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The Spokesman-Review Newspaper
Spokane, Washington  Est. May 19, 1883

Nicole Brown’s Mother Had Feeling About Killings

Associated Press

The moment she heard Arnelle Simpson sobbing over the telephone, Juditha Brown felt that her daughter Nicole had been killed - and probably by O.J. Simpson, she testified Wednesday in a deposition.

Sources close to the case told The Associated Press that Judith Brown immediately recognized the voice of Simpson’s adult daughter in the June 13, 1994, phone call from Simpson’s house - and thought that Simpson’s long history of abuse against Nicole had ended violently.

“She said that even before Arnelle started talking she knew that Nicole was dead, and she knew that Simpson had done it,” said one source familiar with Judith Brown’s testimony.

Simpson was acquitted last year in the murders of Nicole Brown Simpson and Ronald Goldman. The wrongful death suit against him, on behalf of the victims, seeks to hold him liable in civil court.

Judith Brown also said that on the night of the murders, Simpson was in a dark mood and his eyes were glassy as he stared at Nicole at their daughter’s dance recital, the sources said. Simpson appeared upset that he wasn’t being allowed to give flowers to Sydney.

The sources also confirmed that on Monday, Nicole’s father Louis Brown and sister Dominique Brown both testified that Simpson offered Nicole $5,000 for sex just weeks before she was killed. The Browns said Nicole told them he had made the offer during an argument when they were in Laguna Beach for Mother’s Day weekend.

Also Wednesday, Al “A.C.” Cowlings testified that Simpson told him he fled on foot and jumped a neighbor’s fence - dropping his car keys - after a violent New Year’s Day fight with Nicole that left her hospitalized. The Associated Press obtained a transcript of his deposition testimony.

Simpson would later plead no contest to spousal battery for the fight.

Cowlings said he saw Simpson after the fight and agreed to go out and find his car keys - as well as retrieve a velvet bag of his wife’s jewelry that he had hidden in the garbage can several houses away.