Eugene Teodor Gligor was taken into custody by the U.S. Marshals Task Force Tuesday and charged with the first-degree murder of Leslie Preer, 50, who was found dead inside her Chevy Chase home on May 2, 2001, Montgomery County police said.
A man has been taken into custody after U.S. Marshals arrested him this week in Washington, D.C., in the 2001 cold case murder of a Maryland woman, authorities announced.
Eugene Teodor Gligor was taken into custody by the U.S. Marshals Task Force Tuesday and charged with the first-degree murder of Leslie Preer, 50, who was found dead inside her Chevy Chase, Maryland, home on May 2, 2001, Montgomery County Police said.
An arrest in Preer’s case is 23 years in the making.
On May 2, 2001, Preer was found murdered inside her home after she did not show up for work, Montgomery County Police said. Upon arrival, officers discovered Preer and identified a crime scene within the house. Her death was ruled a homicide, police said.
Montgomery County Police said that DNA evidence was recovered from the crime scene in 2001, then in September 2022, blood evidence from the scene was submitted to a lab for forensic genetic genealogical DNA analysis.
Through the course of the investigation, detectives identified Gligor as a potential suspect, cops said.
On June 9, 2024, Montgomery County Police detectives collected DNA evidence belonging to Gligor and compared it to the DNA recovered from the crime scene and the analysis generated a positive match, cops said.
Gligor is being held in DC, though an extradition process is expected to get underway to bring him back to Maryland, Montgomery police said.
Gligor is also the ex-boyfriend of the victim’s daughter, according to the New York Post.
Leslie Preer’s daughter, Lauren Preer, spoke to Fox 5 DC and said that she and Gligor grew up together and dated when they were 15.
“It’s been a hell of a day,” Lauren Preer told Fox 5 DC. “He was my ex-boyfriend.”
Lauren Preer also said that she and Gligor ran into each other last year at a restaurant in the nation’s capital.
“He didn’t seem weird and how you can look somebody in the eye and knowing that he committed this crime and act like nothing happened is pretty unreal,” she added.
Lauren Preer was asked if Gligor was ever considered a person of interest by the family, she told Fox DC, "no, not at all."
It is unknown if Gligor has entered a plea or obtained a lawyer.
Inside Edition Digital has reached out to the Montgomery County Police and a spokesperson referred us to the Montgomery County Attorney’s Office.
Inside Edition Digital has reached out to the Montgomery County Attorney’s Office for comment and additional information and has not heard back.
