Background

Brown–Simpson marriage

Brown and Simpson were married on February 2, 1985, five years after his retirement from professional football. The couple had two children, Sydney Brooke Simpson (born October 17, 1985) and Justin Ryan Simpson (born August 6, 1988). The marriage lasted seven years, during which Simpson pleaded no contest to spousal abuse in 1989.[16] Brown filed for divorce on February 25, 1992, citing "irreconcilable differences".

Murders

At 12:10 a.m. on June 13, 1994, Nicole Brown Simpson and Ronald Goldman were found murdered outside Brown's Bundy Drive condo in the Brentwood area of Los Angeles. Evidence found and collected at the scene led police to suspect that O. J. Simpson was the murderer. Brown had been stabbed multiple times in the head and neck and had defensive wounds on her hands. The wound through her neck was gaping, through which the larynx could be seen, and vertebra C3 was also incised.

Arrest of Simpson

Lawyers convinced the LAPD to allow Simpson to turn himself in at 11 a.m. on June 17, 1994, even though the double murder charge meant no bail and a possible death penalty verdict if convicted. Over 1,000 reporters waited for Simpson at the police station, but he failed to appear. At 2 p.m., the Los Angeles Police Department issued an all-points bulletin. At 5 p.m., Robert Kardashian, a friend of Simpson and one of his defense lawyers, read a letter by Simpson to the media. In the letter Simpson sent greetings to 24 friends and wrote, "First everyone understand I had nothing to do with Nicole's murder ... Don't feel sorry for me. I've had a great life." To many, this sounded like a suicide note, and the reporters joined the search for Simpson. According to Simpson's lawyer, Robert Shapiro, also present at Kardashian's press conference, Simpson's psychiatrists agreed with the suicide note interpretation; on television the attorney appealed to Simpson to surrender.