NJ Hit Man Says Rabbi Neulander Did Pay Him to Kill Wife

Len Jenoff testifies in Monmouth County Court at the retrial of Rabbi Fred Neulander in this 2002 file photo

Though he recanted his testimony from Rabbi Fred Neulander’s trial a few years ago, the convicted hit man goes back to his original statement: The rabbi hired him to kill his wife

MAURICE RIVER — A hit man who admitted he was hired to kill a New Jersey rabbi's wife in 1994 then changed his story has changed it back.

Len Jenoff tells The Philadelphia Inquirer he was truthful during murder trials for Cherry Hill Rabbi Fred Neulander in 2001 and 2002. Neulander was convicted of his wife's murder in the second trial and is serving a 30-year sentence.

Jenoff broke the case open in 2000 when he confessed his role in the killing and implicated Neulander, first to an Inquirer reporter and then to authorities.

But Jenoff said in a sworn statement in 2009 that he'd been lying.

Jenoff now says he claimed he had lied because he was depressed about his time behind bars. He's scheduled to be released in two years.

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