Christine Prody OJ Simpson NEWS

O.J. Simpson had just been found not guilty of the murders of his ex-wife, Nicole, and her acquaintance, Ron Goldman, when a 20-year-old tourist from Minnesota stopped to see his home in Brentwood, Calif.

Christie Prody got more than she bargained for that day. She met the former star NFL running back turned actor, and has been with him ever since.

She’s the tall blonde whom many believe looks a lot like Nicole Brown Simpson, NBC’s Kerry Sanders reported for TODAY on Thursday.

Although she now shies away from the cameras and microphones that follow Simpson everywhere, she remains loyal to him. She even showed up in Las Vegas this week to attend a court hearing related to the new kidnapping and conspiracy charges Simpson faces in connection with a confrontation with sports memorabilia dealers in a casino hotel room.

But who is Prody?

“I consider her shy, soft-spoken and kind,” her friend, Linda Townsend, who recently spent time with Prody in Miami, said.

Her uncle, Steve Bellmore, told NBC she was a shy girl from St. Anthony, a small town in Minnesota, who went to the University of Minnesota but dropped out before her senior year and became a cocktail waitress.

“She’s probably got a bad rap because of the situation and the relationship she’s in,” he told NBC.

She’s 32 now — Simpson is 60 — and although there have been ups and downs, police reports and a breakup, she’s still with Simpson. When he was arrested in Las Vegas on multiple counts including armed robbery and kidnapping in connection with a memorabilia deal gone bad, she visited him in jail and told people she was O.J.’s girlfriend.

For the past seven years, Sanders reported, she’s been living with him in a $1.1-million four-bedroom home with an outdoor basketball court and a big in-ground pool in the Kendall section of Miami. Though they’ve never been engaged, they live together as if they were married.

She cooks, does the housework, runs the home and has cared for Simpson’s two children by Nicole, Sydney, 21, and Justin, 19.

Early on in their relationship, Prody seemed to feed off the excitement and attention that came with being Simpson’s girlfriend. But the relationship has been rocky at times.

Four years after they became a couple, she split up with him and sold a story about their life together to “The National Enquirer.” In it, she said that Simpson confessed to her that he did murder Goldman and his ex-wife.

Despite that, they were soon together again, a trail of police reports documenting some of the bumps in the road. Among them is a 1999 call Simpson made to 911 in which he said, “She’s been doing drugs for two days … I’m trying to get her to leave her house to go into rehab right now.”

A year later, police responded to a call about a disturbance at a Miami hotel involving the couple. Simpson said that Prody slapped and kicked him, but he did not press charges. A year later, she accused him of breaking into her home, but she didn’t press charges. And in 2001, a neighbor who had gone to the Simpson residence to help Prody jump-start her car called police to say she attacked him. No charges were filed in that case, either.

Her friends and family say that’s all in the past, and Prody now is a homebody.

Why Simpson?
As to why anyone would want to get involved with a notorious person like Simpson, Dr. Drew Pinsky, a relationship expert and host of the “Loveline” radio show, told TODAY co-host Meredith Vieira that it usually goes back to childhood and mirrors a problematic relationship with a parent.

“The reality is these things get wired into us early,” he said. The more difficult the relationship becomes, the more attached the person becomes, he added.

Clint Van Zandt, a former FBI profiler and hostage negotiator, said women can be attracted to “bad boys” because such people are exciting.

“They’re high-energy, they’re self-confident, they demand respect and they get it,” he said of such men. “When she first started dating him at 20 years old, this was exciting, this was Superman.”

As the years have gone by and Simpson has aged, the relationship has changed, Van Zandt told Vieira. “This is someone now who is almost like a caretaker of O.J.,” he observed.

Whatever people think of Simpson, they shouldn’t judge Prody harshly, said Bellmore, her uncle.

“Christie’s a good kid,” he said. “I mean, what does she have to gain from this? She doesn’t look for the fame, she isn’t in the spotlight and obviously there isn’t a lot of money there, I would assume.

“She’s not married to the guy, so I mean what is the motive?” Bellmore said. “You tell me.”

Lawyers for the family of Ron Goldman, one of OJ Simpson’s alleged victims, has announced that they are investigating claims that the disgraced sports star has hidden assets in offshore bank accounts to stop the Goldmans from accessing the money.

The inquiries follow allegations by one of the men allegedly robbed at gunpoint by Simpson in Las Vegas last week that he once helped the former American footballer set up offshore bank accounts.

Bruce Fromong, one of the two memorabilia collectors Simpson is accused of stealing from, rants in an audiotape recording reportedly made one hour after the incident: “Nobody puts a gun in my face. I stood up for [him] while he was in jail. I stood up for him in the press. I stood up for him… on the stand. I helped him set up his offshore accounts.”

The recording was released by TMZ.com, an entertainment news website.

Tom Riccio, the memorabilia dealer said to have set up the meeting between Simpson and the men, has also claimed that Mr Fromong told police investigating the theft that he helped Simpson hide his money in the Caribbean.

A spokesman for Las Vegas police, who arrested Simpson on Sunday, refused to comment on the investigation.

Mr Fromong suffered a serious heart attack after the incident and is recovering in a Los Angeles hospital.

The Goldman family has been unsuccessfully trying to access the former star’s assets since a judge ordered him to pay $33.5 million in a wrongful death case.

They have already launched an attempt to claim the items of sport memorabilia Simpson allegedly stole in last week’s incident to help satisfy the judgment.

The haul is estimated to have been worth $80,000 to $100,000. A judge has so far agreed the family can collect one of the items, Simpson’s gold Rolex Submariner watch, valued between $5,000 and $10,000.

There was no comment from Simpson who has been released on bail and has returned to his home in Florida.

Last November, Yale Galanter, his lawyer, robustly denied claims that his client had moved money offshore.

As O.J. Simpson dealt with the fallout from his arrest on multiple charges as he traveled back to his Miami home Wednesday, his longtime girlfriend remained committed to him and by his side.

An ABC producer on the flight with Simpson says girlfriend Christie Prody sat alongside him as he flew back to Florida, reading the book “You’ve Been Warned,” a murder mystery by James Patterson and Howard Roughan. Simpson smiled as passengers took pictures; he slept during most of the flight.

Prody’s profile has risen in light of Simpson’s arrest. She was an emotional presence in the Las Vegas courtroom Wednesday, where Simpson was arraigned, alternately smiling and appearing to fight back tears.

The Couple’s Beginnings

Prody is an integral part of Simpson’s inner circle.

“Christie is an extremely important part of O.J.’s life,” said Simpson’s defense attorney Yale Galanter.

The two met in 1995, after his acquittal on murder charges. At the time Prody was a 19-year-old cocktail waitress; the former beautician is said by many to bear a striking resemblance to Simpson’s slain ex-wife, Nicole Brown Simpson.

In the past, Prody often has defended Simpson’s reputation.

“Marcia Clark is completely wrong about her two sides of this man because there [are] no two O.J. Simpsons,” Prody said during an “Inside Edition” interview in 2000. “The people that know him, know that there is one guy, one good guy.”

Roller-Coaster Relationship

Despite Prody’s support of Simpson, their relationship has not always been smooth during their more than decade-long relationship.

In October 1999, a 911 phone call documented one of their well-publicized blows, when Simpson called from Prody’s Miami apartment saying a girl needed help.

“We have a problem here. I’m trying to get a girl to go to rehab,” Simpson told a 911 operator. “She’s been doing drugs for two days … ”

Though Simpson later denied the girl he was talking about was his girlfriend, many suspected differently.

Another rift reportedly emerged when Prody sold an interview to the National Enquirer purportedly for $50,000. In the interview, she said that Simpson had confessed to the murders of his ex-wife and her friend Ron Goldman.

Despite the fact that they never lived together, the couple have had several domestic disturbances.

One incident included a violent argument at a Miami hotel. Police reports said Prody allegedly slapped and kicked Simpson.

“The security person came with police,” Simpson said during a TV interview. “They asked me, ‘Mr. Simpson were you attacked or something?’ [I said,] ‘No, the girl was frustrated, but look I’m not making any report. I’m not making any complaint.’”

In another incident, Prody accused Simpson of breaking into her home and erasing a message on her answering machine. In total, police were called four times, but no charges were filed.

Average Couple

Despite the couple’s well-documented ups and downs, Prody’s uncle said the two are a good couple.

“[They are] just like any other couple, except for the fame that he draws to the situation,” said Steve Bellmore.

September 20, 2007 — ABOARD US AIRWAYS FLIGHT TO FORT LAUDERDALE - The passenger in Seat 4D was the biggest deal on Flight 888 - but he didn’t act the part. US Airways had emptied the plane — which had originated in Los Angeles — when it landed in Las Vegas so O.J. Simpson could board alone with his lawyer, Yale Galanter, and girlfriend, Christine Prody.

The graying, paunchy, 60-year-old took the aisle seat in the first row of economy class.

Nearly every one of us who boarded behind him stole a glance as we passed by his seat.

A few of my bolder fellow travelers whipped out their cellphones and cameras to snap a shot.

The Juice favored some of us with a smile, others with a nod. But that was it — there was no autograph hunting, no shouted insults or shouted words of praise.

He bought a $3 snack pack for himself and a $5 sandwich for Prody, and paid for the meal with a $50 bill, according to ET. He then watched some of “Ocean’s 13.” Prody carried a small, black miniature Pomeranian on board in a dog carrier.

O.J. pulled his white tennis visor over his eyes and catnapped for the flight to Fort Lauderdale, which landed just after midnight.

When he was awake, he was watching “Ocean’s 13.”

Prody curled up next to him and laid her blond curls against his chest.

When we landed, he stood and gave Galanter, who had been sitting across the aisle, a big hug before getting into a car and driving off without a word.

Before takeoff, Galanter had said, “There is nowhere in the world where O.J. is not known.”

In other words, if O.J. skipped to another country, he would be made in a New York minute.

But tonight? He’s hardly a blip on the screen.

LAS VEGAS (AP) — In a scene of legal deja vu, a grayer, heavier O.J. Simpson stood handcuffed in court Wednesday to face charges that could put him behind bars for life. The prosecutor who failed to get him a dozen years ago was there to watch, and news cameras tracked his every move as if they were covering a slow-speed chase.

But as Simpson made his $125,000 bail on charges including kidnapping and armed robbery, legal experts were questioning: Could a former football star who beat a double-murder rap really do hard time for a crime that sounds like a bad movie?

Police have laid out a case that makes Simpson the leader in an armed holdup of sports memorabilia collectors, and they arrested a fifth suspect in the case Wednesday. Some of the facts — including a curious recording of the confrontation — don’t seem so clear-cut.

Legal experts say that issues such as who had rightful ownership of the goods and the reputation of witnesses in the sometimes less-than-reputable world of memorabilia trading could cloud the prosecution’s case.

Simpson has insisted he was merely retrieving items that were stolen from him earlier.

Alfred Beardsley, one of the collectors who says he was robbed at gunpoint by Simpson and several other men, told NBC’s “Today” show before Simpson’s hearing that he didn’t think an audiotape made at the scene was accurate. Beardsley was arrested on a parole violation Wednesday.

The other victim, Bruce Fromong, was recovering from a heart attack in a Los Angeles hospital. The man who arranged the meeting between Simpson and the two collectors, Tom Riccio, has a criminal record.

“The credibility of the cohorts in the enterprise would be a key issue at trial,” said University of Southern California law professor Jody Armour.

Agreed, said Dennis Turner, a professor at the University of Dayton School of Law. “This is a pretty shady world and pretty shady characters dealing with each other in a pretty shady way.”

A key difference with the 1995 murder trial is that there are plenty of witnesses this time who place Simpson at the scene, including hotel video surveillance. Simpson has made no secret he went to the hotel room intending to take the memorabilia and told The Associated Press that a man who came with him brought a truck to cart away the goods.

“It’s not like the murder case involving his ex-wife and Ron Goldman, where Simpson had a completely different story in which he said, ‘I wasn’t there,’” said Doug Godfrey, a professor at the Chicago-Kent College of Law. “A prosecutor only has to show intent. And the intent is, ‘Were you acting in concert with someone with a gun to take property from someone?’ If you were, you’re guilty of armed robbery.”

Simpson attorney Yale Galanter said: “You can’t rob something that is yours.”

Simpson furrowed his brow as the judge read the list of charges against him. Gone was the slight smirk he flashed when he was arrested.

He answered quietly in a hoarse voice and nodded as the judge laid out restrictions for his release, including surrendering his passport to his attorney and having no contact with co-defendants or potential witnesses.

Simpson did not enter a plea.

Galanter said after the hearing that the $125,000 bond was reasonable.

The oddity of the case has attracted a swarm of reporters, including Marcia Clark, who unsuccessfully prosecuted Simpson for the 1994 murders and was reporting for “Entertainment Tonight.” A helicopter television crew followed Simpson’s vehicle leaving the court, strangely reminiscent of the slow-speed chase in which he once fled police in a white Ford Bronco.

Simpson, 60, flew home to Miami later Wednesday in a spectacle just as surreal. US Airways emptied a plane so he could board first with Galanter and his girlfriend, Christine Prody.

Simpson sat in seat 4D, an aisle seat in economy class. Passengers who boarded behind him took pictures with cell phones and cameras. He nodded and smiled as they passed.

He pulled a white visor over his eyes shortly after takeoff and slept almost the entire flight. Upon landing, he stood and gave Galanter, who had been sitting across the aisle, a big hug.

Simpson was arrested Sunday after a collector reported a group of armed men charged into a hotel room at the Palace Station casino and took several items.

The Heisman Trophy winner spent three nights in jail after being charged with kidnapping, robbery with use of a deadly weapon, burglary while in possession of a deadly weapon, coercion with use of a deadly weapon, assault with a deadly weapon, conspiracy to commit kidnapping, conspiracy to commit robbery and conspiracy to commit a crime.

Four other men have been arrested on many of the same charges, and police were still looking for another suspect.

Charles Howard Cashmore, 40, surrendered to police Wednesday and was scheduled to appear in court Thursday morning. Cashmore brought in items that are believed to have been taken, police said without elaborating.

Authorities allege that the men went to the room Sept. 13 on the pretext of brokering a deal with two longtime collectors, Beardsley and Fromong. According to police reports, the collectors were ordered at gunpoint to hand over several items valued at as much as $100,000, including football game balls signed by Simpson, Joe Montana lithographs, baseballs autographed by Pete Rose and Duke Snider and framed awards and plaques.

Beardsley told police he expected that night that the collection would earn $35,000 from the “client” he had never met.

Beardsley told police that one of the men with Simpson brandished a pistol, frisked him and impersonated a police officer, and that another man pointed a gun at Fromong.

Authorities said Beardsley, of Burbank, Calif., was paroled in March 2006 after serving 11 months of a two-year sentence for stalking a woman in Riverside County.

He was arrested at his room at the Luxor hotel Wednesday for violating parole. A California corrections spokesman said Beardsley was required to get written approval before traveling more than 50 miles from home or leaving home for more than 24 hours.

Beardsley was held without bail pending an extradition hearing Thursday.

Court records show Riccio also has a criminal history, including grand larceny in Florida in 1984, when he received three years of probation; and felony arson in 1995, in California, for which he was sentenced to two years.

Riccio has said he was not concerned with how his past might affect his credibility “because everything’s on tape. That’s why it’s on tape.”

He also said he had been promised some form of immunity by prosecutors.

Two other defendants, Walter Alexander, 46, and Clarence Stewart, 53, were arrested and released pending court appearances. Stewart turned in some of the missing goods and Alexander agreed to cooperate with prosecutors, authorities said. Suspect Michael McClinton, 49, of Las Vegas, surrendered to police Tuesday. Jailers were unable to say whether Cashmore or McClinton had retained a lawyer.

Police have not identified the remaining suspect they are seeking.

Armour said if the other suspects who have been arrested turn on Simpson in exchange for lighter sentences, it could help the prosecution, but also damage their credibility. Allegations of a setup could also cast doubt on the testimony of the memorabilia dealers, he said.

“But at the end of the day, that may not matter as much as whether they think he (Simpson) deserves some punishmentfor something,” Armour said.

A judge set bond at $125,000 for O.J. Simpson in an alleged armed robbery of sports memorabilia collectors. Simpson stood before the judge, hands cuffed, wearing a blue jail jumpsuit as the charges were read.

He answered quietly in a hoarse voice and nodded as Justice of the Peace Joe Bonaventure Jr. detailed charges of kidnapping and robbery, among others, and laid out restrictions for his release.

Simpson did not enter a plea.

Unlike his arraignment in the killings of his ex-wife and a friend in 1994, when he declared he was “absolutely 100 percent not guilty,” Simpson was subdued throughout the proceeding.

“Mr. Simpson do you understand the charges against you?” the judge asked.

“Yes, sir,” Simpson said.

The judge said the conditions of release included surrender of his passport to his attorney and no contact with co-defendants or potential witnesses.

“If you see them walking down the street, you’re to cross the street,” the judge said. “You do not use any means to contact these individuals. Don’t use e-mail, telephone, mail, passenger pigeon, no, whatsoever, contact.”

O.J. Simpson’s buddies may be cutting deals and running, but his Nicole Brown look-alike girlfriend shows no sign of abandoning him.

“Oh, no, no, no, I’m with O.J.,” Christie Prody told a would-be suitor shortly before Simpson was hauled off to jail in handcuffs.

Spilling out of a floral print dress, the buxom blond said Simpson’s arrest for armed robbery, kidnapping and other charges put a “total damper on our vacation in Vegas.”

“O.J. doesn’t own a gun,” said Prody, 32. “Ridiculous. … It’s been a very stressful week.”

Prody, who said she’s been with Simpson for more than a decade, didn’t split after the former NFL star went to the slammer.

She was expected to attend Simpson’s bail hearing today - and was killing time with his daughter Arnelle.

“O.J.’s fine and that’s all I can say,” Arnelle Simpson said.

Simpson and Prody hooked up after he was acquitted in 1995 of murdering ex-wife Nicole Brown Simpson and her friend Ron Goldman a year earlier.

A North Dakota native and would-be beautician who has worked as a cocktail waitress, Prody lived in Los Angeles less than a mile from the grisly murder scene from 1996 to 1999, records show. It wasn’t clear whether Prody met Simpson in L.A. or in Miami, where they both now live at separate addresses.

Her mother says Prody firmly believes Simpson is no killer.

“He has convinced her that he didn’t do it,” Kathy Bellmore, 54, told People magazine. “I told her ‘DNA doesn’t lie.’ She says, ‘They planted the blood.’”

Bellmore, who lives in Port Richey, Fla., declined to elaborate when a Daily News reporter called yesterday.

For all her apparent loyalty, Prody and Simpson have had a rocky relationship. From 1999 to 2001, police responded four times to reported domestic disturbances between them.

Prody also has some minor brushes with the law, including arrests for misdemeanor pot and drug paraphernalia possession, and for parking in a handicapped spot, Dade County records show.

OJ Simpson faces multiple charges including armed robbery and assault with a deadly weapon in connection with the alleged theft of items of sports memorabilia from a Las Vegas casino hotel room, police said.

The former American football star, who was sensationally acquitted in one of the biggest murder trials in US history, was arrested on at least six counts in relation to the reported robbery on Thursday.

They include two counts of robbery with a deadly weapon, two counts of assault with a deadly weapon, conspiracy to commit robbery and burglary with a deadly weapon, Las Vegas police announced at a news conference.

All the counts are felonies and carry potentially lengthy sentences.

Capt. James Dillon, of Las Vegas police, said the 60-year-old ex-sports star could still face additional charges.

Simpson was arrested yesterday at the Palms Hotel around 11am and was being held at Las Vegas police offices pending the arrival of his lawyer, Capt Dillon said. “He was very cooperative, there were no issues.”

Bail had not yet been set, he added.

The charges stem from an incident at the Palace Station casino on Thursday in which a group of armed men said to include Simpson allegedly stormed into a hotel room and snatched sporting memorabilia from two dealers.

Simpson was questioned by police about the incident late that night before being released.

The alleged stolen items included “sports-related products” according to authorities.

Alfred Beardsley, a collector of sports memorabilia, told the website TMZ that he called police after the men entered pretending to be customers, Simpson demanded the items, claiming they were his, and the men left with the items.

Mr Beardsley told the website two of the men pulled guns during the alleged robbery. Police recovered the weapons yesterday.

Neither were said to belong to Simpson, who had told police no guns were involved.

The former sports star, who lives in Florida, has denied any wrongdoing and claimed he was conducting his own ’sting’ operation to recover items that belonged to him.

In an interview with the Los Angeles Times, he said he and some “golfing buddies” had gone to the hotel to reclaim personal possessions, including sports souvenirs and photographs allegedly taken by Nicole Brown-Simpson, his ex-wife who he is accused of murdering in 1994.

“I’m not walking around feeling sad or anything. I’ve done nothing wrong,” said the ex-footballer, who was best man at a wedding in Las Vegas on Saturday. “I’m having a great time.”

Another man was arrested in connection with the robbery and police are seeking as many as four more suspects.