LOS ANGELES (AP) — A Heisman Trophy O.J. Simpson won in 1968 has been recovered more than 20 years after it was stolen in a burglary at the University of Southern California, police said Tuesday night.
The trophy and a Simpson jersey were stolen in a burglary at Heritage Hall, home to USC’s athletic department, during a July 28, 1994, burglary. At the time, Simpson was awaiting trial for the murder of his ex-wife Nicole Brown Simpson and her friend Ron Goldman, who were killed the previous month. He would be acquitted in 1995.
The trophy was recovered last month by detectives assigned to the LAPD’s Art Theft Detail, the department said in a statement.
The burglars had dismantled Plexiglas display cases to take the items and the theft was discovered by a janitor the next morning.
Police would give no further details on where or how they found the trophy, saying the investigation was still open. They sought the public’s help with further leads in the probe and any word on the location of the jersey, which remains missing.
The recovered Heisman was the duplicate that is given to the university of the winning player and not the one given to Simpson himself in 1968, police said.
It remained in police possession, and USC athletic officials had no immediate comment Tuesday night.
Simpson’s own trophy was seized under a $33.5 million judgment after a civil court found Simpson liable for the deaths of Nicole Simpson and Goldman.
Simpson is now in a Nevada prison after a 2008 conviction for kidnapping and armed robbery in a hotel room heist in Las Vegas. The Nevada Supreme Court is considering an appeal seeking his release.
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