Police: Wife Directed Dunwoody Killing Case Away From Suspect Hemy Neuman

DEKALB COUNTY, Ga. -- Detectives who interviewed Andrea Sneiderman the day after her husband Rusty's slaying, said she and her parents were directing attention away from her boss, who has been charged with the crime.

Hemy Neuman is accused of shooting and killing Rusty Sneiderman in the parking lot of Dunwoody Prep as he dropped his son off for preschool in November. Monday marked the first court hearing attended by anyone from the Sneiderman family.

"Nothing we heard in court today surprised us," his father, Don Sneiderman, told Channel 2 investigative reporter Jodie Fleischer.

The family showed no visible reaction as Neuman entered the courtroom.

"We wanted to be here for Rusty," said the victim's brother, Steve Sneiderman, adding that the family is not ready to talk about any of the other details that have surfaced during this case.

"The day after the shooting was the first time we had a chance to interview Andrea Sneiderman," testified lead Dunwoody Detective Andrew Thompson from the witness stand.

The officer acknowledged that Rusty Sneiderman's shooting was his first murder case. The police work which eventually led to the arrest of Hemy Neuman never mentioned an alleged affair with the victim's wife, Andrea Sneiderman. Neuman was her boss at General Electric Energy.

"She did mention that Hemy [Neuman] was her supervisor at that point, and that he did make an advancement toward her. But she seriously minimized the encounter and said that was a one-time incident. Nothing ever came out of that," testified Thompson.

Once prosecutors got the case, they obtained search warrants for emails, phone records and texts between the pair, and have confirmed in court records they believe there is evidence of an affair. The defense is challenging those warrants and a statement Neuman gave to police on the day of his arrest.

"So, when you decided to arrest Mr. Neuman, you had the same information essentially as you had when you began this videotaped interview?" defense attoey Bob Rubin asked.

"Right," replied Dunwoody Police Detective Gary Cortellino, who supervised Thompson and questioned Neuman for approximately four hours on the day of his arrest.

Cortellino admitted Neuman became of higher interest after detectives leaed he rented a silver Kia Sedona on Nov. 17, which matched the description of the one used in the crime on the moing of Nov. 18.

Detectives didn't read Neuman his rights until an hour into the interview. Prosecutors pointed out that Neuman was not under arrest, still had his cellphone to call a lawyer, and could have left at any time.

"He asked me, he said, 'Do I need a lawyer?' And I told him 'I don't know, do you need one?" testified Cortellino.

Defense attoey Rubin asked, "Mr. Neuman says 'I'm not waiving my rights, correct?'"

"I'm not waiving my rights, but I do want to talk," corrected Cortellino.

"At that point, did you stop questioning him?" Rubin asked.

"When he said that I didn't know exactly what he meant," answered Cortellino, who acknowledged that he kept asking questions.

Attoeys did not disclose what, if anything, Neuman said about the slaying or the alleged affair.

"I had no inkling of his role in any of this. So there was no need to Miranda as far as I'm conceed because he wasn't a suspect. He was just somebody that was in the circle knowing the family," said Cortellino.

Thompson acknowledged the other detectives were not told about Neuman's alleged unwanted advance toward Andrea Sneiderman. He said, "That information about Hemy was not shared. We were being driven toward other avenues of investigation by the family... by Andrea's parents, Andrea herself."

Andrea Sneiderman's attoey, Seth Kirschenbaum, told Channel 2 he believes Thompson was trying to deflect responsibility from himself, for failing to properly handle the information she provided.

"I don't know if that was meant as deliberately steering them away, or not really understanding what happened to Rusty Sneiderman on Nov. 18," said Rubin.

The judge has not yet ruled on whether to allow Neuman's statement or the search warrants to be used at trial, which is scheduled to begin Oct. 17.