DNA Links Former Chicago Homicide Detective Who Later Lived and Worked in Las Vegas to 1960 Slaying of 8-Year-Old Girl

LAS VEGAS, NV / CHICAGO, IL — In one of the most stunning cold case revelations in modern law enforcement history, forensic genetic genealogy has linked a deceased former Chicago Police homicide detective—who later spent decades living in Las Vegas and working inside Nevada’s federal justice system—to the 1960 abduction and murder of an 8-year-old girl.

The Chicago Police Department (CPD) and the FBI officially announced the findings on Tuesday, October 13, 2026, naming Thomas Francis McInerney Jr. as the perpetrator behind the November 12, 1960, slaying of third-grader Gloria Kowalewicz.

McInerney, who joined the Chicago Police Department in 1959, went on to enjoy a celebrated 28-year career as a detective investigating violent crimes before retiring in 1987.

He then relocated to Nevada, serving for over a decade as an investigator for the Federal Public Defender’s Office in Las Vegas and Reno until his retirement in 2004. He died in Las Vegas in 2006 at the age of 70, escaping criminal prosecution during his lifetime.

+--------------------------------------------------------+
|      HISTORIC COLD CASE HOMICIDE DOSSIER: KOWALEWICZ   |
+--------------------------------------------------------+
|  - Investigating Agencies: Chicago Police Department   |
|    (Area Central SVU) & Federal Bureau of Investigation|
|  - Victim: Gloria Kowalewicz (8 Years Old)             |
|  - Date of Crime: Saturday, November 12, 1960          |
|  - Crime Scene: Abducted on 3-Block Walk to Morning    |
|    Mass (St. Mary of Mount Carmel Church, Chicago);    |
|    Body Discovered in Palos Hills Forest Preserve Ditch|
|  - Identified Killer: Thomas Francis McInerney Jr.     |
|    (Aged 24 at Time of Crime; CPD Patrolman in 1960)   |
|  - Career Trajectory: Promoted to CPD Homicide         |
|    Detective; Retired from Department in 1987          |
|  - Nevada Ties: Relocated to Nevada; Employed by the   |
|    Federal Public Defender's Office (Reno & Las Vegas) |
|    from 1987 to 2004; Died in Las Vegas in 2006 (Age 70)|
|  - Forensic Breakthrough:                              |
|      • Investigative Genetic Genealogy (IGG) on Male   |
|        DNA Profile Recovered from Victim's Clothing    |
|      • Fingerprint Match: 1960 Purse Strap Latent Print|
|        Matched McInerney's 1959 CPD Job Application    |
|  - Active Follow-Up: FBI Reviewing Potential Links to   |
|    Unsolved Crimes Across Illinois and Nevada Basins   |
+--------------------------------------------------------+

A Murder That Haunted Chicago for 65 Years

On the morning of November 12, 1960, Gloria Kowalewicz was walking just three and a half blocks from her family’s home in Chicago’s West Englewood neighborhood to attend morning Mass at St. Mary of Mount Carmel Church.

Her mother watched her walk along Damen Avenue before turning onto Marquette Road, where she vanished.

Approximately two hours later, her body was found dumped in a drainage ditch in the Palos Hills forest preserve area southwest of Chicago.

She had been shot twice in the head, and investigators recovered her little white purse nearby, pulling a single latent fingerprint from the strap.

Despite interviewing roughly 1,300 people and preserving physical evidence, the case grew cold.

Both of Gloria’s parents passed away without ever learning who stole their daughter’s life.

Meanwhile, McInerney—who had joined the police department as a 23-year-old rookie just one year prior to the murder—rose through the ranks to become a respected detective, investigating violent assaults and homicides in the very city whose laws he had violated.

The Genetic Genealogy and Fingerprint Breakthrough

The breakthrough emerged after cold case detectives extracted a complete male DNA profile from biological stains preserved on the girl’s clothing.

In 2024, authorities partnered with forensic genetic genealogists to construct family tree networks from public DNA databases, narrowing down the maternal and paternal lines to the McInerney family tree.

The conclusive link arrived when detectives pulled McInerney’s original 1959 Chicago Police Department employment application.Latent print examiners compared the ink fingerprints he submitted to become a Chicago police officer against the latent print lifted from Gloria’s purse strap in 1960, confirming an identical match.

“The physical proof was resting inside the department’s own personnel records for over six decades,” investigators stated during Tuesday’s national briefing.

+--------------------------------------------------------+
|             NEVADA IMPACT & WIDER INVESTIGATION        |
+--------------------------------------------------------+
|  • Federal Legal Work: Investigated federal criminal   |
|    defense matters in U.S. District Court in Las Vegas |
|  • FBI Cold Case Review: Federal task forces auditing  |
|    unsolved disappearances in Illinois, Reno & Vegas   |
|  • Family Closure: Surviving brother Adam Kowalewicz   |
|    briefed by detectives on conclusive identification  |
+--------------------------------------------------------+

Following his retirement from CPD in 1987, McInerney moved to Nevada, where he was hired by the Federal Public Defender’s Office.

For 17 years, he worked out of offices in Reno and downtown Las Vegas, investigating federal court cases in the Lloyd D. George U.S. Courthouse before retiring to private life in Clark County.

The FBI confirmed it is now auditing unsolved cold cases and missing-person files in both the Midwest and Southern Nevada to determine whether McInerney may have been involved in additional unsolved violent crimes during his lifetime.

Source: Chicago Police Department Area Central Cold Case Unit, Federal Bureau of Investigation (Chicago Field Office), Associated Press (Cybele Mayes-Osterman Reporting), Chicago Tribune Archives.

Bozeman Daily Chronicle