Mark Fuhrman, infamous LAPD detective known for his work on OJ Simpson case, dies at 74

Daily Mail UK ^ | May 18, 2026 | Stephen M. Lepore

[Morgana]

Mark Fuhrman, the controversial LAPD detective who was convicted of lying on the witness stand in the OJ Simpson trial, has died. He was 74 years old.

TMZ reported that Fuhrman died a year after being diagnosed with an aggressive form of throat cancer.

Fuhrman was one of the first two police detectives sent to investigate the 1994 killings of Simpson's ex-wife, Nicole Brown Simpson, and her friend Ronald Goldman in Los Angeles.

The slayings and Simpson's trial exposed divisions on race and policing in America.

Fuhrman reported finding a bloody glove at Simpson's home but his credibility came under withering attack during the trial as the defense raised the prospect of racial bias.

Attorney F Lee Bailey cross-examined Fuhrman in an attempt to portray him as a racist whose goal was to frame Simpson.

Fuhrman denied using racial epithets, but the defense later turned up recordings of Fuhrman making racist slurs.

That brief recording heard by the jury was taken from 13 hours of interviews between Fuhrman and screenwriter Laura McKinny recorded between 1985 and 1994, with the last tape being made a month after Simpson was charged in his wife's murder.

[KC_Conspirator]

HE read from a screen play while trying out for a tv show. The script had the n word in it. That was it

[awelliott]

I will never forget that reaction from Howard University when the verdict was read.

Yup. That ended any fantasies I had that race relations had improved.