My New East Area Rapist-Golden State Killer ID Theory
Sept 22, 2017 1:07:32 GMT
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Post by steve1970 on Sept 22, 2017 1:07:32 GMT
I grew up in the Northwood community of Irvine - hopefully, I can add a little insight to this discussion. As you may already know, Irvine is made up of various planned developments or villages. Northwood was the development north of the 5 Freeway and was constructed/developed in the very late 70's and early 80's. Throughout the 80's, Northwood was bordered by Culver Drive on the west, Jeffrey Road on the east, and Trabuco Road on the south. Yale Avenue cuts through the middle of Northwood.
If you look on the 1980 aerial map that was linked above, Culver Drive is the road that goes right between the numbers "4" and "1." Just above the "1," where the Cruz house was located,there is a thin row of trees that runs west-east along the edge of the houses. That marked the northern edge of Northwood (and Irvine) until the mid-90's. That row of Eucalyptus trees is now what they call the Hicks Canyon Trail. It is basically follows a meandering drainage ditch. It's much nicer now, but even back in the 80's there was a paved trail that ran along the drainage ditch, which my friends and I called the "Creek." We would ride bikes along there, build make-shift forts and hang-out spots, and climb up and down the Creek's embankments. This was in the 1982-1983 time frame, when I was in 6th and 7th grade. Back then, the Creek and the adjoining path ran from Culver to Yale. At the time, Yale dead-ended at the Creek, about 400 feet past the street called Hicks Canyon and Culver dead-ended just past the creek. On the other side of the path from the Creek were private orange groves that extended all the way to the base of the hills (where Northwood High School and Portola Parkway are now located). In fact, Northwood was surrounded in the 80's by orange groves and agricultural fields. I'm pretty sure there were no lights along the Creek path in the 80's and it got pretty dark and spooky at night. If someone did not want to be found, the Creek at night was probably a good place to hide.
The housing development that you see in the 1980 aerial photo that is adjacent to the number "4" was farm worker housing.
When you say that Hicks Canyon wraps around from Encina to Columbus, I don't think that is accurate. I am not aware of any drainage ditch or other path that ran directly from Encina to Columbus. However, you raise an interesting issue about the housing development known as the Groves. The Groves was and still is a senior-only mobile home park. My friend had a paper route there and I sometimes delivered for him when his family was on vacation. Perhaps the suspect had a parent, grandparent, or other relative that lived there. That could explain his coming and going to Irvine. The Groves is also situated such that someone could have exited and left without being seen. From Encina, the suspect could have followed the Creek past Yale and past the edge of development in Northwood and cut through the strawberry fields across from the Groves and either gone through the main entrance or hopped a fence - all in total darkness. Likewise, the suspect could have left Columbus, ran east toward Blue Gum Park and escaped into the strawberry fields that existed at the time. From there, it would have been a short run to the Groves. Jeffrey Road, which runs diagonally in the 1980 aerial photo just west of the number "3" was not well-lit back then and was not heavily travelled past Irvine Boulevard (it used to lead to a shooting range at the base of the hills).
Perhaps there is a some directory from the Groves from the relevant time period.
I hope this information helps fill in some of the blanks.