ST. PETERSBURG, Fla. — OJ Simpson’s youngest daughter has apparently run out of juice.
Sydney Simpson appears to have fallen removed from the lap of luxurious – and landed in a cramped condominium in a decidedly unflashy pocket of suburban Florida, The Put up has realized.
New pictures supply a uncommon glimpse into her quiet, pared-down life in St. Petersburg, the place the 40-year-old lives in a ground-floor, 955-square-foot unit – worlds away from the sprawling Los Angeles mansion her household referred to as dwelling earlier than her mom, Nicole Brown Simpson, and Nicole’s pal Ronald Goldman had been discovered brutally murdered outdoors June 13, 1994.
Sydney, simply 8 years previous on the time, was reportedly asleep in one of many 3,400-square-foot Brentwood dwelling’s 4 bedrooms whereas her mom and Goldman had been stabbed to loss of life within the courtyard. Sydney’s NFL Corridor of Fame father would later be acquitted of the murders in a well-known so-called “trial of the century.”
Almost three many years later, Sydney is residing in a one-story, two-bedroom abode that sits in a squat constructing shared with three different items. It’s simply one of many 27 ageing, white-stucco-and-beige constructions that make up Casablanca Condominiums, a sleepy advanced wedged between the realm’s busy, four-lane 54th Avenue South and a weathered golf course.
Sydney bought the modest dwelling for $135,000 in money in December 2020, property information present. The unit is now estimated to be price practically $216,000 – roughly $125,000 under St. Petersburg’s present median dwelling worth of about $340,000.
Her neighborhood – which locals seek advice from as “South Aspect of St. Pete” – is tough in comparison with the remainder of the peninsula, residents instructed The Put up.
“Between 54th [Ave S] and Downtown [St. Petersburg], the town places no cash into that space in any respect. …These folks have been residing the identical method eternally – there’s no good housing and not one of the reasonably priced housing is respectable,” mentioned masonry contractor Peter Gaunt, 75, who has lived within the space for 50 years.
“It’s lower-income, they’re poor. They’re on Medicare, Medicaid, you recognize, SNAP [benefits] if they will get them. There’s no job alternatives – there’s nothing in that part of city. Then you definately get into Downtown and head north, and that’s the place the cash is,” he mentioned.
A 30-year-old marketing consultant who solely gave the title Austin mentioned “there’s a notion” of hazard within the nabe.
“Traditionally, South St. Pete will not be absolutely the most secure, but it surely’s slowly however certainly gentrifying,” Austin mentioned from a grocery retailer parking zone one mile west of Sydney’s place. “I believe there’s comparatively extra crime and authorized infractions right here in comparison with the north facet of St. Pete, however I’ve by no means had any points.”
Two autos belonging to Sydney’s neighbors had been burglarized in a single day Nov. 7, in line with police experiences obtained by the Put up.
The prison, who had but to be arrested by this month, stole $20 in money and a $10 Starbucks present card from one automotive’s glove field and $40 in money from the glove field of the second car.
Each automobiles had been locked and parked just some spots away from the place Sydney usually parks her white Hyundai Palisade within the advanced’s communal lot, the police experiences present.
Over the previous two weeks, The Put up noticed an unidentified man and two young children – a boy and a lady – continuously coming and going from Sydney’s dwelling. Whereas their relationship stays unclear, she was typically seen conserving watch because the boy, sporting a Spider-Man helmet, pedaled a inexperienced bicycle round.
Behind a row of trimmed hedges, the bike, a big brown deck field, an deserted clay flower pot and a floral outside mat cluttered the realm main as much as her entrance door.
Sydney was additionally noticed dropping the kids off at a close-by daycare one morning. Her different errands included stops on the native publish workplace, CVS and repeated visits to 2 close by, rundown condominium complexes.
Curiously, on two events lately, she spent a lot of the day – roughly six hours at a time – at a four-bedroom, 3,300-plus-square-foot dwelling within the upscale Allendale neighborhood of the peninsula.
Property information present the spectacular Spanish-style dwelling belongs to a member of the family of ex-St. Petersburg Metropolis Councilman Robert Blackmon, whom Sydney was reported to be relationship in 2017. A pair who recognized themselves as members of the Blackmon household declined to remark when approached by The Put up.
Though Sydney has reportedly labored as a real-estate agent up to now, it’s unclear if she’s at present employed or how she helps herself.
As together with her late father — whose televised white Bronco chase involving cops after the murders transfixed the nation — Sydney seems to have struggled behind the wheel. She logged seven site visitors infractions since 2014 in Pinellas County for alleged rushing, driving with a suspended license and with out insurance coverage and having an expired automotive registration, information present.
Whereas her dad was infamously acquitted of the slayings of his 35-year-old ex-wife and Goldman, 25, at prison trial, their households sued him, and in 1997, OJ was discovered chargeable for $33.5 million in civil judgements for the deaths. That determine ballooned with curiosity to greater than $100 million by the point he died of most cancers at age 76 on April 11, 2024.
The previous star Buffalo Payments operating again additionally by no means settled greater than $5 million debt he owed in unpaid state and federal tax liens – additional complicating his already tangled funds.
It stays unclear whether or not Sydney or her brother Justin – OJ’s second baby from his eight-year marriage to Nicole – obtained any cash from their father’s property.
Sydney was final photographed publicly together with her father in St. Petersburg round Thanksgiving 2018.
OJ, who served 9 years in jail for a 2007 armed theft in Las Vegas, by no means admitted duty for the killings.
Sydney has by no means spoken publicly about her household’s troubled historical past. She declined to remark when lately approached by The Put up.
