Roanoke Times
                 Copyright (c) 1995, Landmark Communications, Inc.

DATE: WEDNESDAY, June 14, 1995                   TAG: 9507060091
SECTION: VIRGINIA                    PAGE: C2   EDITION: NEW RIVER VALLEY 
SOURCE: 
DATELINE: NORFOLK                                  LENGTH: Short

EX-WIFE TESTIFIES TO THREATS

Barnabei was convicted Monday of capital murder and rape in the death of an Old Dominion University student.

Paula Bartow, his ex-wife, testified in the sentencing phase of his trial that, despite his threats, she left Barnabei one morning in June 1988 after he got into an argument with his father and then launched into a brawl with his older brother.

Barnabei, 28, killed Sara Wisnosky, a 17-year-old ODU freshman from Lynchburg, in September 1993. The woman's nude body was found floating in the Lafayette River.

The jury of eight women and four men who convicted Barnabei will hear closing arguments today before deciding whether Barnabei should be given a life term or the death sentence on the capital murder conviction.

- Associated Press