Carolyn Warmus is the former Westchester County schoolteacher convicted in 1992 of murdering Betty Jeanne Solomon, the wife of her married lover, in what the tabloids named the Fatal Attraction murder case after the 1987 film. She was sentenced to 25 years to life, served 27 years at Bedford Hills Correctional Facility, and was released on lifetime parole in June 2019. She has always denied killing Betty Jeanne Solomon and is now pursuing DNA testing on evidence that was never analyzed at trial.
What Happened on January 15, 1989
On the evening of January 15, 1989, Betty Jeanne Solomon, 40, was shot nine times in the back and arms inside her townhouse in Greenburgh, New York.1Oxygen. Who Was Betty Jeanne Solomon She managed a brief 911 call before she died, but dispatchers received the wrong address and could not reach her in time. Whether she told the dispatcher “he’s killing me” or “she’s killing me” has been disputed ever since.2The Journal News (lohud.com). Carolyn Warmus Gets DNA Testing in 1989 Fatal Attraction Case
Her husband, Paul Solomon, found the body when he came home around 11:45 p.m. He had not been at the bowling outing he first described. He had been at a Holiday Inn in Yonkers with Carolyn Warmus, drinking and having sex, before driving home.3Oxygen. Who Is Carolyn Warmus The murder weapon was never recovered.
The Affair That Turned Police Toward Warmus
Warmus met Paul Solomon in 1987 when both taught at Greenville Elementary School in Greenburgh. She was in her mid-twenties. Their affair ran about a year and a half, and Warmus later said Solomon had promised to leave his wife once his daughter finished high school.4CNN. Carolyn Warmus Fatal Attraction Trial
Investigators first treated Paul Solomon as the primary suspect and Warmus as a witness. Once detectives learned about the affair, the focus flipped. Warmus was charged with second-degree murder in 1990.2The Journal News (lohud.com). Carolyn Warmus Gets DNA Testing in 1989 Fatal Attraction Case
Two Trials: A Hung Jury, Then a Conviction
The first trial began in January 1991 in Westchester County Court. The case was circumstantial. Its two central witnesses were Paul Solomon and Vincent Parco, a private investigator who testified he sold Warmus a .25-caliber Beretta with a silencer for $2,500 about a week before the killing. Parco said Warmus had “badgered him for months” for a weapon, saying she feared burglars and threats against her family. Both Parco and Solomon received partial immunity for their testimony.5The New York Times. Love Triangle Case Witness Admits Selling Defendant a Gun
Defense attorney David L. Lewis argued the case was a “deliberate, malicious” frame-up by Solomon and Parco. Over a five-day cross-examination, he pushed Solomon to admit to at least two other extramarital affairs and to regularly lying to his wife. He got Parco to concede on the stand that he was “an expert liar.” A defense witness, Joseph Lisella, testified he had overheard Parco and Solomon in a bathroom discussing $20,000 changing hands and a plan to dispose of the murder weapon.6Encyclopedia.com. Carolyn Warmus Trials After 12 days, the jury deadlocked 8–4 for conviction. Mistrial.7CBS News. Fatal Attraction Killer Carolyn Warmus to Be Released From Prison on Parole
The second trial began about a year later, with William I. Aronwald leading the defense and Judge John Carey presiding. It ran four months and involved 55 witnesses.4CNN. Carolyn Warmus Fatal Attraction Trial The prosecution again relied on circumstantial evidence: phone records showing a call from Warmus’s apartment to a New Jersey gun shop the day of the murder, testimony that someone used a stolen driver’s license belonging to one of her coworkers to buy the same type of ammunition used in the killing, and Parco’s account of the gun sale.8Justia. People v. Carolyn Warmus
This time there was one new item that had not existed in the first trial: a black cashmere glove with a small amount of blood on it. Paul Solomon said he found the glove in a closet after the first trial and turned it over to prosecutors. The state argued it was Warmus’s, pointing to her purchase of similar gloves at Filene’s Basement 14 months earlier, and noted that the glove carried fibers consistent with fibers on the victim’s hands.8Justia. People v. Carolyn Warmus Aronwald called the late introduction “trial by ambush.” Warmus’s stepmother, Nancy K. Dailey, testified for the defense and produced a black and gold ski suit with its own black gloves to show that Warmus already owned black gloves and the crime-scene glove was not hers.9The New York Times. In and Out of Character at a 2d Murder Trial
On May 27, 1992, the jury convicted Warmus of second-degree murder and second-degree criminal possession of a weapon. Judge Carey sentenced her on June 26, 1992, to 25 years to life.8Justia. People v. Carolyn Warmus At sentencing she said: “If I’m guilty of anything at all it was simply being foolish enough to believe the lies and promises that Paul Solomon made to me.”3Oxygen. Who Is Carolyn Warmus The New York Appellate Division, Second Department, affirmed the conviction in 2006, finding the evidence legally sufficient and the glove properly admitted.
The Two Witnesses the Case Rested On
Paul Solomon started as the primary suspect, admitted the affair, took immunity, and testified for the state at both trials, denying any role in his wife’s death and saying he did not know Vincent Parco.4CNN. Carolyn Warmus Fatal Attraction Trial After the murder he began seeing another woman and took her to Puerto Rico; Warmus followed and, prosecutors said, harassed the woman’s family by impersonating a police officer. After the conviction, the Edgemont school district kept Solomon on staff but moved him out of the classroom.10The New York Times. Westchester Teacher Given Different Duties After Trial
Parco’s testimony was the only evidence directly placing a gun in Warmus’s hands. He conceded at trial that the sale of the unlicensed pistol and the federally prohibited silencer was itself illegal, and he received partial immunity in exchange for testifying.5The New York Times. Love Triangle Case Witness Admits Selling Defendant a Gun In May 2019, Parco was convicted in Brooklyn Supreme Court of promoting prostitution and four counts of unlawful surveillance for running a blackmail scheme in which he was paid $17,000 to secretly record a sexual encounter to intimidate a witness in a child sexual abuse case. He was sentenced on June 14, 2019, to one to three years in prison.11Brooklyn District Attorney’s Office. Private Investigator Sentenced to 1 to 3 Years in Prison
Parole and Release
Warmus served at Bedford Hills Correctional Facility in Westchester County.12NBC New York. Fatal Attraction Killer Carolyn Warmus Released She became parole-eligible in 2017 and was denied, partly because of a misbehavior report that was later reversed. The Jeffrey Deskovic Foundation, which works on wrongful conviction cases, wrote to the board on her behalf. At her next hearing the board found those letters persuasive and granted parole on April 30, 2019. She walked out of Bedford Hills on June 17, 2019, after 27 years.13CNN. Fatal Attraction Murder Release Carolyn Warmus She is on lifetime parole, supervised in New York County, with a curfew and a requirement to hold employment or take part in an educational or vocational program.
The DNA Testing Fight
DNA analysis was in its infancy when Betty Jeanne Solomon was killed, and several pieces of physical evidence were never tested. Warmus’s lawyers argue three items could change the picture:
- The black cashmere glove, the centerpiece of the second trial. If the DNA belongs to someone other than Warmus, it undercuts the prosecution’s case. The defense also argues that if the glove now fails a chemical screening test for blood, it cannot be the same glove originally observed near the victim’s body, because that glove had already failed such a test.
- Semen recovered from the victim. If the DNA does not match Paul Solomon, the defense says it could point to an alternative suspect.
- Blood found in a tote bag belonging to Paul Solomon.
Getting to testing took years. In 2017, then-Acting District Attorney James McCarty initially agreed and then reversed after lab officials called testing “neither feasible nor practical.” In 2020, Westchester County Judge Helen Blackwood denied a defense motion, ruling there was no “reasonable probability” that favorable results would change the conviction. Warmus appealed. On the eve of oral arguments in May 2021, Westchester District Attorney Mimi Rocah consented to the testing, framing the decision as part of her office’s new independent Conviction Review Bureau.2The Journal News (lohud.com). Carolyn Warmus Gets DNA Testing in 1989 Fatal Attraction Case Her legal team, led by attorney Dennis Kelly of Kelly, Grossman & Kerrigan with co-counsel John O’Hara and exoneree Jeffrey Deskovic, also asked the DA’s office to conduct a full review through that bureau.14Deskovic Foundation. Wrongful Conviction Parole Efforts Results have not been publicly reported.
Why the Case Is Called Fatal Attraction
The nickname came from the 1987 thriller in which a married man’s affair with an unstable woman turns violent. A young teacher, her older married colleague, and a dead wife proved irresistible to the press, and the case produced heavy coverage, two television movies, and at least one book.7CBS News. Fatal Attraction Killer Carolyn Warmus to Be Released From Prison on Parole Warmus’s defense has long argued the framing prejudiced jurors against her; the appellate court found that claim unpreserved for review.8Justia. People v. Carolyn Warmus The murder weapon has never been found, Warmus still says she is innocent, and the DNA that could confirm or challenge the verdict has finally been cleared for testing.