Her Mother's Killer Was Someone She Once Loved

On May 2, 2001, Leslie Jennings Preer was murdered in her home in Chevy Chase, Maryland. For more than two decades, her daughter Lauren searched for answers. The truth would lead investigators to someone the family knew personally. Leslie was a beloved mother, wife, sister, and friend. When she missed work, her husband Sandy and a colleague returned to the house and found signs of a struggle. The investigation focused for years on Sandy, even as unidentified male DNA pointed elsewhere. This Root of Crime documentary follows the original investigation, a tip recorded in 2002, Lauren's determination to keep the case alive, and a renewed forensic inquiry that took detectives from preserved evidence to family-tree records. In 2024, an old name resurfaced. Investigators obtained DNA from a discarded water bottle at Dulles International Airport, leading to an arrest that stunned Leslie's daughter. Eugene Teodor Gligor, Lauren's former boyfriend, pleaded guilty to second-degree murder on May 7, 2025. On August 28, 2025, a Maryland judge imposed a 30-year sentence with all but 22 years suspended, followed by five years of supervised probation. The public accounts examined do not establish a definitive motive. Root of Crime tells researched, chronological, victim-centered cold-case stories, following the evidence and the families affected without losing sight of the person whose life was taken. Subscribe for more long-form true-crime documentaries. CONTENT NOTE: This documentary discusses murder, family grief, investigative suspicion, and violence. Descriptions are non-graphic. SELECTED RESEARCH SOURCES Montgomery County Police — 2022 appeal: https://www2.montgomerycountymd.gov/m... Montgomery County Police — 2024 identification and arrest: https://www2.montgomerycountymd.gov/m... Othram — forensic case overview: https://dnasolves.com/articles/leslie... Montgomery Community Media — 2025 sentencing: https://www.mymcmedia.org/in-history-... #LesliePreer #truecrime #coldcase