Sitting in his modest Peoria home, Fred Goldman maintains a signature soldiered pose, ready to embrace or deflect any question that may come flying his way. He’s used to reporters, used to cameras and used to the probing questions surrounding what will forever be the worst day of his life.

Behind his graying handlebar mustache, Goldman’s concrete gaze is chiseled with the wrinkles of a man who knows nobody will pay for his son’s murder. But it’s his eyes letting the anguish into the room. Look into them, and you see a battle that has worn Goldman inside. Thirteen years after his son, Ron, was found in a pool of blood, O.J. Simpson is playing golf and living in a million-dollar home.

The pain worsened in November, when news of a controversial book surfaced. The book, If I Did It , was a quasi-confessional in which O.J. Simpson outlined the graphic details of how he “hypothetically” killed Nicole Brown and Goldman’s son, Ron.

Excerpted details from the book reveal facts so consistent with actual evidence that those who’ve read it say it’s nothing short of a confession. In addition to the book, Fox had scheduled an exclusive television interview with Simpson in which he planned to hawk his book while spewing details of the crime to a nationwide audience.

Excerpts from the canned interview have since found their way into the press. “I remember I grabbed the knife,” Simpson says in the November 2006 interview. He then describes vivid facts about the case, most of which align with evidence collected at the murder scene.

The antagonizing and audacious nature of Simpson’s supposed revelations stirred Fred Goldman’s already-dogged pursuit. He worked day and night to prevent the airing of the interview and the distribution of the book.

Goldman says if it isn’t enough that Simpson got away with murder and that he hasn’t paid a cent of the $33.5 million civil judgment, he almost got away with making millions by giving graphic details of his son’s murder.

Today, a month after his most recent appearance on Larry King Live , Goldman is explaining the news about Simpson’s botched book deal. There is, he says, good news.

Justice Calls

When the phone in Goldman’s den rings, it could be his attorney or Larry King of Larry King Live or the cable guy. Regardless, Goldman answers, “This is Fred,” in his deep voice, a voice that has come to speak for thousands of victims.

He is sitting in the living room of his 2,200-square-foot Vistancia home, tucked away in a manicured retirement community just north of Sun City.

Thirteen years ago Goldman was just another hard-working husband, a Chicago native selling cardboard purchase displays to California businesses. He was driving home when the radio announced Nicole Brown Simpson’s murder. Not being a football fan, Goldman paid little attention to the news.

Once at home, Goldman’s wife, Patti, pressed the cordless phone into his hand. She looked pale.

“This is Claudia Ratcliff from the coroner’s office.” The voice on the phone was tentative. “Did you hear today that Nicole Brown Simpson has been murdered?”

“Yes,” Goldman’s voice was threaded with confusion.

“Your son was the other person.”

“How do you know? Oh my God! Are you sure? Are you absolutely sure?”

“Yes, we’re sure.”

“How do you know? Maybe it isn’t him.”

“No, we’re sure.”

“How?”

“Because of his driver’s license.”

Months later, Goldman was sitting in an L.A. courtroom when he first locked eyes with O.J. Simpson. “He always had a smirk on his face. You can’t even begin to comprehend the level of arrogance that existed,” Goldman says.

According to his current attorney, Simpson now wakes daily at about 6:30 in his Florida home before heading out to area golf courses. He pockets a steady $25,000 per month from his NFL pension. Fred Goldman, 66, wakes around the same time. He works two jobs, a Scottsdale retail position he’d prefer to keep anonymous and a gig as a part-time mortgage broker.

While driving the Loop 101 to work in Scottsdale, Goldman usually fields phone updates from his own attorneys. Goldman will not rest until the man found responsible in a civil court for his son’s wrongful death experiences some sort of punishment. In that sense, the murder feels like it happened yesterday, and he has not rested in the 13 years since.

The Battle Continues

Asked point-blank if he thinks O.J. Simpson murdered Ron Goldman, Simpson’s current attorney, Yale Galanter first says, “No, I don’t.” Moments later he says he’d like to retract the statement. His official answer is that the jurors reached the right verdict, a better one than news editors and producers who chopped courtroom coverage to vilify Simpson.

Galanter is on the phone because just yesterday, February 20, 2007, he was in court with Fred Goldman’s attorneys. The judge says Goldman will have to wait another month before a decision on the fate of $780,000 Simpson banked from his canned confessional book.

The day news crews camped outside the courthouse finally announcing the Brown-Goldman $33.5 million civil judgment against Simpson, Goldman’s legal battles had just begun. His attempt to secure a penny of the judgment has since stretched the “Trial of the Century” into a st ring of legal spats that may just end up lasting that long.

Goldman refuses to call Simpson by name, but each morning he can’t help but think about what he took from him. Daily, Goldman’s attorneys concoct new ways to hamper Simpson, and likewise Simpson’s legal team devises new ways to evade the tactics.

Currently Goldman’s attorneys are after Simpson’s $780,000 book advance, as well as his widely-assumed cash income. “We know he’s set up entities in the past for ‘his children,’ but at the end of the day it’s unlikely his children will see the money,” Goldman’s attorney Jonathan Polak says from his Indianapolis office.

“That’s what I find morally reprehensible about this book; O.J. says he did it for his kids. This book could be titled ‘If I Killed Your Mother, Here’s How I Did It.’ And we’re supposed to believe that’s something he did for the betterment of his kids. Please, what kind of fools does he take us for?”  

Salting Wounds

The few who’ve read Simpson’s infamous book say its contents correspond so closely to reality that it’s difficult to perceive its revelations as hypothetical. If I Did It reportedly even answers some of the sequence questions detectives weren’t able to piece together during the trial.

Asked in the cancelled TV interview about the glove found at the crime scene, Simpson replied, “You know, I had no conscious memory of doing that, but obviously I must have because they found a glove there.”

In numerous other excerpts, Simpson describes being covered in blood, being angry at Nicole Brown the night of the murders and seeing Ron Goldman assume a karate stance before attacking and killing him.

The New York Times reports a sincere Simpson told his TV interviewer, “As things got heated, I just remember Nicole fell and hurt herself. And this guy kind of got into a karate thing.” Simpson also says he remembers grabbing a knife.

Fred Goldman says Ron never took karate lessons, but adds that the account otherwise follows the killings as presented by the prosecution during the murder trial.

Goldman says the book’s contents come as no surprise, but he sees the account as more infuriating than anything else.

“The fact for us is that we don’t need any further proof that he murdered Ron, nor do millions of other people,” Goldman says. “This was, bottom line, his way of capitalizing on the murder of two people.”

While If I Did It won’t see store shelves for at least another year, if ever, the book did succeed in one way: It offered Goldman’s attorneys a chance to trace the $780,000 Simpson received for the book and determine how he allegedly hides income to avoid the civil judgment. This month Goldman’s attorneys hope to garnish those funds and lay claim to any future earnings Simpson may earn from Ron Goldman’s murder.

Ron

Little known is that Ron Goldman and Nicole Brown were barely acquaintances. “They had met once at a Starbucks,” Fred Goldman says.

The night of the murder, Ron Goldman was returning a pair of glasses Nicole Brown’s mother had left at the restaurant where he worked. Quite simply, Ron Goldman was in the wrong place at the wrong time.

Disturbingly, Simpson’s “hypothetical” account aligns exactly with that theory. Not only does he write about being angry at Nicole, donning a knit cap and sneaking into her condo, he also confirms misguided jealousy as the motivation for the bloody killing.

Newsweek ’ s January 2007 exclusive look at one chapter quotes Simpson as writing that he yelled, “You’ve been here before!” to Ron Goldman before killing him.

Fred Goldman was a single father of two until Ron was 18. He says Ron would have done his best to protect any woman in any situation. As a big brother growing up without a mom, Ron was almost a second parent to his younger sister, Kim. Goldman says he can still see Ron reaching for Kim’s hand, lifting her up, protecting her, tickling her, laughing with her.

“I have vivid pictures in my mind, in addition to photographs, of Ron always holding Kim’s hand and taking care of her,” Goldman says. “Ron never changed. He was always a caring human being – thoughtful and attentive to others.”

In our interview, Goldman recalls that just months before his murder, Ron had called him about a business plan. “He wouldn’t tell me what it was, but my answer was yes, I’d help him out financially.”

Ultimately Ron’s dream died the night he did. While cleaning out his apartment, Fred found the business plan. Ron Goldman had been planning to open his own restaurant.

In His Name

Talking with Fred Goldman, it becomes eerily apparent that his son Ron could have been killed in the same way, on the same night, by any other suspect, and the world would not have even known his name. Fred Goldman would have been just another father grieving the violent death of his beloved child.

For Goldman, that realization has made him aware that thousands of families lose members to murder every year, and many never see justice.

“I’ve since met parents who weren’t even allowed in the courtrooms of their children’s murder cases,” Goldman says. In recent years Goldman’s story has come to represent the thousands who suffer as victims of violent crimes.

“I’m trying to make certain there isn’t another family that has to suffer the same anguish and pain. The year Ron was murdered there were more than 21,000 others murdered,” he says.

Goldman contends nearly 100 percent of the violent crimes in the U.S. are committed by less than five of the population. But says the justice system re-releases those violent offenders back into society, where they commit the same crimes again, violating or killing even more victims.

“We let rapists out of jail after serving an average of four years, knowing full well they’re going to recommit. We let child molesters out of jail after a similar amount of time, again knowing full well. We even let murderers out of jail after serving an average of seven years,” he says.

“Nicole Brown had called 911 multiple times, crying that he was going to hurt her,” Goldman says. “He beat up his first wife and was never punished. Ultimately, he murdered two people and has never been punished in any way for any violent act he’s committed in his life,” he adds.

Fight To the death

“Fred Goldman will never get a dime,” Simpson’s attorney Yale Galanter says today from his Florida law office. “The reason Goldman will never get a dime is because under Florida law O.J. is the head of the household and is not subject to any kind of a garnishment.”

Galanter’s big words aren’t quite accurate, though the $134 payment recently secured from Simpson is reminiscent of the struggle. Simpson’s move to the debtor-advocacy state of Florida has made collecting the money more difficult. Regardless of dollars, Goldman says the pursuit will continue until death, if only to aggravate Simpson.

“These were heartless, cold-blooded guys whose sole purpose was to get this monster back out on the streets, living his high life,” Goldman says of Simpson’s original “Dream Team” attorneys, and Goldman holds Simpson’s current legal team in relative esteem.

Having endured hundreds of verbal battles and court showdowns, Goldman says that without support from his family, he would have snapped long ago. “Were it not for my wife, they’d probably have long since packed me out to a loony bin,” Goldman says. “She’s my stabilizer, along with my daughter. In addition, I have my stepchildren, who need the ongoing awareness that we’re still a functioning family.”

“We have at least (six) motions we’ve filed against him right now,” Goldman says of the relentless pursuit. “We think ultimately we’re going to hamper his ability to function.”

One day at a time, Goldman will continue to do everything in his power to be a crusader of justice for his son. He says he’ll refuse to rest until Simpson is either dead or completely broke. “He’ll always have to be looking over his shoulder,” Goldman says. “That’s never going to end until he’s dead.”

“There was a recent quote of his that he was quite angry with me because we’d been costing him so much money in legal fees,” Goldman says. “I was thrilled to hear that he was aggravated and that it was costing him a lot of money.”

Regardless, some things cannot be fixed, by justice or time. Ron’s younger stepsister will marry this April in Phoenix. There will be an empty seat, Ron’s.

O.J. Simpson was found not guilty of murder on October 3, 1995.