More than two decades after the 2001 killing of Leslie Preer at her home in Chevy Chase – a cold case that was eventually solved due to advancements in DNA technology – Preer’s family is one step closer to justice.
Eugene Gligor, 45, of Washington, D.C., pleaded guilty Wednesday in the Montgomery County Circuit Court in Rockville to the second-degree murder of Preer. Gligor had dated Preer’s daughter years prior to the homicide, and advancements in DNA technology ultimately led county investigators to arrest him in June.
At a press conference at the Rockville court after the plea hearing, State’s Attorney John McCarthy said that several members of Preer’s family told him that they felt the guilty plea was “wonderful” and “justice.”
Gligor’s attorneys, Isabelle Raquin and Stephen Mercer of the RaquinMercer law firm in Rockville, did not immediately respond to Bethesda Today’s request for comment Wednesday afternoon.
Gligor faces 30 years in prison and is being held without bond at the Montgomery County Correctional Facility in Boyds. His sentencing is scheduled for 9 a.m. on Aug. 28.
Talking to reporters, McCarthy said the case was historic for the county, as it was the first time that familial DNA was used to solve a cold case murder. After the killing, detectives found DNA from the assailant in multiple areas of Preer’s Drummond Avenue home in Chevy Chase. There was also DNA under her fingernails.
At the time, McCarthy said, the DNA collected from the crime scene was analyzed using “conventional methods” and it was determined that it belonged to one unknown male. However, the DNA did not match any of the men investigators had interviewed or tested or anyone in the FBI’s database, according to court documents.
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 in June after Gligor drank from it and discarded it while at Washington Dulles International Airport in Virginia in June 2024.
After the sample was analyzed, it was submitted to FamilyTreeDNA’s genomic database, which produced a list of shared DNA matches that contained the surname “Gligor,” charging documents state.
Then, detectives 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 Leslie Preer’s death, noting his prior relationship with her daughter in 1998, according to the charging documents.
Days later, detectives determined that Gligor would be at Dulles International Airport and collected an empty water bottle that he drank from during a secondary screening at U.S. Customs, The Washington Post reported. DNA collected from the bottle was then processed, tested and confirmed as a match to the DNA collected from the crime scene of Preer’s death.
County police obtained an arrest warrant for Gligor on June 15, and he was arrested on June 21, according to digital court records.
According to the charging documents, Preer’s body was found May 2, 2001, by county officers at her home in the 4800 block of Drummond Avenue 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.
Officers discovered Preer’s body lying face down, partially inside an upstairs bathroom shower stall, according to court documents, which noted that 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.
On Wednesday, McCarthy said that a motive “had not been provided by” Gligor. “It would be up to him to identify definitively his motive in doing this,” McCarthy said.
McCarthy gave credit to advancements in DNA technology in bringing the case to a close, and noted parallels in how DNA and genetic research developed in the county.
“I’m proud of this office for what they did to help break through and help develop the use of DNA and the fact that we are continuing to push and use tools that are available to use that can give some solace to these families,” McCarthy said.
