Douglas Solomon son of retired Manhattan Supreme Court judge fatally beats mom then jumps 16 flights to his death in a presumed murder suicide. No known motive.
The 26-year-old son of a retired Manhattan supreme court judge bludgeoned his mother to death at the family’s upscale Upper East Side co-op residence before then leaping16 floors to his death according to cops.
Doug Solomon, 26, was found naked and bleeding in the courtyard of the East 79th Street building around 10:30 a.m, Tuesday morning following the attack, where he was heard screaming on his way down, cops and witnesses said.
‘It was the loudest thud. At first I thought it was an air conditioning unit,’ a building resident told the nypost.
‘I looked down, and he was right below my window,’ the resident added.
Solomon’s mother, Diane Gallagher, 65, was found dead in an apartment bedroom with head trauma after her son beat her with a piece of furniture, law-enforcement sources said.
Man leaps to death from ritzy NYC apartment after allegedly killing woman: cops https://t.co/vemO41Kprh pic.twitter.com/3ZOCHbOUCW
— New York Post (@nypost) July 19, 2022
Supreme Court father heard slew of high profile cases during 30 years on bench
Police are investigating the deaths as a murder suicide with police sources saying there was no history of domestic violence or mental health issues in the family. Not immediately clear is whether the son was living at the family home and what schooling or career pursuits the 26 year old may have been pursuing.
Charles Solomon, who retired as a New York Supreme Court judge in 2017 after three decades on the bench, is Doug’s father and Diane’s husband.
During his time on the coveted bench, the former S.C judge heard a slew of high-profile cases, including the nightclub shooting trial for Sean Combs aka P.Diddy before being forced to retire after battling cancer along with recently having worked for the Manhattan District Attorney’s Office, records showed.
The former judge also heard the infamous Lorna Santiago 2010 murder case, passing a guilty verdict on Michael Lenahan, who strangled Santiago to death who then went on to lay in bed with her corpse for two days.
Charles’ last high profile trial came in 2017, when he approved a plea deal for one of the Russian prostitutes allegedly hired by former New York Governor Eliot Spitzer, whom the disgraced governor accused of extorting him.
It was unclear if the father was at the family home at the time of the fatal beating and his son jumping to his death.
A resident, speaking on the condition of anonymity, who lived a few floors below the family’s apartment told the tabloid he heard yelling earlier that morning.
No known motive
‘I heard a bunch of voices. I thought it was construction workers arguing,’ the resident told the nypost.
‘I thought it was just people angry with each other.’
Neighbors mourned the loss of Gallagher, who they described as an ‘amazing person.’
‘A great mother, a great wife, a great everything and really a great friend,’ a neighbor who went by Martine told the nypost.
Police to date were not able to confirm what led to the son allegedly beating his mother to death before then jumping to his death. It remained unclear if the son was on any medication or had taken substances prior to the rage fuelled attack.
Units in the prestigious building start at about $1.6 million and go up to $3.5 million, according to listings at StreetEasy.com.
