Thirty years after “the trial of the century” began, Netflix presents a four-part docuseries (now streaming) that revisits the barbarous fatal stabbings of Nicole Brown Simpson and her friend Ron Goldman. O.J. Simpson, who died last April, was acquitted of the June 12, 1994, killings at Brown Simpson’s Los Angeles home in a verdict that shocked the world.
“American Manhunt: O.J. Simpson” director Floyd Russ (“Untold,” “American Manhunt: The Boston Marathon Bombing”), who was just 11 at the time of the trial, doesn’t remember much of the televised proceedings, which drew an estimated 150 million viewers for the announcement of the verdict on October 3, 1995. But Brentwood, where Simpson and Brown Simpson lived, became a backdrop for Russ’ life when his mom moved to the ritzy neighborhood.
The trial has spurred several documentaries and scripted re-enactments, including Lifetime’s “The Life & Murder of Nicole Brown Simpson” docuseries (released in June), ESPN’s ‘O.J.: Made in America’ docuseries and the Emmy-winning FX series ‘The People v. O. J. Simpson: American Crime Story’ (both released in 2016). Russ says what sets his project apart is the perspective that comes with being three decades removed from the case and his presentation of ‘key evidence to the viewer so that they feel like the jury itself,’ he says, including evidence that was never presented at the trial.
Russ also aims to introduce the case to a new audience. When he polled a few people in their early- to mid-20s to see what they knew of Simpson, they mentioned the Heisman trophy winner’s pro football career and acting credits. “There’s a lot of people that don’t know who O.J. really is,” says Russ, “and who he became and what he should be remembered for.”
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“American Manhunt” covers the events in chronological order, from the murders to the Ford Bronco police chase that drew around 95 million viewers and the trial. Russ shed tears during a sitdown with Goldman’s sister, Kim, who heartbreakingly reveals that when her then-boyfriend’s urged her to phone her dad, she thought her boyfriend was proposing. Instead, Kim’s father informed her of her brother’s death.
Russ also interviews investigators the from case; Carl E. Douglas, an animated member of Simpson’s defense; and prosecutor Christopher Darden, who famously asked Simpson to try on the pair of gloves recovered from their homes. “Christopher Darden and the glove, married together for all eternity,” Darden declares in the docuseries. “When I die, bury me with a pair of Isotoner gloves. It fit!”
Here are the must-know moments from the docuseries.
The evidence not collected or excluded from the trial
Unlike other recent projects, “American Manhunt” points out (explicitly, with text on screen) the evidence that builds an even stronger case against Simpson that the jury never heard. A bloody fingerprint recovered from a gate at Brown Simpson’s house was never collected as evidence, according to the docuseries.
Jill Shively, an eyewitness who claims to have seen an angry Simpson driving near Brown Simpson’s house around the time of the murders, never testified because prosecutor Marcia Clark believed she had lost credibility after being paid for an earlier interview.
Skip Junis tells filmmakers that while at the Los Angeles airport the night of the killings, he saw Simpson discard “something long that maybe was wrapped in a cloth” ahead of Simpson’s flight to Chicago that evening. Junis wasn’t called to the witness stand, either, and police never found the murder weapon.
Johnnie Cochran’s shocking statement about domestic violence
There’s a moment during the trial that zings louder in 2025 than it likely did 30 years ago: when Johnnie Cochran (who coined “if it doesn’t fit, you must acquit”) asks, “Why did Mr. Darden spend all that time on domestic violence if this is a murder case?”
Cochran told the jury, “They’re trying to dredge up some theory to give you a motive, because they don’t have a motive.”
Those familiar with the case know Brown Simpson called police several times to report Simpson’s abuse, which she documented in photographs and in her diary. Detective John Edwards testified that when he responded to a call at the Simpsons on New Year’s Day 1989, Brown Simpson “collapsed and started yelling, ‘He’s going to kill me. He’s going to kill me!’”
The bloody evidence
Detective Tom Lange, citing the amount of evidence against Simpsons, says in the docuseries they “nicknamed this (case) the turkey on a platter,” as in, “It’s all there.”
Lange says Simpson’s blood was found at the crime scene, and that his blood, along with that of Brown Simpson and Goldman, was found in Simpson’s Bronco. Lange also says Simpson’s blood dripped from his vehicle to his door.
The defense refuted the evidence by accusing law enforcement of planting the blood and fumbling the DNA collection. Their argument was strong enough to convince juror Yolanda Crawford that the authorities mishandled the evidence.
O.J. Simpson’s alleged confession to the killings
Perhaps the most shocking interview in “American Manhunt” comes courtesy of Simpson’s former sports agent, Mike Gilbert.
Gilbert says in the docuseries’ finale that, one evening, he worked up the nerve to ask Simpson what happened and told his client that he’d always suspected he was guilty. According to Gilbert, Simpson responded: “If Nicole wouldn’t have opened the door with a knife, she would still be alive.” (Gilbert also made this claim in his 2008 book, “How I Helped O.J. Get Away with Murder: The Shocking Inside Story of Violence, Loyalty, Regret, and Remorse.”)
Russ, acknowledging that he couldn’t corroborate the conversation, says he was most surprised by Gilbert’s “realization many years later, looking back on it, it wasn’t that Nicole came to the door with the knife. It was O.J. still making an excuse for why he would have murdered her. In a way, it’s O.J. almost blaming Nicole for why it happened.”