Daughter’s ex-boyfriend arrested in cold case murder of Maryland mother

GAITHERSBURG, Md. (Court TV) — The ex-boyfriend of a murder victim’s daughter has been arrested in a 23-year-old cold case.

Eugene Teodor Gligor, now 44, was arrested by the U.S. Marshal’s Task Force in Washington, D.C., for the murder of Leslie Preer.

(L) Leslie Preer, (R) Eugene Gligor (Montgomery County Department of Police)

Officers found Preer murdered inside of her home on May 2, 2001, after she did not show up for work, said the Montgomery County Department of Police .

In Sept. 2022, blood evidence from the scene was submitted to a lab for analysis. On June 9, DNA evidence belonging to Gligor was collected and compared to DNA collected from the crime scene. Investigators said the “analysis generated a positive match.”

Gligor is charged with first-degree murder and is awaiting extradition to Maryland.

Preer’s daughter, Lauren Preer, told WTTG-TV that Gligor was an ex-boyfriend from her teenage years. Lauren said she and Gligor grew up in the same neighborhood and dated when she was 15.

Lauren also said she ran into Gligor last year at a restaurant, saying, “I’ve spoken to him. He didn’t seem weird, and how you could look someone in the eye and know that you committed this crime and act like nothing happened is pretty unreal.”