The wife and daughter of the professor who was murdered in a home invasion in Brooklyn on Monday night were reportedly saved by warnings from their neighbor, The New York Post reported.

Doreen Giuliano reportedly quickly texted her neighbor Jennifer Hunter when she noticed a strange man creeping around the Prospect Park South home Monday night.

Giuliano shared the text exchange with The Post: “Hi Jen it’s your neighbor Doreen. Do you have anyone working in your house today? I was just being a nosy neighbor and notice someone down your walkway where you have the garbage pails.”

Forwarding the News

Thoughtful, balanced reporting from the Forward and around the web, bringing you updated news and analysis each day.

Terms(Required)

I agree to the Forward's Terms of Service and Privacy Policy

Email(Required)

Hunter responded thanking her and acknowledging that she too had noticed a strange man outside of the house.

Moments later, Giuliano sent another message, “Jen!! He went in the side door. He went into your house. He is still in your house. Maybe you need to call me…If you have no one in your home right now then you have an intruder do I call 911?”

Immediately, Hunter and her 18-year-old daughter left the house and met Giuliano outside where they called 911. Her husband, Jeremy Safran, did not make it out of the house in time.

The 66-year-old professor of psychology at the New School was found dead in the basement, with trauma to his head and body, and a hammer lying next to him. The 28-year-old suspect, who is unidentified, was found hiding in the closet.

Guiliano told The Post that she believes her warnings saved the lives of Hunter and her daughter. “I believe that if I hadn’t seen him go in there, he would have stood there, waited, and who knows what would have happened to the ladies?”

Contact Haley Cohen at [email protected]

A message from our CEO & publisher Rachel Fishman Feddersen

I hope you appreciated this article. Before you go, I’d like to ask you to please support the Forward’s award-winning, nonprofit journalism during this critical time.

The coming year promises to be filled with more complex and historic developments. We are entering an era where independent, fact-based Jewish journalism will be more important than ever. We need to be ready for whatever 2025 will bring, and with your help, we can be.

We’ve set a goal to raise $260,000 by December 31. That’s an ambitious goal, but one that will give us the resources we need to invest in the high quality news, opinion, analysis and cultural coverage that isn’t available anywhere else.

If you feel inspired to make an impact, now is the time to give something back. Join us as a member at your most generous level.

—  Rachel Fishman Feddersen, Publisher and CEO

With your support, we’ll be ready for whatever 2025 brings.

$36 $500

$120 $180 Other amount