Matthew Solomon, convicted of strangling newlywed wife in 1987, denied parole for 6th time

For the sixth time a parole board has denied the release of Matthew Solomon, imprisoned for the 1987 Christmas Eve strangulation death of his newlywed wife, Lisa, whose body was found in a garbage bag dumped near their apartment in Huntington Station.

The state Department of Correction said Solomon, 50, who began serving a sentence of 18 years to life on Feb. 2, 1989, appeared before the parole board on Sept. 15.

Board member Sally A. Thompson said that, after a review, "it is the determination of this [three-member] panel that release at this time is incompatible with the welfare of society, and would so depreciate the seriousness of the offense as to undermine respect for the law."

Solomon is next up for parole in September 2017.

Solomon was convicted of second-degree murder in 1988 and has served his sentence at the Sing Sing Correctional Facility in Ossining and at the Otisville Correctional Facility, a medium-security facility in Orange County.

He was transferred to Otisville on Feb. 3, records show.

Solomon, then 23, reported his wife missing, and then investigators became suspicious after he made suggestions to his wife's relatives about the types of places they should search for Lisa -- including how many feet off the road she might be.

Her body was discovered in a field along Pulaski Road. Solomon later confessed he strangled her during an argument about whether she should leave the house, police said.

Police said they were able to induce the confession after developing physical evidence that the body was in Solomon's car and that he had taken it to the frozen field, where it was found wrapped in a garbage bag.

They also obtained a videotape of Solomon purchasing garbage bags at a convenience store on Christmas Eve.

In the most recent parole board decision, Thompson wrote: "The serious nature of the instant offense of Murder 2 involved you strangling the victim, your wife, causing her demise, and placing her body in garbage bags and dumping her body in a field.

"You were married for only approximately two months. Your actions clearly displayed a propensity for violence and a depraved indifference to human life."

By John Valenti

john.valenti@newsday.com

John Valenti, a reporter at Newsday since 1981, has been honored nationally by the Associated Press and Society of the Silurians for investigative, enterprise and breaking news reporting, as well as column writing, and is the author of “Swee'pea,” a book about former New York playground basketball star Lloyd Daniels. Valenti is featured in the Emmy Award-winning ESPN 30-for-30 film “Big Shot.”