Everything to Know About O.J. Simpson’s Infamous Rockingham Estate

Decades after OJ Simpson is on trial for the murders of his ex-wife Nicole Brown Simpson and her friend Ron Goldman, a new documentary is returning attention to the Los Angeles home that once belonged to the late NFL player.

In lifetime The Life and Murder of Nicole Brown Simpsonrunning over two nights on June 1 and 2, Brown Simpson’s closest friends and family shed new light on the “Trial of the Century” that took place in 1994 and 1995.

The Simpsons’ former home in Brentwood played a significant role in this period of the former couple’s life and appears several times in the episodes.

Here’s everything there is to know about his former Rockingham Avenue estate.

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OJ Simpson and Nicole Brown in March 1994.

Vinnie Zuffante/Getty

Simpson, who died in April at age 76, bought the 6,000-square-foot home for $650,000 in 1977, according to Los Angeles Times. The property is also where he and Brown Simpson married in 1985. Brown Simpson was 18 and working as a waitress when she first met the footballer in 1977, while Simpson was 30 and still married to his first wife Marguerite Whitley.

Simpson and Brown Simpson later divorced in 1992, two years before she was stabbed outside her nearby Brentwood townhouse.

After the murders, a bloody glove and other evidence were reportedly found at Simpson’s Rockingham property, which was enough for police to issue a warrant for his arrest.

The property is also where Kato Kaelin was staying in a guest house at the time of the murders. He later became a key witness in the case.

And the address was the final destination of the infamous Bronco chase in June 1994, after which the police finally arrested Simpson.

In October 1995, Simpson was acquitted of both counts of murder and ordered to pay $33.5 million in restitution to the families of Brown Simpson and Goldman.

This led to him eventually having to sell the house at auction.

OJ Simpson died at the age of 76 from cancer, the family announced

Ronald Goldman family photo.

Lee Celano/WireImage

In 1998, the $3.95 million Rockingham estate was demolished after it was purchased by investment banker Kenneth Abdalla, who wanted to build a new mansion on the site. The demolition of the house then attracted the attention of the media and the public.

However, Brown Simpson’s sister Denise Brown said Los Angeles Times how “happy” she was to see the property destroyed.

“I don’t think I’ve been this happy in a long time,” she said. “Simpson is slowly but surely collapsing. This was his pride and joy. No one was ever going to take it away. Now I see it in bits and pieces and say, ‘Yes!’ Someone took it from him after all.”

Knife found in OJ Simpson’s house was not used in double murder: police

OJ Simpson’s former house in Brentwood after it was demolished.

Mark J. Terrill/AP

That same year, Simpson told CNN that he had “nothing to do” with the demolition of his Los Angeles home.

“Basically, I’m not emotionally attached. I have some great memories of it, but I would have great memories of the LA Coliseum. Even if they had torn it down, I would still have great memories of it,” he said. “When I left it, I left it.”

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In 2016, another mystery was revealed when a knife allegedly found on the Simpson estate after Brown Simpson’s murder was turned over to police two decades after the trial.

“Within the last month, the LAPD became aware of an item that was allegedly recovered by a member of the public from a Rockingham property during the demolition of the site,” Capt. Andrew Neiman said in a press conference at the time. “We have to check it, we still don’t know if it’s an accurate account.”

Neiman further explained that he received the knife from a retired LAPD officer who allegedly received the weapon from a construction worker while working off-duty on a movie set near Simpson’s former estate.

A month later, the LAPD confirmed to PEOPLE that the knife was not connected to the murders.

“We did all kinds of forensic tests. We did DNA, blood, fibers. Anything that could be tested for,” Neiman told PEOPLE. “The testing has come back and based on the testing at this time there is no connection to a double homicide and the case remains open.”

The Life and Murder of Nicole Brown Simpson airs over two nights on June 1 and 2 on Lifetime.

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Source: HIS Education