A man who had been living in D.C. for 20 years pleaded guilty Wednesday to second-degree murder in a cold case that sent shockwaves through Montgomery County.
Leslie Preer, a wife and mother, was found dead inside her Chevy Chase home on May 2, 2001.
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WATCH HEREInvestigators worked the case for two decades hoping to find the person responsible. In June 2024, they arrested 45-year-old Eugene Gligor inside of Washington Dulles airport.
Investigators said he’s the ex-boyfriend of Leslie Preer’s daughter, Lauren Preer.
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SIGN UP “Both of these gentlemen with me were his friends as well, they knew him as long as I had known him as well, so never in a million years did we think that one of our people could hurt my mom like that,” Lauren Preer, Leslie Preer’s daughter, previously told News4.
For the first time in state history, familial DNA was used to solve a cold case murder, according to Montgomery County State’s Attorney John McCarthy.
“We identified a distant relative who lived in Romania. With that information, they had to construct a family tree,” McCarthy said. “Once he was arrested based on that DNA result, we did a confirmatory test and again tested his DNA to assure ourselves that it was in fact Mr. Gligor’s DNA.”
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The key evidence in the case was the DNA found at multiple locations inside the home, McCarthy said.
“The most damning piece of evidence in the case was the DNA that was under Ms. Preer’s fingernails because she struggled with her attacker,” he said.
Gligor is being held without bond.
His sentencing is set for Aug. 28 at 9 a.m., and he faces up to 30 years in prison.
