She made $200,000 a year, but her father ended everything
On July 27th, 1988, the police received an alert from a very concerned neighbor. According to the neighbor, she had heard the sound of a gunshot next door. After arriving at the house, the police discovered a horrible scene of three dead bodies. Two of the bodies had inflicted burns.
Investigations revealed that, on July 25th, 1988, a very talented young child was murdered by her own father. The father had also attempted to burn her daughter’s body after the murder. A few days later, the father shot himself in the head.
The victim, Judith Eva Barsi, was born on June 6th, 1978, in Los Angeles, California, U.S. Barsi was the daughter of Jozsef Istvan Barsi and Maria Virovacz. Barsi was a very talented American actress from a very tender age.
At the mere age of five, Barsi was already training as an actress. Her first appearance was in the film, Fatal Vision where she played the role of Kimberley MacDonald. Despite being the popular voice behind The Land Before Time,” she was also the voice behind the main character (Anne-Marie) in All Dogs Go to Heaven.
And, she was part of the film Jaws: The Revenge. Barsi also took part in over seventy television commercials. As a child actress, Barsi earned an annual salary of over 200 000 United States dollars in today’s currency. This enabled her family to acquire a house in West Hills, Los Angeles.
But, Barsi’s life was not all rosy. Her father, Jozsef, was an alcoholic, physically and verbally abusive.
He threatened Barsi and her mother that he wanted to kill them. And he would burn the house afterwards. In 1986, Barsi’s mother, Maria, reported Jozsef to the police. But, Jozsef was released due to a lack of sufficient evidence.
Barsi once told a friend that her father was physically violent and sometimes threw cooking utensils at her. On one occasion, Barsi broke down in the presence of Ruth Hansen, who was her agent at the time. Hansen informed her mother, and Barsi was taken to a psychologist. The psychologist concluded that Barsi suffered from emotional and physical abuse. And Child Protective Services was made aware of the issue.
But, Maria assured the organization that she intended on divorcing her husband and moving out with Barsi. Thus, the organization took no further action. Meanwhile, Maria did not fulfill her word.
And, on July 25th, 1988, the worst happened. Jozsef murdered Barsi and Maria and tried to burn their bodies. Then, two days later, Jozsef went to the garage and committed suicide using a gun.
After the sad incident, the last film (All Dogs Go to Heaven), in which Barsi performed voice acting for the main character, was released (1989). And, later on, the song, Love Survives, was released to honor and remember the young and talented Barsi.