Sol Salomon, a 35-year-old former Israeli soldier and owner of a fire extinguisher maintenance firm, was last seen on October 12, 1982, in Northridge, California. He reportedly left with a business associate, Harvey Rader, to attend a car auction. That same night, his wife Elaine, their 9-year-old son Mitchell, and Elaine's 15-year-old daughter, Michalle, also disappeared from their family home. The family had moved to the US from Israel in 1972 and settled in Northridge, where Sol ran his business and they owned some rental properties.
Concerns for the family's welfare arose on October 13, 1982, when a neighbor was alerted to their overflowing swimming pool. Upon checking the residence, the neighbor found the home locked and dark, with the family's work van and Rolls Royce in the driveway, but their Mercedes was missing. The family dog was found in the backyard. After family members were also unable to make contact, the police were called.
Inside the home, police initially found little out of the ordinary, with valuables such as jewelry and cash left behind, suggesting robbery was not a motive. However, a more thorough search revealed unsettling clues in the daughter's bedroom, including blood splatters and a broken bed.
The investigation into the family's disappearance soon focused on Harvey Rader, an English national and former auto shop owner with whom Sol had a business relationship. Prosecutors alleged that the motive for the presumed murders was a soured business deal, contending that Rader killed Sol after being asked to repay a $20,000 investment in a failed car dealership. The theory was that Rader then killed the rest of the family because they knew he was the last person to see Sol alive. On October 17, 1982, some of the family's personal belongings, including passports, wallets, and photos, were discovered scattered along the Antelope Valley Freeway near Acton, California, leading authorities to treat the case as a homicide.
Despite the circumstantial evidence, the case against Harvey Rader proved difficult to prosecute as no bodies, witnesses, or murder weapons were ever found. Rader was tried three times for the murders of the Salomon family. The first trial in 1989 ended in a hung jury, with jurors leaning 11 to 1 for conviction. A second trial in 1990 was declared a mistrial due to a conflict of interest with Rader's defense attorney. Finally, in July 1992, after a third trial, a jury acquitted Rader of all charges. The defense argued there was no concrete evidence that the family was even dead, and some jurors expressed reasonable doubt. The disappearance of Sol Salomon and his family remains an unsolved case.Last Seen: Oct 12, 1982
