Funeral service to be held for Worcester police officer found dead in home

A funeral mass for veteran Worcester Police Officer Kurt Solomon, who was found dead in his home last week, will take place Wednesday morning. 

Kurt Solomon was found dead inside his Wildwood Avenue home on the morning of Aug. 18. His death prompted a massive multi-agency search involving local, state, and federal law enforcement for 58-year-old Karen Solomon, who court records identify as his wife. 

The mass will begin at 11 a.m. at Our Lady of the Angels Church, located at 1222 Main St., the Worcester Police Department announced on Facebook. A wake for Solomon was held at the church Tuesday afternoon.

Drivers in the area should anticipate temporary road closures and traffic delays between 9:45 a.m. and 1 p.m., and there will be no parking along Main Street from Curtis Parkway to Park Avenue, police said. 

Kurt Solomon, 57, a father of two, spent 31 years with the Worcester Police Department and previously served in the US Army. An alumni of Gates Lane and South High, he later studied criminal justice at Quinsigamond Community College, according to his obituary.

The search ended Monday when two staff members from Fairlawn Rehab Hospital discovered a body, believed to be Karen Solomon, in a wooded area behind the facility, according to Worcester Police Chief Paul Saucier. A handgun was also found nearby. 

The case is now being investigated as a murder-suicide, Saucier said.

In a statement on Monday, the Solomon family thanked law enforcement agencies for their support after an incident that has left them “heartbroken and rudderless.”

“The compassion, dedication, and empathy of all the agencies involved have given us light in the face of darkness,” the family said. “The selflessness of those who have helped us weather the storm cannot be expressed in simple words. However, we, the members of the Solomon family, will try.” 

The New England Police Benevolent Association, alongside various local police departments, unions, and public officials, also offered their condolences to Kurt Solomon’s family, friends, and colleagues.

“I will personally miss Officer Solomon’s caring personality and the warm smile with which he always greeted me at City Council meetings,” Worcester Mayor Joe Petty said in a Facebook post. “Those small interactions spoke to the kind of person he was and will be greatly missed.”