Sport has produced countless stories of dramatic rises and painful falls, but few compare with the cases of celebrated athletes who were later convicted of murder.
The following list only includes athletes convicted of murder, homicide or conspiracy to commit murder. O.J. Simpson is addressed separately because he was acquitted in criminal court, despite later being found liable for two deaths in a civil case.
Oscar Pistorius
Oscar Pistorius became one of the most recognisable athletes in the world after competing against able-bodied runners on carbon-fibre prosthetic blades. The South African won six Paralympic gold medals and made history by competing at the 2012 Olympic Games.
On Valentine’s Day in 2013, Pistorius fired four shots through a locked toilet door at his Pretoria home, killing his girlfriend, Reeva Steenkamp.
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Pistorius claimed he believed an intruder was hiding behind the door. He was initially convicted of culpable homicide, but an appeals court later upgraded the verdict to murder under the South African legal principle of dolus eventualis, meaning he fired despite foreseeing that someone could be killed.
The former sprinter received a sentence of 13 years and five months. According to the Associated Press, he was released on parole in January 2024 after serving nearly nine years, although his sentence remains in force until 2029.
Aaron Hernandez
Aaron Hernandez was one of the NFL’s most exciting young tight ends. He played alongside Tom Brady for the New England Patriots and signed a contract reportedly worth $40 million in 2012.
Less than a year later, semi-professional footballer Odin Lloyd was found shot dead near Hernandez’s Massachusetts home. Lloyd had been dating the sister of Hernandez’s fiancée.
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In 2015, Hernandez was found guilty of first-degree murder and sentenced to life imprisonment without the possibility of parole, as reported by ABC News.
He was later acquitted of involvement in a separate double murder. Five days after that verdict in 2017, the 27-year-old was found dead in his prison cell. His conviction for Lloyd’s murder was ultimately reinstated by Massachusetts’ highest court in 2019.
Carlos Monzón
Carlos Monzón is still regarded as one of the finest middleweight boxers in history. The Argentine held the undisputed world championship for seven years and defended his title 14 times before retiring in 1977.
His life away from boxing was marked by repeated allegations of violence against women. In February 1988, his partner Alicia Muñiz was found dead below the balcony of a holiday home in Mar del Plata.
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Forensic evidence established that Muñiz had been strangled into unconsciousness before being thrown from the balcony. Monzón claimed that she had attempted to jump and that he fell while trying to save her.
A court rejected his explanation and convicted him of homicide in 1989. According to the detailed case reconstruction published by La Nación, he was sentenced to 11 years in prison.
Monzón died in a car crash in 1995 while returning to prison from temporary leave.
Bruno Fernandes de Souza
Bruno Fernandes de Souza, commonly known simply as Bruno, captained Flamengo and was considered a potential future goalkeeper for the Brazilian national team.
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His former partner Eliza Samudio disappeared in 2010 following a dispute over their child and financial support. Her body has never been recovered.
Prosecutors argued that Bruno conspired with others to abduct and murder Samudio. In 2013, he was convicted of homicide, kidnapping, unlawful detention and concealing a body. He received a sentence of more than 22 years.
Bruno was temporarily released in 2017 and controversially signed for Brazilian club Boa Esporte. Protests followed, while several sponsors withdrew from the club.
Brazil’s Supreme Court subsequently ordered him back to prison. The Guardian described him as one of Brazil’s most prominent footballers before the murder destroyed his career.
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Rae Carruth
Rae Carruth was selected by the Carolina Panthers in the first round of the 1997 NFL Draft and appeared to have a lucrative career ahead of him.
Two years later, his pregnant girlfriend Cherica Adams was shot while driving home from a cinema. Adams survived long enough to call emergency services and explain that Carruth had been driving directly in front of her before another vehicle pulled alongside and the gunman opened fire.
Her baby survived but suffered permanent brain damage. Adams died several weeks later.
Carruth was acquitted of first-degree murder but convicted of conspiracy to commit murder, as reported by CBS News. Prosecutors alleged that he had arranged the attack to avoid financial responsibility for the child.
He received a sentence of between 18 and 24 years and was released in 2018 after spending almost two decades in prison.
Mark “Gator” Rogowski
Mark Rogowski, known as “Gator,” was one of professional skateboarding’s biggest stars during the 1980s. He earned lucrative sponsorships and became a prominent figure during the sport’s first major commercial boom.
In 1991, Rogowski raped and murdered 22-year-old Jessica Bergsten before leaving her body in the California desert. He later confessed and pleaded guilty to first-degree murder and forcible rape.
Rogowski received a sentence of 31 years to life. In 2025, a California appeals court upheld the governor’s decision to reverse his parole, according to Courthouse News Service.
The court concluded that he continued to pose an unreasonable risk to public safety. His next parole hearing is scheduled for 2027.
Why O.J. Simpson is different
O.J. Simpson is perhaps the athlete most closely associated with a murder case, but legally he cannot be placed on the same list as the convicted athletes above.
The former NFL superstar was charged with murdering his ex-wife Nicole Brown Simpson and her friend Ronald Goldman in 1994. A criminal jury found him not guilty the following year.
In 1997, a civil jury found him liable for both deaths and ordered him to pay $33.5 million to the victims’ families. The different result was possible because civil cases require a lower standard of proof than criminal prosecutions.
As the Associated Press noted following Simpson’s death in 2024, he maintained his innocence for the remainder of his life.
His case remains one of the most famous and divisive legal proceedings in modern history, but an acquittal means it would be inaccurate to describe him as a convicted murderer.
