Attack on Huntington Woman, 80, Resembles Two in Newport Beach

Police were investigating Thursday whether a man’s attack on an 80-year-old woman in her Huntington Harbour home is related to two recent attacks in Newport Beach.

The latest attack occurred about 2 p.m. Wednesday in a two-story home in the 3000 block of Humboldt Drive. The woman, who was sitting at her vanity, was approached from behind, grabbed and ordered not to look at her attacker. The man then blindfolded her before ransacking her home, said Huntington Beach Police Sgt. Gary Meza.

The man, who may have entered the house through an open side door, fled with the woman’s purse and jewelry. The woman suffered a cut on her face.

Meza said there are some similarities to the two attacks in Newport Beach, in which the women, ages 85 and 56, were beaten and robbed in their garages after returning home.

The upscale Huntington Harbour neighborhood is usually watched by residents, but “somehow the suspect or suspects were able to get in and out of the neighborhood without being seen,” Meza said.

Investigators will interview the latest victim and talk to Newport Beach detectives, who have been trying to find out whether the two attacks there -- one Tuesday and one May 23 -- are connected.

Both Newport Beach attacks occurred in the afternoon, less than two miles apart. Authorities said each woman may have been followed home by her attacker.

The unidentified 85-year-old woman was attacked after she returned from a restaurant and pulled into her driveway in the 1300 block of Galaxy Drive about 2 p.m., police said.

When she got out of the car, she was grabbed from behind and shoved to the ground, said Newport Beach Police Sgt. Steve Shulman. The assailant beat her with his fists, took her jewelry and fled, Shulman said.

In the May 23 attack, the unidentified 56-year-old woman was returning to Lido Isle from a shopping trip and was accosted in her garage in the 200 block of Via Genoa.

The attacker approached her on the driver’s side and demanded her personal property, then struck her on the left side of the head with an unknown object, Shulman said.

The victim was hospitalized with head cuts.

In no instance was there a description of the assailant.