News that a convicted murderer who killed his newlywed wife on Christmas Eve in 1987 has been granted a rare parole hearing has frightened the victim's family.

Matthew Solomon strangled his wife, Lisa Weaver Solomon, after an argument six weeks into their marriage. He hid her body in the woods in Huntington and claimed she'd gone missing. 

"We know what kind of a person he is," says Diane Weaver, the victim's mother. "He's very deceitful. He's very dangerous."

Solomon led police on a phony search, claiming his wife had gone out for a walk and never returned. Investigators later found the body, and Solomon was convicted of murder. He has been in prison for almost 30 years.

"Look what he did to Lisa," Weaver says. "I mean he put her bags on the side of the road. Who does that? This man has no heart, no soul."

He has been eligible for parole for the last 12 years and has been denied seven times, including as recently as last September. Solomon appealed the parole board's decision in that hearing, relatives of the victims say they've recently learned. State corrections officials confirmed that Solomon will receive a new hearing, but they did not say on what basis.

"I am devastated," Weaver says. "I am frightened. I am terribly afraid when he comes out he's gonna look for revenge."

Anthony LaPinta, a prominent Long Island defense attorney, says it's common for inmates to appeal parole board rulings -- but it's also an uphill battle.

"That standard is called 'arbitrary and capricious,'" says LaPinta, who has no connection to the case. "He'll have to show the parole board's decision was irrational and not based on any reasonable view of the facts whatsoever."