A bizarre link has been found between the brutal murder of Nicole Simpson and a young nightclub owner – a connection that defense lawyers hope will help prove O.J.’s innocence.

STAR has learned that Nicole and her friend Ronald Goldman were both regulars at a club owned by murder victim Brett Cantor, whose death was eerily similar to the Simpson slayings.

In fact, there are so many chilling similarities in the vicious killings of all three that Judge Lance Ito has given Simpson defense attorney Robert Shapiro permission to review the original police reports into Cantor’s death.

The 24-year-old businessman who was killed last year, owned the Dragonfly Club, in the heart of Hollywood.

For the past three years, it has been a popular meeting spot for struggling artists, models and out-of-work actors. The dimly-lit club is decorated with black art-deco tables and a ceiling draped with harem-style fabric and small wall sconces.

The VIP room is covered with lush red mattresses, kaftans and pillows. Deafening techno and hip-hop music pounds away until the wee hours.

Cantor ran the club until his murder on July 30, 1993. It was a savage slashing attack that defense investigators believe was too similar to the Nicole-Goldman murders to be coincidence.

One of O.J.’s top investigators tells STAR:

This information was brought to our attention, not by our masterful efforts, but because Mr. Cantor’s friends approached us and said they believed there was a strong similarity between his death and the killings of Nicole Simpson and Ronald Goldman.

Cantor, who was also a party promoter at various clubs in L.A. – a role Goldman was trying to develop at the time of his death – was killed inside his apartment with no visible signs of forced entry.

And ironically, the detective who was investigating Cantor’s homicide is also actively probing the deaths of Nicole and Goldman. “He is part of the LAPD Homicide and Robbery Division and is assigned to the Simpson case,” says the investigator.

“That is either an incredible coincidence or there’s far more to this than meets the eye.”

Another member of the Simpson defense team tells STAR:

Judge Ito has reviewed the two volumes of the Cantor murder case and has directed that information should be released that could be of relevance to the defense of O.J. Simpson.

“That speaks for itself. He examined the Cantor ‘Murder Book’ in exactly the same way as he reviewed the personnel file and military records of detective Mark Fuhrman. He decided that there was nothing of further relevance for us in the Fuhrman papers, but he clearly believes there is material that can be of considerable assistance to O.J.’s defense within the Cantor case.

Star Magazine (October 11 1994)

Further Reading:

A Conspiracy of Dunces. Brett Cantor’s Murder. Hold the Juice.