A PROMINENT DOCTOR IS CHARGED WITH MURDERING HIS WIFE - HE SAYS SHE FELL - CAN THEIR DAUGHTER'S 9-1-1 CALL DECIDE HIS FATE?

"48 HOURS" Investigates in "The Doctor's Daughter"

Saturday, Oct. 3, 2015

Hearing her father's screams for help, Jenna Neulander dialed 9-1-1 and summoned first responders to her home. Her father, Dr. Robert Neulander, a prominent obstetrician, was trying to help her mother, Leslie, who was unresponsive in the shower.

"My mother, I don't know if she's breathing, but she's lying on the ground in the shower," Jenna Neulander told a 9-1-1 dispatcher, while summoning help to their home in a suburb of Syracuse, New York.

Dr. Neulander says he began CPR. Then against Jenna's pleas, Dr. Neulander moved her to the couple's bedroom, he says, to more comfortably continue CPR. Leslie was later pronounced dead.

Jim Axelrod and 48 HOURS investigate the 2012 death of Leslie Neulander and the quest to find out what happened to her in "The Doctor's Daughter," to be broadcast Oct. 3, 2015 (10:00 PM, ET/PT) on the CBS Television Network.

Initially, Leslie Neulander's death was declared an accident. However, investigators didn't totally believe Dr. Robert Neulander's version of events and wondered why a doctor would go against everything he's been taught and move a gravely injured person nearly 60 feet. Investigators also had questions about the blood at the scene, particularly the blood spatter near the bed.

Eighteen months after Leslie Neulander died, her husband was charged with her murder. One of the key witnesses in the case? Their daughter, Jenna. But does her 9-1-1 call help the prosecution or the defense?

The investigation into the death would uncover a troubled marriage, suggestions of a pending split and declining finances. Neulander's defense team maintains that this was a loving and united home and Leslie died from injuries suffered from a fall in the shower. Prosecutors say it was murder and that the doctor tried to cover up a crime.

What happened in the Neulander home? Was it an accident or murder?

"It has all the elements... the rich defendant, the beautiful wife and the mystery surrounding it, the elements of, 'was it a homicide? Was it an accident?'" says Onondaga County (NY)
District Attorney William Fitzpatrick. "So it is huge for this community."

Axelrod and 48 HOURS tell the Neulander story through interviews with investigators, legal experts, forensic experts and more. 48 HOURS: "The Doctor's Daughter" is produced by Lourdes Aguiar, Allen Alter, Ruth Chenetz and Peter Shaw. Mary Sue Dehn is the development producer. Michael McHugh is the producer-editor. Ken Blum, Alan Miller, Mike Mongulla and Gary Winter are the editors. Judy Tygard is the senior producer. Susan Zirinsky is the senior executive producer.

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