Chicago police announced that DNA evidence has linked one of their former homicide detectives to the decades-old murder of an 8-year-old girl who was abducted while walking to church in 1960. Gloria Kowalewicz was found shot dead in a ditch just hours after she went missing.
New technology allowed investigators to match a fingerprint and DNA recovered from the crime scene to Thomas F. McInerney Jr., who joined the Chicago Police Department in 1959. McInerney eventually rose through the ranks to become a homicide detective specializing in violent crimes.
"McInerney should never have worn the CPD star, and it is devastating to accept that he was never identified and held accountable while he was alive," the police department said in a statement. The State’s Attorney’s Office in Cook County is now working to identify any other cases that may have involved McInerney.
Gloria was last seen on Nov. 12, 1960, walking to a morning Mass a few blocks from her home. Her body was discovered approximately four hours later in a forest preserve in southwest Chicago. At the time, authorities formed a task force and pursued extensive leads, interviewing over 1,300 people and questioning numerous individuals under polygraph.
Investigators collected evidence including a bullet, Gloria’s coat and shoes, and a white communion purse containing her prayer book. Using advanced forensic technology and collaborating with the FBI and Illinois State Police, they linked DNA found on these items, along with a fingerprint from the purse strap, to McInerney.
The FBI stated it is investigating all leads that could bring closure to other potential unsolved crimes from that era. The technology used in this case, which compares evidence to genetic profiles on genealogical websites, has been employed in other cold cases, such as the identification of the Golden State Killer. However, the use of such technology has also raised privacy concerns.
McInerney retired from the Chicago Police Department in 1987. He later worked for the Federal Public Defender’s Office in Reno and Las Vegas before retiring in 2004. He died in 2006.