Killer who strangled mum to death walked free for 24 years before DNA twist nailed him

A man was welcomed with "open arms" into a family's home in a posh neighbourhood before .

Killer Eugene Gligor, 45, had escaped justice for half of his life before finally admitting his guilt over the 2001 fatal strangulation of devoted mum Leslie Preer inside her home in the Chevy Chase region of Maryland.

Gligor, who had briefly dated Preer's daughter Lauren in the 1990s, had built a career as an account executive for a major video surveillance firm while his victim's family had their lives ruined by him. While the family has some closure, they find it difficult how a man they welcomed into their home with "open arms" could carry out such .

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The case had baffled detectives until last year, when Montgomery County investigators got a major breakthrough. DNA found under Preer's fingernails matched with a "distant relative" of Gligor's who had voluntarily shared her DNA to an online database.

Detectives learned Gligor would be returning to the US from London on June 29, 2024, according to court documents. Officers then went to Dulles International Airport in Virginia, and arranged for a US customs officer to divert him to a room for "secondary screening", a court filing said.

But inside the room, several bottles of water were on the table with Gligor drinking from one before leaving. His DNA was then taken from the sample and found to be a direct match with DNA in Preer's home, reported .

Gligor had been living in the nearby Washington DC area for years after carrying out the brutal killing. Family attorney Benjamin Kurtz told: "Lauren, her family and friends have waited 24 years to finally get closure and justice for this horrific crime that tore her family apart.

"The fact that it turned out to be someone they allowed in their home with open arms just makes it that much harder to understand." Kurtz said Lauren had been given "a sense of peace" knowing her dad has been absolved of any wrongdoing, even though the guilty plea came after his own death.

Lauren also wanted to express her gratitude to the Montgomery County Police Department, "who never stopped trying to get justice for her family, and to the State’s Attorney’s Office for their efforts of securing a guilty plea from Leslie’s murderer," Kurtz added.

Preer was found dead on the first floor of the family's Chevy Chase home on May 2, 2001. Her boss arrived at the home when she failed to show up at work that day.

Her death was quickly ruled as a homicide and Montgomery County State Attorney John McCarthy said the home was covered in blood. The following year, police submitted DNA that was gathered from the crime scene to a lab for genetic analysis, which would later go on to identify Gligor as a potential suspect.

McCarthy previously said the case was "historic" and claimed it was the first time familial DNA had been used to solve a cold-case murder in the US. Ex-Washington DC detective Ted Williams told the network Gligor would likely have got away with the crime had the DNA under Preer's fingernails not been preserved for more than 20 years.

Gligor faces up to 30 years in jail, the maximum penalty for murder in 2001. A sentencing hearing is due for August 28.

The has contacted Mr Kurtz's legal office for comment.