Current Events
Author: anonymDate: 2024-11-20 17:26:15
A cherished Georgian father's demise by gunfire while escorting his child to preschool.
On November 18, 2010, the tranquil morning of Rusty Sneiderman, 36, dropping off his son at a Dunwoody, Georgia preschool was violently disrupted by shots fired from a silver minivan. Eyewitnesses reported a rapid succession of four close-range shots before the vehicle sped away.
A witness, Chris Lang, recounted to "20/20", "The scene was incredibly strange; no panic, no shouting, nothing. He simply returned to his vehicle. It wasn't at all how I envisioned a murder."
A new "20/20" episode, "Fatal Disguise," airing Friday, Nov. 15, at 9 p.m. ET and streaming the next day on Hulu, examines the case.
Another onlooker, Larry Minogue, who had earlier that morning taken his child to the same preschool, interacted with the alleged perpetrator.
He described the individual to "20/20", noting, "I observed his dark beard, and its unnatural hue immediately struck me as artificial. I realized it was a false beard." After hearing radio reports of the shooting, Minogue linked the person he had seen to the crime and informed the Dunwoody police. This testimony contributed to a suspect sketch.
Investigators, seeking any clues, questioned Sneiderman's wife, Andrea, about potential romantic rivals. She mentioned that her supervisor had made an inappropriate advance during a business trip, which she rejected. Andrea's lawyer, J. Tom Morgan, stated to "20/20", "Andrea is utterly perplexed. She's clueless about who would murder her husband or why."
Rusty had made two emergency calls in the weeks prior to his death. The first, a month before, involved a suspected home intrusion. The second, a week before the murder, was far more alarming; Rusty reported seeing a person concealing themselves outside his residence, believing the individual possibly carried a firearm.
Following a thorough examination of security camera footage from the crime site, investigators pinpointed the perpetrator's vehicle as a 2011 Kia Sedona minivan, a recently introduced model with rental markings on the windshield.
The investigation led them to a location in northern Georgia where a search of the recovered minivan uncovered synthetic hair fibers consistent with a fake beard. This, coupled with rental records, connected the vehicle to Hemy Neuman, a General Electric executive and Andrea's boss. Neuman voluntarily spoke with authorities, confirming his feelings for Andrea and acknowledging renting the minivan on November 17, but denying involvement in the murder.
During his trial, Neuman confessed to the shooting. Court-appointed psychiatric assessments, cited by his legal team, revealed his presence outside the Sneiderman home on the day of Rusty's second emergency call. Neuman's defense cited mental illness, specifically undiagnosed bipolar disorder, alongside a traumatic upbringing.
Neuman's lawyer, Bob Rubin, shared with "20/20", "His father, a concentration camp survivor, was a distant, unloving figure. We argued that his bipolar disorder impaired his understanding of right and wrong during the shooting."
Neuman also recounted conversations with supernatural entities—a malevolent spirit and an angelic being—that he alleged instructed him to end Rusty's life. While acknowledging the unreality of these claims during the psychiatric evaluation, the prosecution contended that Neuman was feigning mental instability to evade responsibility, aiming to eliminate Rusty to marry Andrea and acquire his $2 million life insurance policy.
During psychological evaluations, Neuman alleged an intimate encounter with Andrea, including watching a film together in a hotel room. Andrea vehemently denied these events and any romantic involvement. The nature of Andrea's professional relationship with Neuman dominated her testimony for the prosecution.