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Mark Fuhrman, detective at center of OJ Simpson murder trial, dead at 74

By Bonny Chu

Published May 18, 2026

Fox News
Fox News Flash top headlines for May 18 Video

Mark Fuhrman, the former Los Angeles Police Department (LAPD) detective who played a central role in the 1995 O.J. Simpson murder trial, has died at the age of 74.

Chief Deputy Coroner Lynette Acebedo of Kootenai County, Idaho, confirmed Fuhrman's death to Fox News on Monday. Fuhrman died last week, according to NBC4. 

TMZ reported that Fuhrman's death followed a battle with an aggressive form of throat cancer.

MARK FUHRMAN: IDAHO INVESTIGATORS HAVE 'STAYED ON POINT'

mark fuhrman during trial

Former Los Angeles police Detective Mark Fuhrman (L) took the witness stand again 06 September with his attorney Darryl Mounger (R) during the O.J. Simpson double murder trial. (POO/AFP via Getty Images)

During the trial for the murders of Nicole Brown Simpson and Ron Goldman, Fuhrman became a key figure after discovering a bloody glove at Simpson’s Rockingham estate.

Prosecutors said the item matched a glove found at the scene where the two victims were murdered.

His involvement in the trial later led to significant controversy and damaged his credibility after audio recordings surfaced in which he used racial slurs, including the N-word. 

VETERAN DETECTIVE MARK FUHRMAN'S ADVICE FOR JUSSIE SMOLLETT AS ACTOR HEADS BACK TO COURTROOM

OJ Simpson's lawyers

Johnnie Cochran, Robert Kardashian, Barry Scheck, F. Lee Bailey, Shapiro and Alan Dershowitz comprised OJ Simpson's dream team. (Sam Mircovich/AFP)

Despite previously denying such conduct under oath, the defense argued that the tapes raised questions about his credibility and whether evidence in the case had been properly handled. 

The defense also used the recordings to suggest that Fuhrman may have planted the bloody glove to frame Simpson.

O.J. Simpson murder trial

O.J. Simpson holds up his hands before the jury on June 21, 1995, after putting on a new pair of gloves similar to the infamous bloody gloves during his double-murder trial in Los Angeles.  (Vince Bucci/Pool/AP)

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Fuhrman was accused of lying on the witness stand and was convicted of perjury in 1996, making him the only person associated with the case to be convicted of a crime related to the trial.

After retiring from the LAPD in 1995, he remained in the public eye as a true crime author and a talk radio host. 

Bonny Chu is a Digital Production Assistant at Fox News Digital.

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