| Judith Barsi |
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Judith Eva Barsi ( June 6 , 1978 – July 25 , 1988 ) was an American child Actress of Hungarian descent. Judith's trade-mark was planning characters much younger than herself due to her unusually small stature. On July 25 th 1988 Judith was murdered by her father, Jozsef Barsi, along with her mother Maria Barsi. EARLY LIFE Judith was the daughter of Hungarian immigrants Jozsef Barsi and Maria Barsi nee Benko, who had both fled the 1956 Soviet Occupation of Hungary and then emigrated to Los Angeles , California shortly before Judith was born. Her mother dreamt of her becoming an actress, as she once made an effort to do so for herself. When Judith was five years old, she was "discovered" at a skating rink. Looking younger than she was, she was mistaken for a three-year-old. She went on to appear in over 70 commercials and soon appeared in films. Later in her life Judith had Growth Hormone injections to encourage her growth. As Judith became more famous, her father Jozsef, an Alcoholic and unemployed plumber, became increasingly abusive and paranoid. He would mentally abuse Judith and once held a knife to her throat while threatening to kill her, because he was convinced that his wife and daughter would leave for a Photo Shoot or Movie Shoot and never come back. Judith was taken to a child psychologist after breaking down in front of her agent, the psychologist identified severe mental, physical and emotional abuse to Judith and reported her findings to the authorities. Jozsef would often stay home drunk and refused to let Maria work. The family was on Welfare for a brief period until Judith's career started taking off in around 1986 . By the time she entered fourth grade, she was earning an estimated $100,000 a year which helped her buy the family a four-bedroom house in West Hills, California . Jozsef suffered from paranoia and had their house surrounded by a high-fence which could only be opened from inside the house. MURDER Jozsef continued to remain a recluse and threatened to kill his wife and daughter hundreds of times. Child Protective Services was called numerous times, but as Maria was reluctant to press any charges, the case was never followed up. Maria rented an apartment for her and Judith as a daytime Safe Haven away from her father. On July 25 , 1988 when '' The Land Before Time '' neared completion and '' All Dogs Go To Heaven '' was still in production, the bodies of both Judith and Maria were discovered by fire fighters responding to a fire at their address. The date of the murder has never been determined; the police have said that Jozsef may have killed his wife and child on July 23 or July 24 . It is believed that after realizing that Maria was planning to leave him, Jozsef entered Judith's second-floor bedroom and shot her in the head; he then shot Maria in the same fashion as she ran down the corridor toward her daughter's room. He then drenched the bodies in gasoline and set the house on fire before shooting himself in the garage. A neighbor called the fire department after seeing flames on July 25 . Judith and her mother were buried in an unmarked grave at the Forest Lawn Hollywood Hills Cemetery in Los Angeles. In June 2004 , a fund was set up to get headstones for their graves. Judith's marker was placed on August 23 , 2004 while one for her mother was placed on January 28 , 2005 . Future Donations will go toward donating Beanie Babies to hospitalized children. Judith's marker reads "Our Concrete Angel - Yep Yep Yep" in reference to A Popular Song and her character Ducky's catchphrase from ''The Land Before Time''. Her mother's marker reads "The wind beneath Judith's wings - Yep Yep Yep". FILMOGRAPHY
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