A convicted criminal and prison escapee may have played a role in disposing of key evidence in the O.J. Simpson murder case, according to a report published Monday by TMZ.com. The report identifies Joey Ippolito as the individual who may have gotten rid of the knife and bloody clothes linked to the 1994 killings of Nicole Brown Simpson and Ron Goldman.
Harvey Levin, who covered the Simpson case as an investigative reporter for the CBS affiliate in Los Angeles in 1994, addressed the claim in a video published by TMZ.com on Monday. Levin said the New York Times report that Ippolito disposed of the evidence may be accurate, but he emphasized that any involvement by Ippolito would have occurred after the murders, not as part of a conspiracy to commit them.
Levin, who followed the Simpson story from its beginning to its conclusion, described Ippolito as a mafioso, drug dealer, convicted criminal and prison escapee. He stated that Ippolito was not an accomplice to the murders themselves, but may have helped Simpson get rid of physical evidence linking him to the crimes.
According to Levin, if Ippolito's account is true, the murder weapon was thrown into a dumpster located one block from Levin's home. Levin also noted that he has many personal connections to individuals who were part of Simpson's circle at the time, and he shared some of those stories in the video.
The report was published on October 19, 2026, at 8:34 AM PDT by TMZ Staff. The Simpson case remains one of the most closely followed criminal investigations in American history, and any new claim about evidence handling is likely to draw significant public interest.