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When a harrowing 911 call reached Onondaga County dispatchers in Central New York on the morning of September 17, 2012, one undeniable fact emerged: the daughter of esteemed philanthropist Leslie Neulander was in distress.
“Oh, my God. Oh, my God. My mother. My mommy,” Jenna Neulander moaned in the 911 call, obtained by Dateline: Unforgettable.
Dr. Robert “Bob” Neulander, a prominent OBGYN, claimed that after returning from a run, he discovered his wife Leslie unconscious in the shower following a fall, and subsequently moved her to the bedroom to administer CPR.
Leslie, 61, tragically never regained consciousness and was pronounced dead on the bedroom floor. Her passing left a confounding puzzle that would extend over years — and necessitate multiple trials — to unravel.
“When Leslie Neulander died suddenly in her bathroom, police believed it was an accident. In fact, it would have been an open and shut case if not for the nagging suspicions of two of Leslie’s book club buddies,” Dateline correspondent Andrea Canning said of the case that’s profiled in “The House on Shalimar Way” episode.
Who was Leslie Neulander?
Leslie was a well-known fixture in DeWitt, New York, a suburb of Syracuse. Once a nurse, Leslie gave up her medical career after meeting and marrying Bob, so that she could stay home to raise their two children, along with Bob’s two kids from a previous marriage, while he ran a successful obstetrics and gynecology practice.
“They just always seemed to have a very powerful public persona. They had two lovely children from their marriage together. They were also very friendly and successful and gregarious,” close friend Dr. Mary Jumbelic recalled. “They seemed to have the perfect life.”
That life came to a tragic end on September 17, 2012. Emergency responders were called to the couple’s massive 8,000 square foot mansion on Shalimar Way.
According to Bob, Leslie had slipped and fallen in the shower and gravely injured herself in the process.
Large amount of blood found in bathroom and bedroom
Tom Norton, who was then a sergeant with the DeWitt Police Department, was one of the first to arrive at the scene. He was struck by the large amount of blood found in the bathroom and Leslie’s bedroom.
“Off to my right, I see the paramedics working on a female, she’s on a backboard,” he said. “There’s a lot of blood around her and then I look off to my left and that’s the entrance to the bathroom and there’s just blood all over.”
Norton noticed one of Leslie’s eyes was “closed and swollen and completely black.”
Bob explained away the blood by telling authorities that he had moved his wife from the bathroom into the bedroom so that he could perform CPR. A medical examiner on the scene concluded that Leslie’s injuries appeared to be the result of an accidental fall and it looked, at least initially, to be the end of the investigation.
Suspicions about how Leslie Neulander died begin to arise
As news of Leslie’s death spread, family friend Terri Barr, a nurse who had once worked in Bob’s practice, rushed to the family’s home to offer support. Jenna asked Barr to help make sure the blood got cleaned up in her mother’s room.
When Barr walked into the bedroom, she was shocked by what she found.
“I thought it was very unusual because I didn’t think that a closed head injury from a fall in the shower would have any blood,” she said.
After seeing the condition of the room, Barr began to suspect that her friend may have been killed.
But after the death was ruled an accident, the seasoned nurse tried to brush away her concerns and focus on comforting the grieving family. As the months passed, however, Barr couldn’t shake the feeling that something more sinister may have happened that morning.
She sought out the help of Jumbelic, a friend of the Neulanders that she’d met at a book club meeting at Leslie’s house who happened to also be a former Onondaga County medical examiner. In addition to the large amount of blood, Barr was also bothered by the fact that Bob had chosen to move Leslie.
“Bob was very good in an emergency and it is instinct, family or not, to kick into saving mode and we all know not to move a body,” she said.
While Jumbelic heard Barr out, she was admittedly skeptical about Barr’s feelings that something was off.
“I had faith in the system and I knew there had to have been some investigation concerning the death and if there was anything, then it would have come out,” Jumbelic said.
Still, she encouraged Barr to speak to police in order to have the concern documented. When Barr did so, she learned she hadn’t been the only one to voice concerns.
According to Scott Kapral, who at the time was a detective with the DeWitt Police Department, the district attorney’s office had also received an anonymous letter just days after Leslie’s death that revealed the couple’s significant financial problems.
“Leslie was murdered”
When Jumbelic learned that Bob was thinking of taking a trip out of the country, she reached out to a former colleague, Onondaga County District Attorney William Fitzpatrick, who admitted there were some concerns about Leslie’s death and asked her to take a look at the case.
Jumbelic pored through the photographs from the scene, the original autopsy findings, and statements to police and came to a chilling conclusion. She didn’t believe Bob’s story explained Leslie’s injuries, including a large 5-inch wound to the side of her skull and multiple injuries on her face. Jumbelic was also troubled by the blood spatter she saw at Leslie’s bedside, on her lamp and on the wall.
“Leslie was murdered,” Jumbelic concluded. “She died as a result of blunt head trauma and the manner was homicide.”
Leslie Neulander had planned to get divorced, friend says
Another one of Leslie’s friends, Nevin Robi, told investigators that Leslie told him just days before her death that she was planning to get a divorce and move into her own apartment.
Investigators returned to the home and found a blood stain on the dark fabric headboard of the bed, suggesting she had been bleeding while laying on the bed.
Bob was brought in for questioning and he told Fitzpatrick that he’d picked his wife up and moved her several times because he couldn’t “see her color” as he was trying to administer CPR. He offered no explanation for the excessive amounts of blood.
Robert “Bob” Neulander arrested for second-degree murder
Bob was arrested in 2014 for second-degree murder and tampering with physical evidence. Despite the support of both his children and Leslie’s family, Bob went on trial in the spring of 2015.
Prosecutors alleged Bob killed Leslie in the bedroom, then staged the scene to look like a shower fall, even changing and disposing of Leslie’s bedsheets before authorities arrived.
Bob was found guilty on both counts, but it wouldn’t be the end of the story. The verdict was later overturned as a result of juror misconduct.
He went on trial a second time in March of 2022. Bob was found guilty on both counts a second time and sentenced to 20 years to life behind bars.
For Leslie’s devoted friends, it was a relief to get justice for her.
“That kind of has been a life goal for me, to speak for the dead — and so to speak for my friend was an honor,” Jumbelic said.
