By Ralph Ellis
The wife of accused Dunwoody daycare killer Hemy Neuman alleges he had an illicit affair with the victim’s wife, tried to clean incriminating evidence from her computer the day of the slaying and attended the victim’s funeral and shoveled dirt onto the coffin.
Though authorities are revealing few details about the criminal case, Neuman’s wife, Ariela Neuman, made detailed allegations about what led up to the shooting in her separation filing. She didn’t specify how she obtained the information.
Hemy Neuman, 48, is accused of fatally shooting Russell “Rusty” Sneiderman, a 36-year-old businessman from Dunwoody, on Nov. 18 in the parking lot of Dunwoody Prep, a day care facility where Sneiderman had just dropped off his child. Police said the gunman drove away in a minivan.
A DeKalb County Superior Court judge has decided Hemy Neuman will face trial on murder charges starting Oct. 17. Defense lawyers said a jury trial could take up to four weeks. Judge Gregory Adams also said he’ll hear motions sometime in August. Neuman has pleaded not guilty to murder and other charges.
Ariela Neuman said in the court papers that her husband was sexually attracted to Andrea Sneiderman, but she didn’t want to get involved while married.
Ariela Neuman filed for separation in March. In court papers filed May 12, she said she was trying to help an unemployed couple with two small children when she gave her husband, an employee of GE Energy, the resume of Andrea Sneiderman, Russell Sneiderman’s wife. Andrea Sneiderman got a job at the company, and Hemy Neuman was her supervisor.
Ariela Neuman said in the court papers that her husband was sexually attracted to Andrea Sneiderman, but she didn’t want to get involved while married. Eventually the two entered into a consensual relationship, Ariela Neuman said.
Both couples had apparently had financial problems. Hemy Neuman put his family on an austere budget, Ariela Neuman said, and Andrea Sneiderman complained she was under pressure as the chief breadwinner for the family while her husband was unemployed.
Ariela Neuman said her husband and Andrea Sneiderman made several trips together. She said her husband told her that in July 2010, he shared two bottles of wine with an “HR representative” in Boulder, Colo., and that the “HR representative” didn’t leave the hotel room until 4 a.m. Actually, Andrea Sneiderman was the “HR representative,” Ariela Neuman said.
In September, Ariela Neuman expected to travel with her husband on a business trip to Scotland and England, but shortly before the trip he said she couldn’t go, she said. Andrea Sneiderman went on the trip, though she wasn’t required to do so by the company, Ariela Neuman said in court filings.
On Oct. 3, Hemy Neuman sent an email to his wife, their children and family members announcing his plans to move out of their house in East Cobb County, Ariela Neuman said. That same day, she alleges, he and Andrea Sneiderman went on an overnight business trip to Greenville, S.C.
Ariela Neuman said her husband purchased a pistol Nov. 1 and took it to Pannell’s Firearms and Range in Woodstock for target practice. On Nov. 18, the day of the shooting, Hemy Neuman retrieved the company-issued computer of Andrea Sneiderman so he could erase evidence of the relationship, Ariela Neuman said.
After the shooting, Hemy Neuman attended the funeral, sat Shiva at the house, and shoveled dirt on Russell Sneiderman’s coffin, all while communicating with Andrea Sneiderman though text messages, emails and phone calls, his wife alleges.
Neuman was arrested in early January and has been held without bond in the DeKalb Jail since then. Police said they connected Neuman to the crime through vehicle rental records.
Ariela Neuman claims her husband’s lawyers are being financed by his mother, who provided $300,000 for his defense. Ariela Neuman complains Neuman has not provided any money for her or their 17-year-old daughter since January.
Andrea Sneiderman has not been charged.