Massachusetts woman suspected of killing police officer husband found dead
Karen Solomon, suspected in the death of her police officer husband, was found dead six days after disappearing from their Worcester home. Police believe it was a murder-suicide.
Authorities in Worcester, Massachusetts, said Monday that the body of Karen Solomon, a missing mental health advocate who had been named a suspect in her husband's killing, has been found six days after she vanished from the couple's home.
Her husband, Worcester police officer Kurt Solomon, was discovered dead at their home just before 5.30am on 18 August. He had served 31 years on the police force and died from injuries inflicted with a sharp object, authorities said.
Worcester police chief Paul Saucier told a news conference that investigators believe the case amounts to a tragic murder-suicide. Two employees at Fairlawn Rehabilitation Hospital reported finding human remains nearby, and officers subsequently recovered a woman's body. Formal identification was still pending, but officials said they were confident the remains were Karen Solomon's. A handgun found near the body was not a Worcester police service weapon, and investigators are working to trace its ownership.
On 19 August, authorities released doorbell camera footage showing Karen Solomon walking down a street dressed in a T-shirt, shorts and flip-flops, just minutes after officers had responded to the home and found her husband's body. Worcester county district attorney Joseph Early Jr said she had been at the house on the morning her husband died and that investigators wanted to question her. An arrest warrant issued over the weekend charged her with assault and battery with a dangerous weapon.
A multi-agency search involving local, state and federal law enforcement used drones, boats and tracking dogs to comb the area around the Solomons' home and a nearby reservoir.
Karen Solomon, 58, co-founded First Help, an organization advocating for police officers' mental health, and wrote two books on the physical and psychological toll faced by first responders. In a 2020 television interview, she spoke about the limited support police departments often provide to families of officers who die by suicide.
In a statement read at the news conference, the Solomon family thanked the agencies involved for their help, describing the past week as heartbreaking. Kurt Solomon's funeral is scheduled for Wednesday.
