Former Chicago detective identified as killer in 1960 cold case

Chicago police investigators have solved the November 12, 1960, murder of eight-year-old Gloria Kowalewicz, identifying her killer as former Chicago homicide detective Thomas Francis McInerney. The New York Post and the Chicago Tribune both reported that new DNA technology was used to crack the cold case. [1][2]

Investigators were led to McInerney using new DNA evidence obtained through a genetic ancestry website, according to the Chicago Tribune as reported by the New York Post. McInerney was a young police officer at the time of the killing. [1][2]

Chicago Police Department Chief of Detectives Kevin Bruno stated that the fact that the killer was a police officer was deeply troubling to those in the profession, the New York Post reported. [1]

A cold case is defined as an unsolved crime that is no longer part of an active criminal investigation, but one where new information can still emerge. [3]