OJ Simpson killed two people 30 years ago. For 16 months I uncovered many stories about it

I still remember getting out of the shower at 7 a.m. on June 13, 1994. The radio rang and there was a news story that famous football player and actor, Hertz pitcher OJ Simpson, was going to be questioned about the murders of his ex-wife and her friend that had occurred that night.

It seemed impossible. OJ Simpson? Everyone loved him. It had to be a mistake.

At the time, I was writing the Intelligencer column in New York Magazine with Pat Wechsler. There was no Internet and we were 3,000 miles from Los Angeles. I just started calling friends there and asking if they knew anything. One of my friends’ friends knew Nicole’s former housekeeper, they said. That was a start, and then OJ Simpson took over my life for the next 16 months.

As we all know, the Bronco chase followed. That was the first time anyone heard the Kardashian name, and that thought reverberated like punishment through the decades. We also heard about Al Cowlings, who drove the Bronco, kept the police at bay, and kept OJ alive. What seemed like a high-speed chase was actually a low-speed chase that included a visit to the grave and eventually a return to Simpson’s house.

As time went on, I went to LA to cover the trial. I followed up on every story I could find. Similar murders, late-night friends of Goldman, shady friends of Nicole, anyone who wanted her dead. Where was Kato? What did he know? What did his friends know? Could Jason Simpson, OJ’s son, have done the deed? (No, I found his alibi right away – he was working, but he hired a lawyer.)

There were a number of friends with interesting connections: Grant Cramer, Robin Greer. And how about Simpson’s neighbors Cora and Dr. Ron Fischman?

I even interviewed the guy who sat next to OJ on the plane from Chicago to LA.

And then I interviewed the man who sat next to him on the return plane.

When I arrived for the preliminary hearing in December, all hell had broken loose.

When Lawrence Schiller (then a brother-in-law of Regis Philbin) got involved, I wrote about it. I was there when Judge Ito adjourned the trial for 38 minutes to meet with Larry King in the courtroom. When they went backstage, Larry shook hands with every lawyer in the courtroom on both sides. We knew then that Judge Ito had lost control, and the trial had only just begun.

On March 13, 1994, I reported that OJ houseguest and witness Kato Kaelin had disregarded the judge’s order and sold a book for $1 million. His ghostwriter, Marc Elliot, told me about it during a conversation about something else. (The clip is missing from the archives, but I mentioned it again in May.) Marcia Clark wanted to call Kato to the stand and didn’t know about the book until we told her. She made Kaelin a hostile witness.

In the July 24, 1995, issue, I reported a major breakthrough: OJ was probably going through steroid withdrawal when he committed the murders. By chance, I had interviewed the ghostwriter of Al Cowlings’ never-published book proposal. That man discussed Cowlings’ interviews with his brother-in-law, a forensic psychiatrist at Harvard. They concluded that Simpson was in a downward spiral and that he was completely insane when he was in the Bronco.

Here’s the link. Marcia Clark ignored it. We were told she didn’t want to give Simpson a chance to plead diminished responsibility. In the article, I mention Dr. Rob Huizenga, a steroid expert who Robert Shapiro immediately hired. Huizenga eventually took the stand and testified for Simpson. Years later, I asked him why the steroids never came up. His response? “Some guilty people get let go.”

There’s much more in the NY Magazine archives. My lunch with OJ’s secretary Cathy Randa. The story of Faye Resnick, who published a book with sleazy Michael Viner claiming she and Nicole were lovers. The sideshow crazies never stopped as the trial dragged on. But there were many supporters who helped me get through it: My late friend, the author Joe Bosco, was my sounding board every night. He was in the courtroom nearly every day. I often rode downtown from the Chateau Marmont with the legendary Dominick Dunne. I was in awe of him, and we talked about work constantly. The late John Connolly also discussed the case with me daily.

After the trial, I wrote extensively about Nicole’s sister Denise Brown and the 501c3 foundation she created called the Nicole Brown Simpson Foundation. It was a scam. The Browns lived off the money they raised. (They had been very greedy during the trial, selling videos of Nicole and OJ’s wedding, among other things.) Eventually, all the money was gone and the foundation was shut down.

OJ was acquitted on October 2, 1995. After a tough fight, I was done with him. Much of what I had reported came to light in the civil trial, which was a great relief. Simpson was found responsible for both deaths and the Goldmans were awarded $31 million. I have thought of them a lot over the years. Nothing – not even OJ’s subsequent nine-year prison sentence – will ever console them for the senseless murder of Ron.

And so it continues.