Former Investigator Fears Detective in Girl’s Murder Had Other Victims

After more than 65 years, Chicago police say they have identified the person responsible for killing 8-year-old Gloria Kowalewicz as she walked to church.

The suspect was a police officer.

Investigators say Chicago police officer Thomas F. McInerney Jr. abducted, shot and killed Kowalewicz on Nov. 12, 1960.

McInerney was still relatively new to the department at the time. He worked as a Chicago police violent-crimes detective and died in 2006.

Although investigators had evidence connected to the crime, the case remained unsolved for decades. Advances in forensic technology eventually helped reveal the answer.

Shortly before 8 a.m. that day, Kowalewicz left home and started walking several blocks to St. Mary of Mt. Carmel Church. She never made it to mass.

Roughly four hours later, authorities discovered her body in a ditch at a forest preserve southwest of Chicago. Investigators also found evidence at the scene and along the highway leading back toward the city.

Among the items recovered were a bullet, Kowalewicz’s coat, her shoes and a small white communion purse containing her prayer book. Despite the evidence, the killer’s identity remained unknown.

A renewed examination of the case ultimately focused on a fingerprint found on the strap of Kowalewicz’s purse. With the help of modern technology, investigators linked the print to McInerney more than six decades after the crime.

Rogue cop

Chicago police created a special task force during the original investigation. Officers went door to door and interviewed more than 1,300 people in an effort to identify the child’s killer.

More than a dozen individuals also underwent polygraph examinations. Meanwhile, the person investigators now identify as responsible continued working within the police department.

Michael Gould, a founding member of the New York Police Department’s K-9 unit, said the investigators of that era were limited by the tools available to them.

Gould told News Media that trained police dogs might have offered investigators a stronger way to follow the killer’s trail.

However, Gould noted that police departments did not widely adopt dogs for criminal investigations until the mid-1980s. Today, K-9 teams are routinely used and have helped solve numerous missing-person cases.

“Dogs could have traced where the suspect lived and the direction he took while fleeing,” Gould said.

“They give us X-ray vision. They help reveal evidence that cannot be seen with the naked eye. For law enforcement, police K-9s should be the primary tool for locating people.”

According to a statement Chicago police sent to News Media, detectives never abandoned the search for Kowalewicz’s killer. Over the years, the department continued working with Illinois State Police and the FBI in pursuit of answers.

The DNA and fingerprint evidence was preserved for decades until, finally, technology advanced enough to bring answers.

It’s rare for law enforcement to maintain records and keep evidence that long, Gould said.

He expects the DNA connection may lead to solving more cold cases.

“My prediction there are going to be other victims [linked to McInerney]. I don’t think this was a sole act.”

“This, in my view, would have been a planned and intentional act. It’s rare that this happens once in a serial murderer’s life,” he said. “They don’t do it one time. In fact, it usually escalates when they’re successful.”

What makes it “even more horrific,” Gould said, is that McInerney may have used his influence as an officer to lure her into his car.

“We teach our children that you should trust law enforcement, and when they leverage that against innocent people, particularly children, it’s horrendous.”

After working in the Chicago Police Department for 28 years, McInerney retired and moved to Las Vegas. He died 20 years ago at age 70.

“His abhorrent actions not only took the life of an 8-year-old child, but left her parents and all who knew and loved her shattered as they searched for answers,” the Chicago Police Department said in a prepared statement.

“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. Though her parents have since passed away and were not able to receive justice in their daughter’s murder, we hope that this news brings a measure of closure to all who knew Gloria and her story.”

The Kowalewicz family’s spokeswoman, their attorney, did not respond to requests for comment from News Media.