Forensic scientist in OJ Simpson, JonBenét Ramsey and Phil Spector cases gave startling deathbed confession

A top forensic scientist who testified in OJ Simpson, JonBenét Ramsey and Phil Spector’s cases made a shocking deathbed confession in a bid to clear his name.

Dr. Henry C Lee was one of the most famous physicians in America in the 90s, although in recent years he faced allegations of fabricating evidence and testing.

Lee, who died on Friday at age 87, was renowned for work involving blood spatter analysis and crime scene reconstruction, and provided key evidence in numerous trials through the 80s.

Connecticut-based Lee rose to wider prominence during the 1994 trial of Simpson, where, taking the stand for the defense, he claimed he had found previously undiscovered bloody footprints at the crime scene and Simpson was being framed for the double murder of his wife Nicole Brown Simpson and her friend Ron Goldman on her doorstep.

An FBI analyst contended they were imprints of boots and tools from the workmen who originally poured the concrete. Simpson was later sensationally acquitted.

Lee, who died on Friday at age 87, was called to the scene after the murder of Ramsey in Boulder, Colorado, on Christmas day 1996. He was one of the first to claim the ransom note found at the property was staged. Various investigators and analysts have since agreed with that assertion, but the case has never been solved.

“He got famous for getting results that no one else could,” Brent Turvey, a forensic scientist and criminologist who studied under Lee, told The Post.

“The problem is the pressure and celebrity of doing a great job and living up to the myth of the forensics of Henry Lee.”

In one bizarre incident, while wig-loving “Wall of Sound” producer Spector was on trial over the death of Lana Clarkson in his home in 2003, Lee was accused of taking a fingernail from the crime scene, a charge he denied. Spector was eventually convicted of second-degree murder.

More recently, a review of evidence against two Connecticut men, Shawn Henning and Ricky Birch, found they had been wrongfully convicted in 1989 for the 1985 murder of another man.

Much of that conviction rested on Lee’s forensic testimony regarding a towel with a red smear which he said tested positive for blood. Further testing proved there was no blood on the towel and that the towel itself had never previously been tested.

The men were released in 2025 after almost 30 years, but that result threw decades of Lee’s other work into question.

“[The Pressure] obviously got to him and he got to the point where he couldn’t live up to that image. So, he just kept giving answers without doing examinations,” claimed Turvey, who had played a role in proving Henning and Birch’s innocence.

At the time of the decision, Lee insisted to reporters, “In my 57-year career, I have investigated over 8,000 cases and never, ever was accused of any wrongdoing. This is the first case that I have to defend myself.”

However, an investigative team claim they have uncovered at least six instances of Lee contributing to innocent people losing their freedom.

The Post has also learned that Lee gave one final interview to the documentary company behind that revelation, where Lee made a blockbuster confession about the evidence he gave.

The candid interview took place shortly before his death, where Lee, according to an insider, attempted to put out his side of the story and justify his actions.

At one point, sources say he claimed: “Logic is the bottom line for law enforcement. But I only did one thing in my life. It’s to make the impossible be possible.”

Turvey also remembers one quote the man once called “America’s most celebrated forensic scientist” gave during a commencement speech at University of New Haven, which has a new poignance now.

“He said, ‘Just remember, it takes 25 years to build a good name and 25 seconds to destroy it.’ He was always speaking out against fraud, always speaking out against negligence and incompetence,” claimed Turvey.

“But, as we now know, that was a confession of guilt to what he did in practice.”