More than 20 years after a woman was found dead inside her home in Chevy Chase, a man declared himself guilty of his murder in the Montgomery County Circuit Court, Maryland, on Wednesday morning.
Eugene Gligor, 45, declared himself guilty of a second -degree murder charge for the murder of Leslie Parer, occurred in May 2001.
Was arrested last June after Forensic genetic genetical genetics tests They will help link it to unsolved murder.
“This does not bring Leslie back, but now they know who did this,” said Montgomery County state Prosecutor, John McCarthy, during a press conference on Wednesday. “There is no closure, but I am proud of what we do together and our continuous search for creative ways so that the people of this community are safer.”
Gligor had dated Parer, Lauren, when he was a teenager. They separated years before homicide, McCarthy said.
After Gligor’s first appearance before the court in June 2024, Lauren said: “Never in a million years we would think that one of ours could hurt my mother.”
Gligor was initially accused of first degree murder and faced the possibility of passing life imprisonment.
But he declared himself guilty of the minor position, second degree murder, which entails a maximum of 30 years in prison.
The state prosecutor of Montgomery County, John McCarthy, declared that Gligor has not given a reason for the murder. There is no evidence to suggest that the homicide was premeditated, which would be required for a first -degree murder sentence.
“It is very difficult to establish that a person necessarily premeditated the murder,” McCarthy said. “I will tell you that this was a case of blunt trauma. There were multiple injuries. We have talked about this with the family internally, about some of the difficulties of going to trial and about the probability of a first -degree sentence.”
Several of the brothers are expected to prefer to testify during the sentence hearing, which is scheduled for August 28.
How DNA evidence revealed to a suspect 23 years after homicide
DNA was found throughout the house where they killed prefer, which pointed to an unknown man that the police, at that time, could not identify, McCarthy said.
In 2024, investigators sought new methods to identify a suspect, which led the police to examine available DNA samples to try to build a family tree.
McCarthy said the police identified a distant relative of the suspect who lived in Romania.
That led researchers to a family name: Gligor. One of his neighbors had warned the police that Gligor could be related to the homicide of January 2002.
While the police watched Gligor, he was seen throwing a bottle of water he had drunk at the Dulles International Airport on June 9.
The researchers analyzed the sample and discovered that it coincided with the DNA profile of the bloody scene of the crime, according to judicial documents.
He was arrested approximately a week later.
Gligor has no criminal record that could have led the authorities to load his DNA in the CODIS database, which contains DNA profiles of convicted criminals, evidence of scenes of unsolved crimes and missing persons.
In order to use the family DNA database, McCarthy said the police had to demonstrate that they had exhausted all the other investigation routes.
“It’s a kind of last resort,” McCarthy said. “These limitations were established by Maryland’s legislature. Our limitations are different from those of other states. In some states, family DNA is easier to use.”
The family says that Wednesday’s request is “justice”
When Parer did not appear to work on May 2, 2001, his employer contacted her husband Carl and her daughter Lauren.
Carl Parer and his wife’s employer went to the family’s house in Drummond Avenue around 11:30 am and found a bloody scene.
The agents arrived to register the house and found to prefer dead inside the shower of the main bathroom of the upper floor. The autopsy subsequently concluded that it had been strangled and that its head was beaten against the lobby soil.
The only daughter of Leslie and Carl Perer, Lauren, attended Wednesday’s audience along with other relatives. In addition to the couple’s daughter, Leslie Preder had seven brothers.
When they were asked for a word to describe their feelings after the statement of guilt, family members shouted “justice” while they were next to McCarthy.
“The family does not want to talk today,” said McCarthy. “I think Lauren, in particular, just wanted him to mention that his mother was a spectacular, affectionate and wonderful person, very dear to his family and friends.”
