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By BILL DUHART
Courier-Post Staff
CHERRY HILL
It's hard to imagine the Rabbi Fred Neulander murder saga getting more media attention.
After all, gavel-to-gavel coverage of the trial and retrial was plastered nationally on Court TV. Dozens of media outlets were practically camped out at courthouses in Camden and Freehold and the vox populi was quizzed often on its deepest feelings about last year's murder-for- hire conviction.
But if you thought you'd heard the last of it, think again.
Several national news outfits are lined up with zoom cameras, microphones and probing questioners to dissect the drama of the community icon who paid hit men to beat his wife, Carol, to death.
One of the first shows is City Confidential, an Arts and Entertainment Network news drama.
A crew from the show swept into the township this week for 10 days of location shots and softly lit interviews. Producers said the series, which has run on the channel since 1998, shows how crime affects small communities.
Cherry Hill and Neulander "seems to be a perfect fit for what we're trying to do," said Michael Rogers, a producer for Knoxville, Tenn.-based Jupiter Entertainment.
"A large Jewish community, a leader of that community and his wife who owned a bakery shop: These cases tell you no community in America is immune from crime."
Neighbors in Neulander's old neighborhood have seen Rogers' camera crew. Some, like Tom Folger, have taken it all in stride.
"I saw somebody out there and figured it was some sort of news outfit," said Folger, 60, an engineer on Pembroke Court, a cul-de-sac across from the Neulander home.
"I wouldn't be surprised if a movie is made," Folger added.
Rogers' crew worked the police beat Wednesday, interviewing current and former cops. They've already interviewed Neulander's attorney, Michael Riley. Neulander and Barry Schwartz, the rabbi of Congregation M'kor Shalom, Neulander's former temple, refused interviews, Rogers said.
Police Chief Brian Malloy said he sat down on camera because he thinks the community is healing.
"I think this is cathartic," Malloy said. "This is just like any crisis with an individual or family. The congregants at M'kor Shalom have rallied around the new rabbi. It's a close-knit and tight community."
Reach Bill Duhart at (856) 486-2576 or bduhart@courierpostonline.com
