DNA Links Former Chicago Detective to 1960 Killing of Gloria Kowalewicz

For 65 years, the murder of Gloria Kowalewicz remained one of Chicago's most painful open wounds. On November 12, 1960, the eight year old was abducted while walking to morning Mass on the South Side. She was found shot to death hours later in a forest preserve southwest of the city. This week, the Chicago Police Department said modern DNA work and a carefully preserved fingerprint identified her killer as Thomas F. McInerney Jr., a man who later became a CPD homicide detective and who died in Las Vegas in 2006.

The identification was reported by The Associated Press, NBC News, The Guardian, CBS Chicago and the Chicago Tribune, drawing on CPD statements issued around October 12 and 13, 2026. This account follows those reports. It does not invent quotes, motives or details that officials have not released.

What Happened in 1960

According to CPD, Gloria left home just before 8 a.m. that Saturday to walk a few blocks to St. Mary of Mount Carmel Church. She had recently made her First Communion. Somewhere between her home and the church, she was abducted. She never made it to Mass.

Police said she was shot twice in the head and left in a ditch. A motorist who noticed her dress found her body. Investigators collected and inventoried evidence that would matter decades later: a bullet, her coat, her shoes, and her white communion purse with her prayer book inside. They also lifted a fingerprint from the strap of that purse.

The crime triggered a citywide search. Thousands of people were questioned. Hundreds of leads were checked. Four days later, more than 1,000 people attended her funeral. No arrest followed.

How DNA and a Fingerprint Closed the Case

CPD said the case never left the department's care. In 2010, investigators built a male DNA profile from traces of semen found on Gloria's clothing. That profile alone did not produce an arrest.

Then, in 2024, at Chicago's request, the FBI compared the DNA with genetic samples submitted to family tree research websites. That work pointed to McInerney. Armed with a name, detectives matched fingerprints from his 1959 CPD job application to the print on Gloria's purse strap.

"Identification was made through a fingerprint and DNA left behind at the crime scene," CPD said in a statement quoted by NBC News and other outlets.

Who McInerney Was

At the time of the murder, McInerney was about 24 and a young patrol officer who had joined the department in 1959. CPD said he was not promoted to detective until 1964. He retired in 1987 as a violent crimes detective after 28 years on the job. After leaving Chicago, he worked as an investigator for federal public defender offices in Nevada. He died in 2006 at age 70.

CPD said his parents lived less than a mile from Gloria's family, but that he did not appear to have had prior contact with the child. Officials have not publicly explained why she was targeted. Because he is deceased, there will be no criminal trial.

In a statement reported by NBC News, CPD said McInerney "should never have worn the CPD star," and called it devastating that he was never identified and held accountable while alive.

What Remains Open

Gloria's parents have since passed away and did not live to hear this news. Her brother, Adam Kowalewicz, who was an infant when she was killed, told the Chicago Tribune that McInerney never paid his dues in life. That grief is his alone to speak. Outsiders should not speak over it.

The FBI said McInerney's DNA is in CODIS and that agents are checking whether it connects to other unsolved crimes from that period. CPD and the FBI said they are pursuing every lead that might bring answers in other cases.

Why This Story Matters

Cold cases are not abstract. They are families who waited, evidence rooms that kept faith with a child, and laboratories that finally had tools that did not exist in 1960. The same kind of genetic genealogy that helped identify McInerney has been used in other major cases nationwide.

For readers who follow unsolved murders and missing children, the lesson is sober. Preserve evidence. Keep asking. Demand that institutions treat old files as living obligations, not archives. When a department names a killer decades later, even without a courtroom, it still tells survivors that the child was never forgotten.

I will keep covering these cases when official sources speak, with dignity for victims and without sensationalism. Tips in active missing persons cases should always go to law enforcement or the National Center for Missing and Exploited Children, not to social media rumors.