New Development In Old Warmus 'Fatal Attraction' Case

WESTCHESTER COUNTY, NY — The Westchester District Attorney has agreed to DNA testing long sought by Carolyn Warmus, convicted of killing her lover's wife in 1989.

Warmus has continued to maintain her innocence. After her release from prison in 2019, her team of lawyers embarked on a court fight to have DNA testing on some of the evidence that contributed to her conviction taking it to the appellate level.

Warmus, 57, was sentenced in 1992 to 25 years to life for the murder of Betty Jean Solomon. While a teacher at Edgemont's Greenville Elementary School, Warmus had begun an affair with Paul Solomon, who was also a teacher there.

Betty Jeanne Solomon was shot nine times in her home. Her husband reported finding her. Police said he and Warmus had gone out to dinner and then had sex in the parking lot earlier that evening.

The murder drew comparisons to the movie "Fatal Attraction," which had been released in 1987.

Warmus and her lawyers, including Jeffrey Deskovic, himself exonerated after 16 years imprisoned wrongfully for the 1989 rape and murder of a Peekskill High School classmate, have long argued that she was wrongfully convicted. In addition to pursuing their case through the courts, they pressed newly-elected Westchester DA Mimi Rocah, whose campaign promises included setting up a conviction integrity unit.

"Our office received this eleventh hour request only six business days before the case was to be heard, a time frame that is not sufficient for a new administration to undertake a full and fair review of such an important issue," Rocah said in a statement. "However, because a prior DA's administration initially consented to DNA testing, and because we have only just established this office's first-ever independent Conviction Review Bureau and developed the bureau’s intake protocols, we will make an exception and consent to the requested DNA testing in this specific case."

There are three pieces of evidence they want tested, including a glove and Paul Solomon's tote bag, The Journal News reported.