A nearly weeklong manhunt in Worcester, Massachusetts, ended in tragedy Monday when a body believed to be Karen Solomon — wanted in the killing of her police-officer husband — was found in woods near a local pond, roughly half a mile from the home where he died.

The case began August 18, when Worcester police responding to a "person down" call at a Wildwood Avenue home found Officer Kurt Solomon dead inside. Kurt, a 31-year veteran of the Worcester Police Department and father of two adult sons, was just days from retirement. Karen Solomon, 58, vanished from the scene, and police quickly obtained a warrant charging her with assault and battery with a dangerous weapon causing serious bodily injury, describing her as armed and dangerous.

A Multi-Agency Search

What followed was an intensive search involving Worcester Police, Massachusetts State Police, the U.S. Marshals Service, Homeland Security Investigations, and a U.S. Customs and Border Protection helicopter. Searchers combed the area around Coes Pond, near the Solomons' home, as early as August 20 — the same stretch of woods where a body was ultimately discovered four days later.

On Monday, two employees of Fairlawn Rehabilitation Hospital out on a walk came across the body. A handgun was recovered nearby. Police say identification is still preliminary but that the death appears self-inflicted.

WE BELIEVE THIS CASE IS A TRAGIC MURDER-SUICIDE THAT OCCURRED.

Worcester Police Chief Paul Saucier delivered that assessment at a news conference, adding that investigators found no documented history of domestic abuse between the couple — though he stressed that absence isn't determinative in how the case is being understood.

The story has drawn national attention in part because of a wrenching irony: Karen Solomon co-founded First H.E.L.P., a nonprofit devoted to addressing mental health crises and suicide among police officers and other first responders. She authored two books on the subject, "Hearts Beneath the Badge" and "The Price They Pay," and had previously testified before a presidential commission on law enforcement about officer mental-health support.

The Solomon family released a statement calling the week "a nightmare" that left them "heartbroken and rudderless," while thanking the agencies involved for their "compassion, dedication and empathy." Thomas Duffy, president of the local police union NEPBA Local 911, said of Kurt Solomon's colleagues: "You become more than co-workers, you become family."

Kurt Solomon's wake was scheduled for Tuesday evening, with funeral services set for Wednesday morning. Formal identification and autopsy results for the body found Monday are still pending, as is any further detail investigators release about what happened inside the Solomon home on August 18.