Elmer Edward Solly (September 5, 1945 – November 30, 2007) was convicted of manslaughter in 1970 for the death of two-year-old Christopher Welsh.

[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.

There, he befriended a prison psychologist, who convinced officials to allow Solly to visit his mother.

[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.

[2] In 1999, New Jersey State Police, Louis Kinkle, and Cumberland County Sheriff's Office investigators reopened the Solly case.

They enlisted the aid of forensic artist Frank Bender, who used 25-year-old photographs of Solly to create an image of what he would look like currently.

In March 2000, Edna Bolt died, after which other members of Solly's family began cooperating with investigators.