I Know Where You Lived Last Summer

Photo by OCW staffThe Fourth of July shooting rampage at LAX has drawn much attention to slain gunman Hesham Hadayet, but no one has explored his bizarre neighborhood. Woodbridge ranks among the priciest real estate in Irvine, long touted Orange County's safest city. Yet, Woodbridge is also the Twin Peaks of Irvine's berplanned communities.

Consider the following assorted mayhem there: October 2001 Woodbridge High Athletic Booster Club's former president was arrested for embezzling nearly $70,000. May 2001Woodbridge High's girls' basketball coach was accused of steering players to a camp run by a man convicted of having sex with an underage girl and embezzlement. June 2000 A man was arrested for raping his therapist during a court-ordered mental-health session in her office. February 2000 Biofem Inc. co-founder Larry Ford committed suicide shortly after he became a suspect in the botched assassination attempt on his partner. Believing that Ford may have boobytrapped his home, authorities evacuated 200 neighbors and discovered a cache of weapons and explosives. December 1998An Army reservist fatally shot his neighbor at Woodbridge Villa Apartments. May 1998An 80-year-old psychiatrist was nabbed at a senior-living complex for joining his roommate—a convicted pedophile and child murderer—in repeatedly molesting a 16-year-old boy. May 1998A former Woodbridge High English teacher pleaded guilty to having had sex with two female students. April 1997A man swinging a butcher knife chased his father through Woodbridge Pine apartments—the same place Hadayet lived—before surrendering. February 1996Woodbridge Meadows apartment dwellers demanded management hire private security after a rash of car burglaries and car arsons. One renter told the Irvine Citizen, “You think you live in Beverly Hills, but it's still Compton.” January 1996 Four Marines who reportedly wanted to rob someone “well off” were arrested in the beating of a 43-year-old man who had gone for a walk near North Woodbridge Lake. 1996A 67-year-old man was shot and killed in his home by a distant nephew who wanted money. November 1995An 18-year-old former Woodbridge High honor student was killed during a botched robbery at her home. January 1995Two teens were arrested for stealing cars at gunpoint on two consecutive nights. 1995 A 30-year-old man was shot several times while sitting in his vehicle after returning home from errands. November 1994Two young men were hospitalized and five others were arrested following a shooting spree in a shopping center. Three arrestees were Woodbridge High students. December 1993A pervert who used pornography to lure a child was believed to be a serial molester who had confounded police in five OC cities for five years. August 1993 A man choked his wife and threatened to shoot cops before surrendering. February 1993 A Woodbridge High junior accidentally fired his dad's semiautomatic Beretta in class. June 1992Hundreds of pounds of cocaine were pulled out of rental house, part of a multi-agency police sting that netted 8,500 pounds of blow and 25 suspects. April 1991 Ten members of Woodbridge High's dance team, who had performed in a Disneyland parade, were disciplined after they admitted to shoplifting “trinkets” at the Magic Kingdom. March 1989Two young people were stabbed and two more were hit by cars as five juvies went on a crime spree at Del Taco. May 1988A heavily armed man who'd been spatting with his wife barricaded himself in their condo for two hours before surrendering. June 1987 Within days, one woman was beaten senseless in her condo while another was bludgeoned in her house. June 1986 A 14-year-old girl was raped in her bedroom by an El Toro Marine corporal who had to be talked down from a water tower by a Navy chaplain. 1979A 22-year-old secretary moved to the Woodbridge Meadows Apartments because she was afraid and wanted to live in a patrolled area. She was raped, bludgeoned and strangled in her new digs. The attacker? Woodbridge Meadows' security guard.