DNA testing of discarded water bottle led to arrest in Chevy Chase woman’s 2001 death, police say

Ex-boyfriend of victim’s daughter waives bond review hearing, remains in custody

June 25, 2024 12:27 a.m.

Montgomery County detectives believe they have solved a 23-year-old homicide case–thanks to a used water bottle, according to charging documents in the case.

On June 18, a U.S. Marshal’s Task Force arrested Eugene Teodor Gligor, 44, of Washington, D.C., in the District and charged him with first-degree murder in the 2001 death of Leslie Preer in her Chevy Chase home, police announced last week.


Gligor, who is represented by the Rockville law firm RaquinMercer, waived his bond review hearing Monday afternoon in Montgomery County Circuit Court and is scheduled to appear July 19 for a preliminary hearing in the case. He is being held without bond and faces a maximum potential penalty of life in prison, according to Associate Judge Amy J. Bills.

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According to charging documents in the case, Gligor’s arrest resulted from a match between a blood swab recovered from Preer’s home at the time of her death and DNA recovered from a water bottle that county detectives retrieved June 9 after watching Gligor allegedly open it, drink from it and then discard it while at Washington Dulles International Airport in Virginia.

On June 15, county police issued an arrest warrant for Gligor, who was identified after an investigator found a tip in the original case file noting that he was a former boyfriend of Preer’s daughter, Lauren.

According to the documents, Preer’s body was found May 2, 2001, by county officers at her home at 4824 Drummond Ave. after her husband, Carl, and her employer had gone to check on her when she did not show up for work. The two men discovered blood smears, a puddle of water, a toppled corner table and a misplaced, blood-stained rug upon entering the residence, but did not find Preer, the documents said. Upon calling 911, the men were told to leave the home and wait for officers.

Upon arrival, officers discovered Preer’s body lying face down, partially inside an upstairs bathroom shower stall. Court documents say Preer had sustained lacerations to her head, deep bruising on her neck and bruises on her arms and torso. Her death was determined to be caused by multiple blunt force trauma and strangulation, according to the documents.

Samples of DNA from an unknown male were collected from the scene, but detectives were unable to identify a suspect at the time after interviewing numerous people in Preer’s life to identify any males who would want to harm her and submitting the unknown male’s DNA into the FBI’s database, the documents said.

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In September 2022, cold case investigators turned to forensic genetic genealogical DNA analysis to continue the search.

On June 4, detective Tara B. Augustin located a tip in the case file from Jan. 30, 2002, in which a former neighbor of the Preer family suggested Gligor may have been involved in the Leslie Preer’s death, noting his prior relationship with Leslie’s daughter in 1998. The documents did not mention whether the tip was investigated at the time. Gligor and his mother moved from their home in the neighborhood in August or September of 2001, the documents said.

Augustin requested an arrest warrant to be issued for Gligor after DNA from the water bottle he allegedly discarded at the airport was found to match evidence from the crime scene, the charging documents said.

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