Chicago’s 1960 Cold Case: Gloria Kowalewicz Killing Solved, Officer Named
The Gloria Kowalewicz cold case solved in July 2026 closes a 65-year-old murder that had haunted Chicago since a little girl vanished on her way to morning mass. Authorities identified Thomas F. McInerney Jr., a former Chicago homicide detective who was a 24-year-old patrol officer when Gloria was killed, as the man responsible.
The morning Gloria disappeared
Gloria Kowalewicz was 8 years old, a third grader who had recently made her First Communion. On the morning of Nov. 12, 1960, she left home just before 8 a.m. to walk to St. Mary of Mount Carmel Church. She never arrived. Instead, she was abducted somewhere between her home and the church on Chicago’s South Side.
She wore a pink-and-brown checkered dress and a blue leotard. She carried a communion purse and a prayer book.
She was shot twice in the head and left in a ditch in a forest preserve southwest of Chicago. A motorist found her body after noticing her dress. Four days later, more than 1,000 people attended her funeral.
A case that refused to close
The initial manhunt questioned thousands of people and followed hundreds of leads, but no arrest came. Evidence was collected and preserved: a bullet, a coat, shoes, a communion purse and a prayer book. A fingerprint was lifted from the purse strap.
For decades, the case remained open. Then in 2010, DNA from semen on Gloria’s clothes built a male profile. In 2024, the FBI compared that DNA to genealogy sites and identified McInerney. A fingerprint from his 1959 Chicago Police Department job application matched the print on Gloria’s purse strap.
McInerney had no known prior contact with Gloria, though his parents lived less than a mile from the Kowalewicz family.
McInerney's life and career
McInerney was a Chicago patrol officer in 1960, promoted to detective in 1964, and retired from the department in 1987 after 28 years of service. He later worked as an investigator for the Federal Public Defender’s Office, where he was named Outstanding Federal Defender Investigator in 2003 and retired in 2004.
He was an Army veteran, a father of five and a grandfather. He died in 2006 in Las Vegas at age 70. It is unclear whether he was ever involved in the original investigation into Gloria’s murder.
Reactions and next steps
The Chicago Police Department said McInerney should never have worn a CPD star and that it was devastating he was not held accountable while alive. The department said it never forgot the little girl and never stopped searching.
Gloria’s brother, Adam Kowalewicz, said McInerney lived a decent life and never paid his dues, and expressed hope that he would pay before God.
The FBI is checking McInerney’s DNA in CODIS for other unsolved crimes in the area during that time. The case parallels the Golden State Killer investigation, in which Joseph James DeAngelo was identified through genetic genealogy. DeAngelo was responsible for 13 murders and numerous rapes.
For now, the identification of McInerney brings a measure of resolution to a case that spanned generations.
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