Kato Kaelin allegedly said OJ Simpson killed wife Nicole, Ron Goldman
Kato Kaelin — who lived in the guest house of former football legend OJ Simpson — reportedly told New York Post that the football star killed his wife Nicole Brown Simpson and her friend, Ron Lyle Goldman. Kaelin is one of the more prominent witnesses in the criminal trial where Simpson was acquitted in the 1994 double murder.
According to reports, Kato Kaelin allegedly told Cindy Adams of the New York Post: “The statute of limitations has now passed . . . so I can now say . . . yes, he did it.”
When Kaelin was asked why his testimony did not help convict OJ Simpson, he responded, “I was too scared. I was terrified.”
However, in an interview with media outlet TMZ, Kato Kaelin vehemently denied the reports that he knows Simpson murdered his wife, or that he is only coming forward now because the statute of limitations on perjury has run.
He said that he was surprised when he read the report which quoted him saying, “The statute of limitations has now passed … so I can now say … yes, he did it.”
Kato Kaelin told TMZ that he never said any of those things to New York Post reporter Cindy Adams or anyone else, saying that he has expressed his opinion over the years that he thinks OJ Simpson killed Nicole Brown and Ron Goldman, but said “I have no first hand knowledge.”
He also insists that he never did an interview saying OJ Simpson murdered his wife. Kaelin said he has no idea where the quotes came from, adding, “I would never say something like this.”
Kato Kaelin became a minor celebrity after he testified in the criminal trial of which OJ Simpson was acquitted and a civil trial where the football legend was found liable for the wrongful deaths.
He is best known for describing three thumps he heard from his guest house on Simpson’s estate the night Nicole Brown Simpson and her friend Ron Goldman were murdered.
During the civil trial, Kato Kaelin testified that the noises he heard sounded “like someone falling back behind my bedroom wall.” His description meshes with the plaintiffs’ scenario — that OJ Simpson made the noises when he crashed into the air conditioner behind Kaelin’s wall while jumping over a fence in a mad dash to get back to his house after the killings.
Struggling actor Kato Kaelin became an instant celebrity after his televised testimony. He testified before that he left Simpson standing in the driveway after a burger run to McDonald’s at 9:37 on the night of the murders, and that when he saw the football star at 11 in the evening, he had no cuts on his hands, as prosecutors had maintained.
During the criminal trial, prosecutors declared Kato Kaelin as a hostile witness, because he provided rambling, ambiguous answers. He played down Simpson’s dislike of his former wife and prosecutors briefly considered pursuing a perjury allegation.