OJ Simpson is dead. But I have a feeling this story isn’t ready to die just yet.
It is kind of hard to believe, in part because he’s been part of the cultural fabric (for better or worse) for the last 30 years.
At the time, every late night personality piled on with jokes ad nauseum. There have been books, movies, documentaries and still more jokes.
The whole affair is like an episode of Columbo where you know the murderer in the first few minutes of the show, but you still hop on the roller coaster ride and here we are 30 years later.
And now, maybe it’s time to get off the ride.
I remember exactly where I was when the lo-speed chase was happening. I was on my way out the door to ride my bike to the movie theater and saw the slow motion chase broadcast live on TV. I wish I knew what movie we’d gone to see (I could probably figure it out if I looked up what movies were out that day in time) EDIT TO ADD: It was probably either Speed or City Slickers 2…..
Fast forward out of the rad 90s and pretty much everyone on planet earth and beyond thinks OJ Simpson killed two innocent people oh so many bike rides to the movies ago.
In the years since, OJ certainly didn’t appear to be hunting down the “real” killer or killers. Why not? Well because maybe he already knew. Instead he moved to Florida so the Goldman’s couldn’t collect their civil litigation monies and played golf. A lot of golf. Florida turns out to be a great place for a retired murderer to live out their bloody sunset years.
Controversy still followed, OJ did time in jail for kidnapping due to some weird situation over collectibles in a hotel room. A book called If I Did It was written by OJ but published by the Goldman family with details about the murder that may have beeb fictional or maybe real. Who knows. Unless you were there, you wouldn’t know for sure. We can only take best guesses and have opinions.
Usually, I like to have the door wide open. I think a story is always better, will resonate longer and generally turns into a kind of larger-than-life mythology when you can’t know for sure. Kind of like most real life if you think about it, and I could rap on and on (and have) about that very topic, why it’s important, why you should always be aware of what you know for sure and how that can inform and make life better.
But I guygress.
Somewhere along the way, in the last decade or so, a new theory emerged that alleges OJ Simpson’s son Jason (not me) was actually the one who killed Ron and Nicole. The theory goes on to allege that OJ was simply there to cover-up for his son’s actions.
I have no idea if this is true or even warranted, you know the whole no one knows most things for sure approach. But private investigator who wrote a book all about this, William C. Dear gives several arguments in favor of this theory and is in fact the one who came up with the whole thing. The son had a knife that could have been similar to the murder weapon, had anger issues (charges had been previously brought against him), possibly an unreliable alibi, and the list goes on. If you’re interested, go look it up. There is a book, reddit threads, the list goes on and on.
One interesting tidbit that might make you think is, Jason was the first person to “lawyer-up” right after the murders. Then OJ got a lawyer – did OJ make a decision at the time to take the heat, assume his celebrity, etc. would better help him get away with it? Or as some people drone, the prosecution wanted to go after OJ from the get-go and ignored any evidence to the contrary. Besides, in this theory, OJ is at the scene so there is evidence tying him to the crime, he just wasn’t the murderer.
Again, this is all alleged and I have no idea if there is any merit to the so-called evidence against his son. But if it ever turned out to be true, that would really be a tragic movie-like twist ending, turning the villain OJ into a martyr who went down in flames protecting his son. Who knows what ends a parent would go to in protecting their kids, even if they did something horrifically wrong.
There is a reason people love a show called Unsolved Mysteries and not Solved Mysteries. The “unsolved” part keeps the door wide open. As long as it’s unsolved or there is some uncertainty (and since most of the time we weren’t at the scene observing firsthand so we will never know in our hearts for sure what happened) there is room for debate, investigation and wonder. Take ghosts, UFOs, aliens, Jack the Ripper, The Zodiac Killer and on and on. We love those stories because no one knows for sure. Once we do (or think we do), that door shuts and a little bit of the magic of that story dies.
Knowing is the death of amazement. We are stuck in a strange kind of relationship. Wanting the mystery and amazement of a good story but we also know that knowing things helps us to navigate and survive the world. So for a minute, I really wished OJ would have left a deathbed confession. Or even better, a Tik Tok video.
Hey guys, OJ here.
I did it.
Check out the book of the same title for the deets.
The foursome behind us is getting mad we’re not moving.
Ok, I’ll check you later.
I can see that picture clearly. A starter named Carmen rolls up in a golf cart and asks him to put his phone away and move along.
Finally, we can all have the closure we secretly need for survival, going from 98% sure to 100% sure and closing that door forever.
Except…after thinking about it for another minute (I only ever think about things in minute increments), if OJ left a deathbed confession or in this case a final-foursome-fession Tik Tok video, I don’t actually think the door would slam shut.
I think an OJ confession would actually open the door even wider. Swing the door of its hinges till it goes flying off into space.
If OJ really did it, a deathbed confession would be an appropriate thing to do.
But, and this is a big and alleged buttocks, if he didn’t do it, if this turned out to be a tragic story of a fathers love, if he was protecting someone and wanted to take the heat off them forever in a final tragic act of love:
A DEATHBED CONFESSION
IS EXACTLY
WHAT HE WOULD DO