OJ Simpson death updates: World remembers star athlete and notorious murder suspect

Twenty-nine years ago, in 1995, the world was gripped by what the US media called “the trial of the century”, in which American football star and actor OJ Simpson was accused of murdering his former wife, Nicole Brown Simpson and friend Ron Goldman. They had been viciously stabbed to death.

Other drivers got out of their cars to cheer him on, in what became a real-life highlight of television history.

The story of how the American hero was suspected of turning into a villain played out dramatically in court, in one of the most notorious trials in 20th-century America.

Famed attorney Gloria Allred, who represented Nicole Brown’s family during OJ Simpson’s murder trial, released a statement on Thursday following the news of his death.

She said his death was a reminder of how the legal system continues to fail women.

“Simpson’s death reminds us that the legal system even 30 years later is still failing battered women, and that the power of celebrity men to avoid true justice for the harm that they inflict on their wives or significant others is still a major obstacle to the right of women to be free of the gender violence to which they are still subjected,” she said.

With the help of Kardashian family patriarch Robert Kardashian – his lawyer – he was acquitted of murder in 1995, though his glittering public image was irreparably damaged.

In what the media called the “trial of the century” at the time, Simpson avoided prison when he was found not guilty in the 1994 stabbing deaths of former wife Nicole Brown Simpson and her friend Ronald Goldman in Los Angeles.

Simpson later served nine years in a Nevada prison after being convicted in 2008 on 12 counts of armed robbery and kidnapping two sports memorabilia dealers at gunpoint in a Las Vegas hotel.

In September 2007, twelve years after his acquittal, OJ Simpson led a group of men into a Las Vegas hotel and casino to steal sports memoribilia at gunpoint.

Simpson was charged with severeal felonies, including kidnapping and armed robbery. He was found guilty the following year and was sentenced to up to 33 years in prison. He was eventually released on parole on 1 October, 2017.

Simpson – who was battling prostate cancer – died on Wednesday at his home in Las Vegas surrounded by his children and grandchildren, his family announced in a statement on Thursday. “During this time of transition, his family asks that you please respect their wishes for privacy and grace,” the statement read.

In some of his final tweets before his death from prostrate cancer OJ Simpson announced that he was “just about over” some of the health “issues” he’d been having.

“My health is good”, the former NFL player, actor and acquitted murder suspect said on X. “I mean, obviously, I’m dealing with some issues, but hey, I think I’m just about over it and I’ll be back home on that golf course hopefully in a couple of weeks.

“But it was very nice hearing from you and hearing those good, positive thoughts”, Simpson said, speaking to his supporters on X in February during Super Bowl weekend.

The father of Ron Goldman, who was murdered alongside his friend Nicole Brown, said the news of OJ Simpson’s death was a further reminder of how long his son has been gone, and how much he has been missed.

Ron Goldman, 25, and Nicole Brown, 35, were stabbed to death in June 1994 outside of her home in Brentwood, California after returning home from dinner.

Simpson, Brown’s ex-husband, was charged for their murders but aquitted in what was dubbed the “trial of the century”. A civil court later found Simpson, a former NFL player and actor, guilty of their murders.