Elsie Tistaert, 95; Nicole Simpson’s Neighbor, Testified at Murder Trial

Elsie Tistaert, 95, the neighbor of Nicole Brown Simpson who testified at O.J. Simpson’s murder trial about a purported prowler on the night that his ex-wife and her friend Ronald Goldman were killed, died of natural causes Friday at the Brentwood home where she had lived since 1944.

Tistaert was questioned at the 1995 trial about her call to police on June 13, 1994, to report a “prowler” after someone repeatedly rang her doorbell. Defense attorneys for O.J. Simpson, who was acquitted of the murders, hoped Tistaert’s call would point to a possible unknown assailant.

Prosecutors, however, demonstrated that the person who rang Tistaert’s doorbell shortly after midnight was either Sukru Boztepe, who found the bodies outside Nicole Simpson’s house, or his wife seeking help. Tistaert became identified in trial lore as “the old lady who lives across the street.”

Tistaert was an aide to former Los Angeles Mayor Fletcher Bowron. She also managed the Santa Monica dental offices of her late husband, L.C. Tistaert, and her son, Glen Tistaert. After retiring at age 88, with her sight failing, Tistaert became active in the Center for the Partially Sighted.