Lower Macungie vet tech and unborn boy shot three times
By Susan Koomar and Mariella Savidge March 22, 2011
A love affair gone violently wrong has left a 27-year-old woman and her unborn child shot to death and the accused killer in Lehigh County jail.
District Attorney James Martin said Tuesday afternoon it is too early to tell if he will seek the death penalty in the case against veterinarian David A. Rapoport of Lansdale.
Rapoport, who is married, is accused of killing his girlfriend, Jennifer L. Snyder, a vet tech he worked with a few years ago at Maple Hill Veterinary Hospital in Lower Macungie Township, Lehigh County.
Snyder went missing last week after going to meet Rapoport. The lifelong animal lover was two months pregnant with a boy and was scheduled for her first ultrasound on Thursday. Investigators believe Rapoport fathered Snyder's unborn child.
Police say Rapoport shot her three times - once in the back and twice in the mouth - then wrapped her body in a fleece blanket with a Philadelphia Eagles logo on it, garbage bags and duct tape and dumped it in the woods.
Rapoport tried to use bleach to clean blood stains from Snyder's car, police said.
Police on Tuesday arrested Rapoport after a whirlwind investigation that began with the discovery Thursday morning of Snyder's abandoned car - found with a shattered window, a spent shell casing on the passenger seat, and a "significant amount of blood" inside, according to the criminal complaint.
Rapoport's arrest "makes sense to me and to everybody here," Hilary Schiavone, who was Snyder's roommate and co-worker at the veterinary hospital, told Patch.
Police interviewed Schiavone after finding Snyder's car. Schiavone told them Rapaport was initially angry over the pregnancy but that he and Snyder had made up, according to the criminal complaint.
Schiavone described Rapoport as a shy, quiet and nerdy.
Here is a timeline and details of the investigation, according to the criminal complaint:
Wednesday, March 16
Jennifer Snyder was last seen by her roommate on her way to meet boyfriend David A. Rapoport. Roommate Hilary Schiavone told police Snyder was planning to spend the night with Rapoport.
Thursday, March 17
Police received a report of suspicious car at 4155 Independence Rd. Schnecksville. They found Snyder's 1998 Plymouth Neon with blood inside. Police reviewed surveillance footage from Wednesday that showed someone parking Snyder's car in the extreme rear corner of the lot.
Police tried to find Snyder and interviewed her roommate, who told them about Snyder's affair and pregnancy.
Schiavone also told them about mysterious text messages. The first one, purportedly from Snyder, read, "Dr. Dumbass has to work tonight so I am going to my mom's, Thanks. Hi!" Schiavone said the message was odd and didn't sound like it was from Snyder.
As police were interviewing Schiavone, she got a text from Rapoport asking her to have Snyder call him as he didn't think Snyder's cell phone was working. Schiavone told police that Rapoport had never before sent her a text message.
Police went to Rapoport's home at 1229 Browning Court in Lansdale at 4:43 p.m. Thursday.
Rapoport at first denied having seen Snyder recently. Troopers told him that they knew of his recent contact with the victim and Rapoport then said "he was in an ongoing relationship with Snyder and didn't want his wife to know," according to the criminal complaint.
Police asked Rapoport if there was anything belonging to Snyder in his car. He said he wasn't sure, but told them, "You can look." While at the rear of the car, police asked him "where's the gun," and Rapoport immediately said, "The gun is in there" as he pointed to the front left part of the trunk. Inside, police found a 9 mm Glock pistol and a box of ammunition. They also found a box of baby wipes with a small red-brown stain on the lid in the driver's area of the car.
Police asked Rapoport to go with them to continue the interview at Skippack barracks. Rapoport spoke with his wife and then told troopers he wanted to call an attorney first.
Friday, March 18
Police continued to look for Snyder. At about 9:45 a.m., a trooper searching by helicopter noticed something in the woods along Game Preserve Road in North Whitehall Township. Police found Snyder's body about two and a half miles from Route 309 and just a short drive from the parking lot where her car was discovered the day before.
A deputy coroner declared Snyder dead at 11:35 a.m. and her body was taken to Lehigh Valley Hospital for an autopsy.
Saturday, March 19
An autopsy showed Snyder died of three gunshot wounds and that she was pregnant with what appeared to be a healthy male fetus.
Police armed with a search warrant looked inside a 2005 Toyota Solara used by Rapoport. They found a roll of duct tape with what appeared to be blood and hair on it. They also found what they believe to be Snyder's cell phone under the passenger seat and a box of garbage bags same as those that they found Snyder's body wrapped in.
Monday, March 21
A police ballistics expert matched discharged casings found in Snyder's car with the Glock pistol owned by Rapoport.
Tuesday, March 22
Police arrested Rapoport without incident outside his father's home in Whitemarsh, Montgomery County. He was taken to Lehigh County's Central Booking Center adjacent to the county prison in Allentown and was arraigned by District Judge Jacob Hammond.
A preliminary hearing in the case is set for next week but will likely be continued.
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