June 6, 2008

STANLY COUNTY, N.C. -- Betty Neumar, the 76-year-old woman some are calling the black widow, was transported to North Carolina during the night and this morning, she went before a Stanly County judge.

Neumar was arrested May 22, 2008 at her home off of Cambridge Circle in Augusta. She's accused of hiring someone to kill her fourth husband, Harold Thomas Gentry, 22 years ago.

Today, the District Attorney told the judge that investigators have located two witnesses who were either approached by Betty Neumar or heard Betty Neumar attempt to hire a hitman.

According to the DA, Neumar approached one man five times, offering to buy the witness a truck and pay cash for the murder.

The DA also said Neumar told the witness when to come to her home and told them she would be out of town and told him which door would be unlocked.

Gentry was found shot to death inside the couple's Norwood, North Carolina home in July of 1986. The couple's daughter, Kellie Bulcack Gentry, says her mother was out of town in Augusta at the time of the murder. She also says she believes her mother "is 100 percent innocent."

Sheriff Rick Burris of the Stanly County Sheriff's Office tells News 12 he hopes Neumar's arrest will lead them to the person who pulled the trigger.

Other details also emerged. The District Attorney said Neumar has lived in Germany and still had an active passport when she was arrested in Georgia.

The District Attorney also said investigators have uncovered more than one overseas bank accounts in Neumar's name.

Neumar reportedly told the judge "a lot of that is not true".

She insisted that she is not a flight risk, as the DA suggested.

The Judge set bond at $500,000 and ordered Neumar to surrender her passport.

Neumar was married five times in five different states and all five of her husbands are dead.

Richmond County investigators opened an investigation into the death of Neumar's fifth husband in light of her recent arrest. John Neumar died in October of 2007 at the VA hospital in Augusta. His death certificate listed sepsis as his cause of death.

Now, investigators are testing his ashes to see if he was poisoned by a type of metal, such as arsenic. Homicide investigator James Kelly says Neumar's ashes have been sent out of state and results could take two to four months.

--WCNC contributed to this report.