The Other Woman Testifies

Former Philadelphia radio personality Elaine Soncini testified Tuesday that she met Cherry Hill Rabbi Fred Neulander when her husband was dying and that she had "relations" with him within two weeks. When their relationship ended two years later, she was afraid for her own life, she said.

Soncini's testimony came during the second day of Neulander's capital murder trial. He is charged with arranging the killing of his wife Carol on Nov. 1, 1994, so he could carry on the affair with Soncini.

Neulander's lawyer, Jeffrey Zucker, on Monday acknowledged the rabbi had an affair, but reminded jurors in his opening statement that his client is on trial for murder _ not adultery.

In Soncini's testimony Tuesday, though, the jury heard plenty about adultery. Soncini said the relationship was immoral and that she accepted responsibility for it.

During questioning by Camden County First Assistant Prosecutor James Lynch, Soncini said she met Neulander on Dec. 11, 1992, the day her husband, Ken Garland, died.

After the funeral, she said, Neulander asked if he could take her out for lunch. About a week later, they met at her home and kissed. A few days later, he returned and they first had "relations," she said.

Their liaisons were usually at her house over long lunches. He parked in her garage, she said, so passers-by wouldn't see his car with its "clergy" sticker parked in the driveway.

But sometimes, she said, they met and had "relations" in his office at Congregation M'kor Shalom, the Cherry Hill temple where he was senior rabbi.

She testified she told Neulander at one point in 1994 about bad dreams she'd been having. He told her about some bad dreams of his own, she said.

"He dreamed that violence was coming to Carol," she said.

On Tuesday, Soncini said that one of the most awkward moments of her affair with Neulander was a lunch with his family.

The rabbi arranged for her to have, ostensibly, a chance meeting with him and his son at a deli. But soon after she arrived, Carol Neulander and the couple's daughter showed up. Then the couple's other son and his friends arrived.

Soncini said she felt like crawling under the table, but instead paid for everyone's meal.

She also testified about how she and Neulander exchanged gifts. She gave him a $700 television, a tuxedo and other clothing.

She said his gifts to her were more modest, such as an umbrella and a pillow. One was a pin that belonged to his mother and which he said was his most prized possession.

She said they talked as many as 10 times a day. Their first conversation would be as early as 3:45 a.m., soon after she arose to head to WPEN's Philadelphia studios.

Wearing a dark brown pants suit, Soncini kept her eyes focused away from Neulander. She spoke admiringly of him.

"I thought he was brilliant," she said. "I thought he was extremely articulate, very expressive _ superior to most anyone I had ever met."

She said that she saw his coming into her life just as her husband was dying as a sign. As she got to know him better, she converted to Judaism.

But, she testified, she decided in 1994 that she needed to make changes in her life. She told him that at year's end their relationship would end.

The rabbi told her that they would be together by her birthday, Dec. 17, she said.

After his wife was killed on Nov. 1 of that year, she said he told her, "Trust me, when God closes a door, He opens a window."

Soncini said Neulander called her to his office less than two weeks after the slaying and told her he would marry her "as soon as appropriately possible."

She didn't tell him at the time, she said, but she thought that sounded wrong.

Their relationship cooled in the following weeks, she said. The last time they were intimate was in early December when he went to her home to light a Hanukkah candle with her.

She said when she was questioned by investigators Dec. 5, she began to fear for her own safety.

"I was afraid Fred Neulander might kill me, as a matter of fact," she said, "because I didn't know what had transpired" the night Carol Neulander was killed.

She admitted she lied to investigators that day, saying she was not involved with Neulander.

The next morning, Dec. 6, though, she went back to investigators and said she had been in a relationship with the married rabbi.

That night, police in Cherry Hill began to stand guard in Soncini's home. One of the officers assigned to her was Larry Leaf.

A few days later, he returned after his shift and the two quickly began dating. They were married the next June, two months before he retired from the police force.

Last year, Soncini resigned from WPEN and the couple moved to Florida.

Soncini said she told Neulander not to call in December 1994, but he wrote her letters, some of which she read in court.

In one, he wrote, "The thought of my being a murderer or instigator is repugnant."

(Copyright 2001 by The Associated Press. All Rights Reserved.)

Article continues below

---

advertisement

---

Author: 6 ABC - Action News