The person now charged with killing her, Eugene T. Gligor, was arrested in D.C. by the U.S. Marshals Service’s fugitive process drive and was being held pending an extradition listening to, Montgomery police stated in a press release. He was 21 when the killing occurred, public information present.
A key step within the cold-case investigation apparently got here in September 2022, when blood from the crime scene, in storage for greater than 20 years, “was submitted to a lab for forensic genetic genealogical DNA evaluation,” in line with the assertion.
Shiera Goff, a Montgomery police spokeswoman, stated Tuesday that she couldn’t present particulars of how the blood that was given to the lab helped detectives establish Gligor. However genetic genealogical analysis has grow to be an efficient device for investigators in recent times.
DNA from against the law scene will be in comparison with thousands and thousands of DNA samples submitted by prospects of a few of the personal genealogical corporations which have grow to be fashionable amongst individuals exploring their lineage or searching for distant family. Genealogists can generally discover individuals from the identical household tree because the unidentified suspect, if these family, even distant ones, have given DNA to an organization.
Genealogists then discover the client’s household tree, searching for somebody who, as an example, was dwelling within the neighborhood of the crime when it occurred. That particular person’s DNA can then be in comparison with the DNA from the scene.
Gligor was recognized as a possible suspect via such analysis, in line with the Montgomery police assertion. Early this month, the assertion stated, investigators then “collected DNA proof belonging to Gligor and in contrast it to the DNA recovered from the crime scene. The evaluation generated a optimistic match.” Detectives obtained an arrest warrant Saturday.
No on-line courtroom information associated to Gligor’s arrest may very well be discovered Tuesday, and it was not clear whether or not he has a lawyer. Goff stated Gligor had a relationship or a previous relationship with a member of the Preer household on the time of the killing. No family of Leslie Preer may very well be instantly reached for remark Tuesday. Goff stated she couldn’t focus on a doable motive for the murder.
Preer labored for Specialties Inc., an promoting manufacturing firm in Northwest D.C., The Publish reported in 2001. When she failed to indicate up for work on the morning of Might 2, a co-worker, accompanied by Preer’s husband, went to the two-story brick home to test on her and noticed blood within the lobby. After the co-worker referred to as 911, police arrived and located Preer lifeless in a bed room.
It was “a reasonably brutal crime scene with a number of blood, and you’ll simply anticipate for somebody to have seen or heard one thing,” a Montgomery murder detective, Tara Baione, instructed WTTG-TV (Channel 5) in a 2022 interview, when investigators have been publicizing the unsolved case, hoping to generate suggestions. However neighbors had reported listening to nothing uncommon, and there have been no indicators of compelled entry on the home.
On a tape of the 911 name, obtained by The Publish in 2001, Preer’s husband may very well be heard within the background saying that he final noticed his spouse about 7:45 that morning. She had been anticipated to stroll to a bus cease and take a bus to Specialties Inc.’s workplace on Wisconsin Avenue NW.
Nobody on the firm may very well be reached for remark late Tuesday.
“We simply walked within the door, her husband and I, and there’s blood within the lobby,” the co-worker instructed the 911 call-taker. “It seems like one thing probably occurred.”
The neighborhood of well-maintained homes off Wisconsin Avenue had a low crime charge, police stated on the time, and no issues had been reported earlier than on the Preer house.
Forensic family tree has grow to be increasingly common in fixing chilly instances, together with within the D.C. space. In September, police arrested a man from Niskayuna, N.Y., in a lady’s stabbing and slashing death in 1994 in Fairfax County, Va. Police additionally used genetic family tree to establish a lady whose body was found in 2001 close to a drainage ditch in Fairfax.
After utilizing genetic family tree within the seek for a suspect, police in March charged a 65-year-old man within the 1986 killing of an actual property agent from Stafford County, Va. Partly based mostly on that very same analysis, Fairfax police recognized the person as a suspect within the 1989 strangulation of an 18-year-old girl, though no fees have been instantly filed.
