O.J. Simpson Detective Mark Fuhrman Dead at 74 After Battle With 'Aggressive Throat Cancer' — Decades After 'N-Word Scandal' Helped Shamed NFL Star Walk Free
Mark Fuhrman, one of the biggest names at the OJ Simpson murder trial, has died.
May 18 2026, Published 5:32 p.m. ET
Mark Fuhrman, the former LAPD detective who first discovered the bloody glove in the O.J. Simpson murder case, has died, RadarOnline.com can report.
The key piece of evidence did not fit the accused killer, and defense attorneys went to town calling the cop a racist, likely helping a jury eventually acquit the NFL star of the murders of his ex-wife, Nicole Brown Simpson, and her friend, Ron Goldman.
Mark Fuhrman and OJ Simpson
Fuhrman was 74 years old.
A close friend told TMZ Fuhrman died from an aggressive form of throat cancer at age 74. He reportedly had been hospitalized for about a week before he died.
After retiring from the LAPD in 1995, Fuhrman had been living in Idaho, as he wrote true-crime books and became an analyst for Fox News.
In 1995, he was called to testify in the "trial of the century" regarding his discovery of evidence in the Simpson case, including a bloody glove recovered at Simpson's estate.
However, Fuhrman quickly became the fall guy of the trial when Simpson's defense team alleged that he planted the glove as part of a racially motivated effort to frame the football star for the murders.
Mark Fuhrman's Downfall
Simpson was found not guilty of the murders of Ron Goldman and Nicole.
During the trial, witnesses claimed that throughout the 1980s, Fuhrman frequently used the "n-word" to describe African Americans, but he vehemently denied those claims – even under oath.
Simpson's defense team soon revealed taped interviews with Fuhrman in which he had used the offensive word. As a result, the defense claimed that Fuhrman had committed perjury and was not a credible witness.
Fuhrman's words on the tapes resulted in his being widely condemned, including by the prosecution that first brought him into the lengthy court case.
His use of racial epithets and accusations that he had planted evidence became a focal point of the trial, and Goldman's father, Fred Goldman, eventually blasted: "This is now the Fuhrman trial. It is not the trial of O. J. Simpson, the man accused of murdering my son and Nicole."
OJ Simpson's Cancer
Fred Goldman never stopped seeking justice for his son.
Fuhrman's death comes two years after Simpson lost his own battle with cancer – in that case, prostate cancer.
In 1994, Simpson was charged with the murders of Nicole and Ron, after they were both found stabbed to death in Los Angeles.
But after Fuhrman's controversy, Simpson won the case. However, his reputation followed him for the rest of his life as many still believed he was guilty regardless of the court's decision.
As his death drew closer, there were some who "hoped OJ would unburden his feelings over Nicole and Ron" or even confess "to a role" in their deaths, but one source claimed there was "nothing of the sort" in Simpson's final days.
The Death of OJ
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Simpson died without ever setting things straight.
Instead, Simpson merely maintained a defiant demeanor and reportedly "refused to acknowledge he was dying," despite suffering from severe symptoms.
"He couldn't even get up to go to the bathroom on his own," the source said. "He was wasting away."
"O.J. was getting chemo and looked sickly and weak, but never let on that he was in any sort of discomfort," the insider continued. "He put on this act that everything was dandy while the cancer was obviously ravaging his insides."
"It came to the point that any further treatment would be futile," added the source.
