More than 30 years ago, millions of Americans were transfixed by a police pursuit in the Los Angeles metro area. The person of interest? O.J. Simpson, a former football player who was charged, arrested and acquitted in the murders of his ex-wife and her friend.
On June 17, 1994, Mr. Simpson refused to turn himself in to the local authorities, who accused him of killing Nicole Brown Simpson, his ex-wife, and her friend Ronald Goldman. He was declared a fugitive, and the police chased him in a white Ford Bronco driven by Al Cowlings, his close friend and a former football teammate.
The famous police chase prompted a media frenzy. News channels provided live coverage as Mr. Cowlings drove at a glacial pace for more than 50 miles.
It was the beginning of people’s fascination with Mr. Simpson’s case, which “marked a new chapter in electronic journalism.” And now, a new investigation by The New York Times indicates that an accomplice may have helped him to clean up his tracks and facilitated a potential escape at the end of the car chase.
Here are some highlights of the pursuit and what led to it.
Mr. Simpson was charged with murder before the famous chase.
On June 12, five days before the chase, Ms. Brown Simpson and Mr. Goldman were found slashed to death at the steps of her Los Angeles townhouse. She had just ended her efforts to rekindle her relationship with Mr. Simpson. Mr. Simpson’s blood, hair and footprints were found at the crime scene.
In the early morning of June 17, 1994, the Los Angeles Police Department informed Mr. Simpson’s lawyer that he would be charged in the murders and had to surrender by 11 a.m. Mr. Simpson delayed his arrival and told his lawyer, Robert Shapiro, that he needed to make arrangements with his family before he turned himself in.
When Mr. Simpson did not arrive in time, police officers were sent to a house in the San Fernando Valley where he was with Mr. Shapiro. A psychiatrist went to tell Mr. Simpson that the police had arrived, and that’s when “we discovered for the first time that O.J. was not present,” Mr. Shapiro said. Also missing was Mr. Simpson’s friend Mr. Cowlings.
Mr. Cowlings drove the fabled white Ford Bronco.
The local authorities issued a message alerting officers and news agencies of Mr. Simpson’s escape and asked them to be on the lookout for a two-door white Ford Bronco.
In the evening, a young couple on a camping trip called the California Highway Patrol to report that they had seen the vehicle. Then, moments later, a Los Angeles County Sheriff’s Deputy saw the car heading north on Interstate 5.
Mr. Cowlings drove the vehicle at speeds ranging from 20 to 50 miles per hour for two hours. Dozens of officers following behind made no effort to pull the vehicle over because Mr. Cowlings had called 911 from the Bronco and told dispatchers that Mr. Simpson was threatening suicide and was holding a gun against his head.
Millions of Americans watched the pursuit live on television as news helicopters followed the vehicle.
Eventually the chase ended when Mr. Cowlings drove back to Mr. Simpson’s home in the Brentwood section of Los Angeles, where he was arrested.
New details reveal that an accomplice may have been waiting for Mr. Simpson at an airport.
A Times investigation published on Sunday revealed that there might have been an accomplice who helped Mr. Simpson cover up the murders and might have been trying to help him evade the police.
That accomplice, revealed to be a dead mobster named Joseph Ippolito, had escaped prison and was living in the Los Angeles area at the time that Ms. Brown Simpson and Mr. Goldman were killed.
Mr. Ippolito’s brother Sam Ippolito heard his sibling say that he had been “helping” Mr. Simpson. On the night of the murders, Mr. Ippolito left an apartment where he was staying and returned carrying a bag with a heavy object inside and appeared to have blood on his hands, Sam Ippolito said.
On a podcast last year, the rapper Fat Joe told a seemingly random story about a friend named “Joe” and Mr. Simpson. The rapper said that his friend Joey confided to him that when Mr. Cowlings and Mr. Simpson were in the Bronco chase, Joey had been at an airport, waiting with a private jet to help them escape.
Investigators did find a travel bag with a passport and a disguise kit inside the Bronco.
