Warning: Talks of abuse, violence, murder, suicide, and in general a really messed up story. This is gonna be a tough one.
Judith Barsi was born June 6th, 1978 in San Fernando Valley, California to Maria Virovacz Barsi and Józef Barsi. Maria and Józef were both immigrants who had fled the Hungarian People's Republic following the 1955 uprising to live in the US. They met at a restaurant in California, where Maria worked as a waitress. They had both been previously married.
So a little background on Józef. He was a illegitimate child who never knew his father and suffered from social rejection and bullying by other children and even school teachers. His first daughter, Ági, later speculated that Józef resented his mother for allowing his father to abandon him and consequently viewed all women as "whores."
(A/N: I'm probably gonna show my genuine disgust for this POS)
Józef was previously married to Klara, who he had two children with, a son named Barna and Ági. He developed a drinking problem and would physically abuse her. After the family moved to New York in 1964, the abuse shifted towards Barna. This caused Klara to escape with their kids to Arizona 5 years later. Józef did attempt to reconcile but Klara filed for divorce after Józef threw a cast iron skillet at her in a drunken rage. He would later move to California and become a plumbing contractor.
Maria was in born in rural southern Hungary and suffered psychological and physical abuse from her father. After Józef and Maria married, Judith was soon born.
Stardom:
Maria began to prepare Judith to become a actress when Judith was 5. Her first role was in Fatal Vision (1984), playing Kimberly MacDonald. She went on to appear in than 70 commercials and guest roles on television. She also appeared in several films such as All Dogs Go To Heaven (1989) as the voice of Anne-Marie, Jaws: The Revenge (1987), and The Land Before Time (1988) as the voice of Duckie.
By the time Judith was in the first grade, she had earned an estimated $100,000 a year, which helped her family buy a three bedroom house in West Hills, Los Angeles. Judith was short for her age, was 3'8 at age 10. She began receiving hormone injections at UCLA to encourage her growth. Her petiteness led casting directors to cast her as children that were younger than her actual age. Her agent, Ruth Hansen was quoted in the Los Angeles Times as saying that when she was 10, she would play 7-8 year old characters.
Abuse (This is where things get serious and very dark):
Józef was VERY jealous of Judith's success (A/N: Yes a grown ass man was jealous of his own daughters success) and would be increasingly angry and threaten to kill himself, Maria, and Judith. His drinking led to three arrest for DUI. In December 1986, Maria reported his threats and physical abuse to the police but when the police didn't find any physical signs of abuse, she decided to drop the charges.
When Judith was preparing to leave Los Angeles for the Bahamas to film Jaws: The Revenge, Józef pulled a knife and told her he would cut her throat if she decided not to come back. She returned 2 months later.
Józef would continously say to a friend that he was going to kill his wife and when the friend asked about Judith, he said he would kill her too. (A/N: WHY DID NO ONE REPORT THIS?!!!) Józef showed Maria where he had his gasoline and warned her that he intended to burn the house down if she and Judith ever left. He hid a telegram informing Maria that a relative in Hungary had past away, in an attempt to prevent her and Judith from leaving America. Judith told her best friend that Józef in a fit of rage, once threw pots and pans at her in the kitchen, causing her to have a nosebleed.
Because of Józef's abuse, Judith began gaining weight and plucking out her eyelashes and pulling out her cat's whiskers. After Judith broke down in front of her agent during a singing audition for All Dogs Go To Heaven, Maria took her to a child psychologist, who identified severe physical and emotional abuse and reported her findings to Child Protective Services. The investigation was dropped after Maria assured the case worker that she intended on starting the divorce proceedings against Józef and that she and Judith would be moving into a Panorama City apartment she recently rented as a daytime haven away from Józef.
Maria was urged to leave the home but she said she didn't wanna lose the family home and belongings. Because Józef was obsessed with cleanliness, she would leave the house absolutely filthy, hoping it'll drive him away. Ági described it as a living pigpen. A week before the murders, Maria told a next door neighbor that she intended to cash her daughter's $12,000 federal tax refund check before Józef could get it.
While in the Bahamas, Maria would tell people that she was getting abused but they would stop listening to her because she would still say she was going back home. She was offered a place to hide away by neighbors but she didn't wanna give up the family home or their belongings.
The Murder-Suicide:
Judith had been last seen on the morning of Monday July 25th, 1988 riding her bike on her street. That same night, Józef shot Judith in the head while she was asleep in her room. Maria, having heard the gunshot ran down the hall, Józef met her and shot her as well. Józef spent the last two days wondering around the house and said during a phone call with Judith's agent on Tuesday night that he intended to move out for good and just needed time "to say goodbye to my little girl."
Józef then poured gasoline on their bodies and set them on fire. He went into the garage and shot himself with a .32 caliber pistol.
Aftermath:
Judith and Maria were buried together in an unmarked grave on August 8th, 1988. The location of Józef grave is a mystery and so is whether or not he was cremated, buried, or simply decomposed on the ground (A/N: He deserves the last one)
Barna became a cronic alcoholic and committed suicide by throwing himself off a bridge in Scottsdale, Arizona in 1995. Ági developed breast cancer in 1997 and became a radio talk show host and an author of self-help books. She succumbed to her cancer in 2008.
Judith was a talented kid who deserved so much better. She was practically apart of my childhood with All Dogs Go To Heaven and The Land Before Time. All the while i had no idea what she went through and what had happened to her.
Rest In Peace:
Judith Barsi (1978 - 1988)
Maria Virovacz Barsi ( - 1988)
Barna Barsi (1957 - 1995)
Ági Barsi (1958 - 2008)
This was a heavy one. I genuinely am disgusted by this POS of a "father" who didn't deserve Judith or Maria.
Here are the sources i used:
https://www.latimes.com/archives/la-xpm-1988-08-07-me-382-story.html
https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Judith_Barsi
https://ideas.fandom.com/wiki/J%C3%B3zsef_Barsi