Detectives are investigating a knife purportedly found some time ago at the former home of O.J. Simpson, who was acquitted of murder charges in the 1994 stabbings of his ex-wife Nicole Brown Simpson and her friend Ron Goldman, a police spokesman said Friday.
However, sources tell NBC News the knife does not appear consistent with the murder weapon.
The knife was supposedly found by a citizen, possibly during demolition of Simpson’s former home years ago, and turned over to a now-retired police motorcycle officer who was working as a filming location security guard, police Capt. Andy Neiman said.
The weapon used in the killings has been a mystery for decades.
The knife came to light in the past month, but Neiman did not say how that occurred, stressing the authenticity of the story was not confirmed.
"Possibly the story is bogus from the get-go," he said.
The knife is being analyzed by an LAPD crime lab. Neiman said investigators didn’t know the identity of the person who handed it over and asked him or her to come forward.
SImpson’s former attorney, F. Lee Bailey, told 7News that the chances of the knife being considered important evidence are "close to zero."
Marcia Clark, a former prosecutor in the Simpson trial, told Entertainment Tonight she was intrigued by the discovery.
The killings occurred on June 12, 1994, and led to the "Trial of the Century" in which the former football star was acquitted in October 1995 by a jury that deliberated only four hours.
In 1997, a civil court jury found Simpson liable for the slayings and awarded millions of dollars in damages to families of the victims.
Neiman did not believe that Simpson could be charged again with murder if the knife is linked to the killings, citing double jeopardy.
"I’m not an attorney but it’s my understanding from being a police officer for nearly 30 years that double jeopardy would be in place here," he said.
Simpson is imprisoned in Nevada for a 2008 armed robbery and kidnapping conviction.
The account of the knife’s discovery was first reported by TMZ.
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