🚨 Police Found A 31-Year Veteran Officer Dead At Home — Minutes Later, His Wife Was Captured On Camera Walking Away, And Now A Citywide Manhunt Is Underway
A grainy doorbell camera captured a woman in a T-shirt, shorts and sandals walking an empty Worcester street just after dawn. The footage, released by police, shows Karen Solomon moving past homes and near a veterinary clinic on Mill Street around 5:41 a.m. Tuesday. Ten minutes earlier, officers had arrived at a house less than a mile away on Wildwood Avenue and found her husband dead inside.
Kurt Solomon, 57, was a 31-year veteran of the Worcester Police Department, an off-duty patrol officer when the 911 call came in at 5:28 a.m. for a person down. Crews discovered him deceased at the couple’s home at 217 Wildwood Avenue. Authorities have not released a cause of death. They have described the case as a domestic incident, which limits what they can say under Massachusetts privacy rules. District Attorney Joseph Early Jr. stated that Karen Solomon had been at the house that morning and that investigators want to question her about what happened there. He called her a suspect. Police Chief Paul Saucier warned she is presumed to be armed and dangerous.
The video of Karen walking in what appears to be night clothes became the latest public piece of a widening search that entered its third day Thursday with no confirmed sighting. Officers, K-9 units, drones and divers focused on the area around Coes Pond, also known as Coes Reservoir, behind the animal clinic. Neighborhoods were canvassed. A reverse-911 alert went out to a 2.5-mile radius. Flyers with her photo were handed to drivers. Local, state and federal agencies joined the effort, including the Massachusetts State Police, U.S. Marshals Service, Homeland Security Investigations and U.S. Customs and Border Protection. The FBI offered assistance.
Police have asked the public not to approach her if they see her. Call 911 or the Worcester Police Department instead. The department posted the updated video and photo Wednesday with a reminder that they still believe she is armed and that anyone with information should come forward.
Kurt Solomon was remembered by those who worked with him as more than a colleague. New England Police Benevolent Association Local 911 president Thomas Duffy said serving 31 years alongside someone turns coworkers into family. “Today we lost a member of our family. Just a tremendous human being.” The union described him as incredibly dependable, a dedicated officer and friend who answered the call for more than three decades. He had two adult sons. The department and the city expressed condolences as the investigation continued and the house remained an active scene.
The contrast with Karen Solomon’s public work is striking. She co-founded and served as president of a nonprofit, variously identified as Blue H.E.L.P. or First H.E.L.P., that honors law enforcement officers who died by suicide, supports their families and works to reduce the stigma around mental health in policing. She wrote two books about the physical and psychological experiences of first responders. In a 2016 interview she discussed developing an app for officers in crisis and her book Hearts Beneath the Badge, which she said would highlight the good things people forget officers do: buying meals, saving lives, putting themselves in jeopardy. She mentioned being married to a Worcester police officer. She later appeared on Dr. Phil discussing support for officers who take their own lives. Court records and property records show the couple owned the Wildwood Avenue home together; Kurt had identified her as his wife in a 2016 bankruptcy filing.
Authorities have declined to discuss the current state of their relationship, citing those same domestic-violence privacy rules. The facts they have released remain limited: she was at the house, she left, she was captured on video walking nearby minutes after officers arrived, and she has not been located. Searchers have examined the woods and water near the clinic. Detectives have been at the home. The public has been asked for any additional video that might show her direction of travel.
The manhunt has unsettled the neighborhood. Residents described the sudden police presence, blocked streets and the knowledge that an armed person believed to be connected to a death was unaccounted for. Investigators have not provided a motive or a detailed timeline of the hours before the 911 call. They have not said whether Kurt Solomon’s injuries were the result of a specific type of violence. Official statements stay within the boundaries set by the nature of the case.
By Thursday, the search continued without a break in the public updates. Activity around Coes Pond and nearby streets persisted. No formal briefing was expected that day. The questions that remain are the same ones posed at the first press conference: where Karen Solomon went after she left the house, whether she is still in the area, and what she can tell investigators about the events inside 217 Wildwood Avenue.
Kurt Solomon spent more than three decades wearing the Worcester badge. His colleagues called him family. His wife had spent years advocating for the mental health of people who do that job. The video of her walking away in the early morning light is now part of an active investigation that has drawn resources from multiple agencies and the attention of a city that lost one of its own. Anyone with information is asked to contact Worcester police immediately. The search is not over.