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Eugene Teodor Gligor pleaded guilty to second-degree murder in the 2001 killing of Leslie Preer in her Chevy Chase, Maryland, home and was ordered to serve 22 years in prison.

Preer, about 49, lived with her family in the 4800 block of Drummond Avenue and worked at an advertising production company, where she was considered reliable about arriving for work. On the morning of May 2, 2001, she failed to appear. A coworker contacted her family, and her husband and employer went to the house. Police were called around 11:47 a.m. and found her deceased inside. Her death was ruled a homicide.

Investigators concluded Preer was attacked while alone in the front foyer. She was strangled and suffered blunt-force trauma to the head before her body was moved upstairs and left in a shower/bathtub. Unknown-male DNA, including material from under her fingernails and blood at the scene, was collected in 2001 but did not match anyone in available databases.

Gligor had dated Preer's daughter, Lauren Preer, when they were teenagers in the late 1990s. They had been friends from about age 15, and the relationship ended years before the homicide, commonly reported as about two years earlier. Gligor lived nearby at the time but moved out of the neighborhood with his mother later in 2001. A neighbor's January 2002 tip identified him as someone to consider, but it did not lead to a charge then. The case went cold. Preer's husband, Sandy Preer, lived under suspicion until his death in 2017. No other defendants were charged.

In 2022, cold-case detectives submitted crime-scene blood for forensic genetic genealogy. The analysis identified distant relatives, including some in Romania, and produced a family tree containing the surname Gligor. Investigators compared the tree with the 2001 file and the old tip. In June 2024, police obtained a discarded water bottle Gligor had used, reportedly in connection with travel and airport screening. Laboratory testing matched it to DNA from the scene and beneath Preer's fingernails.

A warrant was issued June 15, 2024. A U.S. Marshals task force arrested Gligor on June 18 in Washington, D.C., on a first-degree murder charge, and he was extradited to Maryland. He initially denied involvement, and the defense later challenged the DNA collection. Prosecutors said there was no evidence of the premeditation required for first-degree murder. Gligor later said he had been drinking and using cocaine and claimed he blacked out. Defense counsel called the killing an aberration after substance use. Prosecutors established no motive, and a clear "why" was never established in court.

On May 7, 2025, though some reports give May 8, Gligor pleaded guilty before Judge David Lease in Montgomery County Circuit Court to second-degree murder, a lesser charge than first-degree murder. Assistant State's Attorneys Donna Fenton and Jodie Mount prosecuted the case. Under 2001 law, the maximum sentence was 30 years. On August 28, prosecutors sought 30 years and the defense argued for about 10. Lease imposed 30 years with all but 22 years suspended, followed by five years of supervised probation. Reported conditions include mental-health treatment and no contact with Preer's family. Gligor apologized and said Preer had been kind to him, while family members delivered victim-impact statements. As of late 2025, he was serving his sentence in a Maryland prison facility and had filed a motion seeking a sentence reduction.

The video is about 25 minutes of police interview-room footage. It shows the interview itself, without narration or a presenter.