Lead LAPD Detective on Simpson Case Dies

Philip Vannatter , the Los Angeles police detective who led the investigation of the 1994 slayings of Nicole Brown Simpson and Ronald Goldman, has died, reports the Los Angeles Times.

Vannatter died of complications from cancer Friday in Santa Clarita, his wife, Rita, said. He was 70.

"He was a real blue-collar detective," O.J. Simpson prosecutor Christopher Darden said in an emotional interview Sunday. "He did his job the best he could and he was a fine detective, one of the best."