A knife was found on the old property of OJ Simpson is likely not connected to the murders of Nicole Brown Simpson and Ronald Goldman. Patrick Healy reports for the NBC4 News at 6 on Friday, March 4, 2016. (Published Friday, March 4, 2016) 
 
 Los Angeles police confirmed Friday morning a knife was found on the former Brentwood property of O.J. Simpson and said they are investigating a report that it was discovered years ago by a construction worker who handed it over to authorities. 
 
 A report, published Friday by TMZ and citing unidentified law enforcement sources, said a construction worker found a knife several years ago buried on the perimeter of the former Simpson home and gave it to a police officer working security for a nearby film shoot. 
 
 Archive: The O.J. Simpson Slow-Speed Chase On June 17, 1994, an apparently suicidal Orenthal "OJ" Simpson and his friend Al Cowlings led police on a 60 mile slow-speed car chase through Los Angeles and Orange counties, captivating viewers glued to television sets. Simpson had failed to surrender to police earlier in the day, when he was slated to be charged in the murders of his ex-wife and her male friend. As police closed down the freeways and 20 cruisers followed Simpson, spectators filled the freeway overpasses, many cheering him on with signs reading "Go O.J." (Published Friday, March 4, 2016) 
 
 The officer, now retired, was recently ordered to surrender the knife for testing by authorities after he contacted a friend at the department for information about the 1994 murder case for which Simpson stood trial, according to the report. 
 
 LAPD Capt. Andrew Neiman told NBC4 Friday morning that police are investigating the report. 
 
 The mansion on Rockingham Avenue in Brentwood, where Simpson lived when his ex-wife and her friend were stabbed to death in June 1994, was demolished by a new owner in 1998. TMZ reported, citing law enforcement sources, that the knife was found sometime from "several years ago to 1998." 
 
 The Great White Bronco Chase 
 
 "We still don't know if that's an accurate account," Neiman said. 
 
 Neiman confirmed at a Friday morning news conference that an individual identified by the officer as a construction worker gave the knife to him when he was working security at a film shoot near the former Simpson estate. The officer retired in the late 1990s, but it's not clear whether the officer was retired at the time the knife was found, Neiman said. 
 
 "If this story is accurate, I would think an LAPD officer would know that anytime you come into contact with evidence you should submit that to investigators," Neiman said. 
 
 The officer will likely not face administrative charges because he is retired, Neiman said, adding that an investigation will determine whether criminal charges are possible. 
 
 Life and Times: OJ Simpson 
 
 Police became aware of the knife within the last month, but authorities did not discuss details about how they obtained the item. It has been submitted to an LAPD forensics team for examination. 
 
 It was not clear to whom the knife belonged and authorities are attempting to determine the identity of the individual who turned it over to the officer, Neiman said. 
 
 "With all cases that remain open, unless there's an actual arrest or conviction to prove we've actually closed the case, the case remains open," Neiman said of the killings of Nicole Brown Simpson and Ron Goldman. 
 
 Neiman did not provide a description of the knife at the Friday news conference, but multiple law enforcement sources familiar with the investigation told NBC News that the knife undergoing tests is a relatively inexpensive, smaller-bladed utility blade typically used by construction workers, gardeners, landscapers or other laborers. 
 
 The murder weapon in the case has remained a mystery. A 15-inch retractable-blade knife that Simpson bought at Ross Cutlery in downtown Los Angeles drew the interest of murder trial prosecutors, but the defense presented the knife in a preliminary hearing. Tests later showed the knife in pristine condition with no signs it had been used in the double killing. 
 
 LAPD Discusses Knife Found at Ex-OJ Simpson Home (Published Friday, March 4, 2016) 
 
 In 1998, a residential construction crew found a folding-blade knife in Simpson's former neighborhood but police said there was no evidence to show it was related to any crime. 
 
 The mansion, where Simpson married Brown in 1985, was one of the landmarks of the murder trial. The infamous white Ford Bronco pursuit from Orange County ended in the mansion's driveway. It's also where Det. Mark Fuhrman said he found a bloody glove during the investigation into the slayings of Brown and Goldman. 
 
 Simpson was forced to sell the Rockingham Avenue estate to comply with requirements of the civil court judgment after the criminal trial. An investment banker hired a demolition crew to raze the house and clear the way for a new mansion four years later. 
 
 "It's not my house and I could care less," Simpson told The Associated Press in a telephone interview at the time the house was demolished. "I am a sentimental guy, but there's things you've got to compartmentalize." 
 
 The former NFL and USC football star was acquitted of murder in the slayings of ex-wife and Goldman, but a civil jury found him liable. In September 2007, Simpson was arrested in Las Vegas and charged with several felonies after an armed robbery and kidnapping at a hotel in an attempt to recover sports memorabilia. 
 
 He was sentenced to 33 years in prison. 
 
 OJ Trial: Key Players Then and Now 
 
 No matter what is determined through the knife investigation, Simpson cannot be tried again in the Brown-Goldman murders because of the Double Jeopardy Clause of the Fifth Amendment. Attorney Carl Douglas, a member of Simpson's legal team that secured the 1995 acquittal, said an investigation involving the knife would be a waste of time and money. 
 
 "I am amazed at the latest frenzy surrounding this ridiculous frenzy about some knife found on OJ's former property," Douglas said. "As a proud citizen of Los Angeles, I will be offended if the Los Angeles Police Department spends one minute of city time or one dollar of the city's limited resources chasing this ridiculous, supposed lead. I hope there are other investigations more deserving of the city's resources than this failed attempt, now 22 years old. 
 
 "OJ left the house two days after the murders and never returned until October 3rd, 1995. I certainly hope the LAPD used all of the resources then to scour every inch of his property looking for relevant evidence. It is pure fantasy to believe that there's anything relevant with this knife that has now been turned over. I'd rather talk about the Easter Bunny instead." ||||| O.J. Simpson Murder Case Buck Knife Could Produce Fatal Wounds 
 
 O.J. Simpson Murder Case: Buck Knife Could Produce Ron and Nicole's Fatal Wounds 
 
 EXCLUSIVE 
 
 The knife found buried on O.J. Simpson's former estate was more than capable of inflicting the mortal wounds on Nicole Brown Simpson and Ron Goldman ... so says the man who examined the wounds of the victims. 
 
 Dr. Irwin Golden, who served as the Deputy Medical Examiner, testified in the O.J. Simpson case and performed both autopsies, tells TMZ the folding buck knife could have severely cut both victims. Nicole was brutally attacked with a deep neck wound -- 2 1/2 inches deep and 5 1/2 inches across -- and Golden says a 4" blade could have done the deed. We broke the story ... the knife in question has a 5" blade. 
 
 Sources connected with the 1994 investigation and others involved in the evaluation of the knife tell us there was always a wide belief among LAPD cops that Simpson used a buck knife. 
 
 TMZ broke the story ... a construction worker found the knife buried on the perimeter of the property in 2002, gave it to a retired LAPD cop who never turned it in, instead taking it home and putting it in his tool box. The cop claims he alerted LAPD when he got it, but they expressed no interest. 
 
 Dr. Golden cautioned if the murder weapon was a buck knife it had to be "heavy." A knife expert tells us back in '94 buck knives were made with heavy American-made steel. 
 
 The knife is being tested for fingerprints and hair. Next week it goes to the serology unit for DNA testing. ||||| The Los Angeles Police Department is conducting tests on a knife purportedly found at O.J. Simpson's old property after they recovered it from a retired LAPD officer within the past month. 
 
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 But a law enforcement official briefed on the investigation says the preliminary assessment is that it is not the murder weapon. The real weapon, the official said, would likely be larger and possibly "exotic." 
 
 "The story, as it's told to us by the [retired officer] that we received it from," Capt. Andrew Neiman of the LAPD said at a news conference today, was that the officer "was working in the area of the Rockingham estate and he claimed that an individual," who said he was a construction worker, gave him that knife, Neiman said. 
 
 The officer, identified by his lawyer as George Maycott, retired in 1998 and was working security on a movie set about five years later when he was approached by a construction worker down the street from Simpson's demolished estate, the attorney, Trent Copeland, said. 
 
 The worker handed him a dirty and muddy knife, with no evidence of blood and Maycott immediately called the West Office of the LAPD, Copeland said. According to the lawyer, Maycott was put on hold and was later told that the Simpson case was over. 
 
 Maycott then took the knife -- a 5-inch buck knife with a brown handle -- home and put it in his toolbox, where it sat for about 15 years, Copeland said. The knife was taken into custody by police on Feb. 10. 
 
 The LAPD did not immediately comment on Copeland's claims. 
 
 Simpson's Rockingham estate in Brentwood was demolished in 1998. The LAPD is not releasing details on the description of the knife, Neiman said. 
 
 Maycott is retired so there likely would not be administrative charges, Neiman said. Investigators will look into whether there is any potential for criminal charges, Neiman said. 
 
 Neiman said the Nicole Brown Simpson and Ron Goldman double-murder case is open but, for Simpson, who was acquitted in the killings, “double jeopardy would be in place," Neiman said. 
 
 The knife was submitted to the lab to be studied for forensics including DNA and hair samples, Neiman said, adding that it’s unknown how long the investigation will take. 
 
 Police do not know the identity of the alleged construction worker who found the knife, Neiman said, and the authorities ask that he come forward. 
 
 Neiman said the story told to police could be accurate, or the "whole story is possibly bogus from the get-go.” 
 
 "We are looking into that," Neiman said, adding that he was shocked by the possibility that a police officer kept such a knife. 
 
 A statement released today on behalf of Fred and Kim Goldman said: “Until the LAPD completes its investigation of the recovered knife, the validity of the knife as it relates to Ron and Nicole’s murder is purely speculative. ... We cannot validate every claim with a discussion, as it only creates more unnecessary hype and encourages the media circus." 
 
 Attorney Carl Douglas, who was a member of Simpson's legal team in 1995, told ABC News today that “the story is ridiculous.” Douglas is not currently Simpson’s lawyer. 
 
 There have been previous reports of a knife found near Simpson's old home. 
 
 The Associated Press reported in May 1998 that a construction crew found a folding-blade knife in Simpson's neighborhood but police said at the time that the knife couldn't be linked to the murders. 
 
 Police Department spokesman Lt. Anthony Alba said at the time that several knives had been found in Simpson's former neighborhood over the past few years but officials did not find any blood or other evidence linking to any crime. 
 
 On June 12, 1994, Simpson's ex-wife Nicole Brown Simpson and her friend Ronald Goldman were found stabbed to death in front of her Los Angeles home. To date, the murder weapon has never been found. 
 
 Myung J. Chun/AP Photo 
 
 Simpson was charged with the murders. Then on Oct. 3, 1995, at the end of a televised trial that captivated the nation, the former football star was acquitted of all criminal charges. He was found liable for their deaths in a civil case in 1997. 
 
 Simpson was arrested in September 2007 during a botched robbery in Las Vegas when he led a group of men into a hotel and casino to steal his own sports memorabilia at gunpoint. 
 
 He was charged with a number of felony counts, including kidnapping and armed robbery. He was found guilty and sentenced to 33 years in prison. He is serving his time at Lovelock Correctional Facility in Nevada.
– Yesterday felt like 1994 all over again, with OJ Simpson grabbing headlines across America after TMZ broke the news that the LAPD is testing a knife that was allegedly found nearly two decades ago on Simpson's former estate. More comments and context as the dust settles: The Los Angeles Times spoke with Mike Weber, whose Weber-Madgwick Inc. construction company demolished the Brentwood mansion in 1998. "I think it's a joke. No one on my crew found anything. I had instructed my people, 'If you find anything, don't keep it,'" he said, though he does concede, "Hundreds and hundreds of people were there after me." TMZ keeps its story going by speaking to Dr. Irwin Golden, the Deputy Medical Examiner who examined Nicole Brown Simpson and Ron Goldman's bodies. He believes a knife with a 4-inch blade could have been the murder weapon; the newly found knife has a 5-inch blade. NBC News' report throws plenty of water on the story. Its law enforcement sources tell it the knife is not consistent with the murder weapon but is akin to a small utility knife a gardener might carry, was given to now-retired LAPD officer in 2001 or 2002, and didn't have the appearance of having long-been buried. Former prosecutor Marcia Clark weighed in, too, with comments to Entertainment Tonight. "It might be a hoax ... but, of course, I'm glad the LAPD is taking it seriously and subjecting it to testing so we can find out." As far as those tests go, The Verge explains exactly how the forensic analysis will be carried out. And should the knife actually check out? The Washington Post asks and answers a slew of "tricky legal questions." Read more on the newly found knife here.