Dunwoody Day Care Killing: Wife Calls Boss Who Killed Husband 'Delusional'
Andrea Sneiderman said she fell prey to Hemy Neuman's "masterful manipulation."
ATLANTA, Ga. Feb. 22, 2012 — -- The General Electric worker whose former boss and alleged lover admits he killed her husband said the ex-boss was "a self-proclaimed delusional individual" who fooled her using "masterful manipulation."
Testifying at Hemy Neuman's murder trial in Atlanta, his former employee, Andrea Sneiderman, described the former high-level GE operations manager as a "predator."
"Every time we spoke, it was like he was my best friend. Every time we had a verbal conversation, 'Oh, I understand. I respect your marriage,'" Sneiderman said of Neuman. "But what he liked to do was jab at my marriage. But then, 'I respect you. You're a good mother.' That was his mode of operation."
Neuman, 48, is charged with shooting and killing Sneiderman's husband, Rusty Sneiderman, 36, in the parking lot of the Sneidermans' son's preschool in November 2010.
Neuman has pleaded not guilty by reason of insanity.
Neuman's defense claims he and Andrea Sneiderman were involved in a hot-and-cold affair when she worked for him at General Electric. Sneiderman denies any affair.
Neither the defense nor the prosecution denies that Neuman pulled the trigger and killed Sneiderman, but they tell divergent stories of what led to the killing.
Neuman's defense attorney, Doug Peters, said in his opening statements that Neuman believed he had been visited by an angel resembling Olivia Newton-John and a demon resembling Barry White, who told him that Sneiderman's children were Neuman's and that he needed to protect them by killing Rusty Sneiderman.
The prosecution painted Neuman as a calculating killer who planned Sneiderman's shooting for months -- going to gun shows, taking a gun safety course, going to target practice, renting a car for the shooting and wearing a disguise.
Sneiderman told the court that after Neuman read her a poem at dinner during a business trip, she realized that "he had deeper feelings for me than just friends."
"None of those feelings were ever returned and I made myself completely clear where I stood," Sneiderman said. "I did nothing but try to help Hemy Neuman -- suggested he get counseling in his marriage, not move out of his home. I would do that for any friend.
"I remember walking out of that dinner like we were best buddies," she said. "It was a masterful manipulation."
Sneiderman testified there were times when she "realized every activity, every situation he put me in was a convenient situation to get what he wanted, to get me in a position he wanted, to get me to spend time with him."
In one email exchange, Neuman apologized for causing Sneiderman pain.
She responded, "I don't know what to say. Apology heartfelt, but does not make ongoing pain go away that I now have to repent and live with the rest of my life."
Sneiderman told the court that she was referring to holding hands with Neuman.
She described an incident where her husband found a man laying between two air conditioning units outside their house. The man was Neuman in a disguise.
She later told Neuman about the incident -- and when an attorney asked why, Sneiderman said, "Because it was bizarre. Because it was scary. He stood and looked at me and stared at me. And it was him the whole time."
Sneiderman said Neuman had been stalking her house for months.
The day Rusty Sneiderman was killed, Andrea Sneiderman recalled getting a phone call that something had happened to her husband, but she said no one would tell her exactly what had happened until she got to the hospital.
Related Stories
ABC News Live