Dogged Detective, Cat Photo Unravel Mystery

She walked into the surf Oct. 7 leaving behind little trace of her identity--a science-fiction book, a pack of Marlboros, a pair of shoes, a camera.

As the Huntington Beach police report put it: “She was seen entering the water and was not seen to exit.”

Lifeguards searched for her off Huntington City Beach but found no sign of the woman, who witnesses said was blond, in her 40s, dressed in denim shorts and a red T-shirt. Days passed, and no one reported her missing, and no body washed ashore.

But Huntington Beach Police Det. Steve Mack couldn’t let it go. Between his other cases in the homicide and missing-persons division, he studied the meager clues and tried to solve the mystery.

He hit upon the idea of having the film from the camera developed. He perused the finished photos, searching for any clue. A shot of a cat wearing an identification tag caught his attention. Using a magnifying glass, he studied the tag and detected a pet identification number. He traced the number and found an address.

Then, when he had time, he took the evidence to that address and knocked on the door.

A blond woman answered.

“He said, ‘Is this your property?’ and she said, ‘Yes, it is.’ And he looked down and saw the cat in the picture at her feet,” said Officer Mike Kelly, a spokesman for the Police Department.

The woman told Mack she had been swept down the shore by the current and later returned for her belongings, but they were gone. She said she figured someone stole them.

For police, that was the happiest ending they could have written.

“When you’re dealing with people you kind of have to go the extra step,” Kelly said.

As for Mack, he says he had a theory all along that the case might not be what it appeared. On Tuesday, he was too busy to chat. He left a voice-mail message saying he’d be happy to talk later when he had more time.

He knew what the call was about but seemed puzzled that the case was drawing so much attention:

“I guess you want to ask about this woman who walked into the surf that, as I suspected all along, came out of the surf.”