TV Show Tells of Kinky Sex, Corruption and Murder Case in Dutchess County
Have you ever heard of the show Snapped? I watch it all the time on the Oxygen Channel. And they show several episodes of it every Sunday. So, this past Sunday I put the TV on and tuned in to the weekly Snapped marathon.
They were showing old episodes from almost 10 years ago, and what a surprise I got. A whole episode about a murder case involving kinky sex, town corruption and murder, all taking place in the sleepy little town of Pleasant Valley. Yes, our Pleasant Valley.
It all took place in the late 1990s. I didn’t do the research, so I’m telling you what I know from the Snapped episode. It all centered around a guy named Fred Andros who ran the Town of Poughkeepsie Water Department, but was forced to resign after a huge scandal involving bribery and corruption. It seems Andros fancied himself to be a ladies man, and had not one, but two mistresses. Both were married women, one named Susan Fassett and the other named Dawn Silvernail. Eventually it turned into a threesome, with Susan Fassett ending up being murdered by Dawn Silvernail outside of a Pleasant Valley church.
After an investigation, evidence led to Fred Andros, who gave up Dawn Silvernail. Dawn Silvernail did ultimately go to jail for the murder but got a reduced sentence for testifying that Fred Andros, who had unsuccessfully tried to commit suicide, was the mastermind behind the murder. The episode explained that Andros ended up dying of a heart attack just two years into his sentence, and Dawn Silvernail was sentenced to the minimum of 18 to life.
It’s weird how all the names sounded familiar to me, and I have vague memories of the case, but I really didn’t know many of the details. It was fascinating watching a show about a case so full of lust and corruption that happened right here in Dutchess County. If you get a chance, it’s the ‘Dawn Silvernail’ episode from 2012. Interesting, very interesting.