Kim Kardashian has admitted to spying on OJ Simpson and rummaging through his luggage while he was on trial for the murders of his wife, Nicole Brown Simpson, and Ron Goldman. The 45-year-old businesswoman and trainee lawyer found herself at the centre of the case, which saw Simpson accused of the two killings.
Not long after midnight on June 13, 1994, Nicole and her friend Ron were found stabbed to death outside her home in Brentwood, Los Angeles. Police ruled that the pair had been murdered the night before. OJ was instantly a person of interest, and no other suspect had been found.
Trial and acquittal
Simpson was subsequently charged, and a warrant was issued for his arrest. He went on trial for both murders, but on October 3, 1995, he was found not guilty. For Kim, the trial was much closer to home. OJ and Nicole had been long-term family friends, and her father, Robert Kardashian, was OJ's attorney throughout the trial.
As a teen, she saw the coverage first-hand, in court and in the media. OJ also stayed with her dad during the trial, with the former sportsman staying in Khloé Kardashian's bedroom.
Inside the investigation
"I just was so into it, and I saw everything from behind the scenes," Kim said. During an appearance on the Jimmy Kimmel show, Kim said: "After it had all happened, OJ came to stay with my dad at the house."
"He had this Louis Vuitton luggage and brought it into the house. And I see everything on the news, but I see it in real life at my house, so I'm like, 'I'm going to play investigator, and I want to go through his luggage and see if I can find anything!'", she added.
However, Kim was later left concerned that she might be implicated after a news report said investigators planned to seize OJ's bags as part of the investigation. She revealed: "I'm like, 'Oh my God, my fingerprints are all over it!'"
Lasting impact
The trial appears to have had a lasting effect on Kim, who is training to pass the California bar in order to become a lawyer, something she has documented over the years. "It made me realise: people can be involved that aren't involved. And I need to help them," Kim said.
Kim later joked that there was a book about the trial, referencing OJ's If I Did It, ghostwritten by Pablo Fenjves. The planned release for 2006 was scrapped, but a year later, the rights were awarded to the family of Ron Goldman and it was later published with the subtitle, Confessions of the Killer.
Host Jimmy joked that he hoped Kim's mum, Kris Jenner, had been wrong about OJ, noting that she had suspected OJ was responsible for the murder of her friend Nicole. Speaking in 2015, Kris said in the documentary, The Secret Tapes of the O.J. Case: The Untold Story, "I will always feel guilty that I didn't pay more attention and didn't speak up when I thought anything was wrong or asked her more, 'Do you want to talk about it?'"
