CARLSBAD -- On the five-year anniversary of the rape and murder of retired psychiatrist Dr. Gladys Conrad in her Carlsbad by the Sea retirement village apartment, her daughters came to town to talk with police investigators about the status of the unsolved case and to hold a private memorial for her.

Lily Conrad Siegel, 44, of Colorado, and Natalie Conrad Goishi, 43, of Northern California, spoke to the North County Times last week for the first time since their mother's murder. Goishi said this is the first time they have been able to talk publically about their mother's death without dissolving into tears. Now, she said, they think it's important to remind people that this case is still unsolved and to try to get someone to come forward with information.

"And it's for closure for ourselves, so that we have done everything we can to help police. Not only to honor her memory, but like Natalie said, to put it out there again," Siegel said.

At this time, Siegel said they are seeking justice for their mother. Goishi adds that getting the murderer off the streets would also protect other women.

"I wouldn't want any other daughters or sons to go through what we went through. It's horrible," Goishi said.

Siegel and Goishi said that on Sept. 1, they walked by the Carlsbad by the Sea apartment where their mother was killed.

"We just sorta walked by and walked down to the beach and read her poems, threw some flowers in the water. That was just our way of remembering her," Siegel said.

Their mother had left them instructions that she wanted to be cremated and wanted her ashes scattered in the South Pacific. So, two years ago, the daughters and their families took her ashes to Tahiti and did as she had asked.

As for the investigation, Siegel and Goishi said they met with Carlsbad police investigators, the police chief and an investigator from the San Diego County district attorney's office. They told the sisters that the case was still active, but they had not received any new information in the case since October 2005. Police learned then that a suspect matching the DNA found in the Conrad case had attempted to assault a woman in Los Angeles in April but had been scared away.

The 64-year-old Los Angeles woman got the man's DNA when she bit him, police said. Police were unable to identify the man and the DNA is periodically checked, but there have been no matches. The Los Angeles woman also worked as a caretaker at an assisted living facility and walked home after work, police said.

The woman was able to describe the man as Latino, between 30 and 40 years of age, about 5 feet 3 inches tall, and weighing about 180 pounds with short hair.

Siegel said that despite the fact he was not caught, having that information told them that the man was still in the state and was still trying to attack older women.

"You have to think that the guy is just horribly sick inside, horribly twisted," Siegel said.

Siegel and Goishi said they told police that their mother's severe arthritis kept her from sleeping through the night and that she would often get up to take pain relievers. The arthritis also made it difficult for her to open and close windows and doors in her apartment, so she would sometimes leave the back door ajar.

Police found no sign of forced entry in Conrad's apartment when she was discovered dead at 10 a.m. Sept. 1, 2001. A neighbor who gave bridge lessons went to check on her when she did not come to the lesson, Siegel said.

The night before her death, Siegel said she spoke to her mother on the telephone at about 10 p.m. for some 15 minutes.

"It's hard to know whether she would have been asleep or puttering around (when the man came into her apartment)," Goishi said.

The sisters have also wondered whether her mother would have tried to reason with her assailant because of her background in counseling. Goishi said her mother did work for county mental health in Orange County and briefly in San Diego County at one point in her career, but she was mainly in private practice.

They said their mother was a self-made woman, who went to college during World War II and was a trailblazer in her career. She had worked most in Orange County and she loved her job so much that she continued working part time until she was 82 years old. Finally, she retired and settled in Carlsbad because she liked the quaint community and wanted to be close to the ocean.

Siegel and Goishi said their mother was a very spiritual person, who attended the Episcopal church, and exercised and ate healthy foods all her life even before it became a fad. She loved fashion and hats and wrote poetry.

Goishi said she still gets emotional over her mother.

"I just remember how much I miss her, and what a great mom she was ... like on her birthday or Christmas or on my birthday ... and she's not there. And sometimes I just want to talk to my mom," Goishi said.

"This case is still at top priority for the Carlsbad Police Department and we remain optimistic that we will eventually get the break we need to solve this crime and bring Dr. Conrad's killer to justice," Rowland said in a news statement.

A $10,000 reward is being offered for any information leading to the arrest of Conrad's killer. Anyone who saw anything or anyone unusual in the area of Garfield Street and Grand Avenue between 10 p.m. and 10 a.m. Aug. 31-Sept. 1, 2001, is asked to contact Carlsbad Police Department at (760) 931-2197 or Crime Stoppers at (888) 580-TIPS.

-- Contact staff writer Yvette Urrea at (760) 901-4076 or yurrea@nctimes.com.