Murder in the US solved after 65 years: the suspect is a police investigator

The 1960 murder of Chicago girl Gloria Kovelovitz has been solved after 65 years. The suspect is Thomas Francis McKinerney, a Chicago police officer who served as a murder investigator. The identification was made possible through DNA tests and a fingerprint. McKinerney died in 2006 without ever standing trial.

The murder of 8-year-old Chicago girl Gloria Kovelovitz has been solved after 65 years. Gloria disappeared in November 1960 on her way to church, and her body was found in Palos Park, about 24 kilometers from her home, shot in the head. The original investigation included the questioning of more than 1,300 people but did not lead to a suspect. In 2024, the Chicago Police Department transferred Gloria's case to the FBI for advanced genetic testing. Investigators traced Thomas Francis McKinerney, a Chicago police officer who was 24 years old at the time of the murder. A match was found between a fingerprint on the strap of Gloria's bag and a fingerprint McKinerney submitted in 1959 when he began working for the police. Ballistic tests reinforced the suspicion. McKinerney lived near Gloria's home, served in the police for many years and even worked as a murder investigator. He died in 2006 without ever standing trial. The head of the investigations division of the Chicago Police Department, Kevin Bruno, said that the fact the suspect was a police officer is very disturbing. Gloria's brother, Adam Kovelovitz, expressed relief at the identification of the suspect but frustration that McKinerney died without paying the price.