The 65-year-old mystery surrounding the murder of an 8-year-old Chicago girl has been solved through advances in DNA technology. Investigators now believe her killer was a member of law enforcement—one of the people entrusted with protecting the community.
DNA evidence linked through a genetic genealogy website led Chicago police to former homicide detective Thomas Francis McInerney, whom investigators suspect killed Gloria Kowalewicz on Nov. 12, 1960, the Chicago Tribune reported.
Gloria’s death stunned Chicago more than six decades ago. Her body was discovered in a ravine several miles from her family’s West Englewood home. She had been shot twice in the head.
The child had last been seen leaving home for a short walk to a nearby church, where she planned to receive communion.
Her killing triggered a sweeping search involving Chicago and state police, along with volunteer firefighters, Boy Scouts and military veterans, according to the Tribune.
Investigators eventually determined that Gloria was not killed until she had been taken to nearby woods. They also gathered eyewitness accounts describing a young girl with a young man. Despite those leads, authorities were unable to identify a suspect.
The case was finally cracked earlier this year after the FBI used DNA submitted to a family-tree website to connect McInerney, who was 24 at the time, to the crime scene, the outlet reported.
Additional analysis of DNA, fingerprints and ballistic evidence led Chicago police to conclude that McInerney was responsible for Gloria’s death. The Army veteran lived around the corner from the girl’s family.
Chicago Police Chief of Detectives Kevin Bruno praised the investigators who continued working on the case for more than 60 years. Their persistence, he told the Tribune, showed that “we don’t forget.”
“The fact that he was a police officer is deeply troubling to all of us that have made a career out of this most noble profession,” Bruno told the outlet. “But at the same time, it’s not something we’re going to minimize or shy away from.”
Gloria’s brother, Adam Kowalewicz, said he felt relief after authorities identified his sister’s killer. He hoped the development would allow his parents, who have since died, to finally “rest.”
At the same time, Kowalewicz remains troubled that McInerney died in 2006 without facing legal consequences for the crime.
“He never paid his dues,” Kowalewicz told the Tribune. “You hope he’s going to pay his dues with the good lord.”
McInerney served with the Chicago Police Department for 28 years. Afterward, he became an investigator for the Federal Public Defender’s Office in Las Vegas and Reno, retiring in 2004, according to an online obituary. He was named Outstanding Federal Defender Investigator in 2003.
McInerney, a father of five—including three daughters—and grandfather to many, could not be reached for comment. He died in 2006.
