Post by Brad on Jan 27, 2014 17:09:30 GMT
I’m new to this site, so if I break a norm of the site please correct me.
I have some background information on Niguel Shores at the time of the Harrington murders. My family moved into Niguel Shores in 1972 and my parents still live there.
Despite the sea of houses surrounding Niguel Shores today, in 1980 there was no development to the east for miles. In 1980, Stonehill road ended at the back gate of Niguel Shores. Stonehill did not cut through to Golden Lantern and Niguel Road ended at the firehouse at the corner of Stonehill and Niguel Road. The golf course did not open until 1983. All the houses immediately to the east of Niguel Shores were not built until 1986 or later.
The land to the east of Stonehill had been graded since 1972, but nothing had been built on it and almost no one ever went back there. The kids road their bikes out there as a short cut over to see friends in the Dana D'Oro housing track by Dana Hills High School. Some kids rode bikes out there as a precursor to what is now bmx and mountain biking but mostly it was a dead zone. Because of the grading, there was not even coyote bush or grass. Only a few tumbleweeds grew.
Here is a picture of the area slightly south of where the golf course is now and what the land behind Niguel Shores looked like at the time that the murders happened. If the camera panned right in the shot, you would see that same barren land with the back fences of Niguel Shores, Stonehill and the firehouse.
When the murders happened, the police believed that the murderer had accessed Niguel Shores via the back gate on Stonehill. Because Stonehill and Niguel Road were both dead ends and only residents that lived at the top side of Niguel Shores ever used that pedestrian gate, we always felt that the murderer either had to be someone that had lived in Niguel Shores or often visited someone that lived there. An infrequent visitor or service person would have come through the main Mariner Dr. gate and would not have been familiar with the closed pedestrian gate on Stonehill.
Also, in Niguel Shores between 1972-1974 there were a rash of burglaries committed by juveniles that were caught. They broke into houses, ate food, left a mess and often did not take anything of value.
Welcome to the board!