A LOOK BACK:

FOR THE RECORD: In the June 28 article “Unknown killer had haunted Costa Mesa,” it should have read that Costa Mesa detectives caught the attacker, Gerald Parker, more than 20 years later and he’s now on death row.********

In the late 1970s, Costa Mesa and neighboring cities were terrorized by one man.

They called him the Orange Coast Killer or the Bludgeon Slayer, for the way he killed his victims, and to this day, it appears he’s still never been identified.

It started in August 1977, in the Corona del Mar apartment of Jane Ellen Bennington, 29. Bennington, a waitress, was raped and killed inside her apartment.

Two years later, the killer had moved on to Costa Mesa. That’s where panic truly set in for young Orange County women.

During eight months in 1979, seven Orange County women were attacked by the same man, according to historical L.A. Times reports.

Five of those women were bludgeoned to death, some sexually assaulted. Two others, a woman in Santa Ana Heights and one in Costa Mesa, survived their attacks. The victims ranged in age from 21 to 34 and most shared two traits: They lived alone, and on the bottom floor of a two-story apartment.

Six police agencies, including Newport Beach and Costa Mesa police departments, teamed up to create a 32-man investigative task force.

Police said it appeared the man attacked late at night or early in the morning. Those were the times that victims were most likely to have unlocked windows or doors for someone to enter through because in all of the attacks, there was never a sign of forced entry, reports showed.

The attacks turned a four-block area near Harbor Boulevard and Wilson Street into a ghost town, media reported. Four of the attacks occurred there, and little description was provided of the attacker.

As police struggled to find their man, residents prepared for the worst. A story by The Times in November 1979 reported that gun sales in the area were spiking, dead bolt locks were emptying stores like never before and a self-defense class on how to properly use tear gas was overwhelmed with applying students at Golden West College.

“You don’t need to scare us, we’re already petrified,” the Times quoted Terrie Ardizzone as saying to a police officer offering safety tips.