN.
Police and prosecutors ordered Simpson to turn himself in on June 17, 1994, but he fled instead, reported ABC News. In the same white Ford Bronco, the athlete-turned-actor led police on a slow-speed chase before eventually surrendering. They then charged him with double murder in the killings of his ex-wife, Nicole Brown Simpson, and her friend, Ron Goldman.
After a sensational trial, a jury acquitted O.J. Simpson of all charges on October 3, 1995, per People Magazine. Prosecutors failed to secure a conviction despite including damning evidence against Simpson during the murder trial. This evidence included DNA and blood authorities found in the accused’s car and the gloves. Moreover, they had also found Brown Simpson’s blood on his socks.
Meanwhile, O.J. Simpson’s defense, which included Johnnie Cochran and Robert Kardashian, argued that the evidence had been tampered with. They presented evidence that implicated a police officer who collected evidence from the crime scene. An audio recording of Mark Fuhrman, a police officer collecting evidence from the scene, revealed him to be a racist.
Per ABC News, Simpson was found liable in a civil wrongful death lawsuit in 1997 for the double murder. The civil jury ordered the former athlete to pay $33.5 million in damages to the families of Nicole Brown Simpson and Ron Goldman.
According to People Magazine, years later, O.J. Simpson died on April 10, 2024, owing more than $100 million to the Goldman family. Simpson was 76 at the time of his death after battling cancer. The Goldman family’s lawyer, David Cook, revealed that since 1997, Simpson had only paid the family $133,000. Cook claimed that the interest on the unpaid amount increased over the years because of his failed payments.
Lifetime will release a new documentary on the 30th death anniversary of Nicole Brown Simpson and Ron Goldman.
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