Hemy Neuman, wife officially divorced
The man convicted of killing a Dunwoody father is now officially divorced. Hemy Neuman's ex-wife Ariela was in Fulton County court Tuesday morning for the final phase of their divorce proceeding.
Afterwards she spoke candidly with FOX 5's Portia Bruner about what the last two years have been like.
For the last 25 years, she was known as Reli Neuman. For the last year and a half, she has been often referred to as the estranged wife of Hemy Neuman. Neuman was found guilty but mentally ill in the shooting death of Rusty Sneiderman as he dropped his child off at a Dunwoody daycare in 2010.
She says she is moving forward with her new life under her maiden name, Ariela Barkoni. She says she is relieved her divorce is final. She and her three college-aged children largely avoided the spotlight of her husband's brutal crime and the trial that followed. Barkoni says life during that time for her and her family "wasn't easy."
She says she did not watch the trial.
"I decided that it's too painful for me. We were so many years together which were half of my life then. I couldn't. I couldn't see it. Emotionally I didn't want to drown. I want to go forward with my life and our life," said Ariela Barkoni.
There were some things about the trial that Barkoni felt uncomfortable discussing. Her attorney, Esther Panich, says there was never a time when Barkoni believed that Hemy Neuman was ever mentally ill.