Hotel near O'Hare played brief role in O.J. case: 'He was tired. He wanted to go to bed'

A small piece of history in the double-murder case against O.J. Simpson lies beneath the shadow of jetliners not far from O’Hare International Airport.

That’s because about the time the bodies of his ex-wife, Nicole Brown Simpson, and her friend Ronald Goldman were found outside her Los Angeles home on June, 13, 1994, the former football star and actor was boarding a red-eye flight to Chicago for a golf outing.

Simpson’s brief stay at the former O’Hare Plaza Hotel, now a Holiday Inn, at 5615 N. Cumberland Ave., sparked an exhaustive search by local law enforcement officials, who scoured a wooded area near the hotel and searched his room for evidence that might link him to the murders.

Police combed through Room 915 on June 13 for 4 1/2 hours, dusting for fingerprints to confirm that Simpson had stayed there. The room’s phone records were turned over to Los Angeles police. Chicago police retrieved sheets, towels and a bloody washcloth.

Emmanuel Camarillo/Sun-Times

A lawyer for Simpson confirmed that a bloody towel was found in the room, but he said Simpson used it when he broke a glass in the room and cut himself upon learning of his former wife’s death.

Simpson had arrived at the hotel about 6:15 a.m. that day after departing from Los Angeles shortly before midnight. The bodies were found about 12:20 a.m. He landed at O’Hare Airport about 5:40 a.m. to attend a corporate golf outing for Hertz that afternoon.

“His one comment was, ‘I need some sleep,’” Peter Phillips, the hotel’s manager, told the Sun-Times at the time. “He was fine. He was tired. He wanted to go to bed.”

Simpson only stayed at the hotel for a few hours before returning to Los Angeles on a 9:15 a.m. American flight. But the search didn’t end after he left.

A motorist had reported seeing someone who looked like Simpson digging through an overgrown vacant lot across from the hotel. The tip sparked an all-out search of the area led by CPD evidence technicians and Los Angeles detectives.

Investigators used police dogs and metal detectors in their search for bloody clothes or a weapon in the 50- by 100-yard lot, but they came up empty-handed after three separate searches.

Chicago Sun Times file

Crews also searched O’Hare Airport, and sought out passengers who may have spoken with Simpson on his red-eye to Chicago. They also searched the American Airlines plane he was on.

Simpson was formally charged with the murders on June 17, 1994. After he was charged, Hertz dropped Simpson as a spokesman.

He was acquitted on Oct. 3, 1995, after a sensational trial that gripped the nation on TV and newspapers.

Simpson died Wednesday of prostate cancer, his family announced. He was 76.