OJ, a Tragedy

Thanks to John Zant for his OJ article today.

I was OJ’s neighbor in Brentwood for many years. In the evenings we used to speak when we encountered one another while walking our dogs. He was affable and quite enjoyable. My children used to play at his home as it backed up to the home of our children’s best friends. They had put in a gate between the homes as the couples were friends. OJ had a room with a soda fountain and those vintage arcade games. Our kids loved being there.

After the murders our kids revealed to us that they often overheard fighting between OJ and Nicole. Our friends who knew him at USC told us that the sorority girls eventually shied from dating him as he was fiercely possessive.

None of this behavior was evident to us as his neighbors.

We moved up to Santa Barbara to avoid the absolute chaos in our neighborhood caused by tourists looking for his home or to speak with his neighbors. It was a very difficult time.

On one side he was a warm, supportive, and communicative friend. On the side never shown to outsiders, it turned out that he was a possessive monster.

OJ was a true tragedy.