LAS VEGAS — O.J. Simpson, the former football great who was accused of and ultimately acquitted of the brutal 1994 slayings of his ex-wife and her friend, has died, according to his family. He was 76.

His family announced that he passed away on Wednesday after battling cancer.

“On April 10th, our father, Orenthal James Simpson, succumbed to his battle with cancer. He was surrounded by his children and grandchildren. During this time of transition, his family asks that you please respect their wishes for privacy and grace,” a statement from his family said.

In May 2023, Simpson posted a video on X, then known as Twitter, revealing that he had recently “caught cancer” and “had to do the whole chemo thing.” He added, “It looks like I beat it.” Simpson didn’t specify the nature of the cancer.

RELATED: O.J. Simpson undergoing treatment for prostate cancer but not in hospice care

Then in February 2024, a Las Vegas television station reported that Simpson, then 76, was again undergoing treatment for an unspecified cancer. Simpson himself posted a video on X that day, denying rumors that he was in hospice care, though he did not otherwise confirm or deny reports that he was ill. Two days later in another video update on X, Simpson thanked those people he said had reached out to him, adding “My health is good. I mean, obviously I’m dealing with some issues but I think I’m just about over it.”

Orenthal James Simpson, nicknamed “The Juice,” broke records as a college and professional football player, and extended his celebrity and fortune as a sportscaster, a movie and television actor, and as a corporate spokesman, most notably for Hertz rental cars.

All that changed on June 12, 1994, when Simpson’s ex-wife, Nicole Brown Simpson, and her friend, Ron Goldman, were brutally stabbed to death outside of the former’s home in the Los Angeles neighborhood of Brentwood. Within days, police announced their intention to arrest the former football star for the murders.

ALSO SEE: O.J. Simpson joins Twitter: ‘I’ve got a little getting even to do’

Five days after the killings, 95 million Americans watched as Simpson’s white Ford Bronco – with longtime friend Al Cowlings at the wheel and Simpson in the back seat with a handgun, threatening to kill himself – led police on a 60-mile, low-speed televised chase through Los Angeles that lasted some two hours.

Simpson ultimately surrendered to police and stood trial for the murders. In October 1995, after 11 months from jury selection to verdict, Simpson was acquitted in a trial that was televised daily and became an international sensation.

RELATED: The rise and fall of O.J. Simpson

Twelve years later, Simpson was arrested in September 2007 after he led a group of men into a Las Vegas hotel and casino to steal, at gunpoint, what he claims was his own sports memorabilia. Simpson was charged with a number of felony counts, including kidnapping and armed robbery. The following year, he was found guilty and sentenced to up to 33 years in prison. Simpson was released on parole on Oct. 1, 2017.

O.J. Simpson is survived by four children: Arnelle and Jason, from his first marriage, and Sydney and Justin, from his marriage to Nicole Brown Simpson.

This story comes from our news partner ABC13 Houston.

HOUSTON, Texas (KTRK) — For 34 years, she was a constant on Eyewitness News, making a name for herself right along with legendary anchors Dave Ward and Marvin Zindler.

Elma Barrera did it without ever changing who she was, keeping the authenticity of her name.

“I always said Barrera, so how could I change it?,” said Elma. “It’s hard to forget your roots.”

As Houston’s first female Hispanic TV news reporter, Elma accomplished so much without forgetting her heritage.

She produced and hosted a Spanish TV show, founded the Houston Hispanic Chamber of Commerce and also co-founded Houston’s first Spanish language TV station.

“When you were here at KTRK and they didn’t have Univision, how was the Hispanic community getting the information they needed?”

“They didn’t. It just didn’t happen,” said Elma.

In August of 1983, when Hurricane Alicia hit, it was Elma who was able to step in and guide the Hispanic community through the devastating hurricane.

However, becoming a TV news reporter was an accident for Elma.

“I walked into this room and they gave me a job,” she said.

She was working in radio back then and she was at Channel 13 to interview the news director. The topic?

“Why aren’t there more Hispanics in the media?” she recalled.

The very next day, she found herself back at Channel 13 working her very first TV news story.

Over the course of her lengthy career, she covered some fun stories but also the tragic ones. Some of those, she still remembers vividly, such as a devastating car wreck.

“I went behind the building and sobbed. That was the only time that I had broken like that,” she said.

“Did you ever tell anyone about that experience?”

“No,” she said.

The community still remembers her reporting when tragedy struck the Hispanic community. The Moody Park riots were sparked after José “Joe” Campos Torres, a Mexican-American veteran, was beaten and killed by several Houston police officers in 1977.

“They were having a meeting and that turned into a riot. And I was coming in from out of town,” she recalls. “And I heard it on the radio and I said, take me.”

Other stories haven taken her to Central and South America interviewing presidents and giving her Hispanic community a voice.

“I did all these stories and it was second nature to me. It was kind of different, but it was second nature because I spoke Spanish and other people, you know, kind of wanted to do the stories, but they wouldn’t have been able to,” she said.

It has been many years since Elma set foot in her old stomping grounds. The newsroom looks much different but some of her long-time co-workers she still remembers fondly.

She’s as humble as they come but if one thing is true, she broke barriers for many in this industry.

“I’m very happy to have been able to do it because it was not my intention. You know, I just went to do an interview with a news director,” she said.

This story comes from our news partner at ABC13 Houston.