Worcester police released doorbell footage showing Karen Solomon, 58, calmly walking from her home minutes before her husband’s body was discovered.
Karen Solomon, 58, fled her residence on Wildwood Avenue in Worcester, Mass. Just before officers arrived around 5:30 a.m. Tuesday to find the body of her husband, 57-year-old veteran patrolman Kurt Solomon, while responding to a medical emergency call. The newly released Ring camera footage shows her walking past a property on Mill Street wearing what appeared to be night clothes and sandals at approximately 5:41 a.m. — just 10 minutes after police received the emergency call from her house. She was last seen walking toward Westcott Street.
“The Worcester Police Department is still actively searching for her and continues to believe she is armed,” the department said while releasing the footage and warning “the public to remain vigilant.” Worcester Police Chief Paul Saucier told reporters that Solomon is “presumed to be armed and dangerous.” A cause of death has yet to be revealed for Kurt, who served 31 years with the Worcester Police Department and was father of two adult sons.
Before the multi-agency manhunt, Karen was an active member of her community fighting for first responders and their families. She is the founder and president of First H.E.L.P., a nonprofit aimed at reducing the stigma around mental health concerns for police officers and first responders and raising suicide awareness. The organization provides training and family support, tracks first responder suicides nationwide, and advocates for change at the state and federal levels. She is also the author of two books — “Hearts Beneath the Badge” and “The Price They Pay,” both published over 10 years ago — which deal with officers’ mental health struggles and suicides.
“Her focus is the stories of the families who have lost an officer to suicide and the officers who suffer with the feeling that they have nowhere to turn,” her First H.E.L.P. Biography states.
Karen said Boston in a 2016 interview that she was inspired to tell officers’ stories after her son approached her and asked why a classmate at school told him police kill people for no reason.
“I’m going to tell some stories about all the good things people forget they do,” Solomon said, referring to police officers. “They buy meals, they save people’s lives, they put themselves in jeopardy.”
She developed a website called 1stHelp.Net, which provides resources to first responders experiencing mental, physical or financial crises, she told the outlet. Karen was additionally a member of the 2018 Officer Safety and Wellness Group Meeting, annually hosted by the International Association of Chiefs of Police, and served as the co-chair of the Data and Research Committee of the National Consortium on Law Enforcement Suicide Prevention.
In 2023, she won the Community Hero Award from the Greg Hill Foundation — a Massachusetts organization that provides immediate help to families impacted by tragedies — for fighting “tirelessly” for first responders, according to the organization.
Officer Thomas Duffy, President of NEPBA Local 911, said Kurt was a distinguished member of the department and was nearing retirement.
“Kurt was a loved and respected member of our department with 31 years,” Duffy said. “When you serve 31 years with an individual you become more than coworkers, you become family and today we lost a member of our family.”
The Worcester County District Attorney’s Office said Karen is being sought “for questioning” in connection with her husband’s death. District Attorney Joseph D. Early Jr. Referred to Solomon as a suspect in the case, saying “we want her for questioning,” Authorities said they could not share more information about the relationship between the officer and Karen Solomon because of state laws concerning domestic violence cases.
In the viral moment that triggered the manhunt, police responded to the Wildwood Avenue home early Tuesday for a medical emergency call and found Kurt Solomon dead inside. A reverse 911 call went out to residents within a 2.5-mile radius of the crime scene. There was a huge law enforcement presence in the area Tuesday, including a helicopter from U.S. Customs and Border Protection and personnel from Homeland Security and the U.S. Marshals Service. Much of the search focused on Mill Street and Coes Pond, with police boats positioned in the water near Binienda Beach and searchers studying the shoreline.
First H.E.L.P. Addressed the case in a statement on social media. The organization wrote: “We understand that the current circumstances may be deeply affecting members of this community, particularly those who have placed their trust in First H.E.L.P. During some of the most difficult moments of their lives. We remain committed to supporting those families and honoring the trust they have placed in our organization.”
As of late Wednesday, authorities had not issued updates on the search for Karen Solomon, and she had not been charged.