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Hi, crime junkies. I'm Ashley Flowers. And I'm Brit. And the story I have for you today is one that shouldn't even be
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a story. The murder of a young soldier home on leave was potentially witnessed by a hundred or so people. The problem
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is no one is willing to tell police what happened. But maybe that changes today.
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This is the story of Solomon Robinson. It's Friday, April 3rd, 1998. And even though it's kind of chilly at night,
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there is a party going on in St. Mary's Park in the South Bronx, New York. There's a big crowd of people hanging
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out. Everyone's having a good time when suddenly, just before 1000 p.m., a gunshot rings out.
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Someone calls police telling them that a man has been shot. And within minutes, EMTs and officers from the NYPD are on
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the scene. But it is absolute chaos. I mean, people are fleeing in every direction trying to get away from
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whatever just happened. And a couple of guys on a green motorbike are speeding down a nearby sidewalk. I mean, true
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pandemonium happening here. But this particular area of the park is pretty well lit, and responders are able to
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find the victim easily. It's a young man laying face down on the grass near a pathway that runs past some basketball
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courts. Blood is soaking through his black and yellow striped jacket. And when EMTs turn him over, they realize
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that there is nothing they can do. They see that in addition to the gunshot wound on the left side of his chest, he
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has also been stabbed multiple times and his face and neck are slashed, too. Now,
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the victim is declared dead at 9:50 and police secure the scene and start gathering evidence. They collect dozens
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of bottles and cans, remnants of the party that had been going on. And they also recover a black Nike skull cap and
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a wristwatch near the young man's body. What they don't find is a weapon or any shell casings left behind from the gun
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that was used or any identification for their victim. I mean, if he had a wallet
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on him, that's gone. But if robbery was the motive, his killer left behind an expensive starter jacket that the victim
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was still wearing. And NYP detective Robert Klene told our reporter Nenah that this particular type of jacket was
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often the target of robberies in the9s. So right off the bat, they're thinking this is something else. And I'm not sure
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how, but even without a wallet or a license on this person, police managed to identify the victim pretty quickly as
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19-year-old Solomon Robinson, affectionately known as Solo or Juny to his parents, who police learned live in
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an apartment building just outside of the park. But word travels fast here, and by the time police make it to the
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front door of the apartment that Solomon grew up in, his mom, Edna, has already been told the awful news. Now,
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investigators know this isn't the safest area. In fact, according to the New York
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Daily News, it is one of the most violent police precincts in the city. But Solomon's murder doesn't match the
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circumstances that they so often encounter. He's not in a gang. He doesn't sell drugs. And he had never
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been in any trouble. actually he had worked hard to carve out a different life for himself. Like he joined the
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army last year, the year before in August of 97, right after graduating high school. And Edna tells detectives
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that Solomon is a private stationed at Fort Benning in Georgia. Oh, so he doesn't even live in that area anymore.
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No, no, he's just home on leave for the week. So he was actually scheduled to head back to his base in like a couple
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of days. It would have been Monday, April 6th when he went back. And this time coming home, this was his first
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trip home since Thanksgiving. and his parents had been so happy to see him, especially his dad, who had been dealing
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with some serious health issues. I mean, he was having seizures and stuff like this. The rest of his family was so
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happy as well. I mean, one of his brothers, Russell, who lives in Connecticut, was actually planning to
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come visit him the very next day. But now, instead of coming to hang out with his little brother and and, you know, do
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whatever it is they used to do when they were younger, like, he's coming home to
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support his family and to try and find out what happened. And it's so heartbreaking. He said that when his mom
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called to tell him the news, like he couldn't even understand her at first. And he thought that she was trying to
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tell him that his father had died, right? Like he was the one having all the health issues. And it took him a
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minute to realize that she was talking about Solomon because it just seemed so incomprehensible.
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So Russell travels back to the Bronx with a cousin Melody who lives near him in Connecticut. And by the time they get
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there, which is the same night, Solomon's body is still in the park. And no matter how hard they try, they can
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hardly process what's going on. Like again, sure, the area had a reputation, but this was Solomon's home turf. Like,
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he and his family knew most everyone in the area, and he'd spent countless hours
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playing basketball on the very courts he was killed by. I mean, he was even playing earlier that day. So, they can't
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think of anyone who would want to do this to Solomon. So, had he like still been in the park after playing
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basketball or was he at that party that was going on? So, well, right. That's what police want to find out. His mom
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tells them that she knew that he was playing basketball that afternoon, but then he came home at some point that
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evening and then a friend stopped by at around 8:00 p.m. And just an FYI, Detective Klein asked us to use
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pseudonyms for any witnesses and suspects that we discussed. You'll kind of see why later, but we're going to
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call this friend that came by, Gail. Gail and Solomon left the apartment at around 8:30. And at the time, Edna
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thinks that he was going to walk Gail somewhere, but like that's really all she knows. And police learn that Gaye is
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local. She lives in an apartment about a mile away. And she's actually home when
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they go looking for her. And she tells investigators that she and Solomon are romantically involved. But she doesn't
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know everything about his movements that night because yes, she did meet up with
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him. But after they left his parents' place, they just hung outside his building with some other people for a
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while. And then at some point, he he being Solomon left with someone. But Gail didn't know who. She just knew that
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they were going to go to the corner store. Now, she says she stayed back and when they all got back, not too long
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after, Solomon hurried upstairs. She doesn't know where or like to what apartment or even why he seemed to be in
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a hurry, but when he came back down, he was wearing a jacket, which he had actually borrowed from a friend who
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lived in the building. And presumably, this is the one that he was wearing when he was killed. Now, Gail says that
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Solomon told her he loved her and he would be back. and then he walked off in the direction of the park. So, she
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didn't go with him. That's what she's saying. Yeah. And she says she was still hanging around with friends when she
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heard he'd been shot. And she said she tried to go over to the park, but with all of the cops and activity, like she
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couldn't even get close enough to see anything. So, she just went back, hung around his building for a while, maybe
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hoping this was all a mistake or waiting to hear more information, but eventually
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she went home. A lot of details in this case are kind of fuzzy. Like there is no
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information about the identities of the people that she and Solomon were supposedly hanging out with that night
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in front of the building or why she went home instead of sticking around. But whatever investigators were able to
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glean that maybe isn't written down in black and white for me like decades later, they seem to determine that
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Solomon wasn't going to that party or hanging out in the park at all. He was just passing through it. I would assume
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that's because he said he'd be back. That might be why. Truly, I don't know. But if he wasn't going to the party,
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then where was he going? Right. And why would this well-liked guy with no enemies to speak of who's just home for
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a few days be the target of such a brutal attack? And if no one could tell them why, then surely someone could tell
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them who, right? Because there were so many people around when he was killed. So, the lead detective on this case
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really hits the streets hard to canvas. And just a quick aside, because I can't not tell you this, and it kind of has
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nothing to do with the case except like I mean it kind of does. Like the lead detective's name is Loser Lane. That No,
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that can't be his real name. Do not only is it his real name, like we I mean I obviously have like 45 follow-up
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questions. We found out Loser has an older brother. Do you even want to guess what his older brother's name is?
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I don't even know what kind of person names their child loser. I can't even begin to guess. His brother's name is
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Winner. No, I don't know if this was like a social experiment or what, but according to an article in the Chicago
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Tribune, their dad let their sister pick Loser's name and that's what she chose and then they actually like went with
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it. And what I think is so ironic and why I like say this is this is a social experiment is that Loser was this great
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student. He was this athlete who went on to become a respected NYPD investigator.
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His name while Winner became this small time crook and was arrested dozens of times. And I could literally talk about
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this all day long. Yeah, I'm now obsessed with this. We have to get back to this case, but you're going to hear
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me say potentially loser. I'm just going to call him Detective Lane. So, Detective Lane or Lou as the guys call
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him, he's out canvasing with other investigators, but they're just hitting like wall after wall after wall trying
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to get anyone to talk. is like pulling teeth. Like no one wants to be labeled a snitch. And the statements they do get
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are kind of all over the place. Like they hear Solomon was attacked by three or four people. Some describe the
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perpetrators as light-skinned Hispanic men. But like the details even there are like shaky at best. Like maybe one had a
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limp. Maybe one was wearing a tan jacket. Maybe it was the guys that were on the green dirt bike thing, whatever
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driving near the park after the gunshots. Maybe maybe maybe. Like all of these may go nowhere. Police do get
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excited for a minute when they catch wind of a rumor that someone actually videotaped the party, but no one can say
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who might have taken the video. And it seems like almost every time they identify someone who was supposed to
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have been at this party, that person has a suspiciously perfect alibi and was definitely not at the park when the
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shots rang out. If you go by the statements that detectives were getting, I mean, it seems like no one was at the
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park when Solomon was actually killed, which we know isn't true. And speaking of the party, they hear it was held to
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celebrate a woman's birthday, but when they track her down, she completely denies that it was her party at all. So,
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they're basically like chasing smoke at every turn. Exactly. I mean, this is true even of some of the people that
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Solomon was like closest with. Like when they go interview Gail a second time, all of a sudden she has a new story for
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them. Now Gail says that she met up with her good friend Solomon and then he went
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to the corner store to get a drink and that's the last time she saw him. I'm sorry, good friend. Just friends now.
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Although she adds that he was maybe hoping for something more, but like that wasn't going to happen cuz she tells
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them she's actually dating another service member, someone that Solomon maybe knows. I'm sorry, who? like no one
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that was around. Like the guy that she is supposedly dating is stationed at a base in Colorado at the time. And if
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anyone was wondering, Gail assures police like, "Nope, there's no tension between the two men." So all that stuff
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about him like rushing upstairs, getting the jacket, going back out, like all of
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that in her story is just gone. Yeah. From how the police report reads. Yes. And listen, investigators had already
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kind of been doubting the truthfulness of her account before she changed the details around cuz her story, like the
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sequence of events, like it just didn't make much sense to them. But now they're
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really wondering what her deal is. And this kind of throws the whole narrative into question. Let's say that Solomon
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was actually walking to the store that Gail mentioned the last time she saw him. He wouldn't have needed to go into
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the park at all to get there. like it was right down the street from him. And police don't seem to think that a wallet
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was taken off Solomon. They don't think that he had one on him that night. So, no wallet, no money. So, how could he
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buy something? Exactly. Like, if he was going to go to the store, like he didn't
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go prepared. Solomon's brother Russell and their cousin Melody, they think that the whole corner store story is bogus.
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And they actually have a completely different theory about where Solomon was maybe going. They think that he was
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walking Gail somewhere that night, somewhere that to get there would have taken them through the park, which is
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what his mom, Edna, originally thought. Right. Right. And if Gail's lying and she actually was with Solomon when he
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was killed. I mean, that's not just an eyewitness, it's like an essential eyewitness, right? Maybe. Right.
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Detectives think probably, but for whatever reason, she's not admitting to that. So, was he going to the store? Had
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he already gone to the store and then went into the park? Like, who was he with? I don't know. But this shows just
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how many lies and halftruths detectives were getting, even from the people who claimed to care about Solomon. Now,
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meanwhile, while they're doing all of this canvasing, the autopsy is done. And that reveals just how vicious this
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attack truly was. The medical examiner finds four stab wounds in his back. Each one at least 3 in deep. They find
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another on his hip. But those actually weren't what killed him. It was the single gunshot that proved fatal.
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It tore through his heart, through his left lung, and his stomach. When they recover the bullet, they find it's
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aluminum jacketed. So, it's either a 9 mm or a 38 caliber. It's actually another one of his injuries that really
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catches their attention. He has I mentioned a slash across his face. So, this slash starts at one corner of his
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mouth and stretches all the way past the other side. Picture something like the markings of like Heath Ledger's Joker in
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the Dark Knight. Okay? And that cut is what's known as a buck 50. And the name comes from the 150 so stitches that it
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takes to actually close it up. And police recognized this immediately as a hallmark of gang violence. But that
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doesn't make any sense. Like Solomon wasn't in a gang. No, he wasn't. But detectives are thinking that his killer
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or killers might be. So over the next few months, they cast a wide net looking into all sorts of criminal activity
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happening in the area. They investigate a local drug sales operation to see if maybe there's any connection there. And
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every time they make a nearby arrest and confiscate a weapon, they request ballistic testing to compare it to the
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bullet that killed Solomon. They even look into recent robberies around the park despite not believing that
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Solomon's murder was about theft. So, they're basically hoping to catch these guys for something else and then connect
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it back to Solomon. That's their best bet because nothing else is moving this case forward. They process dozens of
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bottles and cans from the park. They're looking for fingerprints, but every time
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they come up empty. They even get the story featured on TV and they managed to get a $10,000 reward approved for
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information, but none of that helped either. So, they're hoping that something else, some other crime might
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be the thing that gives them a lead. And that is exactly what happens. But not until like 8 months after his murder in
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January of 1999. That's when Detective Lane gets a promising lead from a Bronx narcotics
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officer who tells him that during a drug arrest a few days earlier, they took someone into custody. I'm going to call
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this guy Frank. And Frank indicates that he has some information about Solomon's
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homicide. So, detectives go visit him in jail on a Tuesday. This is January 12th.
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And he gives them a detailed account of what he says happened that night. He tells them that he was outside of a
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building that overlooks the park and he saw Solomon Robinson walking through with a couple of young women. Now,
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meanwhile, two men were walking in the opposite direction. And when their paths intersected, one of them called out to
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Solomon, telling him, "Come here." Solomon stepped back and Frank then heard gunshots.
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And then a second man cut Solomon with a knife while the shooter just like stood
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by watching. And then after that, both of the attackers left on foot. And listen, this is better than just Frank
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telling them what happened. He is able to tell them who did it. A pair of cousins who we're going to call John and
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William. Now, there's some confusion over who was the shooter, who was the stabber. Police reports refer to William
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by a specific nickname, but the nickname that they use was actually John's nickname. So, it's not clear who
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allegedly did what during this attack. Now, of course, Frank isn't a perfect witness by any means. Like, not only is
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he in jail, but some of his information is like iffy, right? Like, he claims he heard four shots. We only know Solomon
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was shot once, but I mean, it could have been more. When people were calling 911,
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did they say one shot or like shots? No. So, actually, I'm pretty sure the call that got called in was for shots fired,
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but I also know that's a general like dispatch code that they use. So, it's like not a description necessarily of
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what happened and I don't know the words that the caller used. I haven't actually
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heard the call. So, all of that TBD, there's another issue. Even though we got a lot of like maybe this, maybe that
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statements from people early on in the attack, like pretty much every witness account did say that the men who killed
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Solomon were Hispanic. William and John are not Hispanic. They're black. But it's not uncommon for witness
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accounts to be off, especially in what seems like a really chaotic situation like this was, right? Yeah. Yeah. With
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big crowds, stuff for sure. I mean, there were a ton of people running around that night after the attack. It I
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mean, it's possible that someone was seeing Hispanic men like running off and like maybe that's what added to the
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mixup. But like it doesn't matter to Frank. Frank's like, "Listen, I saw it and I know the guys like there is no
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confusion here. And by the way, if you don't trust me, good news. I wasn't alone. He says there's another witness
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who can back him up. [Music] Two branches of the same tree, two pieces of a soul.
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Where one sister goes, the other will be. for she is but half of the whole. The missing half.
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Pre-order your copy at ashleyflowers.com. Frank says this other person saw the murder with him and this was a
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15-year-old girl that we'll call Brenda. Now, Brenda actually lives in the building that Frank was at when the
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murder took place. And according to Frank, they witnessed it together while they were smoking on Brenda's fire
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escape or like roof or something. So, as soon as they're done talking to Frank, police go right to Brenda's apartment to
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speak with her, and they get a little creative with their approach. They don't tell her that Frank gave them her name.
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They actually tell her they know she saw Solomon get killed because they have surveillance video of her on the fire
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escape. Now, the bluff works, and her account is very similar to Frank's. She tells investigators that her mom doesn't
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know she smoked cigarettes, so she was sneaking one on their fire escape, which gave her a clear view of the park. She
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says she saw Solomon walking with two girls. And at the same time, she saw John and William. They're like leaving
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the handball courts, which are like right next to the basketball courts. Their paths cross and somehow the
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situation escalated quickly like into murder. Does Brenda mention Frank at all? Like is he part of her narrative,
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her story? Well, so she tells detectives that she and Frank were in the park earlier that day smoking weed, but I
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don't know if she says anything about like them being on the fire escape together when Solomon was killed. Like
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it's not clear from her written statement. Okay. So, what about the girls that Solomon was with? Did Frank
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or Brenda describe them? Like, was one of them Gail? So, there's no description in the report of her statement, so I
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can't say for sure. But I mean, like I know police were highly suspicious that one of them was Gail, right? But real
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quick, let me tell you more about John and William because as investigators dig into their backgrounds, they realize
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that they have a lot of reasons to be suspicious of these two, more than just these statements. Now, they can't find
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any indication that either of them knew Solomon, although there's certainly a chance of that because Jon lived
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practically across the street from him. But both men have criminal records dating back to the early '9s, including
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drug charges. And more importantly, both men have rumored ties to the Nine Trey Gangsters, which is a set of the United
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Blood Nation, which is basically like an East Coast version of the Bloods. Get trying to get most like mainstream as I
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can. And this is separate from the original gang on the West Coast. Got it. So, this really catches law
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enforcement's attention because getting initiated into a West Coast blood set typically involves targeting a rival
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gang. But the United Blood Nation, including its subset nine trade gangsters, were known for going after
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non-gang members, and their preferred method of attack was a buck 50, that like facial slash that we know Solomon
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had. But if these guys were already in a gang, why would they need to do some kind of initiation? Uh, well,
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investigators believe that it might not have been about joining, but maybe about
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moving up the ranks. Oh, and I had to get like a whole crash course on this from the detectives, but basically gang
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hierarchies can be complex and sometimes members have to prove themselves to gain
00:22:01
more status or more responsibility within the organization and this kind of attack. This is exactly
00:22:07
the signature that these guys were known for. Obviously, this is all promising, but there is a big problem. Brenda
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refuses to cooperate further. Like, she just completely shuts down. I mean, she's probably scared. Probably
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terrified. I mean, I would be, too. But with their key witness unwilling to move
00:22:28
forward, the investigation is at a standstill. And just like that, the momentum that they had built up just
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disappears and the case goes cold for years. Wait, don't they still have Frank? Why
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can't they use him? I think it comes down to credibility issues. Like, Brenda's not in jail, right? like she
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doesn't have any charges looming with the two of them together. There could be a strong narrative to build, but like if
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you just have Frank without her, it's kind of like they don't feel like they can move forward. So, they let some time
00:23:01
go by during which Frank gets out of jail, doesn't exactly stay out of trouble, a probation violation, gets an
00:23:08
arrest warrant put out on him. So, he's like MIA trying to fly under the radar when detectives on Solomon's case decide
00:23:14
like, "Hey, we should stir this up again." and they go looking for him in 2005. Again, they don't find him, but on
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May 25th, 2006, police finally arrest him. And less than 2 weeks later, the homicide task force gets an unexpected
00:23:26
call from Riker's Island. It's Frank, and he is ready to cooperate on Solomon's case, even if he doesn't get
00:23:34
anything in return. Now, he says he's only been dodging them because he thought that they were just trying to
00:23:38
like trick him into getting arrested on the warrant he had. Like, that's why he was dodging the homicide guys. But now
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that he's locked up anyway, like he's like, "I might as well talk." Now his story is the same, but this time he
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confirms what was only suspected before. According to Frank, John and William were both Bloods members, and he says
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that they sold crack in the neighborhood, but they still have the same problems they had years ago. Like
00:24:02
Frank's in jail. It doesn't feel super credible to put him out on his own. And though they track Brenda down and her
00:24:08
story is the same, she is still too afraid to talk. She even thinks that someone might be watching her. Like
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bottom line is she's not going to work with them. So without Brenda, they got nothing that's going to stand
00:24:21
up through a full trial. And with no one else coming forward, nothing happens again on this case for years. And as you
00:24:29
can imagine, I mean, NYPD has new cases coming in every single day. Yeah. I mean, I've watched Law and Order. They
00:24:36
all come with that little like headline of where it is, what's happening, what time it is, and it's like constant. The
00:24:42
more and more that come in, the deeper and deeper Solomon's case file falls to some old cabinet or drawer filled with
00:24:49
other old files on other old cases. But in 2022, Detective Klein, who's with the
00:24:55
Bronx Homicide Squad, stumbles across Solomon's case while going through some of those old files. And it catches his
00:25:02
eye right away cuz Klene spent 7 years in the army. And he and Solomon were actually in boot camp at the same time,
00:25:10
although they never actually met. And he can't stand the thought of a fellow soldier's murder going unsolved. And as
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he flips through the file, he sees potential. The witnesses who IDed the killers are still alive, as are the
00:25:24
potential killers themselves. And when he reaches out to a retired investigator who worked the case, that guy tells him
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he thinks it's solvable, too. Klein thinks if he can track down Frank again and somehow convince Brenda to finally
00:25:38
cooperate, they might have enough to finally charge these guys, maybe whatever fear was keeping people silent
00:25:45
back then has faded away. Maybe now they can even develop some new witnesses who
00:25:49
were too scared to come forward before. And Detective Klein knows exactly where he wants to start. Not with Brenda, not
00:25:56
with Frank, but with Gail. All these years later, when Klein interviews her at her job in September of 2022, she
00:26:05
sticks to the part of her story that basically has her not with Solomon when he's being killed. But this time around,
00:26:12
she admits that they were romantically involved. Like, she told police the very first time. Right. We're back to that.
00:26:18
Yes. And unfortunately, she can't or won't explain any of the contradictory statements that she's made in the past.
00:26:25
Her story is she wasn't with him. She knows nothing. So sorry. The end. This is like beyond frustrating to me. I feel
00:26:34
like all the puzzle pieces are right there. Right here. And nobody wants to help put them
00:26:41
together. I know. It's got like it's going to take so much work. And and Klein keeps digging. He's willing to put
00:26:46
in the work. He sees a way to break through the wall of silence and he thinks the way to do that is with the
00:26:53
help of the feds. The NYPD and the FBI have this joint task force that targets violent crimes
00:27:01
and gang activity. Basically, they take cases that meet certain criteria like potential gang involvement and they look
00:27:08
to charge them federally. The task force had already successfully closed some other cold cases. So it wasn't difficult
00:27:14
to get them on board for Solomon's around 2023. And this opens up a whole lot of new doors because suddenly the
00:27:21
stakes are way higher for everyone involved. Lying to federal agents is a separate crime all on its own. And with
00:27:28
the weight of federal charges and mandatory minimums looming, not to mention a high conviction rate,
00:27:35
witnesses tend to get a lot more fearful. and as a result a lot more cooperative. They can also use evidence
00:27:43
that state prosecutors probably wouldn't touch like certain hearsay statements or
00:27:47
testimony from co-conspirators. So Klein is deputized as a federal agent which gives him the same authority and
00:27:54
right away he sees the difference when they go rein Frank. So they pull him into a car for questioning and once
00:28:01
Frank realizes that the FBI is involved his whole narrative changes. He confesses that he didn't actually see
00:28:09
Solomon get killed. What? Mhm. Why on earth would he make that up? So, he was hoping for a deal. You see, he says the
00:28:19
real truth, what he's telling them now, is that just Brenda saw it. He and Brenda had spent the earlier part of the
00:28:27
day together. He had sold her some weed, but by the time Solomon was killed, he being Frank had already left. Brenda
00:28:35
filled him in on what she saw that night. And when he got arrested on drug charges back in early 99, he needed a
00:28:42
story to use as like leverage, right? So, he passed the story off as his own. So, wait, did no one ask Brenda if he
00:28:51
was there like about Frank's like witnessing of it? This is the bonkers part. Not that I can tell. Remember,
00:28:58
they like told her because they wanted to get they left him out of the story completely and so did she, right? So she
00:29:04
like they were like completely leaving out how they got her name in the first place. So they just came at her like we
00:29:09
know you know which which ended up working but like I don't think anyone ever circled back and like brought up
00:29:13
Frank again or brought up that like Frank wasn't in her story. But it sure comes up now when they interview her
00:29:21
again. This time at FBI headquarters in Florida where she had moved at some point. She tells them she was with Frank
00:29:28
earlier that day, but she doesn't remember him being with her when Solomon was killed. And unlike Frank, she sticks
00:29:36
to her account of what happened that night. She even IDs William is the shooter from a photo array. Although
00:29:43
again, she calls him by John's nickname, so no help clearing that up for me. But
00:29:47
she's still not willing to cooperate further. So of the two key witnesses they had, one never actually saw
00:29:54
anything. Isn't a witness. the other won't budge when it comes to working with police. Has anyone attempted to
00:30:01
talk to John and William yet? No. And not because they don't want to. They they just want to be strategic about it.
00:30:08
Like they don't have enough probable cause to make an arrest yet. So, I don't think they want to like tip their hand.
00:30:16
But Detective Klene has this idea and it involves this other unsolved murder that
00:30:21
he's been working. It's the murder of a young woman named Shauna Brown. You see,
00:30:25
a couple of months after Solomon was killed, Shauna's body was found in the lobby of a project building just outside
00:30:32
of St. Mary's Park. There was duct tape wrapped around her neck and she was naked and like in the fetal position.
00:30:38
Although, according to the New York Daily News, there was no sign of sexual assault. What is odd is that Shauna was
00:30:45
from East Harlem and she had zero connection to the building that she was found in. police theorized that she was
00:30:51
killed somewhere else and then left there afterward. Now, long story short, there was this note in Solomon's file
00:30:58
that Klein had come across, basically suggesting that William had something to do with Shauna's murder. Now, Detective
00:31:05
Klein doesn't believe that he already has a strong suspect in mind for her case, but he sees this as an
00:31:10
opportunity. Like, if he can get William talking about Shauna's case, like as a potential witness, maybe he can steer
00:31:17
the conversation toward Solomon. Like it's a long shot, but like what else have they got at this point? Anything is
00:31:23
worth trying. So when he goes to talk to him, William is talkative at first. He even identifies a suspect for them in
00:31:30
Shauna's case. It's actually the same guy who is already the prime suspect for Klein. But then William goes further and
00:31:37
says that same person, by the way, is responsible for other murders, including that guy that was killed in the park
00:31:45
next to a bench, which seems like he's referring to Solomon. And Detective Klein can hardly believe it because
00:31:52
nobody, and I mean nobody, had ever connected that particular suspect to Solomon's murder before. So to Klein, it
00:31:59
seems like William is like deliberately trying to divert attention away from himself by throwing someone else's name
00:32:05
out there. While you're talking to me, let me tell you that this other person is also connected to this other case you
00:32:11
haven't even talked about yet. Yeah. And the thing like when I say no one like brought up him in the other case, no one
00:32:17
actually brought up Solomon at all. Like when he's talking to William, it's not like he he didn't even get to the part
00:32:22
yet where he was going to like try and we he wasn't even like in his plan. Completely unprompted. So, Detective
00:32:27
Klein tries to persuade William to come in and like give an official statement, but even though he agrees to, he never
00:32:34
actually does. And they like keep trying to reach him by phone to urge him to come in, but he ignores all of their
00:32:41
calls. And when investigators go knocking on his door, things get strange. William has this whole like
00:32:49
surveillance system set up and he texts Klein a picture of Klein standing outside of William's door. That's
00:32:59
creepy. I know. So, all in all, his cooperation was shortlived, but police will not give up. They have been doing
00:33:08
what they can to keep Solomon's story in the public eye. They've papered St. Mary's Park with posters about the case.
00:33:14
They've been pushing for more media coverage and recently behind the scenes they've begun to pursue new forensic
00:33:22
testing, taking advantage of technological advances that weren't there when Solomon was originally
00:33:27
killed. So all of these efforts are crucial because even though investigators are pretty confident that
00:33:35
they have the right people in their crosshairs, like you know, if the detectives theories are correct, like
00:33:39
both William and John could be charged with Solomon's murder, but there are still key details they need to piece
00:33:46
together before they can even try to move ahead with any charges. Would they both get charged with murder or just one
00:33:53
of them since it was technically like the bullet like the gunshot that killed him and the one who shot him like could
00:34:00
be charged with murder versus the one who stabbed him? No. Legally they share responsibility for what happened. So
00:34:06
even though the bullet is what technically killed Solomon, the law considers even the stabber just as
00:34:10
culpable since that person was there participating in the assault. If there's ever evidence that they
00:34:16
planned it beforehand, they could be also facing conspiracy charges. This all applies at the federal level, too. And
00:34:24
if gang activity was involved, racketeering charges might come into play. What it boils down to is that if
00:34:31
investigators can show that these two acted together, they could both be held accountable for Solomon's murder,
00:34:37
regardless of who did what. But of course, one of them could flip on the other. And I have to imagine if it gets
00:34:46
to that point, it'll be like a whoever talks first gets the better deal sort of thing. But Solomon's family has been
00:34:54
waiting for answers for more than 27 years. And the uncertainty has taken its toll. I mean, just a year after he was
00:35:01
killed, Solomon's parents packed up. They left New York for South Carolina, his mom Edna's home state. They couldn't
00:35:08
bear to stay in the area any longer. like every street corner, every familiar place was just a reminder of their loss.
00:35:15
Both of Solomon's parents have since passed away without ever seeing anyone held accountable for their son's death.
00:35:21
And one of Solomon's brothers, Steven, passed away, too. But his other brother, Russell, and his cousin Melody, are
00:35:29
still the ones out there fighting for justice today. And they miss Solomon, his fun-loving personality, and his kind
00:35:36
heart. They wish they could have seen what he would have made of himself because they are sure he would have gone
00:35:41
really far. Like he had such big dreams and he wanted to continue his education.
00:35:45
He wanted to buy a house for his folks. But instead, his loved ones are left with just 19 years worth of memories and
00:35:54
so many questions. Now, despite his dedication to Solomon's case, the detective who's been living and
00:36:01
breathing it for the past few years won't be the one to see it through to the end. Klene actually retired right as
00:36:08
we were finishing up our reporting on this story. The investigation has transferred to one of Klein's partners,
00:36:13
but he knows how important it is to Klein. So, I don't think that he's going to be putting it on the back burner
00:36:18
anytime soon. But saying that, like what I also want to say is like police need help to solve
00:36:24
this. Solomon Robinson served his country only to be betrayed by someone in his own community. And there are
00:36:32
people out there, probably a lot of people, who know something. And maybe you're one of them. Maybe you've been
00:36:39
holding on to a piece of this puzzle for all of these years, thinking it doesn't
00:36:43
matter or thinking that coming forward now won't make a difference. But it very well could. And the FBI is offering up
00:36:50
to a $25,000 reward for information leading to the identity, arrest, and conviction of whoever is responsible for
00:36:56
Solomon's murder. So, if you know anything about what happened in St. Mary's Park in the Bronx on the night of
00:37:03
Friday, April 3rd, 1998, please contact the NYPD Crimestoppers at 1800577 TIPS. You can also reach out to your
00:37:14
local FBI office or submit a tip online, completely anonymous. We'll have all of
00:37:19
this information on our website and in the show notes. You can find all the source material for this episode on our
00:37:25
website, crimejunkypodcast.com. You can also follow us on Instagram, crimejunkiepodcast. We'll be back next
00:37:32
week with a brand new episode. [Music]