Yahoo News Police Searched Thumb Drive After O.J. Simpson's Bodyguard Claimed It Contained Confession
Simpson was acquitted of the 1994 murders of his ex-wife, Nicole Brown Simpson, and Ronald Goldman, though he was found liable for their deaths in civil court
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O.J. SimpsonO.J. Simpson’s former bodyguard claims that police in Minnesota seized a thumb drive with a taped recording of the late gridiron star confessing to the murders of his ex-wife, Nicole Brown Simpson, and her friend, Ron Goldman — but the department says the claim has no merit.
On Tuesday, Dec. 3, TMZ reported that Simpson’s former bodyguard Iroc Avelli said he was trying to retrieve his belongings from police in Bloomington, Minn., which were confiscated when he was arrested in 2022 in an unrelated case.
One of the belongings was a thumb drive containing what he claimed was Simpson’s confession of the 1994 murders of his ex-wife and Goldman. What followed was the media-fueled “Trial of the Century” in 1995, when Simpson was acquitted of the murders.
Related: The O.J. Nobody Knew — Read PEOPLE's July 4, 1994 Cover Story
But suspicions about whether he actually killed them lingered, especially when he was found liable for their wrongful deaths in a 1997 civil trial and ordered to pay more than $33.5 million to their families.
Hours after the report, the Bloomington Police Department issued a statement refuting the bombshell claim.
When Avelli was arrested for an alleged assault in March 2022, Bloomington police executed a search warrant and confiscated his backpack, which contained six thumb drives, the Star Tribune reports.
In June, just months after Simpson's April death at age 76, the Los Angeles Police Department said Avelli and his attorney said the drives featured “a recording of O.J. Simpson confessing to the murders of Nicole Simpson and Ronald Goldman,” according to WCCO.
Related: O.J. Simpson Dead at 76 From Cancer, Family Announces
In July, Bloomington police detectives obtained a search warrant and searched the thumb drives. In a statement the BPD issued on Tuesday, Dec. 3, it wrote that the detectives “did not locate any information of evidentiary value for the (Los) Angeles Police Department,” KARE 11 reports.
The BPD did not immediately respond to PEOPLE’s request for comment.
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