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Morris Solomon Jr.
Sacramento County
Date of offense: Dec. 29, 1986
Date of death sentence: Sept. 16, 1992
Solomon was an Oak Park handyman and serial killer who was convicted
of four counts of first-degree murder, two counts of second-degree
murder and five sexual assaults over the course of a year starting in
1986.
Five of the victims were found buried outside homes where Solomon
had lived or worked, while a sixth was “discovered” by Solomon in a
closet at a house where he had been working.
He maintained for years that he was not guilty of killing anyone,
but at his sentencing Sacramento Superior Court Judge Peter Mering added
on a sentence of 95 years to life to make certain Solomon could never
win release if his death sentence was overturned. “I can imagine no one
whose release would be more terrifying to the community of Sacramento
than Mr. Solomon,” the judge said.
Morris Solomon Jr.
Morris Solomon was sentenced to death
on September 16, 1992 for six murders.
According to police, the first victim was Yolanda
Johnson, 22, found inside a closet of one of Solomon's previous
residences, on Fourth Avenue in Sacramento, on June 18, 1986, two to
three days after he had killed her. Just a month later, Angela Polidore,
25, was found dead, buried underneath debris at another Sacramento home
where Solomon worked as a handyman. Solomon was a suspect in both cases
but walked away when authorities failed to come up with evidence
sufficient enough to get an indictment. The handyman had four
outstanding misdemeanor warrants (including one of solicitation of
prostitution) when they allowed him to go free.
On March 19, 1987, the body of teenage prostitute
Marie Apodoca, was uncovered in the yard of a home in Sacramento's Oak
Park neighborhood. Solomon had stayed at the house until November 1986.
Another body was found on April 20, when Cherie Washington, 26, was
found in a shallow grave in the same neighborhood. Solomon was taken
into custody on April 22, after two more victims were discovered at his
current residence. A seventh victim, 29-year-old Sharon Massey, was
found on April 29 in the same yard where Marie Apodoca was found.
Held without bond, Solomon faced seven counts of
first degree murder. Due to the bodies advanced state of decomposition,
determining the cause of death proved to be difficult. Morris Solomon Jr.'s
case failed to gain national attention due to a second, more
controversial case of serial murder in Sacramento involving serial
killer Dorothea Puente. Seven bodies were found in the backyard of
Puente's boardinghouse in the downtown Sacramento neighborhood of Aklai
Flat on November 11, 1988. Between Solomon and Puente, Sacramento had
two serial killers working the city around the same time.
Solomon was convicted of killing six of the seven
women on August 29, 1991. His first death penalty phase was declared a
mistrial, though a second jury voted unanimous to put him to death on
September 16, 1992. Solomon, an African-American, was the 342nd person
to receive the death sentence in California and is now on death row in
San Quentin, California. The handyman still denies any of the killings.
Cncpunishment.com
Morris Solomon Jr.
Born in 1944, Solomon was an ex-convict with a history of sexual assaults and violence, leading to his 1971 committal as a mentally disordered sex offender.
Upon release from the state hospital as "cured," Solomon adopted the life-style of an itinerant handyman, repairing old homes around Sacramento, California, in exchange for free room and board. Along the way, he started killing women as a private form of
sport.
According to authorities, the first to die was 22-year-old Yolanda Jackson, found inside the closet of a Sacramento home on June 18, 1986. A month later, 25-year-old Angela Polidore was found dead, buried beneath debris at another home where Solomon worked as a handyman. Suspected in both cases, he walked when authorities failed to come up with the evidence needed to win an indictment.
On March 19, 1987, the remains of Marie Apodoca, a teenage prostitute, were unearthed in the yard of a home in Sacramento's Oak Park district. Solomon had occupied the house until November 1986, and now detectives had their evidence in hand. More came on April 20, when Cherie Washington, age 26, was retrieved from a shallow grave in the same neighborhood.
Solomon was taken into custody on April 22, after two more victims were discovered, buried at his current residence. Investigators vowed to leave no stone unturned, procuring a military helicopter with infra-red scanners to canvas the neighborhood for graves.
A seventh victim was uncovered on April 29, in the same yard where Marie Apodoca was found, and the search was called off a week later, after excavation of three other "hot spots" proved fruitless. Held without bond, the lethal handyman faced seven counts of murder in the first degree.
Michael Newton - An Encyclopedia
of Modern Serial Killers - Hunting Humans
Morris Solomon Jr. (born in 1944) is a convicted
serial killer now sitting on death row in San Quentin, California.
Solomon's History
Morris Solomon was considered a quiet, good-natured
carpenter. Few knew he was an ex-con with a history of sexual assaults
and violence, leading to his committal as a mentally disturbed sex
offender. Upon his release from the state mental hospital, Solomon
became a handyman repairing old homes around Sacramento, California, in
exchange for free room and board. He started killing women along the
way.
The Murders
According to police, the first victim was Yolanda Jackson
(22), found inside a closet of a Sacramento home on June 18, 1986. Just
a month later, Angela Polidore (25) was found dead, buried underneath
debris at another Sacramento home where Solomon worked as a handyman.
Solomon was a suspect in both cases but walked away when authorities
failed to come up with evidence sufficient enough to get an indictment.
The handyman had four outstanding warrants (including one of
solicitation of prostitution) when they allowed him to go free.
On March 19, 1987, the body of teenage prostitute Marie
Apodoca, was uncovered in the yard of a home in Sacramento's Oak Park
neighborhood. Solomon had stayed at the house until November 1986.
Another body was found on April 20, when Cherie Washington (26), was
found in a shallow grave in the same neighborhood.
Solomon was taken
into custody on April 22, after two more victims were discovered at his
current residence. A seventh victim, 29-year-old Sharon Massey, was
found on April 29 in the same yard where Marie Apodoca was found.
Held without bond, Solomon faced seven counts of first
degree murder. Due to the bodies advanced state of decomposition,
determining the cause of death proved to be difficult.
Morris Solomon Jr.'s case failed to
gain national attention due to a second, more controversial case of
serial murder in Sacramento involving serial killer Dorothea Puente.
Seven bodies were found in the backyard of Puente's boardinghouse in the
downtown Sacramento neighborhood of Aklai Flat on Nov. 11, 1988. Between
Solomon and Puente, Sacramento had two serial killers working the city
around the same time.
Solomon was convicted of killing six of the seven
women on August 29, 1991. His first death penalty phase was declared a
mistrial, though a second jury voted unanimous to put him to death in
July 1992.
Solomon, a black man, was the 342nd person to receive
the death sentence in California and is now on death row in San Quentin,
California. The handyman still denies any of the killings.
Antonio "Tony" Harvey, a correspondent for the
Associated Press and journalism graduate from Sacramento State
University, has completed a detailed true crime novel on Solomon's case.
Currently, Harvey's book is titled, The
Homicidal Handyman of Oak Park.
Media
Featuring Antonio "Tony" Harvey, an
Associated Press correspondent/author, retired Sacramento police
detective John Cabrera and former Sacramento Bee photographer Tom Parker,
a 60-minute documentary of Solomon's serial crimes first appeared on the
criminal documentary, "Crime Stories" at Discovery Channel and Biography
Channel.
Morris Solomon Jr. (born March 15, 1944 in
Albany, Georgia) is a convicted serial killer now sitting on death row
in San Quentin, California.
Early life
Relatives and friends described Solomon's upbringing
in rural Georgia as abusive. He was raised primarily by his grandmother,
Bertha, who beat him and his brother daily for infractions such as
bedwetting, mispronouncing words, or crying during a beating. Sometimes,
she hit them for no apparent reason. When Solomon was very young, Bertha
beat him by laying him over her lap and hitting him repeatedly. She also
made him remove all his clothing and stand on a stool in the corner,
where she beat his bare body, including his genitalia, with an
electrical cord or switches she made him bring to her. Bertha sometimes
beat him until he bled. Once, she tied his hands around the pole of a
bed with an extension cord to keep him from backing away from her during
a beating.
Solomon had little contact with his parents for the
first 13 years of his life. He was reunited with them when Bertha and
the family moved to Isleton, a small farming town 40 miles from
Sacramento. They were among a handful of black families living in a poor,
rundown section of the town known as “Cannery Row” or “Tinpan Alley.”
His parents frequently beat and sexually assaulted one another in front
of him. His mother and grandmother often beat him and verbally abused
him in public. Friends and relatives would later describe his mother as
a “loose woman” who regularly “entertained” different men.
After high school, he attended community college and
worked at various jobs, including carpentry, car repair, and bus driving.
He served in Vietnam for one year starting in the
summer of 1966. He returned to Isleton after his tour of duty ended in
the summer of 1967. During this time, he became engaged to a woman he
had known before going to Vietnam. When she broke off the engagement, he
relocated to the San Francisco Bay Area, got married, and fathered a
daughter. After he and his wife divorced, he moved back to Sacramento.
In April 1977, Solomon was convicted of sexually
assaulting Darlene G. While at San Quentin State Prison, where he worked
as a forklift operator.
The murders
According to court documents provided by the Superior
Court of California, County of Sacramento (Case No. 84641), Solomon's
first victim was Yolanda Johnson (22), found inside a closet of one of
his previous residences, on Fourth Avenue in Sacramento, on June 18,
1986, two to three days after he had killed her. One month later, Angela
Polidore (25) was found dead, buried underneath debris at another
Sacramento home where Solomon worked as a handyman. Solomon was a
suspect in both cases but walked away when authorities failed to come up
with evidence sufficient enough to get an indictment. The handyman had
four outstanding misdemeanor warrants (including one of solicitation of
prostitution) when they allowed him to go free.
On March 19, 1987, the body of teenage prostitute
Marie Apodoca, was uncovered in the yard of a home in Sacramento's Oak
Park neighborhood. Solomon had stayed at the house until November 1986.
Another body was found on April 20, when Cherie Washington (26), was
found in a shallow grave in the same neighborhood. Solomon was taken
into custody on April 22, after two more victims (Linda Vitela and
Sheila Jacox) were discovered at his current residence. A seventh victim,
29-year-old Sharon Massey, was found on April 29 in the same yard where
Marie Apodoca was found.
Held without bond, Solomon faced seven counts of
first-degree murder. Due to the bodies advanced state of decomposition,
determining the cause of death proved to be difficult.
Trial and sentencing
Morris Solomon Jr.'s case failed to gain national
attention due to Dorothea Puente. Seven bodies were found in the
backyard of Puente's boardinghouse in the downtown Sacramento
neighborhood of Alkali Flat on Nov. 11, 1988. Between Solomon and
Puente, Sacramento had two serial killers working the city around the
same time. Solomon was convicted of killing six of the seven women on
August 29, 1991.
During the trial, defense attorneys Peter P. Vlautin
III and Constance Gutowsky presented an extensive case in mitigation; 18
witnesses testified over the course of seven days. The defense case
largely attempted to show that defendant‟s crimes stemmed from
psychopathology born of the abuse he suffered as a child, compounded by
his tour of duty in Vietnam and his cocaine use. Clinical forensic
psychologist Brad Fisher and clinical psychologist John P. Wilson both
testified that the abuse Solomon suffered as a child led to mental,
emotional, and behavioral problems that were strongly linked to his
crimes.
Solomon's first death penalty phase was declared a
mistrial, though a second jury voted unanimous to put him to death in
July 1992
Solomon was the 342nd person to receive the death
sentence in California, and is now on death row in San Quentin,
California. His conviction was affirmed by the California Supreme Court
on July 15, 2010.
Antonio "Tony" Harvey, a correspondent for the
Associated Press and journalism graduate from Sacramento State
University, has completed a detailed true crime novel on Solomon's case.
Currently, Harvey's book is titled, "The Homicidal Handyman of Oak Park.
