Left: Anthony Neubauer (Chautauqua County Jail). Right: Neubauer in his military uniform (Neubauer family via Buffalo News).
A U.S. Marine and Army veteran from New York is headed to prison for decades after he admitted to kidnapping a man who was cooperating with cops to a Pennsylvania field where he executed him.
Anthony Neubauer, 39, was sentenced to 20 years behind bars on Tuesday after he pleaded guilty to aiding and abetting a kidnapping in the 2014 death of Joseph Anthony, the U.S. Attorney”s Office said in a press release.
Neubauer and his co-defendant, 43-year-old Matthew Rudy, in May 2014 tricked Anthony into going to Rudy’s property in Pennsylvania with the promise of cocaine. But as they were driving there, Neubauer held a gun to the back of Anthony’s seat. When they arrived at the Rudy property, they forced Anthony up a hill, where Neubauer shot the victim in the back of the head and torso. Neubauer “walked right over the body,” his girlfriend later told the FBI, according to the government’s sentencing memorandum.
Neubauer and Rudy then buried Anthony’s body. Three searches of the property over seven years by FBI agents were fruitless. It was only after Rudy disclosed the body’s location that authorities recovered Anthony’s remains. Rudy was sentenced last year to five years behind bars.
U.S. Attorney Michael DiGiacomo said Neubauer and Rudy believed Anthony was cooperating with a law enforcement investigation.
“Anthony Neubauer and his co-defendant went to great lengths to silence a person they believed was cooperating in a law enforcement investigation, including kidnapping, crossing state lines, murder and disposing of a body,” DiGiacomo said in a statement. “A lot of time may have passed, but our law enforcement partners demonstrated perseverance and unwavering determination, which ultimately resulted in uncovering Neubauer’s actions. As a consequence, he will now spend the next two decades in prison.”
Neubauer’s attorney, Eric M. Soehnlein, wrote in the defense’s sentencing memo that his client struggled in high school and dropped out after the 11th grade. On the heels of 9/11, Neubauer joined the U.S. Marines, where one person dubbed him “Captain America.” He had several deployments overseas, including to Iraq, where he saw combat. He later joined the Army as a ranger, and he also saw combat during deployments before he was discharged due to injuries in 2014.
Upon his return to civilian life in upstate New York, Neubauer started hanging out with Rudy and began heavily using drugs while suffering from post-traumatic stress disorder, his lawyer said. He also would drink up to 30 beers a day.
According to Neubauer’s lawyer, he began working as muscle for drug dealers to fight or intimidate people who owed debts. It was against this backdrop that Neubauer murdered Anthony.
In the years after Anthony’s disappearance, Neubauer’s addiction became so bad that he was “actively using cocaine in front of the federal agents” investigating the case.
In 2019, he nearly lost his life and became paralyzed from the waist down in a shooting at a bar, per his lawyer.
U.S. District Judge Elizabeth A. Wolford during Tuesday’s sentencing called the situation “tragic,” a courtroom report from the Buffalo News said.
Neubauer’s defense attorneys were asking for 10 years behind bars, but Wolford said that was not appropriate even though she recognized his military service.
“It’s also tragic that Mr. Neubauer is here,” she reportedly said. “But you can’t intentionally kill somebody and expect to get a [lesser] sentence.”
