Report raises questions about possible accomplice in O.J. Simpson murders

The Big Picture

A New York Times investigation has renewed scrutiny of whether California prosecutors fully explored the possibility that someone besides O.J. Simpson was connected to the 1994 killings of Nicole Brown Simpson and Ronald Goldman. The report, described by The Guardian, centers on Joseph Ippolito, a convicted drug trafficker and later government informant who knew Al Cowlings, Simpson's close friend.

The material reviewed by the Times includes previously sealed court records and interviews. It presents several, sometimes conflicting, accounts of what Ippolito knew and whether he had any direct role in events surrounding the killings. The Guardian reported that authorities interviewed by the Times expressed doubts about how involved Ippolito was and about the usefulness of the information he provided.

What Happened

Brown Simpson and Goldman were found stabbed to death outside her Los Angeles home in 1994. Simpson was charged in the killings and acquitted by a jury in 1995 after a trial that drew international attention. A civil jury later found Simpson liable for their deaths. No one was criminally convicted in the murders.

According to The Guardian's account of the Times investigation, Ippolito, known as Joey, had befriended Cowlings, the former football player who drove Simpson during the widely televised police chase following the killings. Authorities later found Ippolito's contact information in Cowlings' wallet, searched for Ippolito and arrested him.

Ippolito had been arrested in a 1992 sting operation and escaped from a Florida prison in May 1994, according to The Guardian. After returning to Los Angeles as a wanted fugitive, he eventually became a federal informant following his arrest.

What Each Side Is Saying

The Times investigation identified three possible accounts of Ippolito's connection to the case. In one, Ippolito told federal prosecutors that Cowlings had given him information about the killings, including a purported location for the missing weapon. The Guardian reported that the information emerged too late for prosecutors to use Ippolito's testimony in Simpson's murder trial.

A second account came from Ippolito's brother, who told the Times that Ippolito may have been at the scene and that he had seen blood on his hands. But the brother later sought payment from the publication and recanted the statement, according to The Guardian. That reversal further clouds the allegation.

A third account examined by the Times held that Ippolito was prepared to help Simpson escape during the 1994 police chase. The Guardian did not report evidence establishing that such a plan was carried out.

The Times concluded, in a passage quoted by The Guardian, that the available material "points in different directions" and differs significantly from the account presented by police and prosecutors. It also said the complete truth may never be known because many key participants are dead.

Why It Matters

The investigation does not establish that Ippolito participated in the killings or in a cover-up. Instead, it raises questions about whether investigators had enough time or opportunity to assess leads involving a man who moved between criminal circles and people close to Simpson.

The case remains one of the most examined criminal proceedings in recent American history, in part because Simpson's defense challenged the Los Angeles Police Department's history of racist policing and its handling of evidence. The newly reported records add another unresolved thread, but the conflicting accounts and the doubts voiced by authorities leave Ippolito's role uncertain.