Former Los Angeles Police Department detective Mark Fuhrman, a major figure in the 1995 O.J. Simpson murder trial, has died at 74.

The Kootenai County Coroner’s Office in Idaho confirmed to NBC4 that Fuhrman died last week. TMZ later reported that he died on May 12 after battling an aggressive form of throat cancer. According to the outlet, Fuhrman had been hospitalized for about a week and eventually decided to stop treatment. No funeral is planned.

Fuhrman became one of the most controversial figures in the O.J. Simpson case after discovering a bloody glove tied to the murders of Nicole Brown Simpson and Ron Goldman. During the trial, Simpson’s defense team attacked Fuhrman’s credibility after tapes surfaced of him repeatedly using the n-word, despite his earlier testimony denying he had ever used the slur.

The defense argued that Fuhrman’s racist remarks called the investigation into question and suggested he may have planted evidence. Simpson was ultimately acquitted in the criminal trial.

In a 1996 interview Fuhrman told ABC TV, “There was never a shred, never a hint, never a possibility, not a remote, not a million-, not a billion-to-one possibility I could have planted anything. Nor would I have a reason to.”

In 1996, Fuhrman pleaded no contest to felony perjury for lying under oath during the case, making him the only person convicted of a crime connected to the murders. He retired from the LAPD in 1995 and later became a true crime author, radio host and frequent Fox News commentator.

Fuhrman had been living in Idaho in recent years. In 2024, he was officially barred from returning to police work in California because of his felony conviction.