O.J.'S Bizarre Flight -- Surrenders On Murder Charges After Chase On National TV

LOS ANGELES - Climaxing an extraordinary drama televised live, fugitive football hero O.J. Simpson last night surrendered to police in the driveway of his mansion to face murder charges in the slaying of his ex-wife and a male friend.

After a 90-minute, 60-mile pursuit and an hour of negotiation in the driveway, Simpson gave up his handgun and was taken away by police.

The final moments in Simpson's desperate flight from justice played out on national television and Southern California's traffic arteries to form a surreal chapter in the history of electronic journalism.

The odyssey across several freeways and city streets was carried by every local television station, CNN, ESPN, the three major networks and many radio stations.

Thousands of motorists trailed the chase vehicles, waving happily to the TV news crews. They blinked their emergency flashers and pulled off to the side of the freeway, hoping for a glimpse of the fleeing white Bronco. Some waved signs reading, "Save the Juice" and "Go, O.J.," cheering on the former football great.

Many dashed between haphazardly parked cars and waved to and screamed at the passing truck, reportedly driven by Simpson's longtime friend Al Cowlings.

"I want to see him. This is history, I guess," said Martin Giego, parked near an exit on the San Diego Freeway.

News crews monitoring police broadcasts took to the air soon after the Bronco was spotted.

The journey ended at Simpson's Brentwood mansion with helicopters hovering and TV crews covering the bizarre scene as daylight faded.

Text captions on the television screen promoted the live broadcast with phrases like "The Simpson Investigation: Manhunt," "O.J. in White Bronco" and "The Pursuit of O.J."

TV stations broadcast impassioned speeches from Simpson's friends and some complete strangers.

Hall of Fame running back Walter Payton called one station to say: "This guy is afraid. I'm not sure if somebody else in the same position would not act accordingly."

KCBC-TV sportscaster Jim Hill, also a former football player, made a live, personal appeal for a surrender. Over television, he addressed Simpson and spoke of their personal friendship through the years: "Stand up. Be a man. Face the situation."

Callers to TV stations poured their hearts out over the airwaves, declaring their devotion and admiration for the fallen hero. Many pleaded with Simpson, who was reported by some stations to have a gun to his head, not to take his life.

"I know there's only one person that can really help him, and that's the heavenly father," said Jim Cheyunski, a former Buffalo Bills teammate.

"I'm just fearing for his safety," said quarterback Vince Evans, a Southern Cal football alumnus.

Anchors formed a Greek chorus for the pursuit, offering live running commentary as the chase progressed.

"There's a macabre curiosity that is driving them to be out there, cheering and waving, as if this is a celebration, and it is not," KCBS anchor Michael Tuck said of the spectators.

One station even put a psychologist on the air to offer up a bizarre real-time therapy session. "The universe becomes for these people their own depression," therapist Rex Beaber said.

Paul Moyer, an anchor on KNBC-TV, offered up a disclaimer for the nonstop coverage. "We will ensure that we are not going to affect the outcome of this in any way," he said.

Simpson disappeared about noon

Simpson, who rose from the mean streets of San Francisco to the football Hall of Fame and international celebrity, became the subject of a massive manhunt yesterday after a warrant was issued for his arrest in connection with the murders of his ex-wife and a male friend.

His lawyer, Robert Shapiro, said the 46-year-old Simpson disappeared around noon after agreeing to turn himself in to authorities. Shapiro said Simpson had been last seen with a friend, former University of Southern California teammate Cowlings.

The two apparently fled together as police were en route to the large, San Fernando Valley house where Simpson's arrest was to have taken place. Shapiro said he was in the house, but upstairs, when Simpson and Cowlings apparently left.

Shapiro, appearing on TV, pleaded with Simpson to turn himself in "for the sake of your family, for the sake of your children." Shapiro said that, in the hours before his disappearance, Simpson had updated his will, called his mother and his children, and gave a friend at the house three sealed letters.

One, addressed "To whom it may concern" and read at a news conference by Simpson's friend Robert Kardashian, reiterated Simpson's denial that he had any part in the murders of his ex-wife, Nicole Brown Simpson and Ronald Lyle Goldman, a 25-year-old waiter.

"I think of my life and feel I've done most of the right things," the letter said. "So why do I end up like this? I can't go on. No matter what the outcome, people will look and point. I can't take that. I can't subject my children to that."

The letter concluded:

"Don't feel sorry for me. I have had a great life, made great friends. Please think of the real O.J. and not this lost person."

Authorities, enraged at Simpson's disappearance, warned the public against hiding the star, who had promised to surrender to authorities yesterday morning. Scores of law-enforcement officers fanned out across Southern California in an intensive search for one of the world's most recognizable public figures when Simpson did not appear as scheduled.

Nicole Simpson and Goldman were found stabbed to death early Monday morning outside her $700,000 town house in the Brentwood district of Los Angeles. Police sources said the two had been slain sometime after 10 p.m. Sunday night.

Although police had refused to officially label Simpson a suspect, and Simpson's lawyers said he was innocent, sources inside the Los Angeles Police Department made it clear from the outset that he was the focus of their probe. The former college- and pro-football star was briefly handcuffed and taken into custody at his mansion Monday. He was released, however, after questioning.

By yesterday, detectives had concluded their case, recommending that Simpson be charged with two counts of first-degree murder. The charges, which include a "special circumstance" of multiple killings, could bring the death penalty if he were to be convicted.

Los Angeles police Cmdr. David Gascon said Simpson had been scheduled to turn himself in to police at 11 a.m., with arraignment set for later that afternoon.

But 45 minutes, and then an hour, ticked by and Simpson was nowhere to be seen. Finally, just before 2 p.m., police announced Simpson had officially become a fugitive from justice.

"He is a wanted murder suspect," Gascon said tersely, "and we will go find him."

It was unclear how the 6-foot-1, 205-pound Simpson - who had been dogged by crowds of reporters and cameramen for most of the week - had managed to elude the authorities, who had felt confident that someone so famous would never attempt to flee.

Sequestered `Simpson' a decoy?

Throughout the week, Simpson had appeared to be sequestered in his Brentwood home, emerging only to visit his children and to attend Nicole Simpson's funeral in Orange County. And after the services Thursday, a man resembling Simpson was photographed ducking past hordes of news reporter into the home - escorted by an off-duty police sergeant.

Police sources say authorities now believe that man was a decoy and intend to interview Sgt. Dennis Sebenik, a 25-year veteran who was a member of Simpson's security detail. Sebenik said, however, that the decoy had been intended only to help the grieving Simpson avoid the media.

"To get rid of you guys, maybe," he told the Los Angeles Times, "but not to help him get away."

Sebenik said he manages a "legitimate security company" and had been hired to provide security for Simpson. He would not comment on why an off-duty Los Angeles police officer was providing security for a man widely reported to be a suspect in a double homicide.

Gascon, meanwhile, said department officials were investigating Sebenik's conduct.

Shapiro said Simpson had been told yesterday morning that he would have to surrender later in the day. Because of Simpson's "fragile" emotional state, Shapiro said he had asked several doctors to join him at the San Fernando Valley home where a heavily sedated Simpson had spent Thursday night.

Shapiro said he was in constant contact with authorities as doctors were examining Simpson, a process that delayed the planned surrender for nearly an hour.

Police, impatient about the delays, called the house to say that they were coming to arrest Simpson. But, Shapiro said, he did not pass that news on to Simpson, who was with Cowlings in another part of the house.

It was apparently at that point that Simpson and Cowlings slipped away, Shapiro said.

Suicide call received at condo

As authorities announced to a shocked press corps that Simpson was a fugitive, Nicole Simpson's father rushed from her Brentwood condominium, begging a teenager to dial 911. Police Sgt. Bob Brounstein said a man claiming to be Simpson called the house at least twice, saying he was coming over to the scene of the slayings to kill himself.

"I'm going to go join Nicole," the caller allegedly said. But Simpson never turned up at the residence.

As it became increasingly clear that Simpson was not likely to surrender other law-enforcement agencies throughout the region were notified of Simpson's disappearance. Sheriff's officials and the California Highway Patrol joined the hunt, focusing their search on the Los Angeles area.

Police said they were looking for a white Bronco apparently belonging to Cowlings. They also warned that Simpson might be armed and was considered suicidal. He reportedly had held a gun to his own head during the freeway chase.

The disappearance of Simpson was a public-relations nightmare for police and the district attorney's office, whose decision not to arrest Simpson earlier had been second-guessed in some quarters. Police sources had been saying all week that the evidene against Simpson was strong enough to warrant his arrest, and yet the department held off, hoping to build an airtight case before taking him into custody.

In the four days since the killings, police sources said, evidence has continued to mount linking Simpson to the crimes.

Bloodstains on the walkway where the bodies were found matched Simpson's blood type, they said, and two bloodstained gloves were recovered, one at the scene, its match outside his Brentwood home.

Polices sources also said that a trail of blood drops stretched across Simpson's cobblestone driveway. And yesterday, they said that bloodstains inside his home matched Nicole Simpson's blood type. The blood evidence appeared to figure against Simpson but is not necessarily conclusive, sources said. Even the rarest blood types are shared by many people.

DNA tests can more definitively identify blood samples, but they may take weeks or even months to complete.

Los Angeles County District Attorney Gil Garcetti said that a murder weapon, which he described as a "substantial knife," had yet to be found.

Witnesses and authorities said O.J. and Nicole Simpson - who had apparently seen each other off-and-on after their troubled and sometimes violent marriage ended in 1992 - had been together on the evening of the killings, attending a dance recital for their 9-year-old daughter.

The blood-soaked bodies of Nicole Simpson and Goldman were found shortly after midnight Monday. Coroner's investigators said both their throats had been slit, and their corpses bore multiple stab wounds. They added that there were signs that Goldman had put up a fierce struggle before he died. Police sources placed the time of death at sometime between 10 and 11 p.m. Sunday.

Last night's dramatic freeway chase was the most stunning development in a week of high drama. Police spotted the white Bronco at 6:45 p.m. in Orange County, nearly six hours after Simpson had disappeared. Thus began the slow pursuit at a careful distance, with millions watching, that ended with Simpson's arrest in his own driveway.

Compiled from Los Angeles Times, Washington Post, Associated Press and Reuter reports.