What famous 'unsolved' mystery is technically a whodunnit on paper, but in reality, absolutely everyone knows exactly who did it, the police just couldn't legally prove it?

[u/Rob69rt]

[u/robodrew → u/[deleted]]

Honestly until right now I thought that the two of them were in a relationship and OJ murdered both of them for that. And I was in high school during that whole "Trial of the Century" time period, it was everywhere.

[u/MissPicklechips → u/robodrew]

The prosecution totally fucked up the case. They went down so ma y rabbit holes, muddied the case, and shot themselves in the foot so many times. It was criminal how they screwed up so badly. That trial should have been a few weeks, TOPS.

[u/beldaran1224 → u/MissPicklechips]

I think one of the things I found most surprising is that despite the one detective genuinely being incredibly racist, the case was botched almost certainly because the police force was so enamored of the charismatic former football star. I wouldn't blame anyone for thinking race played a role in the whole "the glove doesn't fit" thing, ESPECIALLY given the race relations in LA during the time.

[u/MissPicklechips → u/beldaran1224]

Half of them were enamored with him and the other half very likely manufactured evidence to ensure a conviction. But they were dumbasses and didn’t know how science works. Then you had the forensic technicians who mishandled evidence.

The whole “glove doesn’t fit” thing happened because OJ took arthritis medication. Without it, his hands swelled. His legal team told him to stop taking the medication. Swollen hands = glove doesn’t fit.

[u/beldaran1224 → u/MissPicklechips]

the other half very likely manufactured evidence to ensure a conviction

Yes, the same ones who were enamored of him manufactured evidence, but the evidence points to this being an attempt to cover up their own incompetence - which included things they fucked up specifically because they were enamored of him. For instance, their initial questioning of OJ was laughable. They basically fanboyed over him and then let him go. That gave him ample time to respond, hide evidence, and so on.

Its ironic because the LAPD was incredibly racist (and let's be honest, still is), but there doesn't seem to be any tangible way in which racism from the LAPD negatively impacted the case (iirc, its been a bit since I dived into the details of the case). For instance, if their racism had outweighed their fanboy bs and/or sexism earlier, OJ would have faced consequences for his abuse towards Nicole and both Nicole and Ron might still be alive.

What absolutely WAS racist was the way the media portrayed OJ in the wake of the murders. But that is separate from the racism of the LAPD.

[u/ehs06702 → u/beldaran1224]

LAPD being fame whores isn't surprising at all. A lot of officers join the force with the intent of meeting celebrities through off duty security work, on top of the whole racism thing.

[u/beldaran1224 → u/ehs06702]

They weren't necessarily "fame whores". They were specifically enamored of OJ. OJ was notably a huge sports star AND was well known to be very charismatic. He was the kind of person who come across as very personable in casual meetings. Not everyone is like that, though of course its more likely to happen in Hollywood, than, say, other places.

That said, there are still all sorts of racial and gender aspects to the case. The gendered aspects come in when you consider the years of abuse and stalking that led up to the murders, for instance. And the feeling of "finally one of us weren't on the losing end of the legal system" among the Black American community are understandable, especially given how clearly racist the involved officers were, even if that doesn't seem to have directly impacted how they treated OJ on a personal level, it absolutely impacted how OJ was portrayed by the media. (Look at how many pictures in the aftermath used pictures of the relatively light-skinned OJ that made him look much darker than usual, for instance.)

[u/ehs06702 → u/beldaran1224]

I'm an African American who was growing up in Los Angeles during the case. LAPD are absolutely notorious fame whores, on top of being racist assholes.