The O'Hare Plaza Hotel — also referenced as the Howard Johnson O'Hare Plaza — was where O.J. Simpson stayed after taking a red-eye flight from Los Angeles to Chicago on the night of June 12, 1994, just hours after the murders of Nicole Brown Simpson and Ron Goldman. Chicago police responded to Simpson's hotel room, where technicians documented blood spots found inside, and the investigation of the room became a point of testimony from Chicago-based officer Kenneth Berris. The condition of Simpson's hands before and after the Chicago trip emerged as a central battleground: attorneys pressed Simpson repeatedly on whether abrasions visible on his left hand predated the trip or appeared in Chicago, and on the origin of a cut finger he acknowledged receiving there. Multiple witnesses from O'Hare — airport personnel, a seatmate from the return flight, and hotel staff — were called to describe Simpson's demeanor and movements, with several depicting him as frantic and claiming knowledge of the murders before the news had become public. Phone records from the hotel were entered into evidence, documenting calls Simpson placed back to his Rockingham residence on the morning of June 13. The hotel and its surrounding locations featured prominently in both the criminal and civil trials as attorneys on both sides used Simpson's Chicago movements to argue competing interpretations of Simpson's state of mind and the significance of his movements.