DAUGHTER OF MISSING WIFE TESTIFIES IN FATHER'S TRIAL.

Byline: JUDY O'ROURKE

Staff Writer

SAN FERNANDO -- A reluctant Katelin Racz struggled Monday to recall her mother and the events surrounding her disappearance 16 years ago as she testified in the trial of her father, a former sheriff's deputy charged with killing his wife.

Just 7 when her mother vanished, Katelin Racz, now 23, hesitated frequently and had a hard time recalling her testimony last year in grand jury hearings that led to her father's indictment.

"You are very concerned about how your answers are going to affect your dad," asked assistant prosecutor John Lewin. "You don't want your dad to be convicted?"

Racz answered she just wants "it" to be fair.

After a two-week recess the defense opened its case in the trial of John Racz, 61, which resumed Monday in San Fernando Superior Court. So far, the only evidence has been circumstantial, based in part on John Racz's insistence his estranged wife was away on a trip.

Katelin Racz, the youngest of the couple's three children, said her childhood memories are fading and offered no real evidence for either side. She has not missed a day since the trial began in June, she said.

Sketchy about life with her mother, she cried as memories flooded back. She scored her mother a 99 out of 100 points, 100 being best in terms of being a loving mom.

Prosecutors believe John Racz killed his wife April 22, 1991, four days after she moved with the children from the family home in Valencia to a nearby condominium.

She planned to divorce John and had begun an affair with a high school sweetheart.

Defense attorneys counter that no body, crime scene, murder weapon, evidence, or witnesses to a crime have surfaced.

Katelin Racz said her testimony is unbiased, adding her father last provided financial support when she was 18. However, John Racz, known to be frugal, gave her $1,500 last month.

"He compensated me. I quit my job so I could be here," she said. "He said if I needed help he would help me, give me however much I made at the job to be here."

Also testifying Monday was Sally Fynan, a retired sheriff's homicide investigator.

Defense attorney Philip Israels questioned Fynan's notes from a conversation with Joann Racz, the couple's older daughter, that suggested Ann Racz might have left voluntarily. Joann first recalled her mother saying the family would be better off without her and she should go away, but later retracted the statement, Fynan said.

judy.orourke(at)dailynews.com

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