Simpson’s Ex-Wife and Her Friend Are Buried : Mourning: Separate services are held. Ex-football star attends Nicole Simpson’s with their children.

Nicole Brown Simpson and Ronald Lyle Goldman, slain side by side in a brutal attack that has grabbed the attention of the world, were buried in separate funerals Thursday, with O.J. Simpson, a suspect in the killings, attending the service for his ex-wife.

Simpson’s children, 6-year-old Justin and 9-year-old Sydney, arrived and left by their father’s side. When an attacker killed their mother outside their Brentwood home Sunday, the children were asleep inside.

In Westlake Village, mourners gathered to grieve for Goldman, 25, a waiter and friend of Nicole Simpson whose body was found a few feet from hers just after midnight Sunday. Goldman’s sister, who wept as she eulogized him Thursday, spoke to his memory, saying: “I don’t know if I ever told you how proud I am of the man you have become.”

Even as the funerals were under way, investigators continued probing the killings and interviewed a new witness, who said she saw a car that resembled one owned by Simpson parked across the street from the residence of his ex-wife Sunday about the time of the killings.

The witness, a young woman who said she jogs in the area every night, said she could not be sure whether anyone was in the car when she jogged past, but her description of the vehicle generally matches the car that police seized from Simpson’s home two days ago. The woman--who met with a homicide detective in a church parking lot to avoid the crush of media following the case--said she was familiar with the cars in the area and noticed this one because it was parked in an unusual location.

“I saw a light-colored Ford Bronco or Blazer-type car,” the woman, who asked not to be identified, said in an interview with The Times. She added that she did not see any activity outside the house.

Police have not released the exact time of death, but sources have placed it roughly between 10 p.m. and 11 p.m. The woman spotted the car between 9:45 p.m. and 10:10 p.m., she said.

On Monday, officers seized a white Ford Bronco from Simpson’s home. Police sources say blood samples were recovered from the upholstery in that vehicle. They are testing those samples to determine whether the blood might have come from either of the victims or from Simpson.

Other blood samples taken from the scene of the crime match O.J. Simpson’s blood type, sources close to the case have said. Such a match does not prove that Simpson was at the crime scene because many people share blood types.

Investigators also are combing clothing, shoes and other items seized from Simpson’s home to determine whether any of them contain bloodstains and to see whether the treads on any of his shoes match tracks found at the crime scene, sources said. In Chicago, police roamed a field near the hotel where Simpson briefly stayed Monday, trolling with metal detectors as they searched for a possible weapon.

“Everybody expects this case is a slam-dunk and no homicide case is a slam-dunk,” said Police Chief Willie L. Williams in an interview from Philadelphia, where he is testifying in a trial. “We would be beyond the greatest police department in the world if we could close a homicide case in four days.”

As investigators continued their review of the physical evidence and their interviews with possible witnesses, families of the two victims gathered separately for funerals 20 miles apart.

About 200 close friends and family members made their way to Nicole Simpson’s funeral at St. Martin of Tours Catholic Church on Sunset Boulevard in Brentwood Thursday morning, under sunny skies and the buzz of media helicopters.

A phalanx of reporters and camera people flanked narrow Saltair Avenue, on the western side of the church grounds, straining for a glimpse of a familiar face in a passing car or a stray quote from a mourner.

Dark-suited men and women in sleek, short-skirted black suits and high heels arrived looking solemn behind sunglasses. A line of luxury cars and trendy trucks snaked up to the iron gate entrance to the parking lot that bristled with private security.

The role of gatekeeper was performed by Al Cowlings, a former football player who played with Simpson at USC and for the Buffalo Bills. Cowlings waved through familiar cars, briefly questioned some arrivals, and greeted most guests with warm hugs.

A white hearse carrying the light wood casket of Nicole Simpson, covered with a spray of white roses, arrived shortly after 11 a.m., followed by limousines ferrying family members.

O.J. Simpson emerged from one and lingered briefly with other family members outside the side entrance. On both sides, he held the hands of his small children--his daughter in a patchwork print dress and his son in pants and jacket and tennis shoes.

Former football players, Olympic athlete Bruce Jenner and former baseball player Steve Garvey were among those attending the Mass, which was celebrated by the church’s Msgr. Lawrence O’Leary. Simpson’s lawyers also were in attendance. Reporters were kept out.

“It was beautiful,” said Garvey after the service in the church, a mixture of traditional and contemporary. “Msgr. O’Leary gave probably the most poignant and moving homily I’ve ever heard.”

Among the latecomers to the service--who were forced to wait outside the church--was comedian Byron Allen, who said he last saw O.J. and Nicole Simpson together five or six weeks ago at the House of Blues. “They were happy, hanging out, having a good time,” said Allen. “They sat down at my table for about 10 minutes, had a bite of my salad. . . . I figured they were working it out.”

Allen peered at the parked hearse. “It’s devastating,” he said. “It’s really hard to believe.”

After the hourlong service, family and friends paused outside the side entrance, surrounding O.J. Simpson, who was dressed in a black suit and wearing sunglasses. Guests embraced.

Simpson’s attorney, Robert L. Shapiro, said later that Nicole Simpson’s mother had expressed a wish to him at the service. “Mrs. Brown told me: ‘Please take good care of him (Simpson). The children need their father.’ ”

At a tiny Westlake Village chapel, about 400 of Goldman’s friends and relatives overflowed the pews. Some stood in the chapel’s aisle while others huddled by the doorway and listened to loudspeakers placed outside. Kim Goldman, 22, wept as she said farewell to her brother.

“Not in my worst nightmare did I imagine that I would be here in front of our family and friends saying how much I’ll miss you,” she said. “I admire everything about you. I don’t know if I ever told you how proud I am of the man you have become.”

Rabbi Gary Johnson led the brief morning service, focusing on the need for faith in the face of such a violent and sudden tragedy.

“We are all shaken by the injustice of the taking of Ron’s life,” Johnson said. “The world may impose upon us violence, but we must respond with a loving embrace.”

Johnson talked about the trauma of Goldman’s death, and described two ways that people cope with the brevity of life.

“Some think that since life is so short, we should enjoy it as much as possible,” he said. “But others say that since life is so short, we should dedicate it to a sacred and worthy goal.”

Goldman, according to his friends, thrived on the excitement of Los Angeles nightlife, but also spent much of his time working with children. Two of his goals were to open a trendy Brentwood bar and to work as a paramedic.

“Ron lived life to its fullest,” said Mike Pincus, a longtime friend. “He took everything life had to offer.”

After the chapel service, hundreds crossed the lawn at Pierce Bros. Valley Oaks Memorial Park to attend the burial. The crowd of friends, most in their 20s, ignored the dozens of television cameras set up across the street as they huddled around the grave site. They stood silently as Goldman’s stepbrother and close friends walked the casket from the chapel.

Family members and friends sobbed as the final prayers were read in Hebrew, and the casket was lowered into the ground.

“You can’t possibly give justice in a service to someone’s whole life,” said Frank Enderle, one of Goldman’s friends. “It’s just too hard to deal with.”

The burials were haunted by the possibility of exhumations, as Shapiro had said that he wanted a leading national pathologist to conduct his own autopsies to check the work of the Los Angeles County coroner. But Shapiro--who Thursday identified that pathologist as Dr. Michael Baden of New York--said he had at least temporarily dropped those plans out of deference to the victims’ families and instead was asking for the cooperation of the county coroner’s office in supplying his pathologist with information related to the autopsy.

“Because of the dramatic effect on the family, I have decided not to encroach upon the family with this subject during this period of grief,” Shapiro said.

According to sources, police are nearly ready to forward their investigation to the Los Angeles County district attorney’s office, but prosecutors and police are discussing whether to arrest Simpson and then file charges against him or to submit the evidence to a grand jury and seek an indictment.

Submitting the case to a grand jury might delay an arrest by several days, but it would eliminate the need for a preliminary hearing. Unlike grand jury sessions, preliminary hearings are held in public, a spectacle that sources say prosecutors are eager to avoid.

Times staff writers Adam S. Bauman and Tina Daunt and correspondent Matthew Mosk contributed to this report.