At the time of the murder, Goldman was working as a waiter at a nearby restaurant, in Los Angeles. A friend, Nicole Brown Simpson, an ex-wife of O.J. Simspon, had accidentally left her eyeglasses on one of the restaurant tables. While returning the eyeglasses to her home, he was murdered along with Nicole, outside the frontdoor of the Simpson house. During a reconstruction of the events, Police believe he had attempted to protect Nicole Brown Simpson, but was cut down shortly before her murder.

In a later civil court case concluded in February 1997, brought by Ronald Goldman's father, O.J. Simpson was found guilty for wrongful death and ordered to pay $8.5 million dollars to the Goldman family.