Police officer's wife, a mental-health advocate, found dead after being named suspect
Karen Solomon, identified as a suspect in the death of her husband, Worcester police officer Kurt Solomon, was discovered dead six days after she vanished. Authorities describe the case as a likely murder-suicide.
Karen Solomon, a 58-year-old mental-health advocate who co-founded the group First Help, was found dead on Monday near her Worcester, Massachusetts home, six days after she was named a suspect in the killing of her husband, Officer Kurt Solomon. Police said the investigation points to a murder-suicide.
Worcester Police Chief Paul Saucier told reporters that officers recovered a woman's body near the couple’s residence and that a handgun recovered at the scene was not a police service weapon. Identification of the remains was pending, but officials said they were confident the body was Solomon’s.
Kurt Solomon, a 31-year veteran of the Worcester Police Department, was discovered on 18 August with fatal injuries caused by a sharp object. An arrest warrant issued over the weekend charged Karen Solomon with assault and battery with a dangerous weapon, and investigators said she was present at the home that morning.
Law enforcement agencies deployed drones, boats, tracking dogs and other resources in a search that extended to a nearby reservoir. Doorbell-camera footage released by authorities showed Solomon walking in a T-shirt, shorts and flip-flops shortly after officers responded to the scene.
The Solomon family issued a statement thanking agencies for their efforts, and a wake for Kurt Solomon was scheduled for Tuesday with a funeral planned for Wednesday. Local police union president Thomas Duffy described the fallen officer as “a tremendous human being.”