One of America's most sensational true-crime cases — the 1989 murder of Betty Jeanne Solomon — gripped the nation for years. Her husband, Paul Solomon, and his mistress, Carolyn Warmus, became household names after the case drew comparisons to the film Fatal Attraction. Decades on, both figures have lived vastly different lives. Here is what happened to Paul Solomon and Carolyn Warmus today, and where they each stand now.
Source: Getty Images
TABLE OF CONTENTS
Key takeaways
- Carolyn Warmus was convicted of second-degree murder in 1992 and sentenced to 25 years to life in prison.
- She served 27 years at Bedford Hills Correctional Facility before being paroled on 17 June 2019.
- Warmus was diagnosed with a massive brain tumour while incarcerated and has since undergone five brain surgeries, plus facial and eye operations.
- Paul Solomon is still alive, reportedly in his 70s, and has stayed almost entirely out of the public eye since the trial.
- As of 2026, no DNA results from the approved crime-scene testing have been publicly released.
Profile summary
Full name | Carolyn Warmus |
Date of birth | 8 January 1964 |
Place of birth | Troy, Michigan, USA |
Occupation | Former elementary school teacher |
Conviction | Second-degree murder (1992) |
Sentence | 25 years to life |
Prison | Bedford Hills Correctional Facility, New York |
Released | 17 June 2019 (parole) |
Status | On parole for life; based in New York |
Father | Thomas A. Warmus (multi-millionaire insurance executive) |
It reads like something out of a Hollywood script: Carolyn Warmus, a 25-year-old insurance heiress, struck up a romance with her older coworker Paul Solomon. At the time, Warmus was an elementary school teacher in Westchester County, New York, who had struck up an affair with Paul Solomon, a colleague 17 years her senior.
At 11:42 p.m. on 15 January 1989, the body of Betty Jeanne was found in the family's Greenburgh condominium by Solomon. She had been pistol-whipped in the head and shot nine times in her back and legs.
How did suspicion fall on Warmus?
Police immediately suspected Solomon. Under questioning, Solomon initially said he had gone bowling on the night of the 15th, but eventually admitted that he and Warmus had been together after bowling with friends.
Paul broke off their relationship and started dating someone new. Five months after Betty's murder, Paul vacationed in Puerto Rico with his new girlfriend, and Warmus followed. She even contacted the woman's family and pretended to be a cop, insisting they convince her to break up with Paul.
A key witness at trial was New York City private investigator Vincent Parco, who testified that he had sold Warmus a .25-calibre handgun with a silencer days before the killing.
The two trials
Warmus's first trial ended in a hung jury in 1991, with the jurors deadlocked 8–4 in favour of conviction. She was found guilty of second-degree murder a year later.
After 55 witnesses and four months of testimony, the jury convicted Warmus of second-degree murder in 1992.
Following the verdict, Solomon made a brief public statement.
"I beg of you all now to allow Kristan and me and our families to go forward."
The murder case attracted national media attention and led to comparisons with the 1987 film Fatal Attraction, about a love affair that turns deadly. The Warmus case went on to inspire made-for-TV movies, six different episodes across multiple television broadcasters, and at least one book.
What is Paul Solomon doing now?
Since the trial, Solomon has stayed well out of the public eye. He is still alive and in his 70s, and the most recent contact he had with the press was a denial for comment to the New York Post in 2019.
Did Paul Solomon remarry?
No verified sources confirm that Paul Solomon ever remarried after Betty Jeanne's death. During the investigation, Solomon broke things off with Warmus and began dating someone new. He and his new girlfriend vacationed in Puerto Rico, where Warmus allegedly followed them. Even before Carolyn was convicted, Solomon was already moving on with his life. Beyond that, his personal life remains entirely private.
Solomon refuses to comment on the case or on Warmus's continued accusations against him. Solomon has always denied any role in the killing of his wife.
His wife was murdered, his reputation tarnished, and his life destroyed. Yet he seems to have found his way to a new life — one that he does not wish to share with the world. He is still alive, yet much of his current status remains unknown, which seems to be exactly the way he wants it.
Where is Carolyn Warmus now?
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Warmus served her lengthy sentence — ultimately the maximum term — between 1992 and 2019. That is 27 years in total, served at New York's Bedford Hills Correctional Facility for Women.
In 2019, Warmus was freed from prison on parole, and she will be on parole for life, as the New York State Department of Corrections and Community Supervision told CNN at the time. The agency added that Warmus would be supervised in New York County, that she would be under a curfew, and that she would have to maintain employment or participate in an academic or vocational programme.
Warmus maintains she is innocent. She told Oxygen's two-part special The Fatal Attraction Murder (2022):
"I did not kill Betty Jeanne Solomon. 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."
What happened to Carolyn Warmus's eye and face?
The right side of Carolyn Warmus's face appears to be partly paralysed. As she explains in Oxygen's two-part special, she was diagnosed with a brain tumour and has gone under the knife multiple times for brain surgeries, face surgeries, and eye surgeries.
When she had been in prison for 25 years, she revealed the brain tumour and told CNN that she might die in prison and never see "the light of day again." She said she had been jailed for about 24 years when she noticed terrible headaches, but fortunately her facility had an MRI.
The diagnosis was a "massive" brain tumour. She said it was so big that surgeons did not want to touch it, describing it as "right on top of my brainstem."
Speaking on the Oxygen special, she said: "I've already had five brain surgeries and then eye surgeries and face surgeries and everything else. It's like Humpty Dumpty being put back together again, but I will never be back to what I was, and I will never be able to do what I used to do."
She has also stated that the tumour is not cancerous, but that it keeps growing over time.
Latest news: the DNA fight continues
Westchester County District Attorney Mimi Rocah consented to the testing of three pieces of evidence used to convict Warmus in the 1989 death of Betty Jeanne Solomon, who was shot nine times in her home in suburban Greenburgh.
A judge in Westchester, New York, approved the DNA testing of three items of evidence: a glove with traces of blood, and other body fluid recovered from the victim, and blood found in Paul's tote bag — all of which Warmus hopes will exonerate her, according to the Rockland/Westchester Journal News.
She is still working to clear her name, pushing to have multiple items from the crime scene DNA tested. To date, no testing results have been made public.
In 2024, further DNA testing was authorised by the Westchester County District Attorney's office, and as of late 2025, Warmus continues to advocate for forensic review of the evidence from her case.
Warmus also appeared in Oxygen's two-part special The Fatal Attraction Murder in March 2022, giving her first on-camera testimony since her release from prison, saying:
"People portrayed me as the vixen home-wrecker. There was no direct evidence against me."
FAQs
- What happened to Carolyn Warmus? She was convicted of second-degree murder in 1992 and served 27 years in prison. She was released on parole on 17 June 2019 and remains on parole for life in New York.
- Is Paul Solomon still alive? Yes. Solomon has stayed well out of the public eye. He is still alive and in his 70s, and the most recent contact he had with the press was a denial for comment to the New York Post in 2019.
- Did Paul Solomon remarry? No remarriage has been confirmed by any verified source. Solomon moved on from Warmus during the investigation but has never publicly discussed his personal life since the trial.
- What happened to Carolyn Warmus's face and eye? The right side of her face appears partly paralysed as a result of a brain tumour diagnosis. She has undergone multiple brain surgeries, face surgeries, and eye surgeries.
- Has the DNA evidence been tested? In May 2021, Westchester County prosecutors consented to DNA testing of the glove, as well as body fluid recovered from the victim and blood recovered from Solomon's tote bag. None of the evidence has yet undergone DNA testing.
- Did Carolyn Warmus ever admit guilt? No. Warmus has consistently maintained her innocence throughout her imprisonment and since her release.
- Was the film Fatal Attraction based on the Warmus case? No. The case was dubbed the "Fatal Attraction" killing because of its similarities to the 1987 hit film starring Michael Douglas and Glenn Close — which had been released two years before the murder.
- Where is Carolyn Warmus today? She lives in New York under lifetime parole supervision, continues to pursue DNA testing of crime-scene evidence, and has spoken publicly about the case in Oxygen's 2022 documentary special.
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