No Evidence Slain Father Abused Girl, Police Testify

The teen-ager accused of murdering her father told authorities that she was the victim of violent treatment at least three times, but police found she was either unharmed or accidentally injured in each case, according to testimony at her trial Wednesday.

On the third day of the 14-year-old’s trial in Juvenile Court for the murder of Daniel Allen, 46, of Highland Park, Los Angeles Police Detective John Spreitzer testified that he was aware of five reports filed either by the minor or school officials, but was able to locate investigative reports for just three.

Prosecutors say the girl killed her father with the help of her boyfriend, Guido Anthony Cuza, 18, and another friend, 16-year-old Evelyn Solorzano, to escape Allen’s attempts to control her behavior with boys, particularly Cuza. Cuza and Solorzano will be tried as adults for the crime, and if convicted could face life sentences without the possibility of parole. Because the 14-year-old girl is being tried as a minor, she faces imprisonment until age 25 if the charges against her are sustained.

Defense attorney Oscar A. Acosta raised the issue of the police reports in cross-examining Spreitzer, to underscore the motive the teen-ager gave police in a tape-recorded confession after Allen’s body was found. She told police that she had killed him “so he would stop hitting me.”

Two reports Spreitzer found had been filed in October, 1991, only a few months after the girl moved from Texas to live with her estranged father. The third report was filed in April, just two months before the murder.

All three incidents were investigated by the LAPD’s abused child unit, Spreitzer testified. But the police found no cause for further action, and Deputy Dist. Atty. Shane Burns sought to show that diaries kept by the girl did not talk about abuse.

In the first reported incident, the girl was cut on the forehead when Allen broke a bathroom door during a fight. Spreitzer testified that the police report showed “she did say it (the door) was accidentally pushed.”

The second report noted “no physical injuries” to the girl and that she had recently run away from home, the detective said.

The third incident occurred after the girl ran away to Tijuana with Cuza and then said the two had gotten married there. Once back home, Allen grasped his daughter to prevent her from leaving to see Cuza, Spreitzer read from the report, “and both fell to the floor.”