Forensic Transmissions Episode 19: Hemy Neuman Trial
In November 2009, 49-year-old business executive Hemy Neuman shot and killed father-of-two Rusty Sneiderman outside a Dunwoody day care facility where he had just dropped off his young son. Neuman pleaded not guilty by reason of insanity. He had been obsessed with Rusty’s 34-year-old wife Andrea, his colleague at General Electric, whom he had hired in May.
Andrea testified that she had “no choice” but to put up with the unwanted advances from Neuman, for the sake of her career. She said she had shied away from her boss, who had asked her to marry him twice. However, police believed the two were having an affair, and initially charged Andrea with involvement in her husband’s murder.
In this episode, the witness is a friend of Hemy Neuman’s, a realtor named Melanie White, who sold Neuman his home in 2006. She testifies about meeting with Hemy in the summer of 2010 to discuss possibly short-selling his home due to his financial and marital troubles. Hemy told Melanie that he had left his wife for a younger woman who had two young children, but that she was reluctant to leave her husband because she was worried about losing her family.
Melanie explains how she advised Hemy to go back to his wife and forget about the other woman, who, she thought, seemed to be stringing him along, but in a later meeting in October 2010, he said he was now even closer to the new woman, Andrea. He discussed their upcoming work trip to London.
“That he and Andrea go closer. I believe that is when, I believe that was the time that he said that he and Andrea had decided that they were soul mates. He also told me that Andrea was adamant that she would not leave her husband and her two kids. And he continually asked me what I thought he should do,” White said.
She also testifies that Hemy confided that he and Andrea shared a bed in London. Melanie said she told Hemy that “Andrea has you on a yo-yo emotionally. She keeps lifting you up, then knocking you down.” We are left with two questions: (1) Was Hemy telling Melanie the truth about his relationship with Andrea, or was he fantasizing (or boasting, or delusional)? (2) If he was telling the truth, was Andrea’s frustrating behavior responsible for Hemy’s emotional breakdown?