More than three decades after Nicole Brown Simpson and Ronald Goldman were murdered, a new investigation has raised questions about whether someone in O.J. Simpson’s circle helped dispose of evidence. The October 18 New York Times report centers on Joseph “Joey” Ippolito, a convicted drug trafficker with ties to Simpson and his longtime friend Al Cowlings.
His brother Sam told the newspaper that Joey appeared to have blood on his hands on the night of the killings. The newspaper collected his account in interviews this year, more than 30 years after the events he described.
After maintaining his account for months, Sam asked the Times for compensation. When the newspaper refused, he sought to withdraw his statements, saying he could no longer reliably distinguish what was real from what was not.
Friends and relatives have disputed the suggestion that Joey participated in the murders. He died in 2006, and the Times reported that no new forensic evidence had come forward.
Sam Said He Threw Away a Bag Without Looking Inside
Sam said the brothers were staying in a Los Angeles apartment on June 12, 1994, when Joey left for the evening, telling him he needed to help a friend. According to the account summarized by Fox News, Joey returned around midnight carrying a bag containing something heavy.
He allegedly put his clothes into the bag and asked Sam to dispose of it while he showered. Sam said he took it to a dumpster near a construction site along Doheny Drive without opening it. The contents were never established.
Sam also claimed he overheard Joey speaking by telephone with Cowlings. In that conversation, he alleged, Joey said he had been “helping” Simpson. Cowlings did not respond to the Times’ requests for comment.
Sam later said he had been offered substantial money to tell his story elsewhere. The Guardian reported that a television program was a possible outlet.
The Bronco Chase Led Investigators to a Prison Phone Number
Joey had befriended Cowlings while managing an Italian restaurant near Santa Monica’s beachfront in the late 1980s. His subsequent drug conviction sent him to a minimum-security prison in Florida, which he escaped in May 1994. Sam said he helped his brother travel back to California.
On June 17, Cowlings drove the white Ford Bronco carrying Simpson during the televised police pursuit through Southern California. Simpson had been expected to surrender that morning. The chase ended at his Brentwood home, where he eventually gave himself up.
U.S. Marshal John Cuff told the Times that police found a telephone number in Cowlings’ wallet for the prison mess hall where Joey had worked. Authorities searching for the fugitive intensified their efforts.
Joey was arrested in August 1995 and began helping federal investigators pursue drug-trafficking and organized-crime cases. His cooperation also brought information about Simpson to prosecutors in New York.
A Federal Memo Referred to the Missing Murder Weapon
A December 1996 memorandum by federal prosecutor David Kelley described Joey as a “remarkable source of information” and supported leniency in his own criminal proceedings. Among the subjects it addressed were Simpson’s attempted flight and information concerning disposal of the murder weapon.
The Times reported that the document described the broad subjects Joey discussed without setting out his full account or specifying how far he implicated himself or others. The knife used in the killings has never been recovered.
According to the investigation, his information reached Los Angeles after the prosecution had rested its case but before closing arguments. Neither the prosecution nor the defense called him to testify.
Kelley recalled speaking with both Marcia Clark and Christopher Darden. Clark told the newspaper she had never heard of Joey and would have expected to learn of any credible, relevant information he supplied. Darden declined to comment.
Kelley also said he did not believe Joey participated in the killings. He remembered being told about a knife concealed around Simpson’s property, with the information coming through one of Simpson’s close associates. Kelley declined to identify that person.
Simpson’s Ghostwriter Questioned Whether ‘Charlie’ Existed
Simpson’s 2007 book, If I Did It: Confessions of the Killer, presented a hypothetical account involving a companion named Charlie. In that narrative, the companion accompanied him to Nicole Brown Simpson’s home and later agreed to dispose of clothing and a weapon.
During a September 20, 2007, interview on CNN‘s Larry King Live, ghostwriter Pablo Fenjves was asked whether he knew who Charlie was. “I don’t believe Charlie exists,” Fenjves said, suggesting the character functioned as an alter ego or narrative convenience.
HarperCollins initially canceled the book’s release. The Goldman family later obtained the rights through court proceedings, and Beaufort Books published an edition with additional commentary from the family, its legal team and Fenjves.
Simpson Was Acquitted, and the LAPD Says the Case Remains Open
Nicole Brown Simpson was 35 and Ronald Goldman was 25 when they were fatally stabbed outside her Brentwood condominium. Simpson’s criminal trial ended with not-guilty verdicts on October 3, 1995.
A separate civil jury found him liable for the deaths in February 1997 and ordered him to pay the victims’ families $33.5 million, according to the Associated Press. Simpson died in April 2024 at age 76.
Following the latest report, the LAPD’s Media Relations Office said the case “remains an open and ongoing investigation,” according to City News Service. The department said detectives would pursue further leads if new evidence emerged.