What we lose in the Shadows (A father and daughter True Crime Podcast)
What we lose in the Shadows (A father and daughter True Crime Podcast)
Cold Case to Closure: Two Decades of Waiting
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A two-decade mystery finally unravels as science catches up with a killer who had been hiding in plain sight all along. The murder of Leslie Preer in her Chevy Chase home shocked the community in 2001, but despite clear DNA evidence found beneath her fingernails and blood scattered throughout the crime scene, investigators hit a dead end with no matching profiles in their databases. Until now.
Maryland man Eugene Gligor pleads guilty to killing ex-girlfriend's mother
Daughter's chilling realization after mom's 'killer' was finally revealed 23 years later
Contact us at: whatweloseintheshadows@gmail.com
Background music by Michael Shuller Music
Good morning and welcome to what we Lose in the Shadows a father-daughter true crime podcast. My name is Jamison Keys.
Speaker 2I'm Caroline, Hello Hi.
Speaker 1Caroline, how are you?
Speaker 2I'm good. How are you?
Speaker 1Good, it's a rainy day here, so you know, a little mellow, I love you. Good, it's a rainy day here, so you know I love a rainy day.
Speaker 2I love a rainy day too. Yeah, not too many in a row, just just one here and there.
Speaker 1Yeah, I felt myself super productive on a rainy day Cause I don't feel compelled Like I should go outside.
Speaker 2Oh, I am not productive, I'm the opposite. I'm like, okay, I'm going to sit here and read for three hours. Well, that's productive. I love it. Yeah, it's very cozy weather.
Speaker 1Fantastic.
Speaker 2So current events um relating to true crime. Did you see the prison break in new Orleans?
Speaker 1You know, I just caught a glimpse of that. I was as I was looking on the internet today and some was it an inside job or something like that.
Speaker 2They are as of now. They have not like released if it is, but they're suspecting that there was like an inside component. Guess how many men broke out, I don't know.
Speaker 1I mean I saw five or six run past the security camera. Ten, ten, ten.
Speaker 2And so they went through. One was caught pretty immediately and they posted a picture of him like looking sad. I was like, wow, uh, way to put his face right on everything. I was like, okay, that's he's a little embarrassing I know it's like oh, and then nine more. I think they caught two more, but um, yeah, so there's seven as of right now on while we record this, there's seven still. Do you know what state it was? New orleans so louisiana?
Speaker 1yeah, a lot of places to hide down there, bayous and all this yeah, so most of them are convicted on murder charges oh great yes, so these are not like low-level stuff.
Speaker 2I think the lowest was like uh, burglary, like okay, I guess, but we don't know if that's. It didn't say anything about being armed, but the rest of them, yeah, crazy, crazy. And to top it all off, for all of those that are interested in astrology, they're all gemini's. Wow, that is crazy to me. Who picked that out? I mean, that's, I don't know, one of the astrology lesbians, probably.
Speaker 1Wow, I'm a Taurus with Gemini rising, are you?
Speaker 2I am. Oh wow, what's your moon? You?
Speaker 1don't know the moon? No, I don't know.
True Crime News: Prison Break in New Orleans
Speaker 2Okay, um, crazy, crazy. So I saw it was actually someone mentioned it in a. In a tick tock they were like all of them are Gemini's and I was like that is so crazy, because they probably all were like talking about you know how that's their birthdays coming up and they're like, okay, for our birthdays we got to break out of prison. That's crazy.
Speaker 1Oh my gosh, you could very well be right. That gotta break out of prison. That's crazy. Oh my gosh, you could very well be right. That's, that's, that's.
Speaker 2Wow, that is some kind of a story yes, but hopefully they um, I know that they were literally the wall. That said too easy, lol, gemini behavior typical gemini behavior.
Speaker 1Yeah, that's an indictment on the uh, the louisiana prison system. That's crazy. Well, and that if they're all murderers, it's not like they're in a county lockup, they're, they're in a penitentiary I would hope so.
Speaker 2I don't know. It was crazy and they ran across the highway, then get hit. Just crazy stuff, crazy stuff. Hopefully they um, you know find them and I know that they've let you know. The victims and the families of the victims know. So oh shit, I didn't even think about that oh, yeah, yeah.
Speaker 2No, that's the scariest part for sure, because it's like you know, they're probably not going to be I mean, who knows but they're probably not going to be doing a bunch of crime right after um, you would hope not trying to, you know blend in. So trying to blend in, but um a little scary for the victims and victims' families.
Speaker 1For sure. Well, hopefully they bring them to justice very soon.
Speaker 2Yes, the trigger warning today is murder.
The Murder of Leslie Preer
Speaker 1Right. So talking about justice, and talking about justice that has finally been served. For over two decades, leslie Preer's murder remained a mystery. No answers, no justice. And then, just like that, science finally caught up with the past, and this is a story about persistence and discovery, about unexpected twists that shook an entire family. So Leslie Preer was supposed to show up for work on May 2nd 2001. She never did. When the police checked, they were asked to do a wellness check by her employer. So they were all devastated when they found her in her Chevy Chase home in Maryland. She had been murdered and the crime scene gave them DNA, clear physical evidence. But back then it was practically useless without a significant match. Who knows what actually happened, but it seems as though the person murdered her or at least assaulted her in the foyer of the house, tried to cover it up and clean up the crime scene, and then carried her into the shower putting her face down with her legs sticking out of the shower, Like maybe she had a you know, a fall or something.
Speaker 2But they found blood in the foyer.
Speaker 1They found blood in the foyer. They found blood and skin tissue under her nails.
Speaker 2Well, how would that have happened?
Speaker 1You mean in the in the scenario?
Speaker 2Yes, yeah, exactly.
Speaker 1Stupid. I'm not sure, See. I don't think 24 years ago that people were listening to true crime. They may have seen things on the you know, on on the television and so on, but I'm not sure they understood what dna really could do at that point yeah, but if they see blood, or was it cleaned up? He tried to clean it up. Oh, okay, and then, but there were still blood. There was blood evidence because apparently the killer, um, grabbed her and rammed her head into the corner of the wall several times.
Speaker 1So she had multiple abrasions, she had cuts and so on and so forth. So it seemed like something a child would do, because it would be like not murder, but I mean like trying to cover up something that you don't know how to cover up. Yeah, but her body was moved. The initial findings from the autopsy of Leslie Prear included approximately seven lacerations to her head and the anterior position of Leslie Preer, included approximately seven lacerations to her head and the interior position of her skull, as well as deep bruising and internal damage on her neck, with hemorrhaging in those areas. Indicative of manual strangulation. Leslie Preer had numerous bruises on her arm and her torso that indicated blows to those areas. The cause of death was listed as multiple blunt force trauma and strangulation in a manner of death was a homicide. Injuries to the skull were consistent with Leslie's head being banged into the foyer floor on the sharp edge of the molding on the floor. The surrounding perimeter in the foyer was a V-shaped and the injuries apparently were consistent with the shape of the molding in the corner. Fingernail clippings were obtained from the body of Leslie Preer at the time of the autopsy. Dna was obtained from underneath her fingernails and was submitted to Cellmark Diagnostics Lab for evaluation. It was determined that the DNA beneath her fingernails was a match to an unknown DNA profile From swabs of three areas of the crime scene the blood under the baseboard and beneath the dining room floor, blood from the kitchen doorway connected to the dining room floor, blood from the kitchen doorway connected to the dining room. And blood from the interior side of the kitchen door leading to the backyard. The DNA profile was submitted to CODIS on September 19, 2001, and to that date there were no matches.
Speaker 1Detectives conducted many interviews with family members, friends and co-workers of Leslie Preer to identify any males that Leslie's life that had some reason to harm her. Any males that were identified were interviewed and asked to provide DNA samples to compare against the unknown profile of the crime scene. All the samples compared were eliminated, excluding that of the suspect. Detectives also looked into individuals known to be involved in violent crime, burglaries, home invasions and that sort of thing in the area and determined for them. None of them were a viable suspect in Leslie Preer's murder.
Speaker 1The unknown DNA was located underneath the fingernails of Leslie Preer, which indicated that she was engaged in a physical contact and a struggle, as indicated by the wounds on her arms in a struggle, as indicated by the wounds on her arms. In addition, the unknown DNA was also present in three rooms of the crime scene and was collected and swabbed from blood droplets in the kitchen, near the back door, upstairs, in the bathroom and in the hallway. Therefore, it's highly probable that the individual who left their blood within the crime scene and those with the DNA were found underneath the fingernails of individuals who murdered Leslie Pereira. So fast forward to 2022. Science finally evolved and investigators ran into an old DNA. Through you know the forensics, genetic genealogy. You know a method that's basically revolutionized cold cases. Think of it like you know a family tree of criminals, connect to one distant relative and then suddenly you can trace something right to the crime. Now, of course, leslie's husband was really vetted hard because oftentimes actually most times the victim knows the person 80% of the time.
DNA Evidence and Initial Investigation
Speaker 1And it's normally an intimate connection. So they looked at the husband very hard. Now leslie had a daughter named lauren, and lauren was, of course, devastated by all the news and so on and has been patiently waiting, but for so long 20 years, 20 plus years that, um, you know that she, just you know, didn't get have any satisfaction. So this is where it gets personal. Leslie's daughter, lauren, had no idea that her ex-boyfriend, the guy she dated as a teenager, was actually her mother's murderer. What the hell? In fact, she ran into him in 2023 without a clue One of their classmates had actually passed away and they were at a bar kind of reminiscing about the person and that sort of thing and she ran into him. Now her boyfriend didn't attend the funeral of Leslie Now, to give you an idea about their connection and so on, her ex-boyfriend right.
Speaker 1Her ex-boyfriend.
Speaker 2Okay, were they dating at that time?
Speaker 1No, they'd been dated in high school, and this was years after the fact.
Speaker 2When her, when her mother was murdered.
Speaker 1Right.
Speaker 2That is crazy, yeah.
Speaker 1So so you know, like they'd seen each other a couple of times in the interim and he never talked about the murder, he didn't go to the funeral and they drifted apart. He went on and he started dating someone else. I think he was married once or twice in addition to that, and you know, her daughter, Lauren also, you know, just kind of went on with life, but she always wondered what happened to my mother.
Speaker 2Yeah, of course yeah.
Speaker 1There was evidence. Why can't they close this case? But you know the police, to their credit, never get them up. You know they can't know, they can't uh, they couldn't find out, figure out what it was.
Speaker 2But it was actually, you know, her boyfriend from long, long ago imagine, imagine being in her position, where you're like how could I not have known? How did he hide it so well that, like I'd seen him? Imagine thinking about all, like the past times that you had seen your ex right whole time. They had murdered your mother?
Speaker 1Right Horrific, how cold blooded is that? That someone was just sitting there would talk to her and you know, said you know, I'm so, I'm so sorry, I'm sorry that you're sad and that sort of thing, and be the actual cause of it. Now I don't, I wasn't able to find any real information. He, I wasn't able to find any real information. He was really not talkative, right, so we don't know why. I was able to find out that he had been after they broke up and, by the way, he was really, really into the family they dated for several years. He went on trips with them to the beach and so on and so forth. Lauren had no inkling at all that this man his name was Eugene Gligor was actually in the murder. He showed no evidence of any kind of a violent streak or anything like that.
Speaker 2Before or after?
Speaker 1Well, while she knew him, oh, okay, okay, so at one point they did break up, and so on. They drifted apart and started their lives.
Speaker 2And then at some point he went and murdered her mother after they broke up, years after.
Speaker 1Years after the fact.
Speaker 1Now that's crazy when I looked back I found evidence, or I found a report that after that he had been in some trouble, he had been accused of being have having a violent temper, sometimes at work. Um, who's violent at work? Well, not like, not like physically you threw, you know throwing and things, but sometimes he had like a real cutting uh edge to him. But most of the time he tried to, you know, maintain throwing and things, but sometimes he had like a real cutting edge to him. But most of the time he tried to, you know, maintain a very calm and cool demeanor. But some of his work friends, most of his work associates, said that he wasn't what he appeared to be. Sometimes he appeared to be very kind and gentle and so on.
Speaker 2When you first knew him I wonder if he's a Gemini too.
Speaker 1I have no idea, but, but, yes, but. But underlying, the more you knew him, the more he didn't always act the way you assumed he would, so not always would he appear.
Speaker 2Jeez.
Speaker 1So he was married. One of his wives, his ex-wives, did say that he had a violent temper, did say that he had, you know, been kind of physical with them, okay, and thrown some things.
Speaker 2Makes sense now.
Speaker 1So the markers were there. Okay, it's just they didn't come out until later.
Speaker 2You know, but that's common. They're like, oh yeah, I should have known, but it's like people don't take it seriously when it happens Right. And when people report it, they're like there's nothing we can do, or like they don't take it seriously, right. So it's like, yeah, it's so frustrating when that happens, right, like it could have been prevented, although this happened before the wives happened, so Right.
Speaker 1Yikes. Even his brother had basically told Leslie at some point that he was very angry with the brother. His brother at that point and the brother confided in leslie that he was afraid of him it's a bad sign it's a bad sign, um, but oh, you mean the leslie's daughter yeah, lauren. Basically she didn't know what to do with that information, so she didn't do anything with the information. But other people had been telling the police for years that you should look at this guy, right?
Speaker 2For the murder, after the murder, for the murder, for the murder, oh my gosh.
Speaker 1They said listen, this guy you know, like friends, the brother, there'd been some real kind of hints he had been arrested for um, for breaking in. He'd been, you know, arrested for breaking in and and stealing things and things like that, drunken, disorderly, maybe a DUI charge, but none of which actually led to them taking a DNA evidence.
Speaker 2Yeah, if it's not connected. I mean, especially if they weren't still dating. I guess it might have been hard to require that and he probably wouldn't have given it, you know no, he actually he was working at a job a technical job, I guess.
Speaker 1He traveled internationally periodically Scary. So he just kind of moved on with life. Now he had just recently moved into a new apartment and started a new relationship and so on. He was also someone that for his work he traveled internationally quite a bit. So the police started to get a feeling and started to look at him a little harder and they started to follow him around. Occasionally From the tips From the tips, because the tips kept coming in and they kept pointing at this guy. They had no reason to really think he was violent. But more people you know raised their hands and said yeah.
The Shocking Revelation: Her Daughter's Ex
Speaker 1You might want to look at this guy. So the police department did just that and he was on a trip. He was at the airport and flying overseas and they had someone shadowing him right I didn't know. They did that on airplanes well, not on airplane, he was in the airport, and so he made the same.
Speaker 1Made the mistake, just like the gilgo beach killer oh, throwing away something he was drinking from a bottle and he was being surveilled at the airport by the police. When he threw away the bottle and got on his plane, they collected the evidence, took it back and lo and behold.
Speaker 2You know it was him.
Speaker 1Wow. So they arrested him when he came back. I think it was like May, about May of last year, 2024. And they arrested him, I believe, later that month or maybe in June, and he was, you know, has been awaiting trial.
Speaker 2Scary.
Speaker 1When Gligor was confronted, there was no fight, there was no trial, there was no lengthy denials. He pleaded guilty to second degree murder.
Speaker 2He was ready.
Speaker 1And justice was technically served. But that doesn't mean closure. It was one of the things. Lauren made sure that she was at the trial, at least initially when he was. You know he was playing and she wanted to make sure that for her mother's sake she was there to see justice done. Now the father, her father, never got to see the closure that he died of septic shock a couple years ago, so he never really got to find out that that was the case. But Eugene Glick, over 45, said little as he entered his plea to one count of second degree murder. He'll face a maximum sentence of 30 years and the prison guidelines they range from 10 years to 30 years. But I think the sentencing hearing is later this year, in August.
Speaker 1So that's just another case and we've talked about so many cases over the years where, um, you know some little scrap of evidence, some little piece of DNA, someone noticed something.
Speaker 1And that's why it's important If you, you know, if you have a thought about something major like that that happened, a crime, you know there's no problem, there's no penalty in saying, look, I don't know for sure, but you might want to look at this person, or this is what I think, or here's something that I found weird when they're really on top of things, the police are always trying to gather things together and they keep these case files and so on, and every once in a while they'll come up with one little piece of crucial evidence and they'll put two and two together and they'll try to, you know, grab DNA evidence to solve the case, which is exactly what happened here.
Speaker 1So, even though it took a long time, even though it was, you know, kind of a roundabout way, and there's a lot of time when Lauren and her father were just wondering what happened and wondering if this would ever be solved, but finally last year he was, he was arrested, and this year he was convicted and pled guilty. So he will be spending a large portion, if not the rest of his life in prison.
Speaker 2That's good, I'm glad, because that is a crazy case. Just no, no trail to him at all. And then, all of a sudden, 20 some years later, you find out. That's crazy.
Speaker 1Well. So they actually talked to Lauren several times and times and you know, talking about this person or that person, and when his name came up she was like no, it's, it's certainly not him. Because he showed absolutely no um sign of any ill feelings, any sign of there wasn't a difficult breakup. It wasn't um he. He loved apparently, um leslie, was a very nurturing person and she took care of all the friends and so on. Now the father always said there's something wrong with the boyfriend.
Speaker 2Now I'm not sure if that led to the breakup.
Speaker 1Initially or whatever Probably not the father always thought that there was something about him that he didn't quite trust, and so he actually had a beat on it, even though he never got to see it come to fruition.
Speaker 2But um, that's so tough yeah so wow yeah, so it's.
Speaker 1It's just it went. When uh lauren went to um court to watch the proceedings, uh, some of their classmates went with her for moral support and um, and that sort of thing. So yeah, it's a very strange case and you just wonder you know how many cases out there are floating around like that.
Speaker 2We did a case, many hundreds thousands.
Justice Finally Served
Speaker 1We did a case not long ago that was close to my hometown, about a little girl that disappeared and they never have solved the case. And it's been my gosh 50 years, wow, something like that. So I've called the state police in pennsylvania several times asking for more information about it, because which they can't give, which they can't give, but I all I'm trying to find out is, for example, did they do a dna test on neighbors, relatives and all that kind of thing? But I can't find because I, if is the case, that's a case that needs solving too. And if it's a matter of finding the funding to get one of these DNA search firms to do it, you know love to do that, would love to, you know, be involved with something like that. But I remain vigilant and hopefully one day we'll get an answer on that and see if we can do something about that case as well. So that's the case of Leslie Preer. Happy that it was solved, happy that you know Lauren got some sort of, you know, closure to that, but, yeah, very sad.
Speaker 2Very sad. Follow the show on whatever streaming site you're listening on.
Speaker 1And remember. All of the source material will be available in the show notes.
Speaker 2And follow us on Instagram at whatweloseintheshadows, and let us know if you want to hear a specific case.
Speaker 1Or if you just want to give us some feedback.
Speaker 2Okay, join us in the shadows next Tuesday. Bye.
