Lisa M. Weaver Solomon (1965 – December 24, 1987) was an American woman killed by her husband, Matthew Solomon, on Christmas Eve, 1987.^[1]

Reported Missing

Matthew Solomon, a steelworker, and Lisa Weaver, a bank employee, began dating in 1983. They were married in October 1987.^[2] Six weeks later, on December 25, 1987, Matthew reported Lisa missing from their Huntington Station home. He claimed that the previous night, he and Lisa had dinner and sex, then he fell asleep. At 11 P.M., Lisa woke him, upset that he would sleep through their first Christmas Eve as husband and wife. Matthew said they argued and Lisa went for a walk wearing only a T-shirt and underpants on a night when temperatures dipped into the 20s. Five hours later, Solomon called police, panicking about Lisa not having come back home. Matthew pleaded for any information about his wife's whereabouts on TV and cooperated with police, firefighters, and volunteers who coordinated search parties to find Lisa.^[3] Six days later, Lisa's body was found in pieces by her cousin, Steven Klerk, in 5 black garbage bags, in a field not far from the couple's home.^[4]

Death

Once Lisa's body was found, Matthew was questioned about her death. On January 12, 1988, Solomon talked to a reporter from Newsday, denying any involvement in Lisa's death. A few hours later, cops picked up Solomon, and he confessed in writing and on video to fatally strangling Lisa, which he claimed was an accident after their argument got physical. "I had her in my arms. She bit me on my right bicep. I pulled away. She was under my left arm and we fell on the floor. I put my right arm around her neck ... she said she hated me ... I asked her to please calm down as I squeezed her. A few minutes later she was quiet." Afterward, Solomon said he "panicked" and got rid of his wife's body in a haze of fear and confusion.^[2]

Trial and Parole

Matthew was brought to trial, which began on what would have been the couple's one year anniversary.^[5] The entirety of the trial was televised live on News 12 Long Island. Raymond Padilla, the Huntington Station landlord who lived downstairs from the newlyweds testified to hearing Matthew shouting and Lisa crying on the night of the murder. Suffolk County Deputy Medical Examiner, Dr. Sigmund Menchel testified that the length of time Lisa Solomon was strangled was not just an accidental "hugging" as Matthew had confessed, but had intensity of the force used to kill her.^[6] On November 18, 1988, the jury found Matthew Solomon guilty of second-degree murder and depraved indifference.^[7] Matthew was sentenced to 18 years to life and served 30 years at Otisville Correctional Center in upstate New York.^[8] While incarcerated, Matthew married twice and fathered a child. He was paroled and released in 2019.^[9] He will be on lifetime probation.^[10]

Media

Investigation Discovery featured the story of Lisa's murder both in a 2012 episode of Happily Never After entitled Ice Cold Heart^[11] and on a 2016 episode of The 1980s: The Deadliest Decade entitled The Newlywed Murder.^[12]

References