When Ann Racz went missing in Valencia, California, on her way to a fast food restaurant, her friends and family thought that her ex-husband, John Racz, had something to do with it. But the case was soon closed because there wasn’t any proof and there was no body. “Dateline: Prime Suspect” shows how horrible Ann’s death was and how the investigation led directly to John. Still, he says to this day that he is innocent, so let’s look into the details of the case and find out where he is now, shall we?
Who is John Racz?
At the time Ann went missing, John Racz, who used to work for the Los Angeles County Sheriff’s department, lived in Valencia, California. Even though they had been married for a long time and had three kids together, their relationship had been pretty rough in the days before the incident. In fact, people who lived nearby said that the couple fought a lot until Ann took their kids and moved to a house in Newhall, California, just four days before she went missing.
Still, John was said to be a quiet man who mostly kept to himself and worked as a Teacher at a public school in Compton. He had problems at home, but that was about it. On April 22, 1991, Ann drove her kids to the house of her ex-husband in Valencia and gave them to him to care for. She then got in her minivan and drove to a nearby fast food place to get food for their kids. Sad to say, that was the last time anyone saw the mother of three, since she never came back home and her car was never found.
When asked, John said that his ex-wife might have gone on vacation because he had called her that morning and offered to pay for her trip if she would let him spend a few days with the kids. Ann’s family and friends quickly shot down this theory, saying that she would never leave her kids alone in such a way. Even though police and local volunteers looked everywhere, there was no sign of the mother of three, and people who knew her feared the worst. During the investigation, the police found out that Ann and John had a rough relationship and were in the middle of getting a divorce.
Reports also say that the couple was fighting over child custody, and that the man was angry that his wife had left him for her high school sweetheart. Still, he couldn’t be linked to the crime because there was no body and no proof. Then, one of John’s neighbours went to the police and said that the former deputy had followed his wife right after she left for the fast-food place on April 22. One of Ann’s friends, on the other hand, said that the mother of three was afraid of her husband and even hid her van because she didn’t want John to find out where she lived in Newhall.
Where is John Racz Now?
In the meantime, police officers in Los Angeles, California, found an abandoned minivan parked in a park and drove it a lot at the Van Nuys Airport. Investigators were able to confirm that the car was Ann’s and even found some of her things inside, but her name wasn’t on any flight manifests. So, the detectives were sure that the murderer put the van there to distract people. The investigators were unable to find any more clues in the case, so Ann’s body was never found. No matter what, they thought they had enough evidence to arrest John and bring him to court.
When John was brought to court, he pleaded not guilty and said he wasn’t guilty. But the prosecution used his children as witnesses, and the jury found the former deputy guilty of first-degree murder in the end. In August 2007, the judge gave John a prison sentence of 205 years to life. He could have his first parole hearing in January 2023, but he is still in prison at the California Institution for Men in Chino, California. On top of that, readers should know that John still insists to this day that he is innocent.
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