ABC’s 20/20 recently revisited a Montgomery County case that haunted the Chevy Chase community for more than two decades– the 2001 murder of 49-year-old Leslie Preer. The episode, titled “First Comes Love, Then Comes Murder,” walked through how advances in DNA technology helped bring long-awaited closure to Preer’s family. The episode premiered on Sept. 12th at and is now available to stream on Hulu and Disney Plus.
Leslie Preer was killed inside her Chevy Chase home in 2001, shocking neighbors in one of Montgomery County’s quietest and most affluent areas. At the time, suspicion centered on her husband, Carl “Sandy” Preer, after neighbors noticed unusual activity around the home and he failed a polygraph test. But investigators quickly discovered male DNA under Leslie’s fingernails that did not belong to him, leaving the case without clear answers.
For more than 20 years, the murder remained unsolved. That changed when Montgomery County Police Detectives Tara Augustin and Alyson Dupouy took on the case as part of the department’s cold case unit. With the help of Othram, a Texas-based forensic company, they used genetic genealogy to trace the unknown DNA. The investigation eventually pointed to Eugene Teodor Gligor, who once dated Leslie’s daughter when they were in high school.
Detectives confirmed the match by collecting Gligor’s DNA from a discarded water bottle, which tied him directly to the crime scene. He was arrested, extradited to Maryland, and in May 2024 pleaded guilty to second-degree murder. Gligor was sentenced in August 2025 to 22 years in prison.
The case took an emotional toll on the Preer family and the surrounding community, who lived with unanswered questions for decades. Leslie’s daughter, Lauren, never gave up hope that her mother’s killer would one day be found. The resolution also cleared lingering doubts around Sandy Preer, whose name had long been whispered in connection with the case despite the DNA evidence pointing elsewhere.
