Rabbi’s Daughter Tells of Call Before Slaying

The daughter of a rabbi accused of arranging his wife’s murder told jurors she was on the telephone with her mother just before she was killed.

Rebecca Neulander-Rockoff, who lived in Philadelphia at the time, told jurors in Camden that she and her mother talked at least once a day and met at least once a week. The 45-minute telephone conversation was cut short by visitors to the Neulanders’ Cherry Hill home, Neulander-Rockoff testified.

The testimony came in the trial’s third day. The prosecution contends that Rabbi Fred Neulander, 60, arranged to have his wife, Carol, killed so that he could continue an affair with former Philadelphia radio personality Elaine Soncini.