Girl, 14, Two Friends Held in Slaying of Her Father : Crime: She resented his attempts to limit relationship with boyfriend, who is the accused gunman, police say.

An unruly 14-year-old girl, apparently irritated with her well-meaning but strict father, has been arrested along with her boyfriend and another teen-age friend in the murder of the Highland Park man, authorities said Tuesday.

The youths allegedly drugged Daniel Allen Jr. with sleeping pills, shot him once in the head, doused his body with gasoline and--in an effort to conceal his identity--set him afire, police said.

The youths, whose names have not been released, buried Allen in a shallow grave along a stretch of well-traveled railroad tracks near his secluded Thorne Street apartment building, police said.

Police identified the gunman as the girl’s 17-year-old boyfriend, whom neighbors said the girl met through a church youth group Allen had encouraged her to join.

“She was tired of her father interfering with her relationships and being too strict,” said Detective Robert Suter of the LAPD’s Hollenbeck Division. “It was premeditated, and that’s without a doubt. I haven’t really seen anything quite like this in my (30 years) on the job.”

Allen’s charred body was discovered last Wednesday near the 100 block of North Avenue 61 by boys who saw a hand protruding from the ground, police said. The 46-year-old unemployed county custodian and sign painter had been dead for a week, authorities said.

Deputy Dist. Atty. Phyllis Asayama said the murder probably took place June 10, but had been planned several days in advance. Asayama declined to speculate on the motive, saying only that Allen “didn’t approve” of his daughter’s relationship with the boy in custody.

The three youths, including a 16-year-old Eagle Rock High School girl, are scheduled to be arraigned today in Juvenile Court on murder charges. Police arrested Allen’s daughter and her boyfriend Friday and the second teen-age girl Tuesday. Asayama said prosecutors will seek to try the two older teen-agers as adults.

Allen, who was divorced, had not seen his daughter in about 11 years when she moved last August from Texas to live with him, authorities said. Friends said the girl’s mother could no longer handle the child, who was described by police and neighbors as a discipline problem. The mother could not be reached for comment.

“He was really happy that he was going to have his baby daughter,” said Joel Kroll, a close friend who had known Allen for about 10 years and lives in the apartment building next door. “He wanted to make up for the lost years.”

Friends and neighbors said Allen was aware of his daughter’s discipline problems, but was determined to help her change her ways. He set rules for her coming and going, took her to counseling and encouraged her to become involved in the church youth group, they said.

At first, all went well. But when school started last fall, she began skipping her classes and staying out late, neighbors said. Neighbors heard father and daughter arguing and occasionally saw the girl storm out of the apartment with Allen in pursuit.

Police said the disagreements between Allen and his daughter--who they said attended Burbank Middle School--centered on the girl’s boyfriend, who they said is a student at Eagle Rock High School. Neighbors said Allen complained about the two teen-agers going off for long, unexplained absences, and he was concerned about the sexual nature of their relationship.

“I remember him always chasing her . . . and saying, ‘Come back!’ ” said Kim Cammorata, a resident of Allen’s apartment building.

In February, Kroll said, the teen-ager and her boyfriend ran away to Tijuana, where, she told her father, they “got married.” It could not be confirmed if the two were actually married and police referred to them only as boyfriend and girlfriend.

Allen was sick with worry until police found his daughter about a week later in Highland Park, Kroll said.

Allen attended a parent support group and “always talked to everybody, asking for advice” about his daughter, Kroll said.

“It was kind of rocky, but he loved her and she expressed that she loved him a lot, so they were trying to work on it,” Kroll said. “He was a good, loving man, trying to be a good father.”

Bernice Kirby, who lives in the apartment beneath Allen’s, said Allen “was trying to help her, trying to show her that education was important. . . . Life meant a lot to him. He was of help to anybody.” According to court papers filed two years ago by Allen’s ex-wife, the two were divorced less than a year after their daughter’s birth in 1978. The couple had lived in San Antonio, where the daughter remained with her mother and stepfather until last summer.

Debra D. Jimenez, Allen’s ex-wife, sued Allen in 1990 for unpaid child support, court papers show. A Los Angeles County judge ordered Allen last July to pay $204 a month for his daughter’s care and to begin making payments toward $18,000 in overdue payments, according to county records.

Arthur L. Goldberg, an Echo Park attorney who represented Allen in the child support case, said Allen did not make the payments because his daughter “was kept away from him” by his ex-wife.

“He tried hard to find his daughter, but couldn’t find her,” Goldberg said. “He was really looking forward to seeing her. He was very hopeful about her coming. Obviously, he shouldn’t have been so hopeful.”

Goldberg said Allen had difficulty keeping a job, and had not worked for two years before landing a county job in December, 1990. William Oas, Allen’s landlord, said Allen had been living with Kroll for a year, and rented his own apartment last year after getting the county job.

“He was struggling,” Oas said, and was having difficulty paying rent. Oas said Allen was paying just half of his $575 monthly rent because of his financial problems. He described Allen’s daughter as “a real problem child” and said Allen was well liked among tenants in the eight-unit building.

“He was just a very nice person,” Oas said. “Everyone was real shocked.”

Neighbors said Allen was friendly and easy to get along with, often volunteering to drive an elderly neighbor to the hospital.

Allen’s nephew, James Fine, and his wife, Becky, flew to Los Angeles from Texas on Tuesday to help take care of Allen’s business affairs and clean out the apartment.

Fine said Allen had been like a father to him after his own parents were divorced. He said Allen’s mother and two sisters, all of whom live in Texas, are devastated by the killing.

“No one understands how this could happen,” he said.

But Fine said he was not ready to condemn the cousin he had never met.

“One irrational act does not mean she didn’t love him,” he said.