Elmer Edward Solly
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Elmer Edward Solly | |
|---|---|
 | |
| Born | September 5, 1945 |
| Died | November 30, 2007 (aged 62) |
| Other names | Daniel "Danny C" Catalano |
| Criminal charge | Manslaughter |
Time at large | 27 years |
| Escaped | June 1974 |
| Escape end | May 10, 2001 |
Elmer Edward Solly (September 5, 1945 – November 30, 2007) was convicted of manslaughter in 1970 for the death of two-year-old Christopher Welsh. Solly escaped from custody in 1974 and spent the next 27 years living under numerous pseudonyms. At the time of his arrest in May 2001, he was living in Florida as Daniel "Danny C" Catalano, a supposed former member of the American rock 'n' roll group Sha Na Na; in fact, he never had any ties to Sha Na Na.[2][3]
On the evening of July 25, 1969, Solly, in a drunken rage, severely beat his girlfriend's two-year-old son, Christopher Welsh, who died of his injuries. Solly turned himself in to local police a few days later. He was convicted of manslaughter on April 16, 1970, and incarcerated at Trenton State Prison. While Solly was in Trenton State Prison, his mother and grandmother began a letter-writing campaign alleging mistreatment on the part of prison guards.[4]
As a result of the campaign, Solly was transferred to medium-security Leesburg State Prison in 1974. There, he befriended a prison psychologist, who convinced officials to allow Solly to visit his mother. During the third visit, in June 1974, Solly was accompanied only by the psychologist. Solly asked to be allowed to visit his girlfriend, and he used the opportunity to escape.[2][5] His escape was not reported to police for six hours, giving Solly sufficient time to disappear.[6]
As a fugitive
Immediately after his escape, Solly began using a series of assumed identities to evade capture. In 1975, he was arrested in Philadelphia for receiving stolen goods, but because he used a fake name, police did not realize who he was. Similarly, he provided a fake name when he was stopped for a traffic violation in 1979 and avoided detainment.[3] Detectives had few leads in the case, and received no cooperation from Solly's family, particularly his mother, Edna Bolt, who consistently denied knowing her son's whereabouts. Eventually, Solly's escape was considered a cold case.[4]
Solly eventually made his way to Florida, where he assumed the identity of Vinnie Taylor, lead guitarist of the rock 'n' roll revival group Sha Na Na. The real Taylor died of a heroin overdose in 1974, but using forged documents, including a Social Security card, a birth certificate, and a baptism certificate, Solly successfully passed himself off as Taylor.[3][5] Solly, posing as Taylor, claimed that Taylor's death had been staged and so he took on the new stage name of Daniel "Danny C" Catalano, and began performing and recording under that name.[2] Sha Na Na discovered the fraud and demanded that Solly cease performing as Danny C. When Solly refused, the group considered filing a lawsuit, but decided not to do so in order to deny Solly the free publicity the case would generate.[2]