Plot to Kill Professor Broken Up, Police Say
Police who questioned two brothers suspected of shoplifting inadvertently broke up a murder plot aimed at a Stanford professor, authorities said.
The daughter of Prof. Saul Wasserman allegedly hired the men to kill her father, and police were investigating sexual abuse as a possible motive.
Austin Yoncy Feld, 38, and Scott Leon Feld, 36, were being held without bail Wednesday in Santa Clara County Jail on charges of conspiracy to commit murder and conspiracy to commit burglary.
Authorities said they found knives, a rubber mallet, gloves, ski masks, nylon stockings and handcuffs in the trunk of the men’s car, along with a hand-drawn map and diagrams of the Wasserman house, photographs of the Wassermans and a house key.
The Felds are dual citizens of the United States and Israel. Wasserman’s daughter, Rachel, 22, is a rabbinical student in Israel.
“I can safely say that there is probably 9,000 to 10,000 miles between Jerusalem and California, and to be stopped seven-tenths of a mile from the Wasserman residence is pretty lucky,” Palo Alto police Detective John Lindsay said.
The San Jose Mercury News reported that Wasserman told police that his daughter had threatened to kill him and his wife several months ago.
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