TAMPA, Fla. (WFLA) – Every time the O. J. Simpson story makes headlines, Norman Pardo is the one to provide perspective. Pardo, who lives in the Tampa Bay area, has known Simpson since 1999.

“People like to talk about O.J. It’s not going to go away until somebody tells them what happened. Being with O.J. for 20 years, they know that I know a lot more than anybody else. When I first met him, I wanted to know what happened,” Pardo said.RELATED: Knife allegedly found on former O.J. Simpson property inconsistent with murders

Simpson has been in the headlines lately after the premiere of the new FX series, “The People vs. OJ Simpson.” Then, this month, a knife that was allegedly found on Simpson’s former property was turned over to Los Angeles Police Department.

Pardo, Simpson’s former manager, won’t say when he last talked with Simpson told News Channel 8. He did say he keeps in touch through others.

“People misunderstand what he is. O.J. is like a child. He really is. He needs somebody to take his hand and guide him. He’s always been that way. To him, I was almost like a father figure,” Pardo said.

Pardo doesn’t spend much time with O.J.’s family but did say they want people to move on. “They want it to go away. They want everything to go away. They honestly think that if everybody just stops talking, it goes away. They don’t realize that the people aren’t going to let it go away,” he said.

Pardo told News Channel 8 the jury got it right, although he isn’t pointing to other suspects right now.

“There’s a little bit of truth in everybody’s story, and what I’m doing is I’m taking the stories. I’m picking out the truths and I’m putting them in a pile. What if this man did not do these murders, look what you did to him. Look what they took from him. They’ve taken everything from him,” he said.

Simpson is currently in prison after having been convicted in 2008 of 12 charges, including armed robbery and kidnapping. Those guilty verdicts came 13 years to the exact day Simpson was acquitted of killing Nicole Brown Simpson and her friend, Ronald Goldman, CNN reports.WHAT OTHERS ARE CLICKING ON: