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The Arrest

Crime Files

The Arrest

Attempts to contact Simpson turned up the information that he had left his North Rockingham Avenue house at 11:15 pm to catch an 11:45 pm flight to Chicago for a golf game. He arrived at the O’Hare Plaza Hotel in Chicago at 4:15 am, and was contacted and informed of the deaths at 5:45 am, upon which he checked out of the hotel, and caught the 7:41 am flight back to Los Angeles. At around midday, he was taken voluntarily to police headquarters, where he was questioned. He was then fingerprinted and photographed, and a sample of his blood was taken. It was noted that his middle finger was bandaged; it had been cut when he broke a glass, he explained.While waiting for Simpson to return to Los Angeles, police searched the grounds of the Simpson property. The detectives found a white Ford Bronco that was owned by the Hertz Corporation, for which Simpson was a spokesman; in it were several packages with “Orenthal Products” on them and on its door handles were blood stains. Detectives also found a blood stained brown leather right-hand glove and a trail of blood drops was found leading from the Bronco up the driveway to the front door. Later that morning, Chicago police searched Simpson’s hotel room, where they found drops of blood on the bathroom sink, a broken glass and a bloody washcloth.On 16 June, Brown was buried in Orange County, attended by Simpson, family and friends. More importantly however, preliminary DNA tests confirmed that day that the blood present on the glove, found on Simpson’s property, belonged to Simpson and to both of the victims. Along with eyewitness evidence that Simpson had been driving the Ford Bronco at around 11 pm, an arrest warrant was approved and issued for the arrest of OJ Simpson on 17 June 1994.Simpson could not be immediately located and the hunt was soon on for the fugitive. His suicide note was read out by his friend, lawyer Robert Kardashian. Simpson’s car was soon spotted on the highway but Simpson’s fellow passenger, Al Cowling, dialled 911 and warned that Simpson possessed a gun and appeared suicidal. The slow-speed chase attracted the media, with NBC even interrupting their coverage of the 1994 NBA Finals to cover the chase, and large crowds gathered on the interstate to watch the convoy led by Simpson’s car, as negotiators tried to talk to Simpson. It ended when the negotiating team finally managed to convince Simpson to accept arrest.