Chicago police identify former detective as killer in 1960 child murder

Chicago police have identified a former homicide detective as the man who abducted and killed 8-year-old Gloria Kowalewicz in 1960, closing a case that eluded investigators for more than six decades. Thomas F. McInerney Jr. died in 2006, leaving him beyond prosecution.

Gloria disappeared on the morning of Nov. 12, 1960, while walking from her family’s home in Chicago’s West Englewood neighborhood to Mass at St. Mary of Mount Carmel Church. She never reached the church. A motorist found her body hours later in a ditch at a forest preserve southwest of the city. Police said she had been shot twice in the head.

Investigators collected a bullet, Gloria’s coat, her shoes and a white communion purse containing a prayer book. They lifted a fingerprint from the purse strap. A citywide search followed, but interviews and hundreds of leads produced no suspect.

Decades later, advances in DNA testing gave investigators a new path. Chicago police said they developed a male DNA profile in 2010 from traces of semen on Gloria’s clothing. The FBI subsequently used genetic ancestry research to identify McInerney, and investigators matched a fingerprint from his 1959 police job application to the print on her purse, according to police.

Accounts differ on when the ancestry research produced his name. NBC News reported that the FBI compared crime-scene DNA with samples submitted to family-tree websites in 2024 and that the DNA and fingerprint evidence led investigators to McInerney in July. The Guardian, citing the Chicago Tribune, reported that DNA submitted to a family-tree website enabled the FBI to connect him to the crime earlier in 2026. The Guardian also reported that subsequent ballistic testing helped establish his involvement.

McInerney joined the Chicago Police Department in 1959. He was a patrol officer at the time of Gloria’s death, became a detective in 1964 and retired from the department in 1987. He later worked as an investigator for federal public defender’s offices in Nevada, retiring in 2004. He died in Las Vegas in 2006 at age 70.

Police have not established why McInerney targeted Gloria or whether he had any prior contact with her. NBC News reported that his parents lived less than a mile from her family. The Guardian described him as living around the corner from Gloria. NBC News also reported that his DNA has been entered into the FBI’s Combined DNA Index System as investigators check for possible links to other crimes.

“McInerney should never have worn the CPD star, and it is devastating to accept that he was never identified and held accountable while he was alive,” the Chicago Police Department said. Gloria’s parents died without learning who killed her, police said.

Her brother, Adam Kowalewicz, who was an infant when she died, told the Chicago Tribune he was relieved the killer had been identified but frustrated that McInerney never faced justice. “He never paid his dues,” Kowalewicz said. “You hope he’s going to pay his dues with the good lord.”