0:01 [SPEAKER_01]: Listener, time does not move the way we like to pretend it does. 0:06 [SPEAKER_01]: It is not march forward in neat lines, carrying the past safely behind it. 0:11 [SPEAKER_01]: It seeps, lingers, settles into the cracks of ordinary life, and it waits there, quiet and patient. 0:19 [SPEAKER_01]: Well, everything else continues on, as if nothing has been left unresolved. 0:24 [SPEAKER_01]: 23 years is long enough for a person to become someone else. 0:28 [SPEAKER_01]: There's long enough to build a career. 0:30 [SPEAKER_01]: Formalationships be seen and trusted and welcomed into rooms without hesitation. 0:36 [SPEAKER_01]: It is long enough for memory to soften at the edges and for sharp grief to dull into something quieter and more survivable. 0:44 [SPEAKER_01]: It is long enough for a crime to belong to another lifetime entirely. 0:48 [SPEAKER_01]: A different era, a different version of the world. 0:51 [SPEAKER_01]: The truth is not age in the same way. 0:53 [SPEAKER_01]: It waits. 0:55 [SPEAKER_01]: Welcome listener. 0:57 [SPEAKER_02]: I'm glad you're here. 0:59 [SPEAKER_02]: Take a seat. 1:00 [SPEAKER_02]: Next to the fire. 1:05 [SPEAKER_00]: Welcome to Obscura, where we shine a light on the dark. 1:31 [SPEAKER_05]: I'm a one which emergency. 1:33 [SPEAKER_05]: I'm at 48, 24, Drummond, Debbie Chase. 1:37 [SPEAKER_05]: We work for a company and we didn't here have a call from, I'm a employee, we just walked in the door, I was better and I, and there's blood in the, in the, in the, in the four year. 1:51 [SPEAKER_05]: And let's like something possibly happened. 1:54 [SPEAKER_05]: Okay. 1:54 [SPEAKER_05]: So, um, 1:57 [SPEAKER_05]: You're not in the house anymore, we're in the house right now. 2:01 [SPEAKER_05]: The husband's looking around. 2:02 [SPEAKER_05]: 42824, German? 2:06 [SPEAKER_05]: Yes. 2:08 [SPEAKER_05]: In Chevy 2. 2:08 [SPEAKER_05]: What's your last name? 2:10 [SPEAKER_05]: My last name is 3D-R-E-I-D-Y. 2:13 [SPEAKER_05]: The family name is Pre-Ear. 2:16 [SPEAKER_05]: What's your first name, sir? 2:19 [SPEAKER_05]: We're at the BR-EPT. 2:22 [SPEAKER_05]: And you're at an address 4824 from him? 2:25 [SPEAKER_05]: Yes, 4824 right from him. 2:27 [SPEAKER_05]: The number here is 301, 6548923, 223. 2:34 [SPEAKER_05]: Can you enter here with us? 2:42 [SPEAKER_05]: I'm with the husband, yes. 2:43 [UNKNOWN]: Okay. 2:45 [SPEAKER_05]: Always last time any of the last time the husband saw her was 7.5 this morning. 2:53 [SPEAKER_06]: We can't have a car or anything. 2:55 [SPEAKER_05]: Now she was going to walk to the bus. 2:57 [SPEAKER_06]: Okay. 2:58 [SPEAKER_05]: Is there a lot of blood? 3:02 [SPEAKER_05]: I just, but it looks like there's possibly, you know, you just grab a couple of things knocked out. 3:08 [SPEAKER_05]: Okay. 3:11 [SPEAKER_06]: Can I ask you guys to step out of the house? 3:13 [SPEAKER_06]: Sure. 3:14 [SPEAKER_06]: Are you on the cell phone? 3:16 [SPEAKER_06]: Yes. 3:16 [SPEAKER_06]: Okay. 3:18 [SPEAKER_06]: We'll listen. 3:19 [SPEAKER_06]: Don't worry. 3:20 [SPEAKER_06]: Don't worry. 3:21 [SPEAKER_06]: Don't worry. 3:22 [SPEAKER_06]: Oh, we're coming here. 3:24 [SPEAKER_06]: Is that a dog? 3:27 [SPEAKER_06]: Is that a dog? 3:28 [SPEAKER_06]: Yeah. 3:29 [SPEAKER_06]: OK. 3:30 [SPEAKER_06]: Yes, what? 3:32 [SPEAKER_06]: Can you say something? 3:32 [SPEAKER_06]: We're not done there? 3:33 [SPEAKER_06]: Yeah. 3:34 [SPEAKER_06]: Found a lot in the foyer, and I didn't mean to. 3:38 [SPEAKER_06]: And you'll meet the place out in front of the house. 3:40 [SPEAKER_01]: Sure. 3:43 [SPEAKER_01]: For more than two decades, a man lived inside that waiting. 3:46 [SPEAKER_01]: Non-hiding, non-nexile, but in plain sight. 3:51 [SPEAKER_01]: He moved through the same world as everyone else. 3:54 [SPEAKER_01]: He worked, spoke, carried on conversations that never hinted at what way beneath. 3:59 [SPEAKER_01]: to those around him he was known. 4:01 [SPEAKER_01]: A familiar, the kind of person you do not look at twice, somewhere in the past, something violent and final had been said in motion, a moment that erupted, those fragments were collected, cataloged, and left together dust for a long time. 4:23 [SPEAKER_08]: They're not made for comfort, but we'll make it, I get it. 4:26 [SPEAKER_08]: Yeah, we'll make it, we'll look at you's it up on it. 4:28 [SPEAKER_08]: Yeah, no problem. 4:28 [SPEAKER_08]: Hang on, I'm personal, I'll do you? 4:32 [SPEAKER_08]: Yeah. 4:32 [SPEAKER_08]: Do you go to the office or what do you do? 4:34 [SPEAKER_08]: I know, I work from home. 4:35 [SPEAKER_08]: Okay. 4:35 [SPEAKER_08]: What were you doing out here just chilling out in the fresh air? 4:38 [SPEAKER_08]: Just have a good time. 4:42 [SPEAKER_08]: So you didn't know anything about this warm? 4:44 [SPEAKER_08]: Okay, our balls tell you everything about it. 4:46 [SPEAKER_08]: It's not big. 4:47 [SPEAKER_01]: A particular kind of silence surrounds an unsolved case. 4:51 [SPEAKER_01]: It is heavier than the silence of peace, it presses in on the people left behind, and shapes their lives and ways that are hard to articulate. 5:00 [SPEAKER_01]: It raises questions that cannot be answered, suspicions that cannot be settled, creates a vacuum where certainty should be. 5:07 [SPEAKER_01]: In that vacuum, time marches on. 5:10 [SPEAKER_01]: Birthdays come and go, houses age, neighborhoods change. 5:15 [SPEAKER_01]: People pass on before they see resolution. 5:18 [SPEAKER_01]: The world moves forward in different to the fact that something vital has been left unfinished. 5:24 [SPEAKER_03]: I am Detective Grafton. 5:27 [SPEAKER_03]: This is Detective Boy. 5:27 [SPEAKER_03]: I'm here at the Loverie County. 5:30 [SPEAKER_03]: OK. 5:30 [SPEAKER_03]: I'm sure you're wondering what this is all about. 5:32 [SPEAKER_07]: Really like to know. 5:34 [SPEAKER_07]: This has been really 5:36 [SPEAKER_07]: It's really hard that what is happening. 5:39 [SPEAKER_03]: What we're going to get through all of that with you. 5:41 [SPEAKER_01]: What does justice mean when it arrives after all of that? 5:44 [SPEAKER_01]: Justice is often imagined as immediate, crime followed by consequence, action followed by reckoning. 5:50 [SPEAKER_01]: Cases like this disrupt that expectation. 5:53 [SPEAKER_01]: They stretch the timeline until it becomes unrecognizable. 5:57 [SPEAKER_01]: By the time accountability arrives, the person who committed the act is no longer the same age. 6:02 [SPEAKER_01]: no longer living the same life. 6:05 [SPEAKER_01]: Prison in a situation like that is not rehabilitation. 6:09 [SPEAKER_01]: Rehabilitation should just change as possible. 6:12 [SPEAKER_01]: It suggests a person can be corrected. 6:14 [SPEAKER_01]: Guide it back to something functional, acceptable. 6:17 [SPEAKER_01]: It implies that a system exists to reshape behavior and address while led to the act. 6:22 [SPEAKER_01]: When decades have passed and the individual has lived an entire adult life, beyond the moment in question, little is left to rehabilitate. 6:30 [SPEAKER_01]: No. 6:31 [SPEAKER_01]: This is a pill that's hard for someone to swallow. 6:35 [SPEAKER_03]: Do you recall back in 2001, Leslie Prier? 6:39 [SPEAKER_07]: Yes, that she was murdered. 6:41 [SPEAKER_07]: Yes. 6:42 [SPEAKER_03]: Okay. 6:43 [SPEAKER_03]: So that's the case that we are investigating. 6:46 [SPEAKER_03]: So you went to BCC with her daughter at the time? 6:50 [SPEAKER_03]: Correct. 6:51 [SPEAKER_03]: And what was your relationship with Lauren, the daughter? 6:55 [SPEAKER_07]: We had dated. 6:58 [SPEAKER_03]: Okay. 6:58 [SPEAKER_03]: And when did you guys date? 7:00 [SPEAKER_07]: 10, 10, 10, 10, 10, 10, 10, 10, 10, 10, 10, 10, 10, 10, 10, 10, 10, 10, 10, 10, 10, 10, 10, 10, 10, 10, 10, 10, 10, 10, 10, 10, 10, 10, 10, 10, 10, 10, 10, 10, 10, 10, 10, 10, 10, 10, 10, 10, 10, 10, 10, 10, 10, 10, 10, 10, 10, 10, 10, 10, 10, 10, 10, 10, 10, 10, 10, 10, 10, 10, 10, 10, 10, 10, 10, 10, 10, 10, 10, 10, 10, 10, 10, 10, 10, 10, 10, 10, 10, 10, 10, 10, 10, 10, 10, 10, 10, 10, 10, 10, 10, 10, 10, 10, 10, 10, 10, 10, 10, 10, 10, 10 7:19 [SPEAKER_01]: word to 1997 or something around there? 7:23 [SPEAKER_01]: OK. Prison is often simply punishment. 7:26 [SPEAKER_01]: It is a delayed response, but a response all the same. 7:31 [SPEAKER_01]: It declares that time does not erase responsibility. 7:34 [SPEAKER_01]: Even if a person moved forward and constructs a normal life, the past can reach out and reclaim its place. 7:42 [SPEAKER_03]: And from your dates of birth, I can see you're a little bit younger than Lauren, so was she already graduated from high school or were you guys both still in high school and you guys were dating? 7:52 [SPEAKER_07]: We were both in high school, she had finished high school and I believe we had dated for a few months while she was in college, but that was it. 8:07 [SPEAKER_01]: Accountability is not bound by a media scene, and arrives slowly, methodically, without losing any force, then there is something closer to revenge. 8:17 [SPEAKER_01]: Not crude violence answering violence, no it's quieter, a more socially acceptable form. 8:24 [SPEAKER_01]: The need to see a wrong acknowledged, the desire for balance, even if balance comes too late to restore anything, listener. 8:33 [SPEAKER_01]: When someone who caused harm walks free for decades, that tension builds. 8:38 [SPEAKER_01]: Something is out of order, out of place. 8:41 [SPEAKER_01]: The world has allowed an imbalance to persist, and when that imbalance is corrected, sometimes relief can't fall off, though it's never clean. 8:49 [SPEAKER_03]: Um, so back then, when you guys were dating, where did you live? 9:03 [SPEAKER_07]: Uh, with my, um, with my mother in Rockville. 9:11 [SPEAKER_03]: Okay. 9:11 [SPEAKER_03]: Do you remember the address or what street or anything? 9:15 [SPEAKER_03]: I wish I did. 9:15 [SPEAKER_03]: I don't. 9:16 [SPEAKER_03]: Okay. 9:17 [SPEAKER_03]: Um, and you said you lived with your mother where your parents separated? 9:21 [SPEAKER_07]: Yeah. 9:22 [SPEAKER_03]: Okay. 9:22 [SPEAKER_03]: Where did your dad live? 9:24 [SPEAKER_07]: Uh, he lived in, um, in, uh, in Chevy Chase and, uh, yeah. 9:33 [SPEAKER_03]: Do you know the street or? 9:34 [SPEAKER_07]: Yep, on the Brookside Drive. 9:37 [SPEAKER_07]: Yeah, yeah. 9:38 [SPEAKER_03]: Um, and so you and Lauren had dated well before her mother was killed. 9:46 [SPEAKER_03]: Do you remember, um, like were you still in touch with Lauren when the stuff happened to her mom? 9:53 [SPEAKER_07]: Um, no, we had broken up a couple years before, um, at least, um, maybe longer. 10:00 [SPEAKER_07]: I am not sure. 10:06 [SPEAKER_07]: We've reached out just to send my regards and maybe saw her a couple of times and that was it. 10:16 [SPEAKER_03]: Okay, do you remember how you found out about it? 10:19 [SPEAKER_07]: I remember I was at work and I believe she had actually told me that she had come into where I was working at a restaurant and she had told me that what did that restaurant was acting? 10:34 [SPEAKER_07]: It was a restaurant called Blacks in Bethesda. 10:40 [SPEAKER_03]: OK. Let me see. 10:44 [SPEAKER_03]: So you guys were just kind of cordial at the time, but you weren't really close. 10:48 [SPEAKER_03]: It's not like you guys kept touch that much. 10:51 [SPEAKER_03]: OK. 10:52 [SPEAKER_01]: Nothing can be undone. 10:54 [SPEAKER_01]: Years have passed. 10:55 [SPEAKER_01]: They cannot be reclaimed. 10:57 [SPEAKER_01]: The people who suffered through uncertainty did so without closure. 11:01 [SPEAKER_01]: I ask you then, listener, without an answer for you. 11:05 [SPEAKER_01]: I'm not gonna make this easy. 11:07 [SPEAKER_01]: What is the purpose of walking someone away in a supposed rehabilitation center after 23 years of innocence? 11:14 [SPEAKER_01]: It's not to protect society from a present danger. 11:17 [SPEAKER_01]: No. 11:17 [SPEAKER_01]: It's to address a past one, not to reform, to reckon, for 23 years, life continued as if nothing had happened until it didn't. 11:29 [SPEAKER_03]: When you guys were dating how close were you with a family? 11:32 [SPEAKER_03]: Like, did you spend a lot of time at their house or did you know them roll out? 11:37 [SPEAKER_07]: I knew the family. 11:38 [SPEAKER_07]: I, you know, it's definitely spent time, she spent time in my house. 11:41 [SPEAKER_07]: I've spent time at her house. 11:47 [SPEAKER_03]: So, how were you close with her parents? 11:50 [SPEAKER_07]: I mean, I wouldn't say close with them. 11:52 [SPEAKER_07]: I don't know how much. 11:56 [SPEAKER_01]: Little is publicly known about the early years of Eugene Gligore. 12:03 [SPEAKER_01]: It was born around 1980, in the Washington DC metropolitan area, and grew up in the Kenwood neighborhood near Chevy Chase, Maryland. 12:12 [SPEAKER_01]: This was a comfortable upper middle-class on-clave, with three line streets, spacious homes, quiet prosperity, you get the idea. 12:20 [SPEAKER_01]: Gligore carried Romanian heritage through his family wine. 12:24 [SPEAKER_01]: This detail later would play crucial role in the investigation. 12:28 [SPEAKER_01]: His father worked as an engineering professor. 12:31 [SPEAKER_01]: Details about his mother are less documented. 12:34 [SPEAKER_01]: As he entered his teenage years, Gligore's path intersected with war and prayer that began dating around 15 years old. 12:42 [SPEAKER_01]: In 1995, their relationship lasted about five years and covered a significant portion of high school. 12:49 [SPEAKER_01]: Leighore became deeply integrated into the pre-ear family circle, enjoying them for dinners, holiday celebrations, casual game nights at their home. 12:58 [SPEAKER_01]: The Priars welcomed him warmly and treated him like an extension of the family. 13:03 [SPEAKER_01]: Leslie, Moran's mother, took a particular liking to him and appreciated his presence in their routines. 13:09 [SPEAKER_01]: Carl Sandy Priar, Moran's father, harbored reservations, he sent something off about the young man, but he never acted on those instincts to disrupt their relationship. 13:21 [SPEAKER_03]: So, from the crime scene, we have DNA from the person who was there when Leslie died. 13:28 [SPEAKER_03]: So there's Leslie's blood all over the place obviously, but then there's also another DNA profile that was picked up from the crime scene. 13:36 [SPEAKER_03]: And we had put that into Cotus or database from the National Cotus DNA index system, and it has never hit. 13:46 [SPEAKER_03]: So whoever, 13:47 [SPEAKER_03]: was there, whoever's DNA was also on the scene, who's never been arrested. 13:51 [SPEAKER_03]: And that's why we were going through doing all these elimination DNA samples to find out, okay, well this person couldn't have done it because we matched the DNA to it. 14:01 [SPEAKER_03]: So we realized that they never talked to you, never did anything and we wanted to find out more about you. 14:08 [SPEAKER_03]: And if there was any kind of situation where you could have been at the house at that time, 14:16 [SPEAKER_07]: I'm a little confused to find out more and talk to me why not just call me and ask me to come in and talk to me versus have marshals come and arrest me and bring me in. 14:30 [SPEAKER_07]: I'm just confused as to why that's the case. 14:33 [SPEAKER_03]: Well, because we needed to talk to you in a controlled environment and because there's a little bit more to it, then what we've told you so far. 14:43 [SPEAKER_03]: Could you tell me? 14:46 [SPEAKER_03]: I'm trying to give you an opportunity to be a little bit forthcoming before we. 14:50 [SPEAKER_07]: I mean, I feel very, I feel a little bit trapped here, like, well, you're under arrest. 14:56 [SPEAKER_07]: So you should be right. 14:57 [SPEAKER_03]: Right. 14:58 [SPEAKER_07]: And so I think, you know, I mean, probably asking for a lawyer is my best course of action at this point, instead of doing any more discussing or talking about it, it just doesn't seem 15:12 [SPEAKER_07]: I don't understand, so I'd like to have somebody where we're trying to talk to you about it. 15:17 [SPEAKER_03]: I know. 15:17 [SPEAKER_07]: And there's two of you in one of me, so I feel a little lab numbered, and I probably would need some type of representation. 15:25 [SPEAKER_07]: If I am under arrest, as you said, which I am. 15:28 [SPEAKER_07]: Yeah. 15:29 [SPEAKER_07]: And so I think that having a lawyer would be the best for me in my interest at this point. 15:36 [SPEAKER_03]: That's totally fine. 15:37 [SPEAKER_03]: And we don't have to ask you any more questions, 15:40 [SPEAKER_03]: We are going to just tell you some stuff. 15:44 [SPEAKER_01]: OK. OK. 15:44 [SPEAKER_01]: The romance unfolded against the backdrop of suburban high school life. 15:48 [SPEAKER_01]: Gligore and Lauren shared school dances, weekend outings. 15:52 [SPEAKER_01]: Every day drama is of adolescence. 15:54 [SPEAKER_01]: Gligore faced personal challenges is parents of marriage unraveled during this period and ended in divorce. 16:01 [SPEAKER_01]: This separation took a heavy toll and contributed to behavioral shifts, including mischievous conduct and early struggles with substance abuse. 16:09 [SPEAKER_01]: These issues led to his expulsion from boarding school. 16:13 [SPEAKER_01]: Public accounts described him as bright but troubled. 16:17 [SPEAKER_01]: He grappled with instability at home while maintaining appearances in his social circles. 16:22 [SPEAKER_01]: Despite these difficulties, Glygore completed his education, and transitioned into a dollhood. 16:29 [SPEAKER_01]: By the late 1990s, the relationship with Lauren had ended, the two lost touch over the years, but the connection to the prayer family, 16:37 [SPEAKER_01]: Lingered in memory. 16:38 [SPEAKER_01]: Grigore settled in Washington, D.C. and pursued work in real estate. 16:42 [SPEAKER_01]: Colleagues and friends remembered him as precarious, calm, just in normal dude. 16:47 [SPEAKER_01]: He projected his send-like demeanor that put people at ease. 16:51 [SPEAKER_01]: Grigore married at least once or twice in the years following his youth. 16:55 [SPEAKER_03]: So, from the crime scene, the DNA that was taken, we actually have a sample of your DNA. 17:01 [SPEAKER_03]: And it was compared to the crime scene DNA. 17:04 [SPEAKER_03]: And it matched. 17:05 [SPEAKER_03]: So, we know that you were there at the time when Leslie died. 17:10 [SPEAKER_07]: I never gave a sample of DNA. 17:12 [SPEAKER_03]: That's correct. 17:13 [SPEAKER_03]: We obtained a sample from a discarded water bottle that you drank out of. 17:18 [SPEAKER_03]: So, you were followed. 17:20 [SPEAKER_03]: And we, 17:21 [SPEAKER_03]: collected it after you discarded it into the trash, and it was swabbed, and it was compared. 17:29 [SPEAKER_03]: So your DNA matches the crime scene DNA. 17:36 [SPEAKER_07]: I don't want to say, I don't want no recollection. 17:40 [SPEAKER_07]: I have no memory, I have no, I don't know what to say. 17:46 [SPEAKER_03]: OK, well, that's why we wanted to talk to you to find out if there's any other explanation. 17:51 [SPEAKER_03]: but we can't ask you any more questions if you want to play a present. 17:56 [SPEAKER_07]: Yeah, I bet the question I have to play a present I just don't even know what to do or say it doesn't make sense to me. 18:03 [SPEAKER_07]: So I don't know what to do. 18:09 [SPEAKER_07]: Do you have a player that you... No, okay, I have to call. 18:14 [SPEAKER_07]: No, no, no, no. 18:17 [SPEAKER_07]: I felt you would call my girlfriend and ask her to help? 18:21 [SPEAKER_04]: I don't know, we wanted to try to see if there was another angle or another side to the story, and, you know, we know that. 18:30 [SPEAKER_04]: I would like DNA be here. 18:31 [SPEAKER_07]: That's what we're trying to figure out. 18:32 [SPEAKER_07]: So, I don't know. 18:34 [SPEAKER_07]: I don't know. 18:35 [SPEAKER_07]: You know, I mean, I was in the house, but it was years before, you know, when I dated her. 18:42 [SPEAKER_07]: I don't know. 18:45 [SPEAKER_07]: I was going to tell you. 18:48 [SPEAKER_07]: Me, don't know. 18:58 [SPEAKER_07]: This is all very bewildering, very strange. 19:10 [SPEAKER_07]: Okay, what is there more? 19:12 [SPEAKER_07]: Like, can it tell me, is there something? 19:14 [SPEAKER_03]: I mean, we've told you, honey, we can't continue to ask you questions. 19:22 [SPEAKER_04]: If you want to keep talking, we can. 19:23 [SPEAKER_04]: But if you want to stop, you have to let us know for sure. 19:26 [SPEAKER_04]: Yeah. 19:27 [SPEAKER_04]: I can tell you more about, you know, what, we think happened. 19:33 [SPEAKER_07]: I don't, I mean, but you think happened. 19:35 [SPEAKER_07]: I don't know. 19:36 [SPEAKER_07]: I can't verify. 19:38 [SPEAKER_07]: I don't know. 19:38 [SPEAKER_07]: I don't recall. 19:39 [SPEAKER_07]: I don't have any memory. 19:41 [SPEAKER_07]: I didn't do anything that you're talking about. 19:44 [SPEAKER_07]: So I don't know. 19:45 [SPEAKER_07]: And I don't feel like I can, I don't know what it is or go into. 19:51 [SPEAKER_07]: I don't want to lose. 19:52 [SPEAKER_07]: to aggravate myself with questions. 19:54 [SPEAKER_07]: Do you guys have professionals? 19:55 [SPEAKER_07]: I'm not. 19:57 [SPEAKER_07]: I don't know. 19:57 [SPEAKER_07]: I really do think I need an attorney. 20:00 [SPEAKER_07]: I need to use the phone and I need to call someone and I need legal representation before I respond to anything I will say. 20:08 [SPEAKER_03]: OK. That's fine. 20:10 [SPEAKER_03]: We're not going to ask you any more questions. 20:18 [SPEAKER_03]: There's no tears coming out of your face. 20:21 [SPEAKER_07]: I'm very dry right now. 20:23 [SPEAKER_03]: You're dry. 20:24 [SPEAKER_07]: I'm very dry. 20:26 [SPEAKER_03]: I'm pretty dry. 20:26 [SPEAKER_03]: I'm pretty dry. 20:28 [SPEAKER_07]: I'm pretty dry. 20:28 [SPEAKER_07]: I'm pretty dry. 20:30 [SPEAKER_07]: I'm pretty dry. 20:33 [SPEAKER_07]: I'm pretty dry. 20:34 [SPEAKER_07]: I'm pretty dry. 20:35 [SPEAKER_07]: I'm pretty dry. 20:36 [SPEAKER_07]: I'm pretty dry. 20:37 [SPEAKER_03]: I'm pretty dry. 20:38 [SPEAKER_03]: I'm pretty dry. 20:39 [SPEAKER_03]: I'm pretty dry. 20:39 [SPEAKER_03]: I'm pretty dry. 20:41 [SPEAKER_03]: I'm pretty dry. 20:41 [SPEAKER_07]: I'm pretty dry. 20:41 [SPEAKER_07]: I'm pretty dry. 20:42 [SPEAKER_03]: I'm pretty dry. 20:43 [SPEAKER_03]: I'm pretty dry. 20:43 [SPEAKER_03]: I'm pretty dry. 20:44 [SPEAKER_03]: I'm pretty dry. 20:44 [SPEAKER_03]: I'm pretty dry. 20:46 [SPEAKER_07]: I'm pretty dry. 20:46 [SPEAKER_07]: I'm pretty dry. 20:46 [SPEAKER_07]: I'm pretty dry. 20:47 [SPEAKER_07]: I'm pretty dry. 20:49 [SPEAKER_07]: I'm pretty dry. 20:50 [SPEAKER_07]: Oh my god, you're so full of it. 20:53 [SPEAKER_07]: You're just, you're after it. 20:55 [SPEAKER_07]: This is, this is the police. 20:57 [SPEAKER_07]: This is, yes, like it makes sense, you know. 21:00 [SPEAKER_07]: It's, you know, it's your eyes. 21:02 [SPEAKER_07]: It's guilty, it'll prove it. 21:03 [SPEAKER_07]: It doesn't think that it's well. 21:05 [SPEAKER_01]: Now, let's turn to the victim, Leslie and Prior. 21:09 [SPEAKER_01]: Her life was rich with experiences, spanning different parts of the country and reflecting a deep commitment to family and community. 21:19 [SPEAKER_01]: And they were married in 1974. 21:22 [SPEAKER_01]: The couple welcomed their daughter, Mauren in 1977. 21:25 [SPEAKER_01]: In 1982, the pre-refamily moved to Chevy Chase, Maryland, Sandy pursued opportunities in marketing, musely embraced the suburban lifestyle of Montgomery County. 21:38 [SPEAKER_01]: They settled into a home on Drummond Avenue in an upscale neighborhood and known for historic charm. 21:44 [SPEAKER_01]: She maintained close ties with her siblings across the country and fostered a strong extended family network at home she created a warm environment for her daughter Warren and participated in school activities family vacations. 21:57 [SPEAKER_01]: You get the idea, you know, game nights, holiday gatherings, that kind of thing. 22:02 [SPEAKER_01]: The pants of Eugene Gligore, and Leslie Prier, cross through Lauren, during the five years of the teenage romance, Gligore spent considerable time at the Prier residents, family dinners often included him, conversations flowed about school current events. 22:18 [SPEAKER_01]: Holiday's broad shared celebrations with Gligore, participating in traditions alongside Lauren, Leslie treated him with kindness and inclusion. 22:26 [SPEAKER_01]: As the years progressed into the new millennium, both Gligore and the Premier Family carried on. 22:31 [SPEAKER_01]: Lauren graduated from Bethesda Chevy Chase High School in 1995, the Priars focused on careers and family bonds, and joined the stability of their home. 22:41 [SPEAKER_01]: Glee Gore, now in his early 20s, navigated post-high school challenges, he maintained connections with a circle of friends from the area, some overlap with Lauren's social group. 22:51 [SPEAKER_01]: He presented as a composed individual who had matured beyond youthful and discretions. 22:57 [SPEAKER_01]: Glee Gore established himself in Washington, D.C., the years leading up to 2001 passed without major incident for either party. 23:05 [SPEAKER_01]: The prayers enjoyed the routines that defined their suburban existence. 23:09 [SPEAKER_01]: Leslie's gentle spirit and intelligence continue to shine in her interactions at work. 23:14 [SPEAKER_01]: In the spring of 2001, everything would change for the prayer family. 23:19 [SPEAKER_01]: On the morning of May 2nd, Leslie prayer did not show up for work. 23:23 [SPEAKER_05]: Yeah, I worked for a company, and we didn't hear have a call from employee. 23:29 [SPEAKER_05]: We just walked in the door, I was better and I, and there's blood in the, in the, um, 23:35 [SPEAKER_01]: A welfare check was conducted at the family home. 23:39 [SPEAKER_01]: Officers arrived to a grizzly scene. 23:42 [SPEAKER_01]: Leslie was found deceased in the residence. 23:44 [SPEAKER_01]: The discovery prompted an immediate homicide investigation by the Montgomery County Police Department. 23:51 [SPEAKER_01]: Initial probes revealed signs of a violent struggle. 23:54 [SPEAKER_01]: There was no forced entry. 23:56 [SPEAKER_01]: The attacker was known to Leslie or gained access through other means. 24:05 [SPEAKER_01]: Detectives collected blood smears, skin cells, and other traces, Leslie fought back fiercely, under her fingernails or crucial samples that would later prove pivotal. 24:16 [SPEAKER_01]: The medical examiner determined the cause of death, involved multiple blood force trauma and strangulation, bruising on her arms and lastiorations on her head, indicated a brutal confrontation in the foyer, and other areas. 24:30 [SPEAKER_01]: Blood from the Asylum was present in the dining room, hallway, and near the kitchen door leading to the backyard, the attacker attempted to clean up and left the state shortly after. 24:40 [SPEAKER_01]: Suspicion fell on Leslie's husband, Sandy Prier, as the spouse he was of course the primary person of interest. 24:48 [SPEAKER_01]: Police questioned him extensively and repeatedly. 24:52 [SPEAKER_01]: The cloud of doubt hung over the family, Sandy maintained his innocence and provided an alibi. 24:58 [SPEAKER_01]: The emotional toll was immense. 25:01 [SPEAKER_01]: Despite the DNA evidence not being a match to her husband, the community never quite looked at him the same, and you can imagine that even his daughter had doubts. 25:12 [SPEAKER_01]: As the years passed, the prayer-family endured profound loss, saying he continuing to face ongoing suspicion, the ordial strain-world relationships, and cast a massive shadow over his life. 25:23 [SPEAKER_01]: Lauren was, of course, devastated by her mother's death. 25:26 [SPEAKER_01]: She pushed for answers while trying to rebuild. 25:29 [SPEAKER_01]: She encountered Gligore briefly at a bar a few weeks after the murder. 25:33 [SPEAKER_01]: He offered condolences and acting as if nothing was a miss. 25:36 [SPEAKER_01]: To her, he seemed normal. 25:38 [SPEAKER_01]: This deepened the pain and retrospect. 25:40 [SPEAKER_01]: Sandy prior passed away in 2017, 16 years later, no justice served and, under suspicion by all those around him. 25:50 [SPEAKER_01]: Eugene Gleagore carried on with his life in the DC area. 25:54 [SPEAKER_01]: He worked in real estate, form new relationships, present itself as calm and helpful to friends and colleagues. 26:00 [SPEAKER_01]: For two decades, he lived in plain sight, untouched by the tragedy that upended the prayer family. 26:06 [SPEAKER_01]: The cold case lingered in Montgomery County. 26:09 [SPEAKER_01]: Detectives periodically reviewed evidence, but without new leads or down-a-base matches, progress was minimal. 26:15 [SPEAKER_01]: By 2022, new investigators took over the file. 26:20 [SPEAKER_01]: They revisited every detail, re-interviewed witnesses, explored emerging forensic technologies. 26:25 [SPEAKER_01]: The DNA from Underworld's least fingernails and other scene samples was uploaded to a public genealogy database. 26:32 [SPEAKER_01]: Through family tree construction, detectives traced a distant relative in Romania, sharing the Grigor surname. 26:39 [SPEAKER_01]: This breakthrough narrowed the search. 26:42 [SPEAKER_01]: They connected the name to Eugene Gligore through old investigative notes that mentioned Lawrence High School boyfriend. 26:48 [SPEAKER_01]: To confirm, investigators need to add direct sample from Gligore. 26:52 [SPEAKER_01]: In June 2024, they observed him at Washington Dulles International Airport. 26:58 [SPEAKER_01]: He discarded a water bottle. 26:59 [SPEAKER_01]: Officers retrieved and tested it that DNA matched the crime scene evidence on June 18, 2024. 27:07 [SPEAKER_01]: Federal marshals arrest a Eugene Gleegore and his apartment in Washington, D.C. 27:12 [SPEAKER_01]: He was extradited to Maryland on charges of first-degree murder. 27:16 [SPEAKER_01]: Gleegore denied any involvement during interrogations. 27:20 [SPEAKER_01]: He remained composed, even as detectives presented the scientific link. 27:25 [SPEAKER_03]: I mean, your DNA was in the crime scene. 27:26 [SPEAKER_03]: That's why, like, 27:28 [SPEAKER_07]: And there's just, there's, there's, there's, there's, there's, there's, there's, there's, there's, there's, there's, there's, there's, there's, there's, there's, there's, there's, there's, there's, there's, there's, there's, there's, there's, there's, there's, there's, there's, there's, there's, there's, there's, there's, there's, there's, there's, there's, there's, there's, there's, there's, there's, there's, there's, there's, there's, there's, there's, there's, there's, there's, there's, there's, there's, there's, there's, there's, there's, there's, there's, there's, there's, there's, there's, there's, there's, there's, there's, there's, there's, there's, there's 27:56 [SPEAKER_03]: was at the scene that day. 27:58 [SPEAKER_03]: If there's an alternate explanation, that's why we wanted to talk to you today. 28:03 [SPEAKER_03]: Okay, so I feel like you just need to take a breath for a second. 28:07 [SPEAKER_03]: Okay. 28:09 [SPEAKER_03]: That's what we're trying to figure out. 28:11 [SPEAKER_03]: Why is your blood there? 28:15 [SPEAKER_04]: Could have been, you know, an interrupted burglary to something happen where you didn't expect anybody to be home. 28:25 [SPEAKER_07]: I have no idea, I don't remember, and I'll recall, again, you're asking me questions, I don't know why I asked you, you did, you just asked me a question and I asked for legal representation and you guys are very smart, smug looking at me like I'm like I've done something and of course it's innocent until proven guilty, right? 28:49 [SPEAKER_07]: Am I wrong or am I right? 28:50 [SPEAKER_04]: You are entitled to your due process, absolutely. 28:54 [SPEAKER_07]: This isn't saying, I really don't know what else to say other than please allow me to, you read it to me, right, that I am allowed legal representation. 29:08 [SPEAKER_07]: Absolutely. 29:09 [SPEAKER_07]: This would be the best thing for me to do right now. 29:12 [SPEAKER_03]: We are not going to ask any more questions. 29:15 [SPEAKER_03]: You said you wanted to know more, so we were telling you more. 29:19 [SPEAKER_07]: I'm sorry, I'm really on edge. 29:24 [SPEAKER_07]: Yeah. 29:26 [SPEAKER_04]: Yeah. 29:26 [SPEAKER_04]: Okay. 29:27 [SPEAKER_04]: You would like legal representation. 29:28 [SPEAKER_04]: That is absolutely right. 29:30 [SPEAKER_04]: We will not ask you any more questions. 29:32 [SPEAKER_04]: Right? 29:33 [SPEAKER_07]: And what how do I go about doing this? 29:35 [SPEAKER_03]: Well, we're done talking to you. 29:37 [SPEAKER_03]: They're going to walk you back over to processing. 29:40 [SPEAKER_03]: And once they are done, I don't know if they've done fingerprints and all that stuff with you yet. 29:44 [SPEAKER_03]: Once they're done with all that. 29:46 [SPEAKER_03]: And you meet with, I think, in DC, you're going to still meet with a commissioner and be charged with this paperwork for this. 29:51 [SPEAKER_03]: or be served with it, and then you'll have an opportunity to make whatever phone calls you need to make. 29:57 [SPEAKER_07]: Okay. 30:00 [SPEAKER_03]: You keep saying you don't remember, and you don't have any recollection. 30:03 [SPEAKER_03]: Well, but if somebody was not involved, it would be an adamant. 30:08 [SPEAKER_03]: I didn't know. 30:08 [SPEAKER_07]: I didn't do it. 30:09 [SPEAKER_07]: I definitely didn't do it. 30:11 [SPEAKER_07]: Like this is absolutely. 30:13 [SPEAKER_07]: I definitely, this is, you know, 30:19 [SPEAKER_07]: I've been in alcoholic and recovery for years now. 30:22 [SPEAKER_07]: I've been sober for years. 30:24 [SPEAKER_07]: And there are many, many times in which earlier life wasn't great. 30:31 [SPEAKER_07]: Abusive father issues at, but at the same time, this isn't something that I know I didn't do it. 30:43 [SPEAKER_07]: I know I wasn't involved. 30:44 [SPEAKER_07]: And I just don't understand how 30:47 [SPEAKER_07]: has come to this. 30:48 [SPEAKER_07]: I really wish I knew. 30:50 [SPEAKER_01]: The case moved through the court's amid intense public interest. 30:54 [SPEAKER_01]: In May 2025, Igor changed his account and pleaded guilty to second-degree murder. 31:00 [SPEAKER_01]: The plea avoided a full trial and spared the prayer family additional trauma. 31:05 [SPEAKER_01]: Prosecutors noted no evidence of pre-meditation, which aligned with the second-degree classification, carrying a maximum of 30 years. 31:13 [SPEAKER_01]: Lauren would go on to speak of the void left by Leslie's absence. 31:18 [SPEAKER_01]: and the relief of knowing the truth, their dad, didn't do it. 31:23 [SPEAKER_01]: The defense highlighted Gligore's childhood trauma, substance abuse and blackouts. 31:28 [SPEAKER_01]: He claimed he vaguely remembered entering the home, but had no full recall due to intoxication, from alcohol and cocaine. 31:35 [SPEAKER_01]: Gligore addressed the core, he expressed deep regret and apologized repeatedly to Lauren in the family. 31:42 [SPEAKER_01]: The judge called the homicide horrific and senseless, he sent its Gligore to 30 years in prison, 31:47 [SPEAKER_01]: With all but 22 years suspended, followed by five years of supervised probation. 31:52 [SPEAKER_01]: As of late 2025, he remains incarcerated at the Maryland Correctional Training Center. 31:58 [SPEAKER_01]: He has filed a motion to reduce his sentence. 32:01 [SPEAKER_01]: This resolution brought closure after 24 years. 32:04 [SPEAKER_01]: It vindicated Sandy Prear, post humorously, and a lot more in to find peace. 32:09 [SPEAKER_01]: So listener, time does not resolve anything on its own entirely. 32:14 [SPEAKER_01]: It creates distance, distance between the act and the consequence, distance between who someone was and who they appear to become. 32:22 [SPEAKER_01]: For 23 years, that distance stretched wider until it seemed permanent until the past appeared fixed and unreachable, but it was never gone. 32:32 [SPEAKER_01]: It weighed in evidence lockers. 32:34 [SPEAKER_01]: and waited in fragments of DNA preserved long after the memory faded. 32:38 [SPEAKER_01]: Man who lived freely for decades was pulled backward and forced to stand inside a moment that long been buried. 32:46 [SPEAKER_01]: The life he built was refrained. 32:48 [SPEAKER_01]: Every year that passed without consequence became part of the story. 32:52 [SPEAKER_01]: Not just what happened, but what did not happen afterwards. 32:56 [SPEAKER_01]: The absence of accountability became as significant as the act itself. 33:04 [SPEAKER_01]: Not only in the violence of a single day, but in the quiet stretch of the years that followed, in a sentence was handed down. 33:11 [SPEAKER_01]: A number of years was assigned, in addition, said, a formal acknowledgement made that something terrible had been done, and can no longer go unanswered. 33:20 [SPEAKER_01]: But it raises the same questions we begin with, those I will not attempt to answer. 33:25 [SPEAKER_01]: I leave that to you, listener. 33:27 [SPEAKER_01]: Prison in a case like this is clearly not about rehabilitation, right? 33:32 [SPEAKER_01]: Prison is about punishment in the narrowest sense. 33:35 [SPEAKER_01]: It is about something closer to revenge in a quiet and maybe uncomfortable way. 33:40 [SPEAKER_01]: No clean answer exists. 33:42 [SPEAKER_01]: No single interpretation resolves this tension between those ideas. 33:46 [SPEAKER_01]: What remains is the reality of what happened? 33:49 [SPEAKER_01]: Years that followed, in the moment when those timelines collided, in a case defined by time, and by its distance, and by the long shadow of something that was left unresolved, the answers are not simple, they are shaped by your perspective, by belief, what each of us thinks the justice system is supposed to be, and whether after 23 years, justice can ever truly arrive. 34:14 [SPEAKER_01]: I thank you for listening, and keep the fire burning,
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