Eugene Gligor pleaded guilty Wednesday to the 2001 murder of Leslie Preer in her Chevy Chase, Maryland, home. The plea agreement came more than two decades after the crime remained unsolved, a cold case investigators recently linked to Gligor through forensic technology.
Preer was found murdered in her residence in May 2001 after failing to report for work. Authorities determined she had suffered blunt force trauma and strangulation. The case yielded few leads for years.
A breakthrough occurred last year when advanced forensic DNA technology allowed police to develop a profile from blood evidence found at the crime scene. This new analysis DNA match led to charges, connecting the crime to Eugene Gligor.
Gligor, now 44, had a past connection to the victim's family. He was the teenage boyfriend of Leslie Preer's daughter, Lauren Preer, at the time of the killing. Their families knew each other and resided in the same neighborhood.
Investigators located and arrested Gligor in June 2024. Authorities approached him while he was seated outside his Washington, D.C., apartment building.
He accepted a plea deal accepted on Wednesday in the guilty plea hearing, formally admitting guilt in the long-unresolved slaying.
Lauren Preer, who was 24 when her mother died, reportedly never suspected Gligor in the years following the murder. She recounted a later meeting with him where the past crime did not arise.
The guilty plea brings a measure of resolution to the decades-old case. Lauren Preer described the revelation about her former boyfriend as "unreal."