Bill Pavelic Online, Detective Bill Pavelic Blog

The Houston Chronicle
July 29, 1994, Friday, 2 STAR Edition

LOS ANGELES — Encouraged by the promise of a large reward or the chance to contribute to a historic investigation, 250,000 callers have flooded a newly created hot line with tips about the O.J. Simpson murder case, while similarly besieged police have designated a full-time “”clue chaser” to run down the leads coming to them.

“It’s beyond belief,” Simpson’s lead attorney, Robert L. Shapiro, said of the hot line deluge. He said calls have become “so overwhelming” that the operators have had to install a backup recording system to keep up with the crush.

Tipsters have included private investigators with clues based largely on news reports, amateur detectives with theories implicating other would-be suspects and people claiming to have witnessed the events surrounding the murders of Nicole Brown Simpson, 35, and Ronald Lyle Goldman, 25, on June 12 outside her apartment in the Brentwood section of Los Angeles.

Although some of the tips are seemingly credible, many appear to be the products of overactive imaginations. One Maryland woman has called repeatedly to tell of dreams in which she sees another killer. To her frustration, Simpson’s camp has not gotten back to her.

“We’re hearing from every psycho and every crazy person,” said Bill Pavelic, an investigative consultant for the Simpson team. “But if I get one call in a hundred that’s a good lead, it’s worth it. ”

Investigators on both sides of the nationally publicized probe are chasing down each of their leads, reluctant to pass up information that could prove important.

The pace of tips has convinced Los Angeles Police Department officials that Simpson’s camp may be fueling the fires in part to occupy detectives who could be building a case against Simpson, 47.

Any tip that is not checked out could be used against the prosecution at trial. Simpson’s camp has made clear its intention to attack the thoroughness and competence of the investigation into their client.

THE DALLAS MORNING NEWS
July 28, 1994, Thursday, HOME FINAL EDITION

LOS ANGELES - For the first time in the O.J. Simpson case, a victim’s rela-tive has branded Mr. Simpson a murderer, in a lawsuit accusing him of “will-fully, wantonly and maliciously” killing Ronald Goldman.

In a wrongful-death lawsuit disclosed Wednesday, Mr. Goldman’s mother, Sharon Rufo, seeks unspecified damages for the loss of her 25-year-old son’s companion-ship and support.

Ms. Rufo, who lives in St. Louis, had not seen her son in the five years be-fore his death. She is divorced from Mr. Goldman’s father, Fred.

And at a court hearing Wednesday, Judge Lance Ito resolved a last-minute snag in testing of blood samples set to begin Thursday.

Prosecutors hope the evidence will link Mr. Simpson to the June 12 stabbings of Mr. Simpson’s ex-wife Nicole Brown Simpson, 35, and Mr. Goldman, a friend of hers.

Officials at Cellmark Diagnostics, the Germantown, Md., laboratory hired by the prosecution to conduct the delicate tests, had objected to Judge Ito’s order allowing defense scientists to cut blood samples for possible independent test-ing. Judge Ito will decide later whether the defense may use 10 percent of the samples for those tests.

Cellmark officials had written to the judge explaining that the lab preferred to use its own technicians. But Judge Ito reaffirmed a ruling handed down Mon-day, saying the cuts by defense experts could proceed as scheduled.

Meanwhile, encouraged by the promise of a huge reward or the chance to con-tribute to a historic investigation, 250,000 callers have flooded a newly cre-ated hotline with tips about the O.J. Simpson murder case.

Similarly besieged police have designated a full-time “clue chaser” to run down the leads coming to them.

“It’s beyond belief,” Mr. Simpson’s lead defense attorney, Robert Shapiro told The Los Angeles Times on Wednesday. He said calls have become “so over-whelming” that the operators have had to install a special backup recording sys-tem to keep up with the crush.

Tipsters have included private investigators with clues based largely on news reports, amateur detectives with theories implicating other would-be suspects and people claiming to have witnessed the events surrounding the grisly murders.

Although some of the tips are seemingly credible, many appear to be the prod-ucts of overactive imaginations. One Maryland woman has called repeatedly to tell of dreams in which she sees another killer. To her frustration, Mr. Simp-son’s camp has not gotten back to her.

“We’re hearing from every psycho and every crazy person,” said Bill Pavelic, an investigative consultant working with the Simpson team. “But if I get one call in a hundred that’s a good lead, it’s worth it.”