Man held in 1979 slaying

A Costa Mesa man is scheduled to be arraigned in Los Angeles today on charges he killed a Torrance nurse in 1979 after they had broken up.

Torrance police arrested Douglas Gordon Bradford, 57, in Costa Mesa on Wednesday morning after investigators concluded he was responsible for Lynne Knight’s slaying on Aug. 29, 1979.

Knight, who was 28 at the time of her death, was found stabbed more than 15 times and strangled inside her home. Prosecutors said she was strangled with a homemade garrote, a metal device wrapped around the victim’s neck until they suffocate or there’s a fatal injury to the spine at the base of the brain. Bradford, originally from Canada, was a Cal State Long Beach engineering student at the time and had once dated Knight, authorities said.

Los Angeles County prosecutors charged Bradford with murder and a special enhancement for using a deadly weapon. He is scheduled to be arraigned in Torrance Superior Court today and is being held in lieu of $1.02-million bail. He faces up to 26 years to life in prison if convicted of all charges.