The witness says he first heard the dog's "plaintive wail" between 10:15 and 10:20 p.m. on June 12 - a mournful cry that punctured the darkness and continued sporadically for at least an hour.
"It sounded like a very unhappy animal," Pablo Fenjves testified Tuesday in the O.J. Simpson trial.Prosecutors say the lonely wail is the closest clue so far to establishing a time of death for Nicole Brown Simpson and Ronald Goldman. They believe the barking and howling came from Nicole Simpson's Akita, Kato, who left bloody paw prints near the murder scene.
With no known witnesses to the murders, prosecutors used testimony from Fenjves and two of Goldman's co-workers to try to pinpoint for jurors the time of the bloody killings.
Prosecutors contend Simpson killed his ex-wife and her friend about 10:15 p.m., which would give him time to return to his Brentwood estate, clean up and board a limousine to the airport just after 11 p.m.
Simpson's lawyers say he was in his front yard practicing his golf swing when the killings occurred.
Fenjves' home is across an alley from Nicole Simpson's condominium, where the bodies were found. He said he was watching the 10 o'clock news when he heard "a very distinctive barking" coming from around Nicole Simpson's home.
"It was at a significant pitch, and as you may recall I described it at the time as a plaintive wail," said Fenjves, who also testified last summer at Simpson's preliminary hearing.
Fenjves, a writer, said he looked out his bedroom window, saw nothing amiss and went downstairs to work in his soundproof office. When he returned to his bedroom at 11 p.m., he said, the dog was still barking.
"I mentioned to my wife I was concerned about the dog," he said. "The dog didn't sound like it was in pain. It was just unhappy."
He peered outside again, saw lights in the neighboring condominium and went back to bed. He estimated he fell asleep about 11:20 or 11:30 p.m., still hearing the sporadic barking.
In cross-examination, defense attorney Johnnie Cochran Jr. noted that a police report quotes Fenjves as saying he heard barking between 10:15 and 10:30, rather than 10:20. Fenjves stuck with the 10:20 time.
Earlier Tuesday, two employees of the Mezzaluna restaurant, where Goldman worked, described the victims' final hours. Nicole Simpson ate with family members at the restaurant the night she was killed.
Waitress Tia Gavin said Nicole Simpson and her party left the restaurant about 8:45 p.m.
A manager, Karen Lee Crawford, said she received a telephone call at 9:37 p.m. from Nicole Simpson's mother asking about her glasses, which she had dropped in the gutter outside the restaurant.
Less than 10 minutes later, Nicole Simpson called and asked to talk to Goldman, Crawford said. Goldman then asked Crawford to give him the glasses and left about 9:50 p.m., she said.
Other developments Tuesday:
- A court spokeswoman said Superior Court Judge Lance Ito dismissed a 63-year-old white woman from the jury because her arthritis doctor may be called as a witness for Simpson, who claims bad knees and arthritis rendered him incapable of committing the murders.