IN THE PIPELINE:

EDITOR’S NOTE: Chris Epting writes a weekly column for the Huntington Beach Independent, a Daily Pilot sister paper.

“Nude lying face up in bed. Beaten. Neck stabbed. Sexually assaulted. Strangled to death.” The facts on the police report are brutally chilling. “Blood drops on bathroom floor. Adhesive substance on wrists. Numerous cut hairs on upper body and on bedding.” And it goes on.

Elizabeth Mae Hoffschneider was killed in Huntington Beach on Nov. 14, 1984. Just 38 years old, her body was discovered in her Parkside Lane apartment by a pair of co-workers from the Fountain Valley medical company where she worked. Recently divorced, Hoffschneider was living alone. Huntington Beach detectives questioned many of the people in her life but made no arrests.

Det. Mike Reilly was a rookie patrol officer back then, and this became his first homicide case.

He worked this case as well as he could, but to no avail. Even after this became a cold case, Reilly told me he never stopped thinking about it — could never get this victim out of his mind.

“That’s the problem,” he said. “People forget victims. But they have families. They have friends. You cannot forget these people.”

The police report I’m reading lists more details, marking the years that have gone by since the crime. “Case assigned to Detective Mike Reilly. Missing evidence found stored in separate police building. 2007: hairs collected from crime scene sent to Orange County Crime Lab. Hairs do not appear to be cut hairs as reported in 1984.”

The plot thickens. “Several hairs have root follicles and are sent for DNA testing.”

Testing that was not available at the time of the crime. Then, the kicker. “2007: Lab identifies male DNA profile on three hairs. DNA eliminates all prior suspects. October 2007, CODIS hit.” CODIS is a computer software program that operates local, state and national databases of DNA profiles from convicted offenders, unsolved crime scene evidence and missing persons.

Reilly’s tenacity paid off. The DNA matched a person in the California criminal database named Gerald Go, who was never even a suspect. Go’s DNA was recorded because he was a felon; in 1986 he was convicted of assault and attempted rape in Costa Mesa.

Go, however, fled California before sentencing. For 17 years he ran loose until being arrested in New York in October 2004. He was brought back to California to serve his sentence, and as a condition of his parole in that case, he had to provide DNA samples. Had Go served his sentence in 1987, DNA samples would not have been required.

After the DNA hit, Huntington Beach police released this news: “An Orange County fugitive was arrested this week in Toronto for the 1984 murder of a Huntington Beach woman. Gerald Su Go, 51, is charged with murder with allegations for murder during the commission of rape, burglary and robbery. If convicted, he faces a maximum sentence of life without the possibility of parole. He was arrested on a warrant by Toronto police on Oct. 25, 2007, and will face extradition proceedings in Canada.”

That’s where it stands now — waiting to get this man back to Huntington Beach to face trial.

The facts of this case, along with details of the spectacular police work, are well documented. But what I wanted to include, after talking to surviving family members and to Reilly, is how lucky we are to have a detective of this caliber in our community. When I first contacted him, he made it clear, focus on the victim, not him. And that’s what I wanted to do. I spoke with several of her family members, and what emerged are memories of a vibrant young woman who suffered the worst of fates at the hands of a sadistic predator. To see her photo today, it breaks one’s heart to think of what these people have had to endure the last 25 years.

“Somebody took my beautiful sister.” “I cry almost every day.” “I see her in all of the young women I pass every day.” Their pain is palpable, and they don’t want their sister to be forgotten.

The family members also talk of Reilly, who never gave up, who gave them comfort and who delivered the goods. Reilly, who wins awards, who is spoken of by associates in the noblest of terms, and who does not want any attention.

“It never seems to get printed, how many people these crimes affect,” he said. “But we have to remember them. Also, a lot of people did some terrific work on this case. That’s how we got this guy. Along with the science of DNA.”

This column is dedicated to the lasting memory of Elizabeth Mae Hoffschneider, a Huntington Beach woman whose tragic death we mourn along with her family. It’s also dedicated to Det. Mike Reilly who (whether he likes it or not) deserves a ton of grateful admiration. Excellent work, Det. Reilly. We’re proud of you.

CHRIS EPTING is the author of 14 books, including “Vanishing Orange County,” released this week. You can write him at chris@chrisepting.com.