Dateline recently shared an NBC News article that reported that the killer of Gloria Kowalewicz has been identified. Gloria Kowalewicz was an eight-year-old girl who went missing on November 12, 1960, and was then found dead. For over six decades her case has remained unsolved, until now.As the article reported, the Chicago Police Department has revealed that the man responsible for Gloria's death is Thomas F. McInerney Jr. Shockingly, McInerney happened to be a homicide detective for the police department. Here's what the investigation revealed.Dateline: One fingerprint preserved for decades helped in solving Gloria Kowalewicz's murderAccording to the NBC News article shared by Dateline, Gloria Kowalewicz disappeared on November 12, 1960, when she was going to attend Mass at St. Mary of Mount Carmel Church, a few blocks away. She never reached the church and investigators later determined that she had been kidnapped while travelling there.Gloria's dead body was found in a ditch in a forest preserve southwest of Chicago. As the NBC News article shared by Dateline reports, a motorist had discovered her body when he noticed her colorful dress and stopped to investigate. Gloria was shot twice in the head. At the time, police collected several pieces of evidence, including a bullet, Gloria’s coat, shoes, and her white First Communion purse that contained a prayer book.Investigators also recovered a fingerprint from the purse’s strap, but due to the lack of DNA testing back in the day, they couldn't determine whose fingerprint it was. It wasn't until years later that the joined efforts of the FBI and Chicago police led to the identification of Thomas F. McInerney Jr. as the killer. In a recent statement, the Chicago Police Department said:“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."Since DNA testing didn't start until 1984, there is still a chance that McInerney might have kidnapped and killed more victims. Since the FBI now has McInerney's DNA on their Combined DNA Index System, they will investigate if there are other victims. As the NBC News article shared by Dateline reveals, the FBI said in the statement:“Based on the evidence in the Kowalewicz case, and law enforcement’s profiling of child predators and their victimology, we are pursuing every investigative lead that may bring closure on other potential unsolved crimes that occurred during that time period in our area."At the time of the murder, McInerney was a 24-year-old patrol officer working on Chicago’s West Side. He was promoted to detective in 1964, although it remains unclear whether he participated in the original investigation.He later left the Chicago Police Department, moved to Nevada, and worked as an investigator for the Federal Public Defender’s Office. McInerney passed away in 2006 when he was 70 years of age. Thus, despite getting finally identified, he cannot be brought to justice.According to the NBC News article shared by Dateline, in 2010, investigators developed a male DNA profile from semen traces recovered from Gloria’s clothes. However, that did not immediately lead to an arrest, still leaving the case unsolved. In 2024, the FBI assisted Chicago police in comparing the DNA evidence with genetic samples associated with family-tree research websites. This process led investigators to identify McInerney.The police then compared the fingerprint recovered from Gloria’s purse with the prints McInerney submitted when applying to join the Chicago Police Department in 1959. The fingerprints matched, proving that McInerney was indeed the killer. However, why McInerney targeted Gloria Kowalewicz is still a mystery that the police have yet to uncover.For more articles like this, follow Soapcentral.