A killer nobody expected has pleaded guilty in the 2001 murder of a Chevy Chase, Maryland, mother.

Eugene Gligor, a 45-year-old resident of Washington, D.C., had lived freely in the nation’s capital for over two decades until his DNA connected him to the 2001 murder of Leslie Preer, who was 50 years old at the time.

Preer’s daughter, Lauren Preer, told FOX 5 D.C. that she dated the suspect when they were both 15 years old. She was 24 when her mother was killed.

Montgomery County officials discovered a DNA link beneath Preer’s fingernails that tied Gligor to a “distant relative from Romania.” This relative had willingly submitted her DNA to an online database, which ultimately helped authorities identify Gligor as the suspect last year, according to Montgomery County State’s Attorney John McCarthy during a press briefing on Wednesday.

“We both said, there is no way Eugene would have done this,” Preer recalled to the Post.

The authorities have yet to determine a motive for Preer’s murder. McCarthy mentioned that it would be up to Gligor to reveal his reasons for killing Preer, while noting there is no evidence to suggest the act was premeditated and that Preer herself did not have a criminal background.

McCarthy, speaking on Lauren’s behalf during the Wednesday press conference, remembered Preer as a “spectacular, loving, wonderful person.”

Gligor faces up to 30 years in prison, which was the maximum penalty for second-degree murder in 2001 when the incident occurred. A sentencing hearing is scheduled for Aug. 28, 2025, at 9 a.m.