Toronto suspect was in custody

A man arrested in Toronto last week and charged with a 1984 Huntington Beach murder was in California six weeks ago, police said.

But an investigation linking him to the crime using DNA evidence only secured charges after he was deported.

Canadian citizen Gerald Su Go, 51, is charged with the murder of Elizabeth May Hoffschneider while committing rape, burglary and robbery. He recently finished serving time for a 1986 sexual assault in Costa Mesa and was deported to Canada, Huntington Beach Police Lt. Dave Bunetta said. If convicted of this crime he faces a maximum of life in prison without the possibility of parole.

“Of course it would have been logistically better to have him while he was still in prison,” Bunetta said. “Still, due to all the diligent work we did with the evidence, we have a case we feel is very solid.”

Go had jumped bail and left the country after his arrest on the 1986 offense, but he was caught on a routine immigration check when he tried to come back into the country via New York in 2004, Bunetta said. Go’s 2 1/2 years in California prison ended about six weeks ago, he said.

Det. Mike Reilly was a rookie cop when he walked onto the scene of the Hoffschneider slaying, but he kept an interest in the case all through the years, Bunetta said. When Toronto police arrested Go, Reilly stood with them as a detective assigned to the case.

“He was always asking, ‘Do we have any new leads on this case here?’” Bunetta said. “Then the DNA hit came in and identified the suspect.”

Reilly could not be reached Thursday, because he was still in Canada.

A Los Angeles Times story in 1984 reported Hoffschneider was found strangled on her bed in her apartment in the 16200 block of Parkside Lane, where she lived alone, after she failed to show up at her job as office manager at a medical supply business in Fountain Valley. She was 38.

The Times reported there were no signs of forced entry, but neighbors heard choking and screaming sounds for a few minutes the night she died. Her room had been ransacked.

Huntington Beach police said they linked Go to the slaying using DNA evidence and modern forensic techniques. Evidence kept from the scene of the crime was sent to the Orange Count Sheriff’s Department crime lab, where advances in technology made it possible to match the DNA to Go, police said.

The Toronto police fugitive squad arrested Go Oct. 23. Toronto police Staff Sgt. Paul MacIntyre said.

Go is scheduled to face extradition proceedings in Canada to bring him to the United States for prosecution. Because Go is a Canadian citizen, he could potentially fight extradition to the United States for a year or more, MacIntyre said. But if Go doesn’t resist, he could face charges in Orange County very soon, he added.

“It’s a lengthy process,” Orange County Dist. Atty. spokeswoman Farrah Emami said. “We’re working with the Canadian officials.”