It is good news that Fox has decided to pull the planned interview with O.J. Simpson in which he tells his interviewer “how he would have committed†the murders of his ex-wife Nicole Brown Simpson and her friend, waiter Ron Goldman, for which he was acquitted and which he has always strongly denied committing. It’ is also good that Simpson’s book, If I Did It, in which, as its publisher, Judith Regan, has said, he “hypothetically describes how the murders would have been committed†will not be released
However, the fact that Simpson wrote this book and was willing to grant this interview gives a fresh insight into just what kind of a person he really is.
This “hypothetical†book and interview is reminiscent of the “speculations†of serial murderer Ted Bundy elicited by authors Stephen Michaud and Hugh Aynesworth for their book, The Only Living Witness, and re-published in the later book, Conversations with a Killer. Michaud and Aynesworth had interviewed Bundy during the long time period in which he was still vehemently denying he had murdered anyone. Bundy easily discussed other, far less serious crimes, his background and thoughts on various matters. Michaud and Aynesworth found conversing with him often frustrating because, although he was approaching middle age, Bundy seemed oddly childish. He reminded them of a precocious but bratty kid. Sometimes he seemed to get close to discussing the killings but would inevitably shy away.
Michaud and Aynesworth hit on a proposal that might allow him to open up. They wrote that people familiar with the psychology of children know that kids are often extremely reluctant to use the first-person “I†of admission but may be persuaded to tell about a naughty activity and even accept punishment for it if they are not forced to make a straightforward admission. The authors decided to try to “get down into the sandbox†with Ted. They considered asking him to “speculate†on what the man who actually committed the murders with which Bundy was charged was like, what motivated him, and how he committed the crimes. Bundy could have insights from his study of psychology in college, his intelligence, and his experience as a suspect in the crimes. They wrote, “It was not pretend but let’s pretend to pretend.â€ÂÂ
The writers made this proposal to Bundy who mulled it over for a few days and then accepted it. When it came time to be interviewed, Michaud stumbled in a question and Bundy insisted, “I’m going to be very careful about the wording on this. You can’t ask me what happened because I don’t know. All I can do is assist you with my educated guesses.†Speaking in the third person about the murderer as “he,†Bundy then gave detailed accounts of the crimes.
O.J. Simpson pulled a Bundy with If I Did It. Simpson has long benefited from the perception that, whether or not he committed the slayings, he is an “us†rather than a “them,†that is, a basically normal person who may have perpetrated horrible crimes in a fit of passion. With this childish, I-know-something-you-don’t-know, teasing confession Simpson exposed himself as a true sociopath.
