A construction worker found a bloodstained knife buried on OJ Simpson’s property “years ago” — and gave it to an off-duty cop who kept it in his home before finally turning it over to police in January, a report says.
Law enforcement sources told TMZ that the blade is a folding buck knife, which is now being tested for hair and fingerprints after being handed over to the LAPD’s Robbery Homicide Division.
It will be tested for DNA and other biological evidence at the department’s Serology Unit next week, sources told the site.
Cops who saw the weapon said it appeared to have blood residue on it, but it’s extremely rusted and stained, so further testing is needed.
The construction worker who found the knife told police he stumbled upon it while Simpson’s home in Brentwood was being demolished, but he couldn’t remember the exact date, sources told TMZ.
After finding the blade, he took it to an LAPD officer standing across the street, according to TMZ.
But the cop was off-duty — and instead of turning the knife over to his higher-ups, sources said he kept it for years.
In late January, he contacted a friend in the homicide division — and told him he was getting it framed for his wall.
The former traffic division officer even asked the pal to get the departmental record number for the Nicole Brown Simpson and Ron Goldman murder case so he could engrave it in the frame, TMZ reports.
The friend told superiors and he was eventually forced to hand the knife over to the LAPD.
Sources told TMZ that authorities have chosen to keep their investigation top secret and that they have even logged the case into a computer system outside the official case file in order to keep it under wraps.
OJ likely cannot be prosecuted again for the stabbing deaths of Simpson and Goldman, due to double-jeopardy laws, which prohibit someone from being tried for the same charges twice following an acquittal or conviction.
Source: nypost.com
Photo: flickr.com