Local News in Brief : Bodies Identified as Child Actress, Mother

A woman and child found dead in a murder-suicide in a West Hills home Wednesday have been identified as child-actress Judith Barsi and her mother, the Los Angeles County coroner’s office said Thursday.

The father, Jozsef Barsi, 55, fatally shot himself in the garage after shooting his wife and 11-year-old daughter once in the head, dousing them with gasoline and setting them and the house afire, Los Angeles police said.

The body of Maria Barsi, 48, was found in a hallway, and Judith’s body was found in a bedroom, detectives said.

Judith made her film debut in the 1987 movie, “Jaws IV: The Revenge.” The blonde, blue-eyed girl had appeared in about 50 television commercials, several TV series and the TV movie “Fatal Vision,” in which she played a child killed by her father.

Neighbors reported that Maria Barsi had spoken of threats her husband made against her and the daughter.

Although no note was found, investigators believe domestic problems led Barsi, a plumber, to kill his wife and daughter and then himself.

“There had been domestic problems,” Lt. Warren Knowles said. “There was a separation and an attempted reconciliation.”

The deaths of the mother and daughter brought the number of homicides so far this year in the Devonshire Division of the Los Angeles Police Department to 11, compared to five in all of 1987.