Andrea Sneiderman was having trouble in her marriage in the weeks before her husband was murdered, a former close friend testified on Thursday.
Shayna Citron told a DeKalb County jury that Andrea Sneiderman was one of her best friends for years before Andrea's husband, Rusty, was murdered by Hemy Neuman in November 2010. She says the two were comfortable discussing the personal problems the Sneidermans were having after Andrea had gone back to work.
"It definitely became more strained and that became visible at a certain point as well," Citron testified.
Rusty Sneiderman was fatally shot by Neuman, the former boss of Andrea Sneiderman at GE. Neuman has since been tried and convicted for the fatal shooting, which happened in parking lot of a daycare center in Dunwoody minutes after Rusty had dropped off his son.
Andrea Sneiderman is standing trial for allegedly lying to police about having an affair with Neuman and her knowledge concerning her husband's murder. Ms. Sneiderman maintains she did not have a romantic relationship with Neuman and did not know the latter planned to murder her husband.
Citron says Andrea talked about Rusty and Neuman during a lunch in early September 2010.
"After that lunch, I walked out thinking, 'Oh my God, Andrea has checked out of this marriage.' She was speaking about Rusty her eyes were dark and cold. When she was speaking being her boss -- who I did not know his name at that point -- she was speaking her boss, her eyes were sparkling," Citron testified.
During Neuman's murder trial last year, Citron was seen embracing Andrea. She later said that Ms. Sneiderman threatened her during that embrace for violating her trust and friendship.
Earlier in the day, the lead detective with the Dunwoody Police Department took the stand in the perjury trial of Andrea Sneiderman early Thursday to make a jarring statement: "I made a mistake."
Defense attorneys have long contended that the Dunwoody police mishandled their investigation into the 2010 fatal shooting of Rusty Sneiderman.
Detective Andrew Thompson was the lead investigator in the shooting of 36-year-old Rusty Sneiderman. It was his first time serving as the lead on a murder case.
Defense attorneys suggested that the six weeks it took to arrest Hemy Neuman was not the widow's fault, but instead was Thompson's error.
When defense attorney Thomas Clegg questioned Thompson as to why he didn't ask Andrea Sneiderman if Neuman's name was in her contacts on her phone, Thompson responded, "I made a mistake."
Clegg peppered Thompson about why he didn't look further into Neuman's background, especially when he had expressed an interest of being romantically involved.
"She made it clear and he understood that she wasn't interested and nothing was going to happen," Thompson said.
Thompson said that he widow downplayed her relationship with Neuman and said that's what took the focus off of her boss.
Following the detective's testimony Thursday morning, the jury watched a three-hour video of an interview Andrea Sneiderman had with Dunwoody police about a week after her husband was murdered.
Citron's testimony will resume on Friday morning.