Archived News

The wife of the man accused of murdering a Dunwoody entrepreneur has filed for separation as investigators look for a motive for homicide in e-mail and phone records between the suspect and the victim’s wife.

DeKalb County Superior Court Judge Gregory A. Adams has issued search and seizure warrants in the murder case of Russell Jay “Rusty” Sneiderman who was killed on Nov. 18 after he dropped off his 2-year-old son at Dunwoody Prep on Chamblee-Dunwoody Road. He was shot multiple times and was pronounced dead after being transported to Atlanta Medical Center.

Last month, the county’s district attorney announced that Hemy Zvi Neuman, 45, was indicted by a grand jury on one count of malice murder and one count of possessing a firearm during the commission of a felony.

DeKalb investigators requested the warrants to seek information contained in the phone and e-mail records of Neuman and Andrea Sneiderman, Rusty’s wife.

The information requested includes internet history, e-mail messages, address books, log-in records, photos and videos “that would indicate planning, collaboration, or premeditation to commit murder.”

On Feb. 7, Ariela Neuman, the suspect’s wife for 22 years, filed for separation, according to Esther Panitch, Neuman’s attorney.

According to the court documents, Ariela Neuman is accusing her husband of adultery and “cruel treatment, which consisted of the willful infliction of pain, bodily or mental.” The couple have not lived together since Oct. 3.

“Filing a suit for separate maintenance is the best way to protect my client and her children’s interests at this time,” said Panitch in a statement. “The filing speaks for itself, and I will not comment any further at this time.”

A company spokesman has confirmed that Andrea Sneiderman worked under the direction of Hemy Neuman, an operations and quality manager at GE Electric Energy in Marietta.

Investigators believe that Neuman and the victim’s wife were in “continuous communication” before and after the homicide.

According to the warrants, Neuman went to work early on the day of the killing and then left the office before the crime. He returned to work after the shooting occurred.

When Neuman was arrested, his iPad and iPhone were seized and Andrea Sneiderman’s personal e-mail address was found in his Yahoo address book. Investigators believe the e-mail accounts of the two “could potentially store information that is not necessarily illicit” but which may reveal a motive to murder Sneiderman.

The accounts could also point to other witnesses, suspects and accomplices.

Surveillance video on the day of the crime showed a silver Kia Sedona leaving the scene. That vehicle was determined to have been rented by Neuman on Nov. 17 and returned on Nov. 18 after the killing.

Inside the vehicle, crime scene investigators discovered a synthetic hair like those used in fake beards, according to the warrant.

The arraignment of Neuman is set for April 4, at 9 a.m. in the courtroom of Judge Gregory Adams.