O.J. Simpson's murder trial
dominated headlines for months, but who was Nicole Brown Simpson, the
woman O.J. was accused of killing? There's nothing quite like the love of
a dog, and on that June night in 1994, it was the "melancholy" howling
of Nicole Brown Simpson's dog that first alerted neighbors to the fact that
something terribly wrong had happened. Neighbors all heard the dog,
reported the Associated Press: Steven Schwab took a break to walk his own
dog when he came across the white Akita, and saw that the dog was splattered with
blood. Schwab's neighbor — also summoned by the dog's wails — decided to take the dog and
walk it back in the direction it had come from. The dog ran up the path to a condo, where the
bloodied body of Nicole Brown Simpson lay. Later, the Los Angeles Times reported
that the dog's actions allowed authorities to pinpoint the time of the murders. The Washington Post reported that
the courtroom was uncomfortable on the day that they were shown photos of the
crime scene and read descriptions from the coroner's findings. Highlighting the brutality
of the killings was necessary to establish the idea that the murders had been committed in
a fit of jealous rage. Los Angeles County Coroner Lakshmanan Sathyavagiswaran
testified that Nicole Brown Simpson had been lying on the ground, unable to fight
back against an attacker that stood over her, as her throat was cut with such force
that the knife sliced into her spine. The New York Times reported that prosecutors
were also able to make strong cases for a few other things based on the state of the
bodies. Although Nicole was covered in blood, her feet were clean, which led police to
conclude that she had been killed first, and that she had been restrained as it happened. Law enforcement testified that
Ron Goldman, on the other hand, fought back. Marks in the dirt around
his body — and the fact that his shirt was pulled up — seemed to indicate that a
struggle took place immediately after Nicole was killed. Nicole was stabbed a total of 12
times, while Goldman was stabbed 25 times. "Mr. Simpson is a fugitive of justice right now." According to the Associated Press' timeline
of Nicole Brown Simpson's murder and the following court case, the night started
with her daughter's dance recital. Her children — Sydney and Justin — were just
eight and five years old when she was killed at their home. Had their dog not alerted
neighbors and dragged them to the crime scene, it's entirely possible they would have discovered
the bodies of their mother and Goldman. PennLive says that when law enforcement
first responded to the call from neighbors, they found a tranquil scene inside the home. She
had drawn a bath and made a bowl of ice cream, and the television was on. Her children were
sound asleep in their respective bedrooms, unaware of what had happened
just outside their doorstep. Nicole's family has spoken about the struggle to
protect the children from the media circus that followed, and their attempts at helping
them live as normal a life as possible. Regardless of whether one thinks O.J. Simpson
was guilty or innocent, there's no denying that Nicole Brown Simpson's murder brought a
chilling history to light. During O.J.'s trial, prosecutors pointed to an incident
that happened on January 1, 1989: When police arrived at the Simpson home,
Nicole had injuries so extensive that she was taken to the hospital for treatment. The
official police report quoted her as saying, "He's going to kill me! He's going to kill me!" According to The New York Times, it was
the ninth time officers had responded to domestic violence-related calls at
the home. Four months after the call, O.J. was sentenced to two years' probation,
120 hours of community service, a $200 fine, and a court-ordered $500 donation to a women's
shelter. Officers recounted Nicole as saying, "You never do anything about
him. You talk to him and then you leave. I want him arrested. I
want him out so I can get my kids." When questions were raised about
whether or not O.J had gotten preferential treatment because of his
fame, Lucy Friedman of New York City's Victim Services said that jail sentences
for domestic battery were rare, saying, "It's still not considered as serious
a crime as battering on the street." "Finally in 1992, Nicole woke up
to the reality of her situation." Nicole Brown Simpson's death came
about two years after she left and divorced O.J. Simpson. They had
been married for about seven years, and in the middle of their time together,
O.J. had been charged with spousal battery. According to the National Domestic Violence
Hotline, their relationship had started with often-overlooked warning signs. That, they
say, included a courtship that progressed very, very quickly, in which Nicole was showered
with gifts that O.J. often talked about: The hotline says that a new partner might
be more willing to accept or overlook hints of abusive behavior if they're also being
treated as if they are being put on a pedestal. There were also reports of intimidation, and the hotline cites one incident where
police were called after O.J. smashed her car's windshield with a baseball
bat. In the Fox television special, O.J. Simpson: The Lost Confession?, domestic
violence commentator Rita Smith points out: "Subtle, and not so subtle, forms of violence
are used to continue to keep control over their victim. So him just bouncing the bat off
the tire, initially, was a subtle message:" "I am in charge. I will determine
the framework for this relationship." O.J. recalled the incident and indicated there
was nothing wrong with what happened, saying, "I mean, it's my car, I paid for it, I
said, 'I pay for everything around here.'" During O.J. Simpson's trial for Simpson's murder,
prosecutors decided that they needed to establish a motive. When they started interviewing those who
knew Nicole, they uncovered what they presented as a pattern of stalking and harassment in the
months and years leading up to her death. One of the most intriguing testimonies came
from Keith Zlomsowitch, a name that might not be instantly recognizable, but that is
forever tied to the tragic events of that 1994 night. Zlomsowitch was — in addition
to having dated Nicole — the owner of the restaurant that Nicole had eaten dinner at on
the night of her death, and the employer of Ron Goldman. Zlomsowitch testified to a series of
incidents where he said O.J. had spied on them, kicked the door of her house in, and issued some
pretty serious threats. It was also Zlomsowitch who asked Goldman to drop off a pair of
sunglasses that Nicole had left behind. Los Angeles police officer Ron Shipp
was in a bit of a unique position: Not only was he a friend of the Simpsons, but he
was also one of the responding officers to her phone calls to the police. He told Vanity Fair she
had told him she was being stalked, and recalled, "The Juice peeking through a window? Come on! I didn't see that happening. [...]
I gave this guy so much leeway." Faye Resnick was most recently featured
on The Real Housewives of Beverly Hills, but in the early 1990s, she was a friend of both
Nicole Brown Simpson and O.J. Simpson. Just a few months after Nicole's murder, the release of her
book, Nicole Brown Simpson: The Private Diary of a Life Interrupted brought the trial to a halt as
it was debated whether or not the contents would have an influence. Still, Vulture says that the
book — described as tawdry and tragic — reads, in part, as troublingly honest. That's
particularly evident in places where Resnick not only accuses O.J. of some manipulative
behavior, but seems to reveal some of her own, including an incident where she asks Nicole not to
leave O.J. until after a party she was planning. "He's just saying anything he can
without proof, without evidence." According to the Associated Press, Resnick
said that she had called Nicole just a few hours before her death. She
also said that a few days prior, she had told Nicole that she was afraid that
she was going to die. She recalled telling her, "Please, let's just get out
of here. Let's go to Europe." Nicole told her in response that the drugs she was
taking were making her paranoid. Needless to say, Nicole didn't go to Europe, and
on the night she was murdered, Resnick was in an addiction treatment facility. The year 2020 was the 25th anniversary of the
verdict in O.J. Simpson's criminal trial. On that occasion, Investigation Discovery aired O.J.
and Nicole: An American Tragedy, with one of the major reveals of the show being Nicole's diaries.
Her sister, Tanya Brown, was quoted as saying, "Maybe she knew this was her destiny, and
maybe subconsciously, she knew something was going to happen. Maybe that's why
she kept real detailed diary entries." The diaries, it was revealed, were discovered
in a safe deposit box along with photos of her injuries. The first entry went all
the way back to 1978, and she wrote, "1st time he beat me up [...] Threw me on
the floor, hit me, kicked me. We went to the hotel where he continued to beat me for
hours and I continued crawling for the door." She also wrote about other incidents that sent her
to the hospital, and she detailed pretending that she was in an accident of one sort or another.
In another entry, she wrote that he had pulled a gun on her and demanded she have an abortion.
The diaries weren't allowed to be entered as evidence during the murder trial, as it was
ruled they were hearsay and not admissible. "Subconsciously she knew
something was gonna happen." It's no secret that in many cases, the names of
the victims get overlooked and buried behind the names of accused killers. And that, says some of
Nicole Brown Simpson's closest friends and family, is the second part of the tragedy. As
a friend told the Los Angeles Times, "I feel that Nicole has gotten lost in all this." Even as the criminal court case of O.J.
Simpson dragged on, she was portrayed as a victim of domestic abuse and, ultimately,
of murder. But those who knew her best argued that so much more was lost in the courtroom.
They knew a Nicole who had spent all of her adult life in a celebrity relationship — the
couple met when she was 18 years old — and they also knew that she had been determined to
break away from that and forge her own path. They knew a Nicole who was, quote, "bubbly,
always happy and smiling," according to her former teacher Bill Prestridge. They described
a girl who was ready to get out of high school, who wanted to do big things, and for
a time, all appearances seemed to be one of a happy and loving relationship.
However, one friend was quoted as saying, "The truth is, no one really knew her during her marriage. [...] She was never free
to be herself or [to] have friends." While no killer ever served jail time for the
murders of Nicole Brown Simpson and Ron Goldman, something else did happen: It put
domestic violence on the nation's radar as an issue that wasn't just
something that lurked behind closed doors anymore. The statistics from a 2018
Violence Policy Center report were pretty staggering. It's estimated that one in
four women will be victims of domestic violence. The numbers were just as shocking
for men, with one in nine also being victims. Nicole Brown Simpson's death and ultimately her
letters, diaries, and photographs opened up a conversation about domestic violence. In some
cases, it was in the context of Nicole's death that people heard the term "domestic violence" for
the first time. That's true for Katie Ray-Jones, who went on to become the CEO of the National
Domestic Violence Hotline. On the heels of the trial came the Violence Against Women Act,
and Ray-Jones described the case as, quote, "exposure into this world of abuse, specifically
physical abuse and emotional abuse, and that controlling behavior that we all started
hearing about as the trial unfolded."
