Chicago Police Solve 1960 Child Murder

PHOTO CAPTION: Thomas F. McInerney Jr. in a Chicago Police Department portrait from around 1959. Chicago police identified McInerney in 2026 as responsible for the 1960 murder of eight-year-old Gloria Kowalewicz. Chicago Police Department photo.

Chicago police say they have solved the 1960 murder of an 8-year-old girl who disappeared while walking to church, identifying the killer as a former police officer who later spent his career investigating violent crimes, including homicides.
The suspect, Thomas Francis McInerney Jr., was 24 years old and had recently joined the Chicago Police Department when Gloria Kowalewicz was abducted and murdered.
McInerney went on to serve 28 years with the department, eventually working as a homicide detective before retiring in 1987.
He died in 2006 without ever being charged in the killing.
The Chicago Police Department publicly announced the case's resolution on October 12, more than 65 years after Gloria's death.
The breakthrough came through genetic genealogy, DNA evidence and a fingerprint that investigators had preserved since the original investigation.
But one of the most striking details is where detectives found the fingerprint that helped confirm McInerney's identity.
It came from the paperwork he submitted to become a Chicago police officer.
On November 12, 1960, Gloria left her family's home in Chicago's West Englewood neighborhood to walk approximately three blocks to St. Mary of Mount Carmel Church.
She had recently received her First Communion and was attending morning Mass.
She never arrived.
Hours later, her body was discovered in a wooded area southwest of Chicago.
The third grader had been shot twice in the head.
Police recovered physical evidence, including her clothing, a bullet and a white communion purse containing a prayer book.
Investigators also lifted a fingerprint from the purse's strap.
The murder triggered a massive investigation. Detectives interviewed more than 1,300 people, pursued numerous leads and questioned multiple potential suspects.
But the evidence did not identify a killer.
For decades, Gloria's family had no answer.
The investigation eventually gained new momentum as forensic technology improved.
In 2024, investigators submitted preserved biological evidence to the FBI for investigative genetic genealogy, a technique that uses DNA and family relationships to identify potential suspects.
The investigation ultimately led to McInerney.
According to Chicago police, investigators identified him in July 2026 as the source of biological evidence recovered from Gloria's clothing.
Detectives then retrieved McInerney's 1959 police employment application.
The fingerprints he provided when applying to join the Chicago Police Department matched the fingerprint recovered from Gloria's purse in 1960.
Investigators also reviewed firearm evidence and found that McInerney had owned revolvers of the same type associated with the killing.
Together, police say the forensic findings established his responsibility for Gloria's death.
McInerney had been a U.S. Army veteran before joining the Chicago Police Department.
He remained in law enforcement for nearly three decades, including assignments involving homicide investigations.
After retiring from the Chicago Police Department, he moved to Nevada and worked as an investigator for federal public defender offices.
He received professional commendations during his career and was recognized as an outstanding federal defender investigator in 2003.
He died in Las Vegas three years later at age 70.
Because McInerney died nearly 20 years before investigators identified him, he will never stand trial for Gloria's murder.
Police have not established a motive for the killing, and investigators have not publicly linked him to additional crimes.
Gloria's parents both died without knowing who killed their daughter.
Her younger brother, Adam Kowalewicz, who was an infant at the time of the murder, told the Chicago Tribune that finally receiving answers brought some relief.
But he also expressed frustration that McInerney lived his entire life without facing justice for his sister's death.
The Chicago Police Department acknowledged the disturbing revelation that the person it identified as Gloria's killer had been one of its own officers.
Officials said McInerney should never have served as a Chicago policeman and expressed hope that the findings would bring some closure to Gloria's surviving family.
The murder investigation is now considered solved, but the man police identified as responsible spent decades working inside the same profession tasked with finding killers.
And the fingerprint he voluntarily gave the department when he joined the force ultimately helped investigators identify him more than six decades later.