Mark Fuhrman Dead at 74: Former LAPD Detective’s Testimony Changed the O.J. Simpson Trial

Mark Fuhrman — the former LAPD detective who found the infamous bloody glove at O.J. Simpson‘s estate, only to see his own credibility destroyed on the witness stand — died Tuesday, May 12, at 74, as first reported by TMZ.

Fuhrman had been battling an aggressive form of throat cancer diagnosed last year, per the outlet. After roughly a week in the hospital, Fuhrman made the decision to stop treatment. He had been living quietly in Idaho.

It was the 1995 Simpson murder trial that cemented Fuhrman’s place in true crime history. As the detective who recovered the blood-stained glove linking Simpson to the murders of Nicole Brown Simpson and Ron Goldman, Fuhrman was initially a key prosecution witness.

That changed when Simpson’s defense team produced audio recordings of Fuhrman using racial slurs — recordings that flatly contradicted his sworn testimony. The revelation gutted the prosecution’s case and handed the defense a powerful narrative about police racism and planted evidence. Simpson was acquitted.

The fallout for Fuhrman was severe. In 1996, the then-44-year-old became the only person ever convicted of a crime in connection with the Brown Simpson and Goldman murders, after he pleaded no contest to a felony perjury charge.

After retiring from the LAPD in August 1995, Fuhrman became a true crime author and television personality, serving as an expert for Fox News.