For 23 years, Leslie Preer's killer hid in plain sight — her daughter's ex-boyfriend. Then Othram traced a Romanian family tree to a name already in the case file.
Leslie Preer was 49 years old and living in Chevy Chase, Maryland, when she was killed on May 2, 2001. She had a daughter named Lauren Preer. Eugene Gligor had dated Lauren in high school. His name was in the 2001 case file. He was not arrested. He walked free for twenty-three years.
A welfare check brought officers to Dunmore Road on May 2, 2001. Physical evidence including DNA from an unknown male was recovered and preserved. Sandy Preer was investigated and cleared. When investigators ran the DNA through CODIS, nothing came back. The case went cold.
In 2022, Montgomery County submitted the DNA to Othram for forensic genome sequencing. The genealogical database did not return a suspect name — it returned relatives, distant family members who had voluntarily submitted their DNA. Genealogists spent eighteen months building a family tree. It traced back to Romania. The candidate pool was cross-referenced against the 2001 case file. The name Gligor was already there.
Investigators placed Gligor under covert surveillance. He discarded a water bottle. STR analysis confirmed the match to evidence from Leslie Preer's home.
The genealogy was the lead. The STR match was the proof.
This was Montgomery County's first cold case solved through investigative genetic genealogy.
Eugene Gligor was arrested in June 2024 and charged with first-degree murder. He entered a guilty plea in May 2025. On August 28, 2025, he was sentenced to twenty-two years in prison plus five years of supervised probation. Lauren Preer addressed the court at sentencing.
DNA preserved from decades-old scenes is still usable. CODIS failure is not a permanent dead end. Cases that went cold because the database returned nothing in 2001 now have a path. IGG opens the door. STR closes the case.
The Man Her Daughter Trusted — the full account of the Leslie Preer case.
Available at cassiancreed.com/leslie-preer — $7.99. Free case dossier at the same URL.