Fred Neulander, the New Jersey rabbi who was sentenced for hiring two men to murder his wife, has died, NBC10 confirmed Friday.
On Wednesday, April 17, Neulander, 82, was observed unresponsive by correctional officers inside an infirmary unit at the New Jersey State Prison. After staff members administered CPR, Neulander was taken to the hospital where he was pronounced dead at 6:13 p.m. Officials have not yet released a cause of death.
Neulander was the founding rabbi of Congregation M’kor Shalom, a Reform Jewish synagogue in Cherry Hill, New Jersey, that closed in 2022 after merging with another synagogue.
In 1994, Neulander paid two men $30,000 to murder his wife Carol Neulander, who was also the mother of his three children and a co-founder of a boutique bakery.
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The hired killers bludgeoned Carol Neulander to death inside her Cherry Hill home. She was 52-years-old.
During the high-profile murder trial, one of the hired killers testified that Fred Neulander wanted his wife dead so he could carry on an affair with a Philadelphia radio personality.
In 2002, Neulander was convicted of murder and sentenced to 30 years at the New Jersey State Prison after the first trial resulted in a hung jury in 2001.
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In 2016, Neulander’s bid to overturn his conviction was rejected by a state appeals court.
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