Detective Raymond C. Schindler and the Smith Case Part 2

About the Raymond C. Schindler and the Smith case, account of the crime, case, and clues.

RAYMOND C. SCHINDLER AND THE SMITH CASE

Schindler's men followed Heideman to Manhattan. He ate every meal at the same German restaurant, always at the same table and at about the same time. On Schindler's staff was a young man named Neimeister, who hailed from the same region of Germany as Heideman. Schindler instructed Neimeister to frequent the restaurant until Heideman engaged him in conversation.

Neimeister took his meals a few tables away from the suspect. Several days passed. Then Neimeister casually pulled a German newspaper from his pocket. Heideman looked up. "You read German?"

"Why not?" replied Neimeister. "I come from Germany. Would you like to look at my paper?"

A conversation ensued, and their friendship quickly developed. One afternoon Heideman asked his friend, "Don't you have to work for a living?" From the beginning, Neimeister had been coached on the answer to this question. "Not me," he replied. "I'm one of the fortunate ones. My father died and left everything to me."

Schindler next arranged for Neimeister to withdraw money from a dummy bank account in Heideman's presence. When they entered the bank, a bank officer, well rehearsed by Schindler, greeted the supposed wealthy German heir. Neimeister wrote a check for several thousand dollars and held it so that Heideman could readily see the amount. The bank officer cashed the check himself and returned with two fistfuls of cash. Heideman was impressed.

At Heideman's suggestion, the two men became roommates, but Heideman confided nothing to Neimeister about the murder. Schindler stepped up the pace.

He asked a producer friend for "the worst horror picture you have on hand." The producer offered a French film about a little girl who is attacked by a sex maniac and must fight for her life. Schindler arranged with a theater for a onetime showing of the silent horror film. During their after-dinner stroll, Neimeister and Heideman passed the theater and Neimeister suggested they stop in to relax and watch a show. Halfway through the film, Heideman jumped out of his seat in a sweat, saying, "I can't stand any more of this." He returned to their room alone, but he said nothing more.

Next, from his bag of tricks, Schindler pulled a German newspaper, a fake edition printed by a publisher friend containing a short piece about a man named Heideman who had worked for a florist in Asbury Park and then disappeared. Neimeister remarked that here was a story about a man with the same name as his roommate's. Heideman read it. "That's me. I worked two weeks in Asbury Park, but I couldn't stay there after that horrible murder. Good thing they caught the murderer."

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