NJ rabbi convicted of hiring hitmen to kill wife dies in prison after decades of serving life sentence

Warning: This article contains a recollection of crime and can be triggering to some, readers’ discretion advised.

CHERRY HILL, NEW JERSEY: A New Jersey rabbi, who three decades ago hired hitmen for $30,000 to murder his wife so he could pursue a relationship with his mistress, a Philadelphia radio personality, has died in prison.

According to a statement from the state Department of Corrections, on Wednesday, April 17, 82-year-old Fred Neulander was found unconscious in an infirmary unit at the New Jersey State Prison in Trenton.

Carol Neulander's death scene was set up to appear like a botched robbery

After being transported to Capital Health Regional Medical Center, Fred Neulander was pronounced dead shortly before 6:13 pm, as reported by the Philadelphia Inquirer. As of early Saturday, April 20, no cause of death had been provided.

Neulander founded the Congregation M'kor Shalom Reform Jewish synagogue in Cherry Hill in 1974.

CNN reported that the rabbi and his spouse, 52-year-old Carol Neulander, were prominent figures in the neighborhood due to their involvement in the synagogue and Classic Cakes, the beloved bakery that Carol helped establish.

According to the outlet, on the evening of November 1, 1994, the mother of three had just returned home from the bakery when she tragically died from a blow to the head with a lead pipe in the couple's Cherry Hill residence.

The Philadelphia Inquirer reported that although the scene was staged to resemble a botched robbery, investigators were puzzled by the fact that nothing else in the house had been disturbed or stolen.

The next year, when private investigator Len Jenoff informed the police that the rabbi had paid him and another man, Paul Daniels, $30,000 to kill Neulander's wife, the case finally started to make sense, despite Neulander's indictment in 1999.

During the rabbi's 2001 trial, prosecutors asserted that he had conspired to eliminate Carol in order to pursue his two-year relationship with Philadelphia radio host Elaine Soncini.

Reportedly, Soncini, a Catholic, even converted to Judaism to be with the rabbi, whom she had met when he officiated her late husband's funeral.

Fred Neulander was sentenced from 30 years to life in prison

Prosecutor James Lynch suggested that Neulander believed his marriage to Carol was irreparable, but he feared that getting a divorce would tarnish his public image.

Jenoff testified that on the night of the murder, Neulander ensured that he was seen by others at the synagogue, intending to establish a solid alibi for the time Carol was killed.

The case garnered widespread attention and was fully covered by CourtTV. In an effort to address local criticism after the initial trial ended in a hung jury, the retrial in 2002 was moved from Camden County to Monmouth County.

Following the second trial, Neulander was convicted of Carol's murder. He narrowly avoided the death penalty and was sentenced to a term of 30 years to life in prison. Soncini, along with two of his three children, testified against Neulander in both trials.

During his testimony, Matthew Neulander, then 29 years old, referred to his father as "Fred" and recounted overhearing him telling Carol that their marriage was "over" just before the murder.

Two years after Neulander's conviction, PBS contributor Arthur Magida chronicled the case in his true crime book titled 'The Rabbi and the Hit Man: A True Tale of Murder, Passion, and Shattered Faith.'

Carol Neulander served as the inspiration for several documentaries

According to the Inquirer, the murder of Carol Neulander served as the inspiration for a number of documentaries as well as a musical called 'A Wicked Soul in Cherry Hill,' which had a brief run in Los Angeles in 2022.

As per the Inquirer, Jenoff and Daniels were released from prison in 2014. In 2016, Neulander's attempt to have his conviction overturned was denied by the state appeals court.

In the early 2000s, Congregation M'kor Shalom merged with another synagogue to form Congregation Kol Ami.

Kol Ami Rabbi Jannifer Frenkel issued a statement to the Inquirer on Friday, April 19, stating, "Fred Neulander's leadership of the congregation ended many years ago under well-publicized circumstances that ran counter to the values our congregation holds dear."

“Rather than dwell on the past, we at Congregation Kol Ami … choose to focus on our future,” she added.