NEWS FLASH
CHICAGO (CHICAGO URBAN DAILY)— After 65 years, the file is no longer cold. Chicago police announced Monday they have identified the killer of 8-year-old Gloria Kowalewicz — and he was one of their own.
Gloria was abducted on November 12, 1960, on a short walk from her West Englewood home to a nearby church to receive communion. Her body was later found in a ravine, shot twice in the head. The killing ignited a massive manhunt — local and state police, firefighters, Boy Scouts and veterans fanned out across the city, and investigators questioned more than 1,300 people. It never cracked.
The break came from science that didn’t exist in 1960. The FBI linked DNA from carefully preserved evidence — a bullet, the girl’s clothing, and a white communion purse carrying a fingerprint — to genetic genealogy databases, leading investigators to Thomas F. McInerney Jr., who was 24 at the time and had just joined the Chicago Police Department in 1959.
McInerney went on to serve 28 years on the force, retiring in 1987 as a homicide detective. He died in Las Vegas in 2006 at age 70 — he will never face a courtroom.
“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 department said in a statement Monday.
Gloria’s brother Adam, who was an infant when she was killed, said it plainly: “He never paid his dues. You hope he’s going to pay his dues with the good lord.”
Stay tuned to Chicago Urban Daily for updates as investigators review whether the case connects to any others.
Reported by Chicago Urban Daily News. Visit chicagourbandailynews.com for updates.
