Carolyn WarmusDue to the similarities between the Carolyn Warmus case and a recent Hollywood hit, it became known in the media as the Fatal Attraction murder.It reads like something out of a Hollywood script: Carolyn Warmus, a 25-year-old insurance heiress, strikes up a romance with older coworker Paul Solomon. Her new lover, however, is married though he insists hes going to leave her as soon as his daughter is out of the house. Warmus gets impatient. Solomons wife is found shot dead in her home.That was the narrative that whipped the media into a frenzy in the late 80s and early 90s, as the case against Warmus was built and eventually taken to trial. After all, there was an eerie parallel between the case and the hit movie Fatal Attraction, which had come out in 1987 and featured a woman, played by Glenn Close, becoming homicidal with jealousy after being spurned by a man who had cheated on his wife with her.But unlike the events of that film, the details of the case of Carolyn Warmus are far from cut and dry, with conflicting stories, deadlocked juries, and a contentious piece of evidence submitted three years after the murder. A Privileged Youth And Ill-Fated RomancesCarolyn WarmusCarolyn Warmus in New York.Carolyn Warmus was born on January 8, 1964, in Troy, Michigan, into a life of luxury. Her father, Thomas, was a successful insurance executive who owned multiple homes, yachts, jets, and cars, and was reportedly worth over $150 million dollars. Carolyn received a bachelors degree in Psychology from the University of Michigan and later a degree in teaching from Columbia University. According to friends interviewed in a 1990 New York Magazine article, Warmus tended to chase older, unattainable men. In one such incident, she had been dating teaching assistant Paul Laven at Michigan for a few months when he broke things off, becoming engaged to another student shortly after.Warmus allegedly began contacting Levan at home and work, and later broke into the new couples apartment. According to a 1990 New York Times article, she even left a note for the fiance at one point: I really hope you enjoyed this past week of not being bothered by me, because now that Im back from vacation you can start worrying all over again.Before their wedding in 1984, Laven and his fiance got a temporary restraining order against Warmus. They said they were worried she might arrive uninvited at the ceremony or reception. After the wedding, the restraining order was made permanent.In the wake of the incident, friends said she had become suicidal.A few years later, in 1987, Carolyn Warmus was working as a computer teacher at Greenville Elementary in Greenburgh, New York, when she met Paul Solomon.Carolyn Warmus Meets Paul SolomonPaul Solomon was a fellow teacher and, at 40 years old, 17 years Warmus senior. Solomon had been married to his wife, Betty Jeanne, for nearly 20 years, and the two had a teenage daughter. Both Solomon and his wife worked jobs to stay financially afloat.Those details were seemingly unimportant to Warmus and Solomon, who embarked on an affair not long after they met.Warmus said Solomon told her he was planning to leave Betty Jeanne after their daughter, Kristan, graduated high school. According to Betty Jeannes mother, speaking to New York Magazine, she wasnt so sure about the relationship herself. Friends of Betty Jeanne described Solomon as possessive and domineering and jealous, saying she became quiet and reclusive after the two got together.Paul SolomonPaul Solomon and Betty Jeannes wedding.Ma, her mother said Betty Jeanne had told her at one point, Im thinking about leaving him.The Death Of Betty Jeanne SolomonOn the evening of Jan. 15, 1989, Paul Solomon and Carolyn Warmus met for drinks before moving to the car to have sex. When Solomon arrived at his home in Greenburgh, New York, late that night, he claimed he found Betty Jeanne dead on the living room floor, shot nine times. 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. Following Betty Jeannes death, Warmus and Solomon were not in contact Solomons lawyer had advised severing ties with her and the widower soon found a new girlfriend. Then, the tone of the investigation changed abruptly. Five months after Betty Jeannes death, Solomon and his girlfriend went on vacation to Puerto Rico and Warmus did too. She reportedly called the new flames family, impersonating a police officer, and tried to convince them to end the womans relationship with Solomon. Warmus claimed Solomon invited her to Puerto Rico. Solomon said she was stalking him, and reported her to the police. Authorities immediately became suspicious of Warmus, transitioning the case from an investigation of an unfaithful husband to that of a jilted lover. Carolyn WarmusCarolyn Warmus had a tendency to chase unattainable men, according to friends.As media interest in the case grew, it came to be called the Fatal Attraction murder.The Trial Of Carolyn WarmusFinally, in February 1990, just over a year after Betty Jeanne Solomons death, Carolyn Warmus was indicted for her murder, and the trial began in January 1991.She would do anything to get Betty Jeanne out of the picture, prosecutor James McCarty said at trial, according to CNN.The prosecution pointed to Vincent Parco, a private investigator who said Warmus had previously tried to hire him to find compromising information about a married bartender she was dating to break up the mans marriage.The prosecution and Parco claimed that just days before Betty Jeannes death, Warmus had bought a .25 caliber gun along with a silencer the same kind of weapon believed to have killed Betty Jeanne.However, no actual physical evidence tied Warmus to the crime, and in the end, the jury could not convict on the circumstantial arguments. After a 12-day deadlock, the case ended in a mistrial.But Carolyn Warmus was far from in the clear. New Evidence Suddenly Emerges In The Fatal Attraction MurderLess than a year later, in January 1992, a new trial would begin in earnest. The critical difference was that this time, prosecutors claimed they had new evidence: a bloody glove that supposedly belonged to Warmus and which Solomon claimed to have found in his home three years after his wifes murder.Warmus attorney, William Aronwald, remains skeptical of the gloves late introduction. It wasnt available at the first trial and then suddenly materialized, Aronwald told The Journal News. There was no way of determining whether or not it was the glove depicted in the photographs. Number two, there was no way of knowing whether the glove had been tampered with.The jury deliberated for six days, but this time, the accusation stuck, and they found Warmus guilty of second-degree murder. Warmus begged for leniency from the judge but was handed the maximum sentence for her conviction: 25 years to life in prison. I did not kill Betty Jeanne Solomon, Warmus said, according to Oxygen. I dont want to spend time in jail for something I didnt do. If Im guilty of anything at all it was simply being foolish enough to believe the lies and promises that Paul Solomon made to me.The Journal NewsA spread from a local newspaper covering the Carolyn Warmus case.Following the verdict, Solomon asked to be left alone.I beg of you all now to allow Kristan and me and our families to go forward, Paul Solomon said. I will not make another statement. We need to now have the time to properly go forward.Where Is Carolyn Warmus Today?Over two decades into her sentence, Warmus received an MRI and discovered she had a massive brain tumor.She was denied parole around that time, refusing to agree with her conviction for a crime she maintains she didnt commit. In prison, her options for treatment were limited.I am a victim. Im the collateral damage, Warmus said at the time. Im sitting here in prison for 25 years, and may end up dying shortly in prison and not see the light of day again.Warmus, released from prison on parole in 2019, said she underwent multiple surgeries while incarcerated and many more subsequently.Shes still working to clear her name, pushing to have multiple items including the glove from the crime scene DNA tested. To date, no testing has been done.After reading about the murky case of Carolyn Warmus, learn about Kelly Cochran, the Devil Woman of Michigan who murdered her husband and lover. Then, read the story of Candy Montgomery, the suburban housewife who chopped her best friend up with an axe for sleeping with her husband.The post Carolyn Warmus, The Woman Convicted In The Infamous Fatal Attraction Murder Of Her Lovers Wife appeared first on All That's Interesting.