A 44-year-old man has been arrested in connection with a 2001 cold-case murder of a Maryland mom after cops used DNA evidence to identify her suspected killer decades later.
Leslie J. Preer, then 50, was found dead by a co-worker on May 2, 2001, in an upstairs bedroom of her home in the 4800 block of Drummond Avenue in the county’s Chevy Chase area. The scene was a bloody one, with visible signs of a struggle in the home. An autopsy determined that she had died partly of blunt-force trauma.
But the case was ultimately closed and no suspect was ever identified, owing to a lack of leads.
That was until Tuesday, when Eugene T. Gligor was arrested in D.C. by the US Marshals Service’s fugitive task force in connection with the case.
Gligor, who was 21 and dating Preer’s daughter at the time of the killing, was connected to the crime after blood from the scene that had been in storage for more than two decades was “submitted to a lab for forensic genetic genealogical DNA analysis” in September 2022, police said.
“It’s been a hell of a day!” Preer’s daughter, Lauren Preer, reportedly said of the discovery. “He was my ex-boyfriend!”
Authorities did not reveal details about how the blood that was given to the lab helped detectives identify Gligor, but Montgomery County police said he’s been charged with first-degree murder.
Assistant Chief Nicholas Augustine of the Montgomery County Police Department described the investigative work as very tedious, requiring dedication from detectives.
“We will go many years, whether it’s 20 or 40 years, to find out the answers and hold people accountable for violent incidents that happened in the past,” he added.
Genetic genealogical DNA analysis allows investigators to compare crime scene DNA to samples submitted by customers of some of the private genealogical companies that have become popular among people exploring their lineage or looking for distant relatives.
It means suspects can be identified if someone from the same family tree has given a DNA sample to a company.
Gligor was identified as a potential suspect through such research, according to the Montgomery police statement
Shiera Goff, a Montgomery police spokeswoman, revealed on Tuesday that Gligor had a relationship or a prior relationship with a member of the Preer family at the time of the killing.
WTTG-TV reported that Gligor began dating Lauren Preer when she was 15, and their families knew each other. The exact nature of Gligor’s relationship with Lauren’s mother is currently unclear. Goff said she could not discuss a possible motive for the homicide.
When asked if Gligor was ever considered a person of interest by the family, Lauren Preer told WTTG-TV: “No, not at all.”
The elder Preer worked for Specialties Inc., an advertising production company in Northwest DC. She was found dead in a bedroom of her home after a colleague called police when she failed to show up for work.
In a 2022 interview, a Montgomery homicide detective, Tara Baione, told WTTG-TV that the crime scene was “pretty brutal with a lot of blood.”
“You would just expect for someone to have seen or heard something,” she added. But neighbors had reported hearing nothing unusual, and there were no signs of forced entry at the house.
Police also said at the time that Wisconsin Avenue neighborhood where she was found had a low crime rate and no problems had been reported before at the Preer home.
Gligor is currently in DC waiting to be extradited to Montgomery County where he will appear in front of a judge.
