A young soldier, home on leave, should have been safe in his own neighborhood. Instead, 19-year-old Solomon Robinson was murdered in a park full of people — but no one has ever come forward to say what really happened. Decades later, his family is still searching for justice, and detectives are hoping someone will finally break the silence.The FBI is offering up to $25,000 for information leading to the identity, arrest, and conviction of whoever is responsible for Solomon's murder. If you know anything about what happened in St. Mary’s Park in the Bronx on the night of Friday, April 3rd, 1998, contact NYPD Crime Stoppers at 1-800-577-TIPS or submit a tip online here. You can also contact your local FBI office. Source materials for this episode cannot be listed here due to character limitations. For a full list of sources, please visit: crimejunkiepodcast.com/murdered-solomon-robinson/Did you know you can listen to this episode ad-free? Join the Fan Club! Visit crimejunkie.app/library/ to view the current membership options and policies.The Crime Junkie Merch Store is NOW OPEN! Shop the exclusive Life Rule #10 Tour collection before it’s gone for good! Don’t miss your chance - visit the store now! Don’t miss out on all things Crime Junkie!Instagram: @crimejunkiepodcast | @audiochuckTwitter: @CrimeJunkiePod | @audiochuckTikTok: @crimejunkiepodcastFacebook: /CrimeJunkiePodcast | /audiochuckllcCrime Junkie is hosted by Ashley Flowers and Brit Prawat. Instagram: @ashleyflowers | @britprawatTwitter: @Ash_Flowers | @britprawatTikTok: @ashleyflowerscrimejunkieFacebook: /AshleyFlowers.AF Text Ashley at 317-733-7485 to talk all things true crime, get behind the scenes updates, and more!
Chapter 1: Who was Solomon Robinson and what happened to him?
Hi, Crime Junkies. I'm Ashley Flowers. And I'm Britt. And the story I have for you today is one that shouldn't even be a story that we're telling all these years later because the murder of a young soldier home on leave was potentially witnessed by a hundred or so people. So this should be solved, put away. The problem is no one is willing to tell police what happened.
Chapter 2: What were the circumstances of Solomon's murder in St. Mary’s Park?
But maybe that changes today. This is the story of Solomon Robinson. It's Friday, April 3rd, 1998. And even though it's kind of chilly at night, 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 out. Everyone's having a good time. When suddenly, just before 10 p.m., a gunshot rings out.
Someone calls police, telling them that a man has been shot, and within minutes, EMTs and officers from the NYPD are on the scene. But it is absolute chaos. I mean, people are fleeing in every direction, trying to get away from whatever just happened. And a couple of guys on a green motorbike are speeding down a nearby sidewalk. I mean, true, pandemonium happening here.
But this particular area of the park is pretty well lit, and responders are able to find the victim easily. It's a young man laying face down on the grass near a pathway that runs past some basketball courts. Blood is soaking through his black and yellow striped jacket and when EMTs turn him over, they realize that there is nothing they can do.
They see that in addition to the gunshot wound on the left side of his chest, he has also been stabbed multiple times and his face and neck are slashed too. The victim is declared dead at 9.50 and police secure the scene and start gathering evidence. They collect dozens of bottles and cans, remnants of the party that had been going on.
And they also recover a black Nike skull cap and 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 that was used or any identification for their victim. I mean, if he had a wallet on him, that's gone. But if robbery was the motive, his killer left behind an expensive starter jacket that the victim was still wearing.
And NYP detective Robert Klein told our reporter Nina that this particular type of jacket was often the target of robberies in the 90s. So right off the bat, they're thinking this is something else.
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Chapter 3: How did Solomon's family react to his death?
And I'm not sure how, but even without a wallet or a license on this person, police managed to identify the victim pretty quickly as 19-year-old Solomon Robinson, affectionately known as Solo or Junie to his parents, who police learn live in an apartment building just outside of the park.
But word travels fast here, and by the time police make it to the front door of the apartment that Solomon grew up in, his mom, Edna, has already been told the awful news. Now, investigators know this isn't the safest area. In fact, according to the New York Daily News, it is one of the most violent police precincts in the city.
But Solomon's murder doesn't match the circumstances that they so often encounter. He's not in a gang, he doesn't sell drugs, and he had never been in any trouble. Actually, he had worked hard to carve out a different life for himself. Like, he joined the army last year, the year before, in August of 97, right after graduating high school.
And Edna tells detectives that Solomon is a private stationed at Fort Benning in Georgia.
Oh, so he doesn't even live in that area anymore.
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 of days. It would have been Monday, April 6th when he went back. And this time coming home, this was his first trip home since Thanksgiving. And his parents had been so happy to see him, especially his dad, who had been dealing with some serious health issues.
I mean, he was having seizures and stuff like this. The rest of his family didn't. was so happy as well. I mean, one of his brothers, Russell, who lives in Connecticut, was actually planning to come visit him the very next day.
But now, instead of coming to hang out with his little brother and, you know, do whatever it is they used to do when they were younger, like, he's coming home to support his family and to try and find out what happened. And it's so heartbreaking. He said that when his mom called to tell him the news, he couldn't even understand her at first.
And he thought that she was trying to tell him that his father had died, right? Like he was the one having all the health issues. And it took him a minute to realize that she was talking about Solomon because it just seemed so incomprehensible. So Russell travels back to the Bronx with a cousin, Melody, who lives near him in Connecticut.
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Chapter 4: What conflicting witness accounts did police encounter?
That's what she's saying. Yeah. And she says she was still hanging around with friends when she 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 couldn't even get close enough to see anything. So she just went back, hung around his building for a while, maybe hoping this was all a mistake or waiting to hear more information.
But eventually she went home. A lot of details in this case are kind of fuzzy. Like there is no information about the identities of the people that she and Solomon were supposedly hanging out with that night in front of the building or why she went home instead of sticking around.
But whatever investigators were able to glean that maybe isn't written down in black and white for me like decades later, they seem to determine that Solomon wasn't going to that party or hanging out in the park at all. He was just passing through it.
I would assume 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, then where was he going? Right. And why would this well-liked guy with no enemies to speak of, who's just home for a few days, be the target of such a brutal attack? And if no one could tell them why, then surely someone could tell them who, right? Because there were so many people around when he was killed.
So the lead detective on this case 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 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, that can't be his real name.
Dude, not only is it his real name, like we, I mean, I obviously have like 45 follow-up questions. We found out Loser has an older brother. Do you even want to guess what his older brother's name is?
I don't even know what kind of person names their child Loser. I can't even begin to guess.
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Chapter 5: What challenges did detectives face while investigating the case?
Like, if he was going to go to the store, he didn't go prepared. Solomon's brother Russell and their cousin Melody, they think that the whole corner store story is bogus. And they actually have a completely different theory about where Solomon was maybe going. They think that he was walking Gail somewhere that night. Somewhere that to get there would have taken them through the park.
Which is what his mom Edna originally thought, right?
Right, right.
And if Gail's lying and she actually was with Solomon when he was killed, I mean, that's not just an eyewitness. It's like an essential eyewitness.
Right. Maybe. Right. Detectives think probably. But for whatever reason, she's not admitting to that. So was he going to the store? No. Had 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 how many lies and half-truths detectives were getting, even from the people who claimed to care about Solomon.
Now, meanwhile, while they're doing all of this canvassing, the autopsy is done. And that reveals just how vicious this attack truly was. The medical examiner finds four stab wounds in his back, each one at least three inches deep. They find another on his hip. But those actually weren't what killed him. It was the single gunshot that proved fatal. It tore through his heart.
through his left lung and his stomach. When they recover the bullet, they find it's aluminum jacketed, so it's either a 9mm or a .38 caliber. It's actually another one of his injuries that really catches their attention. He has, I mentioned, a slash across his face. So this slash starts at one corner of his mouth and stretches all the way past the other side.
Picture something like the markings of Heath Ledger's Joker in The Dark Knight.
Okay.
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Chapter 6: What was revealed in Solomon’s autopsy report?
But, I mean, it could have been more. When people were calling 911, did they say one shot or…
Well, no. So actually, I'm pretty sure the call that got called in was for shots fired. But I also know that's a general like dispatch code that they use. So it's like not a description necessarily of what happened. And I don't know the words that the caller used. I haven't actually heard the call. So all of that TBD. There's another issue.
Even though we got a lot of, like, maybe this, maybe that statements from people early on in the attack, like, pretty much every witness account did say that the men who killed Solomon were Hispanic. William and John are not Hispanic. They're Black.
But it's not uncommon for witness accounts to be off, especially in what seems like a really chaotic situation like this was.
Right. Yeah, yeah, yeah. With big crowds, stuff for sure. I mean, there were a ton of people running around that night after the attack. I mean, it's possible that someone was seeing Hispanic men like running off and like... Maybe that's what added to the mix up. But like, it doesn't matter to Frank. Frank's like, listen, I saw it and I know the guys like there is no confusion here.
And by the way, if you don't trust me, good news. I wasn't alone. He says there's another witness who can back him up. Frank says this other person saw the murder with him. And this was a 15-year-old girl that Will called Brenda. Now, Brenda actually lives in the building that Frank was at when the murder took place.
And according to Frank, they witnessed it together while they were smoking on Brenda's fire escape or like roof or something. So as soon as they're done talking to Frank, police go right to Brenda's apartment to speak with her and they get a little creative with their approach. They don't tell her that Frank gave them her name.
They actually tell her they know she saw Solomon get killed because they have surveillance video of her on the fire escape. Now, the bluff works and her account is very similar to Frank's. She tells investigators that her mom doesn't know she smokes cigarettes, so she was sneaking one on their fire escape, which gave her a clear view of the park. She says she saw Solomon walking with two girls.
And at the same time, she saw John and William. They're like leaving the handball courts, which are like right next to the basketball courts. Their paths cross and somehow the situation escalated quickly, like into murder.
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Chapter 7: How did Detective Lane pursue leads months after the murder?
But the United Blood Nation, including its subset, Nine Trade Gangsters, were known for going after non-gang members. And their preferred method of attack was a buck fifty, that like facial slash that we know Solomon had.
But if these guys were already in a gang, why would they need to do some kind of initiation?
Well, investigators believe that it might not have been about joining, but maybe about moving up the ranks. Oh. And I had to get like a whole crash course on this from the detectives. But basically, gang hierarchies can be complex. And sometimes members have to prove themselves to gain more status or more responsibility within the organization.
And this kind of attack, this is exactly the signature that these guys were known for. Obviously, this is all promising. But there is a big risk. Problem. Brenda refuses to cooperate further. Like, she just completely shuts down. I mean, she's probably scared. Probably terrified. I mean, I would be too. But with their key witness unwilling to move forward, the investigation is at a standstill.
And just like that, the momentum that they had built up just disappears. And the case goes cold for years.
Wait, don't they still have Frank? Why can't they use him?
I think it comes down to credibility issues. Like Brenda's not in jail, right? Like she doesn't have any charges looming. With the two of them together, there could be a strong narrative to build. But like if 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 go by. During which Frank gets out of jail, doesn't exactly stay out of trouble. A probation violation gets an arrest warrant put out on him. So he's like MIA trying to fly under the radar when detectives on Solomon's case decide like, hey, we should stir this up again. They go looking for him in 2005. Again, they don't find him.
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Chapter 8: What new information did the witness 'Frank' provide?
And he says he's only been dodging them because he thought that they were just trying to, like, trick him into getting arrested on the warrant he had. Like, that's why he was dodging the homicide guys. But now that he's locked up anyway, like, he's like, might as well talk. Now, his story's the same, but this time he confirms what was only suspected before.
According to Frank, John and William were both Bloods members. And he says that they sold crack in the neighborhood. But they still have the same problems they had years ago, like 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 story is the same, she is still too afraid to talk. She even thinks that someone might be watching her.
Like, bottom line is, she's not going to work with them. So without Brenda... They got nothing that's going to stand up through a full trial. And with no one else coming forward, nothing happens again on this case for years. And as you can imagine, I mean, NYPD has new cases coming in every single day.
Yeah, I mean, I've watched Law & Order. They all come with that little like headline of where it is, what's happening, what time it is. And it's like constant.
They're like they're one of the busiest precincts. Yeah. The more and more that come in, the deeper and deeper Solomon's case file falls to some old cabinet or drawer filled with other old files on other old cases. But in 2022, Detective Klein, who's with the Bronx Homicide Squad, stumbles across Solomon's case while going through some of those old files.
And it catches his eye right away because Klein spent seven years in the army and he and Solomon were actually in boot camp at the same time, although they never actually met. And he can't stand the thought of a fellow soldier's murder going unsolved. And as he flips through the file, he sees potential. The witnesses who ID'd the killers are still alive, as are the potential killers themselves.
And when he reaches out to a retired investigator who worked the case, that guy tells him he thinks it's solvable, too. Klein thinks if he can track down Frank again and somehow convince Brenda to finally cooperate, they might have enough to finally charge these guys. Maybe whatever fear was keeping people silent back then has faded away.
Maybe now they can even develop some new witnesses who were too scared to come forward before. And Detective Klein knows exactly where he wants to start. Not with Brenda, not with Frank, but with Gail. All these years later, when Klein interviews her at her job in September of 2022, she sticks to the part of her story that basically has her not with Solomon when he's being killed.
But this time around, she admits that they were romantically involved. Like she told police the very first time.
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