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Twenty-four years after a young mother was found slain in her Chevy Chase home, hardworking detectives finally closed the case and forced a measure of justice for the Preer family. For those who have waited through two decades of unanswered questions, the arrest of Eugene Gligor — the former boyfriend of the victim’s daughter — proves that persistence and modern forensics can still bring truth to light. This is the kind of result Americans should demand: relentless police work combined with cutting-edge science.
The facts are grim and personal. In May 2001, Leslie Preer was discovered beaten and strangled in her own house, a brutal attack that left her daughter Lauren living with trauma and fear for years. That a man who once belonged to their circle could now be held to account is a bitter relief, but relief all the same for a family that never stopped grieving.
The investigative breakthrough came when Montgomery County detectives turned to forensic genetic genealogy, tracing DNA clues through distant relatives and building a family tree that led to the Gligor name. Law enforcement then used good old-fashioned cunning to secure a direct sample — a sterile water bottle in a customs secondary screening — to confirm the match and arrest the suspect without tipping him off. That fusion of tenacity and technology is law-and-order conservatism at work: give police the tools and they will deliver.
Gligor was arrested in June 2024, later pleaded guilty, and this August received a 22-year sentence for the 2001 killing. While justice was finally served, the sentence and the prospect of parole after half the term raise uncomfortable questions for families who lived in terror for decades. America deserves a justice system that treats brutal, personal crimes with the severity they warrant, not one that gives comfort to broad theories of leniency.
Make no mistake — detectives deserve praise for following the case for years and refusing to let it fade into the files. Their persistence vindicates the idea that government institutions can work when they focus on results instead of optics. Conservatives should applaud the use of modern forensic tools to keep communities safe and to give victims’ families answers they deserve.
At the same time, this case exposes the disturbing cultural drift toward treating violent offenders as projects for rehabilitation before victims see final accountability. Reports that the defendant cultivated a “mindful” image and taught yoga while jailed are a reminder that too many in the elite media and certain corners of the criminal-justice industry rush to humanize perpetrators. Sympathy for criminals should never outpace justice for the dead and healing for the injured.
There is also a legitimate conservative concern about privacy and the growing use of genealogical databases in policing. We should defend families and civil liberties, but not at the cost of letting cold-blooded killers walk free. The sensible path is clear: establish strict, transparent guardrails that allow law enforcement to use these powerful tools responsibly and only for serious violent crimes.
This victory for the Preer family should be a rallying cry for patriots who value law and order. Support our detectives, back sensible forensic technology, and demand penalties that fit the crimes. When our communities are under threat, we owe it to victims and to the rule of law to ensure that justice is not delayed — and that it matters when it finally arrives.
