Santa Ana Man Held in Murder of Woman, 71 : Crime: The victim was found bludgeoned to death in the bedroom of her apartment in a high-security complex. Her frightened neighbors wonder how killer got in.

Police have arrested a man on suspicion of bludgeoning a 71-year-old woman to death in the bedroom of her apartment in a high-security complex for senior citizens.

Michael Dean Owens, 30, of Santa Ana was arrested late Friday night. He was being held without bail Saturday at the Orange County Jail on suspicion of murdering Patricia Hamilton Powell, Sgt. John Dittus said.

Powell’s battered body was found about 9 a.m. Thursday in her apartment in the Wycliffe Plaza senior citizen complex on North Flower Street. The cause of death was blunt force trauma to the upper body and head, police said.

Police, who did not disclose the weapon used in the attack, found no signs of a break-in, but noted signs of a struggle leading from the living room to the bedroom.

Access to the building--which is surrounded by lush lawns, ferns and a fence of high, pointed black steel bars--is restricted. Residents have keys that cannot be duplicated. Guests must punch in access codes to enter.

Some still wonder how Powell’s killer slipped into her apartment on the 10th floor. “She was very security conscious,” said her son-in-law, Frank Scanlan. “She never let strangers in unless they could prove who they were.”

On Saturday, residents of the senior citizen housing complex pointed out signs newly placed on their front door that read: “Do not admit anyone--This means you!”

“Some of us are pretty nervous,” said Jacqueline Lehmann, 74, who walked out of the door of the 12-story building Saturday morning carrying a stack of mail. “We love it here. It has very good security. Yet I caught two little boys playing on the lawn (inside the complex) once. How did they get in?”

Other residents said they were not frightened.

“We’re sure (Powell) let him in,” said a resident who did not want her name used. “I think she knew him.”

According to police, a witness who is part of the building’s volunteer security force went to Powell’s apartment about 1:30 a.m. Thursday when her smoke detector went off.

The witness said he found a young man--now believed to be Owens--in the apartment, who explained that he had burned something in the kitchen, police said. The witness then left, believing the young man, police said.

Police could not confirm Saturday whether Owens knew Powell or anyone else in the building.

Police said Owens was also wanted on an unrelated warrant outside Santa Ana, but they did not specify why the warrant had been issued.

Powell was one of the first women in California to join the U.S. Marines during wartime, Scanlan said. She worked in the U.S. Marines’ postal system at Camp Pendleton during World War II and moved to Santa Ana in the mid-1970s, he said.

She is survived by her daughter, Claudia, and her grandchildren, Debra Johnson, Tiffany Trujillo and Eric and Sean Scanlan.