May 4, 2000

by Dana DiFilippo, Regina Medina
and Nicole Weisensee
Philadelphia Daily News Staff Writers

He's written a book and dabbles in poetry. He presides over weddings, bar mitzvahs and bat mitzvahs. And he leads services at shiva, the traditional Jewish period of mourning.

Five years after coming under suspicion in the Nov. 1, 1994, beating death of his wife, Rabbi Fred J. Neulander, of Cherry Hill, N.J., has tried to maintain a sense of normalcy in his everyday life.

But he remains, in his own words, "the man you love to hate."

That seemed especially true in his neighborhood yesterday, where doubts flared with news of the arrest Monday of a Collingswood private investigator who says Neulander paid him to kill his wife. Police also arrested a Pennsauken man accused of delivering the fatal blows to Carol Neulander.

"He's going on with his life too normally," said one longtime neighbor who declined to give his name. "He walks around in his shorts and has visitors and does normal things and all. He doesn't at all act like a murder suspect."

Neulander has become somewhat of a celebrity in his wooded neighborhood of minivans and riding lawnmowers.

Passers-by gawk at his home and stop to chat with journalists. This week, the loiterers included reporters from the Los Angeles Times and the New York Daily News.

Yesterday boys on dirt bikes gathered at the end of Neulander's driveway, daring each other to go ring his doorbell. As they egged each other on, moving closer to the front door, one steered in circles, hitting Neulander's battered trash can with each pass.

In the face of such scrutiny, Neulander has maintained his pleasant demeanor.

Approached at his home yesterday, the clean-shaven rabbi answered his door in a black shirt and khakis, telephone to his ear.

"I'm the man you love to hate," he told his caller, excusing himself to address a reporter.

He apologetically referred all comments to his attorneys, saying only that he still keeps busy with rabbinical work and tutoring.

His attorney, Jeffrey Zucker, said the rabbi also has done some "independent writing and research." He is writing a book of fiction and has submitted a proposal to a publisher, Zucker said. He would not discuss the book's content and said he didn't know the publisher's identity.

A friend said Neulander had a lot of money stored away and no mortgage on his home - assessed at $160,700 last year - so he is able to support himself by doing weddings, bar mitzvahs and other work.

Neighbors said he goes about his life without fanfare.

"He goes to the store and takes out his garbage and functions like anyone else," neighbor Stephen Magosin said.

"People have been very respectful of his privacy. This has been uncomfortable for everybody," agreed Pamela Rosenblum, a mother of two who lives across the street.

But Neulander holes up at home when media attention flares, they say.

One such flare-up happened Monday when Camden County investigators arrested Len Jenoff, 54, of Collingswood, and Paul Daniels, 26, of Pennsauken, in Carol Neulander's slaying.

Jenoff confessed to prosecutors Friday, saying he decided to clear his conscience during an interview with an Inquirer reporter earlier that day. He told prosecutors that Neulander paid him to kill his wife, but he chickened out and hired Daniels to do the job.

Neulander said he found his wife dead when he came home from a late night at the synagogue. At that time, the motive was believed to be robbery.

Investigators later determined that the rabbi was having an affair with Philadelphia radio personality Elaine Soncini at the time of his wife's death. The rabbi was indicted in January 1999 on murder and conspiracy charges.

Some neighbors remain defenders, even as they acknowledge their doubts.

"I really have tried to have no opinion about it because I want my kids to understand that you're innocent until proven guilty and you should have an open mind until you know all the facts," Rosenblum said.

Magosin, 27, grew up with Neulander's son Matt, a Cherry Hill paramedic who responded to the scene the night his mother was murdered. Matt Neulander now is in medical school, Magosin said.

"I find it impossible that [the rabbi] could have done this to his wife," said Magosin, a pharmacist. "Then again, I never expected that he'd have an affair."

The rabbi's former synagogue, the Congregation M'kor Shalom, released a statement this week urging the public to withhold judgment:

"Our tradition venerates the pursuit of justice for all, as exemplified by the biblical command, 'Justice, justice shall you pursue.' These recent arrests and turn of events have surprised and disturbed our entire community. However, we must still remember that our system of justice requires that all persons are presumed innocent unless and until proven guilty. It is our prayer and hope that, when the proceeding is concluded, justice will be served."

Neulander resigned his post at Congregation M'Kor Shalom in February 1995, three months after the slaying. He later was suspended from the Central Conference of American Rabbis.

With Jenoff's confession, prosecutors now have a fighting chance to win a case many watchers had previously thought unwinnable, say some of Philadelphia's top defense attorneys.

"If this guy [Jenoff] is credible, it's going to be difficult to win," said Brian McMonagle, former Philadelphia assistant district attorney and current defense attorney.

"The case now becomes a case. Whereas before it would have been a quick 'not guilty,' now it's a trial. Any time you have a contract killing without the killer, it's difficult."

Defense attorney Andrew Gay said, "Even if [the defense] shows these people are corrupt, it's extremely damaging evidence. They had a pretty thin case to begin with. This certainly thickens it up a little bit."

Bernard Siegel, also a former Philadelphia prosecutor and current criminal defense attorney, agreed.

"It's going to add a lot of charge to the trial. It's going to be very entertaining. Unless they can make them out to have a vendetta against the rabbi or just trying to get publicity, it seems to me the prosecution has a good case."

Neulander's attorneys are expected to attack Jenoff's character, McMonagle said.

"How do we know he's not some lunatic that did this on his own?" he added.

McMonagle dismissed assertions that the confession was a bid for publicity.

"People don't plead guilty to murder to get attention."

Greg Reinert, spokesman for Camden County Prosecutor Lee Solomon, wouldn't confirm whether Jenoff took a lie detector test or say whether investigators made other attempts to corroborate his story.

He also declined to speculate on the effect of Jenoff's and Daniels' comments on the case.

"He's innocent until proven guilty," Reinert said. "Obviously we feel we have a strong case. I'm not going to even try to predict what a jury may or may not decide."

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