Mark Fuhrman has found a home in this northern Idaho resort town.
Copies of his book, "Murder in Brentwood," are flying out of local book stores. And residents are supportive of the man whom many blamed for O.J. Simpson's acquittal.Fuhrman has lived here two years. He said he moved his family not to flee the murder trial but to escape the rat race and heat of Southern California.
"What a lot of people don't understand is that I planned to move to Sandpoint long before things started going sideways in the trial," Fuhrman, 45, said during a recent interview at the town's Whistle Stop Cafe.
In person, Fuhrman's harsh on-camera demeanor softens. The retired L.A. police detective looks relaxed sipping lemonade with his arm draped over the back of a chair.
He may be viewed as a pariah in parts of the nation, but on Saturday he was signing hundreds of autographs for local admirers.
"I would love to sit down and have dinner with him," said Dan Fairchild, who drove 80 miles from Spokane, Wash., to get an autographed copy. "I feel like he has gotten a raw deal."
"I hope he makes a million bucks off this book," said Esther McClellan of Sandpoint.
Even though Sandpoint only has about 5,000 residents, two local Vanderford's book stores have sold more than 1,500 copies of the book. One reason is that Fuhrman has done few book signings elsewhere so the store is shipping autographed copies all over the nation, manager Michelle Finley said.
Fuhrman said he thinks about the murders of Nicole Simpson and Ronald Goldman every day.
"It's been two years and eight months, and I haven't forgotten it for one day," he said. "Even when I'm out hunting or fishing, and it's quiet out there, it creeps in, like water under the door."
In the book, Fuhrman contends the investigation was bungled. He says some evidence was never collected because the detectives who took over the case failed to read Fuhrman's notes.
But Fuhrman also had a hand in Simpson's acquittal. He may never live down those tapes that recorded him using a racial slur against blacks more than 40 times during a brainstorming session with a screenwriter in 1988.
Defense lawyers used the tapes in their contention that the detective framed Simpson.
Fuhrman has been on many talk shows and "Murder in Brentwood" is No. 2 on The New York Times best-seller list.
"People have told me they thought he (Simpson) was innocent or had doubts until they read the book," Fuhrman said.
Unlike the other books on the trial, Fuhrman's account is light on personal details. But a profile in the January issue of Vanity Fair said Fuhrman described a less-than-ideal childhood growing up in Eatonville, a small town in Western Washington.
Abandoned by his father when he was 7, Fuhrman often cared for his younger brother while his mother worked. Later, he embraced the structure and stability of the Marines, then the Los Angeles Police Department.
The Fuhrmans - Mark, wife Caroline, and their daughter and son, who will turn 6 and 4 this month - moved to Sandpoint for the good schools, the hunting and fishing and the welcoming townspeople, he said.
"The people of Sandpoint do not have an agenda. They did not prejudge me," he wrote. "Instead they gave me a chance to show who I really am, and many have embraced me."
When the media camped out in front of his house, neighbors chased reporters away or created diversions so Fuhrman could slip out to his job as an apprentice with a local electrician.
He can get his fill of hunting and fishing, and take advantage of the cultural opportunities.
"Sandpoint is like a miniature Aspen or Sun Valley," he said.
Last year, the Fuhrmans moved to a 20-acre farm, where they raise chickens, goats, sheep and llamas. They have horses.
"I can turn my kids loose out the back door, tell them to stay out of the horse corral and not to tease the sheep, and not worry about something happening to them," he said.
The money he's made from the book - his advance is reported to be in the six figures - helped build a barn and a wood fence. He's going to splurge on a new engine and paint job for his 1970 Ford pickup.
The rest will go toward a college fund for his children.
"It's my children's life who will be different. They will reap the financial benefits," he said.
What would make Fuhrman's transformation complete is a pardon from his perjury conviction from the governor of California.
"I'm not done yet. I'm not ready to let this go. They thought I would go and hide in Idaho, but they don't know me," Fuhrman said.