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

Defendant Eugene Gligor, 45, of Washington, D.C., walked free through the nation’s capital for more than 20 years before his DNA linked him to then-50-year-old Leslie Preer’s murder in 2001.

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 authorities linked DNA found beneath Preer’s fingernails at the time of her murder to Gligor’s “distant relative from Romania” who had voluntarily submitted her DNA to an online database, ultimately leading authorities directly to him last year, Montgomery County State’s Attorney John McCarthy said during a Wednesday press conference. 

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

Authorities have not shared any kind of motive behind Preer’s murder. McCarthy said it will be up to the defendant to share what the motive was in his decision to kill Preer, adding later that there was no evidence to suggest the murder was “premeditated,” and Preer had no criminal record.

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.