Nine fingerprints that went unidentified during the original OJ Simpson murder investigation could hold new clues more than 30 years later — and one filmmaker believes advances in forensic technology could help reveal who left them behind.
Ari Mark co-directed the Peacock docuseries “OJ’s Accomplice,” which reexamines the 1994 murders of Simpson’s ex-wife, Nicole Brown Simpson, and her friend, Ron Goldman. The series explores the theory that the former NFL star may not have acted alone, focusing on convicted drug trafficker and Simpson associate Joey Ippolito, who reportedly had ties to organized crime.
Mark told Digital he wants investigators to consider reexamining nine fingerprints recovered from the crime scene that could not be matched to any known samples during the original investigation.
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“The fact that there’s nine fingerprints sitting around that nobody wants to put through a system that’s very updated and technologically not what it was before, that just seems unnecessary,” Mark said. “Just do it.”
“You can take latent prints and analyze those in a way that you couldn’t before,” Mark continued. “Also, remember, the systems over time are obviously collecting more data and more people. So, if you’re looking for a match, you have a greater chance of getting one all these years later.”
In 1995, the Los Angeles Times reported that none of the identifiable fingerprints investigators collected at the Bundy Drive condominium where Brown Simpson and Goldman were murdered matched Simpson. Fingerprint specialist Gilbert Aguilar, a defense witness, testified that police knew that Simpson’s fingerprints did not match the identifiable prints recovered at the crime scene.
Under questioning by lead defense attorney Johnnie Cochran Jr., Aguilar testified that nine prints found at Bundy Drive could not be matched to any known sample. According to the Los Angeles Times, Simpson’s lawyers argued that unknown attackers committed the murders and that detectives failed to adequately investigate that possibility because they quickly concluded Simpson had killed his ex-wife and her friend.
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According to Aguilar’s testimony, investigators compared the unidentified prints with those of Simpson, Brown Simpson and 58 friends, relatives and acquaintances, but found no matches. Aguilar also testified that investigators searched federal and state computerized fingerprint databases without finding a match.
Mark said his goal for the docuseries was “to raise enough questions that it gets a second look.”
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“I’m very careful about the call to action because there are victims’ families involved here and you would want them to be supportive of that,” Mark said. “That would be my first priority. Assuming it was something they were interested in, I think everyone deserves to know what actually happened, and if that involves a second person, third person or whatever it is, great.”
Aguilar, who appears in the docuseries, raised the possibility that today’s expanded fingerprint databases could produce a match.
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“At the crime scene, there were nine identifiable prints that I never identified to whom they belong,” Aguilar said in the documentary. “Back in 1994, you’re running prints through AFIS (Automated Fingerprint Identification System). But first, it’s checking everybody that’s been arrested by the Los Angeles Police Department. Then it would be run through Sacramento. Then run through all the Western states.”
“If somebody is arrested outside your database, like in New York or the state of Florida, you’re not going to get anything,” Aguilar continued. “LAPD has all the prints and they could have them [tested again]. They may or may not. I don’t know. It’s up to them now.”
It is unclear whether investigators have reexamined the nine unidentified fingerprints using modern forensic technology or updated fingerprint databases.
An LAPD spokesperson told Digital that the investigation remains open.
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“The OJ Simpson case remains an open and ongoing investigation. The Department has an obligation to continue to pursue justice in this matter, at a point that, if new evidence is found, detectives will follow those investigatory leads. At this point there is no other information available for release.”
In the docuseries, defense investigator Pat McKenna said the fingerprints should easily be sent to a lab for further analysis.
“This is like a door,” he said. “Wide open. Don’t you want to close that door? I would think they should want to do that. But I think they’re afraid of what it would show.”
According to the docuseries, the producers asked the Los Angeles County District Attorney’s Office to have the unidentified fingerprints reexamined but received no response. Digital contacted the office for comment.
“I wouldn’t put anything past technology,” Mark said. “I think we all know that tech, it’s just gotten so advanced, especially when it comes to forensics, that I believe something could be pulled from those fingerprints. Ideally, there’d be some sort of DNA that’s been preserved, and the right type of reopening would force a reinvestigation of those materials.”
“I feel very confident that if everyone was on the same page and we wanted to look at something objectively and see if there’s any new truth there, we could do it,” Mark added.
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The unidentified fingerprints are part of the docuseries’ broader investigation into whether Simpson had an accomplice the night Brown Simpson and Goldman were killed.
Before the docuseries premiered, Joey Ippolito’s brother, Sam Ippolito, told The New York Times that Joey returned to a Los Angeles apartment around midnight on June 12, 1994, carrying a bag containing a heavy object.
Sam said his brother appeared to have blood on his hands after leaving the apartment hours earlier to help a friend. According to Sam, Joey stuffed his clothes into the bag and instructed him to dispose of it while he showered. Sam Ippolito told the newspaper he tossed the bag into a dumpster near a construction site along Doheny Drive in Los Angeles. Sam shared a similar account in the docuseries.
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Sam’s account has also faced questions about its credibility. According to The New York Times, he sought compensation from the newspaper and later attempted to retract his statements after the newspaper declined his request for payment. Friends and relatives have disputed suggestions that Ippolito participated in the murders.
Ippolito, who escaped from a Florida prison in May 1994, became a federal informant after his arrest in August 1995, while Simpson’s nationally televised murder trial was nearing its conclusion. He died in 2006.
A December 1996 federal prosecution memorandum, unsealed at The New York Times’ request, described Ippolito as a valuable source who possessed information about Simpson’s alleged efforts to dispose of the murder weapon and his attempted flight from authorities.
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Former federal prosecutor David Kelley described Ippolito in the memorandum as a “remarkable source of information” whose cooperation had proven valuable to investigators. Kelley later told The New York Times he did not believe Ippolito participated in the murders.
“My instinct is that not only did I feel that he was telling the truth, but I also felt that he had more to share,” Mark said.
“I think The New York Times probably spooked him a bit because they are a big publication … But I really do believe him. I believed him then, I believe him now.”
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Brown Simpson’s sister, Tanya Brown, rejects the theory that Simpson had an accomplice. In the docuseries, Tanya Brown said she believes Simpson alone was responsible for her sister’s murder.
“I think it’s impossible if you’re in her position to speculate about theories, and I don’t blame her for that,” Mark said. “Everything about her felt like the little sister of somebody who’s an unfortunate victim.”
Simpson and Brown Simpson married in 1985. They had two children, Sydney and Justin, and divorced in 1992. Two years later, Brown Simpson and Goldman were found stabbed to death.
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Investigators quickly focused on Simpson. Following the 1995 murder trial, he was acquitted of killing Brown Simpson and Goldman. In 1997, a civil jury found Simpson liable for their deaths. He later served nearly nine years in prison following his conviction on armed robbery and other charges stemming from an unrelated incident in Las Vegas. He died in April 2024 at age 76.
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Digital’s Stephen Sorace contributed to this report.