Los Angeles police test knife found on property owned by O.J. Simpson

Police in Los Angeles are testing a knife recovered on a property once owned by O.J. Simpson, who was acquitted in the murder of his former wife and her friend, the Los Angeles Police Department said on Friday.

The department is investigating the Buck knife with a retractable blade, which was apparently turned over to a police officer a number of years ago by a construction worker at the property, the Los Angeles Times newspaper reported, citing an unnamed law enforcement source.

The knife was found on the grounds of the house where Simpson lived at the time of the murders. The house, in the posh Brentwood neighborhood of Los Angeles, has since been razed.

Los Angeles Police spokeswoman Norma Eisenman said the agency's Robbery Homicide Division was investigating. She declined to provide further details.

Simpson, a retired pro football Hall of Fame running back for the National Football League's Buffalo Bills, was acquitted in 1995 of murdering his former wife, Nicole Brown Simpson, and her friend, Ronald Goldman, in Los Angeles. Simpson later lost a wrongful death lawsuit brought by the victims' families.

Simpson's ex-wife and Goldman were stabbed multiple times in the neck and head but the murder weapon was never found at the time of the nine-month long trial that ended in 1995 with his acquittal.

Simpson cannot be prosecuted again for the two murders because that would constitute double jeopardy.

Simpson is now in prison on a 2008 armed robbery conviction related to the robbery of two sports memorabilia dealers at a Las Vegas hotel.

While the knife was turned over a number of years ago to police, detectives are now investigating its history and checking it for hair and fingerprints, TMZ, the celebrity gossip website, reported. — Reuters