DNA collected from beneath the fingernails of a lady violently killed in her Maryland home in 2001 led cold-case investigators to a suspect — her daughter’s ex-boyfriend — in line with a newly launched arrest warrant obtained by HuffPost.
Eugene Teodor Gligor, 44, was arrested on June 18 in Washington, D.C., and charged with first-degree homicide within the 2001 killing of Leslie Preer, 49. Montgomery County Police Division detectives mentioned within the court docket paperwork that that they had collected Gligor’s DNA on June 24 from a water bottle they noticed him use and discard at Dulles Worldwide Airport on June 9. Authorities mentioned his DNA was a match to crime scene proof that might solely belong to Preer’s killer.
MONTGOMERY COUNTY POLICE DEPARTMENT
Preer, 49, was attacked and brutally crushed within the lobby of her Chevy Chase dwelling on the morning of Might 2, 2001, investigators mentioned. A health worker listed her explanation for dying as a number of blunt pressure trauma and strangulation. The blood discovered beneath her fingernails and bruising on her arms indicated that she had fought her suspected attacker, whose blood was additionally discovered within the eating room and a hallway and on the kitchen door resulting in the yard, authorities mentioned.
Preer’s accidents have been in keeping with handbook strangulation and her head “being battered onto the lobby flooring,” authorities mentioned. A few of the cuts to her head have been V-shaped, authorities mentioned, in keeping with the sharp corners of the molding within the lobby and entrance door space.
Her physique was discovered within the bathe of her major bed room, the place investigators imagine her killer had carried her from the lobby so he might wash away the blood and forestall additional bleeding in the home.
The killer tried to scrub up the crime scene, investigators mentioned, based mostly on luminescence testing that exposed extra proof of blood within the lobby, a trash can, and sinks within the kitchen and downstairs rest room, and on door frames and the again door.
Despite that proof, the case went chilly. Neighbors hadn’t seen something uncommon on the day Preer was killed. A 2001 evaluation was solely capable of decide that the DNA belonged to an unknown male, and it excluded her husband and different males she knew, authorities mentioned.
In 2022, police submitted the DNA collected from the bloody crime scene to the Texas lab Othram, which used superior expertise to develop a extra full DNA profile of the suspect, in line with the arrest warrant.
That profile was then despatched to the consumer-based family tree firm FamilyTreeDNA, which offers its customers the option for licensed legislation enforcement companies to view particular components of their DNA in violent crime investigations. The outcomes obtained within the FamilyTreeDNA database included the Gligor surname, which a detective in June linked to a tip within the authentic case file about Gligor and his earlier relationship to Preer’s daughter, in line with the arrest warrant.
Gligor has a prison historical past, together with weapons possession, driving beneath the affect and theft, authorities mentioned, however none of his earlier arrests would require investigators to submit his DNA to the nationwide legislation enforcement DNA database referred to as CODIS.
Authorities haven’t recognized a motive for the killing. Preer’s daughter, Lauren Preer, informed The Washington Post that she dated Gligor for 5 years however hadn’t spoken to him for a number of years on the time of her mom’s dying. Her mom at all times had been keen on Gligor, Lauren mentioned, and he typically joined the Preers on household outings and holidays.
Attorneys for Gligor didn’t reply to HuffPost’s request for remark. A choose on Monday denied his request for bond. His subsequent listening to is ready for July 19.
