Former Chicago detective identified in 65-year-old child murder case

Summarised from 2 outlets · Updated 14 Oct, 01:20 · Archive

DNA evidence has identified a former Chicago police detective as the killer of an eight-year-old girl murdered in 1960.

Chicago police have identified Thomas McInerney, a former homicide detective who died in 2006, as the killer of eight-year-old Gloria Kowalewicz. The case was solved using DNA evidence and a preserved fingerprint recovered from Gloria's communion purse, analysed using modern forensic technology developed since the 1960 murder.

Gloria disappeared on 12 November 1960 while walking to church near her family's West Englewood home. Her body was found roughly four hours later in a ditch at a forest preserve south-west of Chicago; she had been shot. The initial investigation was extensive, with police interviewing more than 1,300 people, but the case remained unsolved for more than 65 years.

McInerney joined the Chicago Police Department in 1959, one year before the murder, later becoming a detective investigating violent crimes. He remained with the force until retiring in 1987 and died in 2006 at age 70. The Chicago Police Department expressed hope that the identification 'brings a measure of closure' to those who knew Gloria, whilst stating that 'McInerney should have never worn the CPD star' and that it was 'devastating to accept that he was never identified and held accountable while he was alive'. Authorities are now examining other cases that may have involved McInerney.

How it is being reported

• Former Chicago police detective linked by DNA to 8-year-old girl's cold-case murder, police sayDNA evidence and a fingerprint linked Thomas F. McInerney Jr., a former Chicago police detective, to the 1960 cold case murder of Gloria Kowalewicz.Fox News · 14 Oct, 00:55
• Ex-Chicago detective identified as killing child in 65-year cold casePolice used recently discovered DNA to pin murder of eight-year-old girl on Thomas McInerney, who died in 2006 Chicago police on Monday said they recently used newly discovered DNA evidence to tie the 1960 murder of an eight-year-old girl to one of its own former homicide detectives. Thomas McInerney had been dead for 20 years by the time authorities issued a statement identifying him as the killer of Gloria Kowalewicz – well after retiring from the Chicago police department (CPD) and two federal public defender’s offices in Nevada where he worked as an investigator. Continue reading...Guardian World · 13 Oct, 10:30

In this story: Thomas McInerney · Gloria Kowalewicz · Chicago Police Department · Chicago · FBI · Illinois State Police

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