Paula Barbieri Says She Dumped Simpson Hours Before Slayings She Left ‘Dear John’ Message On O.J.’S Answering Machine

Offering surprising information that the jury at O.J. Simpson’s trial never heard, model Paula Barbieri testified that she dumped Simpson just hours before his ex-wife and a friend were slain, a lawyer said Friday.

“It’s obviously important information, a significant event on a significant day, and it may explain a lot,” said Michael Brewer, a lawyer for Ronald Goldman’s mother.

Barbieri, the first witness to give a deposition in the wrongful-death lawsuit against Simpson, told lawyers Thursday that she called Simpson at 7 a.m. on June 12, 1994, and left a “Dear John” message for him, Brewer said.

“The relationship as far as she was concerned was over,” Brewer said.

About 15 hours later, Simpson’s ex-wife Nicole Brown Simpson and Goldman, her friend, were slashed to death outside Nicole Simpson’s condominium.

At Simpson’s trial, the defense portrayed him as a happy man on the day of the murders - not someone reeling because he’d been dumped by his girlfriend.

Barbieri’s revelation raised questions of why prosecutors didn’t call her as a witness during his trial.

“If they did know about (the call), it’s incompetency not to call her,” said Loyola University law professor Stanley Goldman. “There’s their motive: Simpson’s frustration with his women.”

Prosecutors had suggested the relationship was on the rocks, but neither they nor the defense revealed the “Dear John” message. Sources speaking on condition of anonymity said both sides knew about it and decided against using it because it was unclear whether Simpson got the message before the murders.

The message was left the morning after Barbieri and Simpson attended a Beverly Hills fund-raiser, where, a defense witness said, they appeared deeply in love.

At the trial, another model, Gretchen Stockdale, testified outside the jury’s presence that he had left her a message about three hours before his ex-wife’s slaying, saying he was “finally … totally unattached with everybody.”

The tape of that message apparently was destroyed or lost, and the jury never heard about it.

Some of Barbieri’s previous statements have suggested the romance resumed after Simpson was charged with murder. She told ABC’s “Prime-Time Live,” for instance, the couple broke up soon after his acquittal, when he seemed more interested in how much money he could get for photographs of them together.

Barbieri’s attorney didn’t return calls seeking comment. Simpson’s attorney in the wrongful-death lawsuit, Robert Baker, and officials from the district attorney’s office refused to comment.

Simpson is being sued by Goldman’s family and Nicole Simpson’s estate. The lawsuits were combined into a single case that will go to trial April 2.