Former Chicago police detective linked by DNA to 8-year-old girl’s cold-case murder, police say
Chicago police say DNA evidence and a preserved fingerprint have linked former homicide detective Thomas F. McInerney Jr. to the 1960 murder of eight-year-old Gloria Kowalewicz. The identification, made more than 65 years after she was killed, has led authorities to review other cases that may have involved him.
Gloria disappeared on 12 November 1960 while walking to church and was found shot dead in a ditch about four hours later. Investigators interviewed more than 1,300 people and kept evidence including a bullet, her clothing and a fingerprint from her communion purse; later forensic analysis by Chicago police, the FBI and Illinois State Police linked the evidence to McInerney. He joined the police department in 1959, retired in 1987 and died in 2006 without facing charges; her parents died before learning who killed her.
- DNA and fingerprint evidence linked McInerney to Gloria Kowalewicz’s 1960 murder.
- The former Chicago detective died in 2006 without facing charges.
- Authorities are reviewing other cases that may have involved him.
New here? Start with this
Gloria Kowalewicz was eight when she disappeared on her way to church in Chicago in November 1960. She was found shot dead later that day. Police questioned more than 1,300 people and kept evidence from the case, including a fingerprint and a bullet.
Thomas F. McInerney Jr. joined the Chicago police in 1959 and later worked as a homicide detective. He retired in 1987 and died in 2006. The case matters because preserved evidence can sometimes be examined with forensic methods developed or improved decades later, and authorities are reviewing whether other cases may be connected to him.