It might be difficult to establish Kim Goldman’s reaction to the limelight. The fact is that as a young adult she was thrust under a microscope to some degree, resulting from the death of her brother, Ron, and the subsequent trial of former NFL star O.J. Simpson for his murder and that of Simpson’s ex-wife Nicole Brown Simpson. It’s also a fact that she would never have chosen that path, but she lives with the notoriety.

“There are definitely things I’m private about, but I recognize that this doesn’t just impact us,” Ms. Goldman explains. “It’s important to keep vigilant and remind people what happened. Being public about it is part of what I pick and choose. There definitely are things we don’t comment about.”

“The notion of closure doesn’t exist.”

“It’s not something that just goes away. The loss stays with you,” Kim says. “The grief and the loss -- it’s like a best friend. It knows you better than anything else. It’s been an ongoing thing for years and years. We’re constantly prosecuting and chasing … it’s not something that has debilitated us, it’s become a part of our life.”

When she heard Reve and John Walsh, of “America’s Most Wanted,” respond to recent findings in the case of their son, Adam, who was kidnapped and killed 27 years ago, Kim saw a familiar viewpoint. “Reve said it’s like a body part.” said Kim. “It’s sort of an affirmation for me ... it becomes a part of you. Nothing we go through now ... is nearly as devastating as what my brother went through the night he died.”

“The majority of the country felt violated after the first verdict.”

It’s the process of the legal system. O.J. Simpson was found not guilty back in 1995, and was recently found guilty on 12 charges in Las Vegas. “Because of who the killer is, that is absolutely why he got off,” states Kim. “But, because it was so public is also why we’ve had such tremendous support. If he was a nobody we wouldn’t have probably had a guilty verdict (in Las Vegas).”

Kim and her father, Fred Goldman, won a civil case against Simpson in 1997. “The civil case was us against him … the Goldmans against him,” Kim explains. “It was incredibly empowering. He was held liable for killing my brother. This was different in Vegas, to hear them say he’s guilty in a court of law, put him in handcuffs and go through the door in handcuffs, not out the front door with us. That was a big deal. Our persistence and our constant chasing him caused him to behave in a way that was reckless … it means we were getting to him. It’s been really empowering to get some control back, to get in front of it. For us it just wasn’t an option (to let go).”

“I think the system is flawed because the accused is afforded a tremendous amount of leeway.”

“It’s skewed to benefit the accused more than the victim,” says Kim. “If you have the right means financially, that is part of the makeup of our system. A high-powered team of attorneys were successful by throwing out a lot of crap and seeing what sticks. And the judge was not in control. In Vegas, I think he thought because of who he was he’d get off, which was why he turned down the plea deal.”

Kim maintains a relationship with Christopher Darden and Marcia Clark, prosecutors in the 1995 criminal trial of O.J. Simpson. She also keeps in contact with some of the police detectives from the case.

“My brother was sweet and funny and very protective of me.”

“My brother was a big goofball,” begins Kim. “It was just my dad, my brother and I growing up. My brother and I were just so goofy, he took such good care of me because my dad was a working parent.

“As he got older, into his 20s, he was coming into himself. He was an independent spirit, a tennis player.” She describes Ron as a young man who, instead of living the life of a yuppie, waited tables and did volunteer work for those with cerebral palsy. “He didn’t fit the mold of the nine-to-fiver,” Kim says. “He looked good in suits, but it wasn’t him. I’m the total opposite. We were very different but incredibly close. My brother behaved in the most selfless way the night he died. He would’ve been 40 this year.”

“To be thrust into all this has been difficult. It has placed uncomfortable perceptions on me.”

“I have a whole country who knows who killed my brother, who knows my father,” says Kim. “That happened to me in the early years of my adulthood – I was just 22 – and to have this be what people have chosen to identify me with has been hard … to have people know you or think they know you is awkward.

“I have no ego about it. People feel badly when they don’t put it together right away. I forget how far reaching it is, because for me it’s just so personal, so intimate. After 15 years people are so passionate about it. It’s always out there. I have no problem talking about it at all, if they know to acknowledge it. There’s this weird elephant. They’re afraid they’re going to make me cry. I’m very open about it. My brother is very important to me. The part that frustrates me is sometimes the misconception people have about me, that I’m fragile or always pissed off and now I can go on with my life.”

Kim has a background in psychology, previously living and working in San Francisco. She has done large-scale work with non-profit organizations. Currently, she is the executive director of SCV Youth Project, and is doing a lot of public speaking and writing, with particular interest in victims’ rights.

Kim and her five-year-old son, Sammy, enjoy their lives as Canyon Country residents. “The whole valley up here somewhat reminds me of my community/neighborhood in Chicago,” she says. “It’s clean, is safe, good schools, I can afford it. It has a neighborhood feel.”

“I probably see (the presumptions) more in my dating life,” says Goldman. “Someone told me he was very hesitant to date me ‘because I don’t want to be another disappointment in your life.’ People are afraid they’re going to let me down. It weeds out a lot, but doesn’t let me be who I am, because the assumption is that I’m fragile or broken....at the end of the day, I’m a mom.”