Snapped: Women Who Murder - Dawn Silvernail

Episode Date: January 10, 2021

The murder of a church choir member reveals a sordid secret and an unlikely love triangle.Season 11, Episode 11Originally aired: December 22, 2013See Privacy Policy at https://art19.com/privacy and California Privacy Notice at https://art19.com/privacy#do-not-sell-my-info.

Hi, I'm Lindsay Graham, the host of Wonder Woman's Podcast American Scandal. Our newest series looks at the story of OxyContin, a popular painkiller that helps spur an epidemic of addiction and drug abuse, in which prompted a broad campaign to hold the pharmaceutical industry accountable. Listen to American Scandal on Amazon Music or wherever you get your podcasts. Don Silvernail seemed like an ordinary suburban wife. She was just a regular person. She has a job working with mentally challenged kids. Though her longtime friend Fred Andros had a shady reputation. This guy was involved in all kinds of unsavory things. Then, one of Fred's co-workers was gunned down,

leaving choir practice. Other choir members heard the shots. The ensuing investigation would expose a slew of scandalous secrets, almost too shocking to believe. This was no random act. She was targeted. It was talk about bribes, numerous affairs they had.

Sex, the three of them in the town water pumping station. And by the end, everyone in town would know that Don Silvernail was anything but ordinary. It's like a soap opera. It really is in small town America. [♪ music playing in background, sounds of a rock music playing in background, sounds of a rock music playing in background, sounds of a rock music playing in background, sounds of a rock music playing in background, sounds of a rock music playing in background, sounds of a rock music playing in background, sounds of a rock music playing in background, sounds of a rock music playing in background, sounds of a rock music playing in background, sounds of a rock music playing in background, sounds of a rock music playing in background, sounds of a rock music playing in background, sounds of a rock music playing in background, sounds of a rock music playing in background, sounds of a rock music playing in background, sounds of a rock music playing in background, sounds of a rock music playing in background, sounds of a rock music playing in background, sounds of a rock music playing in background, sounds of a rock music playing in background, sounds of a rock music playing in background, sounds of a rock music playing in background, sounds of a rock music playing in background, sounds of a rock music playing in background, sounds of a rock music playing in background, sounds of a rock music playing in background, sounds of a rock music playing in background, sounds of a rock music playing in background, sounds of a rock music playing in background, sounds of a rock music playing in background, sounds of a rock music playing in background, sounds of a rock music playing in background, sounds of a rock music playing in background, sounds of a rock music playing in background, sounds of a rock music playing in background, sounds of a rock music playing in background, sounds of a rock music playing in background, sounds of a rock music playing in background, sounds of a rock music playing in background, sounds of a rock music playing in background, sounds of a rock music playing in background, sounds of a rock music playing in background, sounds of a rock music playing in background, sounds of a rock music playing in background, sounds of a rock music playing in background, sounds of a rock music playing in background. It was a peaceful autumn evening in this quiet rural community, just outside Pekipsi, in New York's picturesque Hudson Valley. It's 100 miles from New York City, is a rural, very quiet kind of place. And it's one of those places where when you pull into town, it has the koanas sign, the church meeting sign.

And at a quarter to nine that Thursday night, choir practice had just ended. And 48-year-old Susan Fassett walked out of the Pleasant Valley United Methodist Church. She was involved in her church. She sang in the choir. She was liked around town. Which made what happened once Susan crossed the street and got into her car doubly shocking At first the other members of the choir paid little attention to the noise

They thought it was fireworks, but then someone noticed Susan slumped over the steering wheel of her car and Covered in blood We ran over there. they realized what had happened. Susan had just been shanned. Here it is, a woman coming out of choir practice at a rural church and she's gunned down. And even as they rushed to give aid and summon help, some of the choir members spotted the shooters get away.

Team suspects vehicle was seen leaving the immediate area. They get glimpses of it. They see partial license plate. That partial plate was just the first clue in the search for Susan's killer. This was no random act. She was targeted. And the investigation would lead through a

tangle of small town corruption, double crosses, and kinky sacks to the woman who just might hold the key to the mystery. 50-year-old Don Silvernail. Born in 1949, Don Mudge grew up across the Hudson from Pleasant Valley in New York's Cat Skill Mountains. Don was kind of a country girl, you know, and she wasn't very sophisticated.

Nearly six feet tall by the time she was a teenager, she was also quite a tomboy. Used to like to take target practice in her backyard with pistols and rifles and have campfires, and you know, she liked the simple life really. And her life after high school followed a pretty simple small town trajectory too. A couple of years of community college, a marriage at 21 and after a few years at home raising the couple's son, a career of her own. Dawn worked for a nonprofit agency that helps the developmentally disabled.

She liked to work with mentally challenged kids. To unwind from her demanding job, Don Moonlighted as a country music singer. She used to do singing in a bar. She also turned to a craze that was sweeping the nation in the late 70s. The analog version of internet chat rooms, citizens' band radio. It's almost like meeting somebody online today. You don't see them, you present this persona,

you present who you want to be. The would-be lounge singer took her CB handle from a chart-topping country western song. Her name on the CB was Delta Dawn. And in 1977, 28-year-old Delta Dawn started chatting over the radio with a man who called himself Neptune. Only five foot six, Fred Andros was hardly god-life. But Neptune was an apt nickname nonetheless.

Fred was the town of Pekipsi, water supervisor. He ran the water department. And when it came to getting a building permit in Pekipsi, Fred really did wield God-like power. If contractors wanted to get hookups to the town water system, they had to see Fred. And Fred made it very clear that they would need his cooperation. Those talk about bribes. Hey, give me 500 bucks or I'll shut your water off. However, the rumor that he was on the take

wasn't the only or even the juiciest bit of gossip swirling around Fred. Despite being married, Neptune was known to be a lady's man. He had numerous affairs, always, all the time, different, different women. He was a powerful man. He was in many ways a charismatic man. And in a sense, his power, his charisma, made him very attractive. Although contrary to Fred's reputation,

his relationship with Don started out innocently enough. They would talk to each other on the CB and they became friends. Fred even took his wife to watch Don sing at a honky tongue. They went to see her and they became friends. But despite the fact that they were both married, Don's relationship with Fred evolved from friends to friends with benefits.

When Fred wanted sex and he didn't have anybody else, and he wanted to cheat on his wife, Don was always there. She didn't love him, but they used each other. For Don, it was a lucrative relationship. Don would show up at Fred's office and say, Fred, can I borrow a couple hundred bucks? She always went to Fred when she needed something. And Fred was always more than happy to oblige. Consequently, he held a lot of power over her

and he got her to do a number of things in the name of that debt that she owed. However, not all the favors he asked in return were sexual in nature. He'd say, sure, can you drop this off on your way out? Can you drop this off to? debt that she owed. However, not all the favors he asked in return were sexual in nature. He'd say, sure, can you drop this off on your way out? Can you drop this off to Joe Smith's house for me? She'd say, sure, she'd drop the envelope off. The envelopes typically contained cash.

The proceeds from Fred's shakedown racket. It might not be organized crime, but it was organized bribery and extortion. She liked the idea with being able to, by curiously, live this life. And when her marriage ended in divorce, Dawn continued to see Fred, and run his illicit errands.

If you're connected to an important person, and that's what Fred had told himself as being, and if she could do favors for him and make a little money from him or borrow money from him, that gave her some degree of importance. And I really think that was their connection. The relationship continued for more than a decade. Even after 42-year-old Don remarried in 1992

to a man named Ed Silvernail. I knew him to be a hardworking guy. He was close to his parents. The owner of a small town appliance store, Ed was solid and stable. But Don couldn't seem to give up the thrill of her affair with friend. She was looking for excitement in her marriage in her life.

Her husband wasn't providing it. Although Don and Fred's lives were about to get far more exciting, than the occasional illicit hookup and envelope stuffed with cash. It started in 1997 with a dead body in the water. The town assessor was found floating in the Hudson River. His death was officially ruled a suicide. The suicide occurred a day or two after the FBI had confronted him to talk to him and see if they could get him to cooperate and give information on other town officials. Although considering the circumstances, there were plenty of rumors that the assessor's death

wasn't a suicide, and Fred started many of them. Fred started the rumor that he arranged to have this guy kill to shot him up. He wanted to be a godfather. That was his dream, really. Whether the rumor was true or not, the feds quickly took notice. They start following him around, and they had a file on him.

I remember seeing cars across the street in the parking lot watching. However, despite all Fred's kingpin pretensions, his water permits for Briebs' racket wasn't what the feds were after. The main focus of the inquiry was the town's Republican chairman. He was the guy, apparently, who was ordering the shakedowns of contractors. What the FBI wanted from Fred was cooperation.

It was supposedly another guy that was much bigger, and was running a corruption scandal on a much broader scale that Fred was connected to. So they were trying to use Fred to get to this guy. And by the spring of 1999, the Feds had enough evidence against Fred to force his cooperation. He actually called me and told me to come to his house. He needed to talk to me. And when I got there, he said, I need to tell you,

I'm probably going to be arrested. It really wasn't a big shock to any of us. Everybody knew that Fred Andrews was this bully who would shake people down. Nailed by the feds, Fred quickly cut a deal that would keep him out of jail, even if it did cost him his job. Fred resigned in May of 1999 from 33 years in the town water department.

The next day, he pleaded guilty to one count of conspiracy. And as part of that, he was to cooperate and be a witness. But the end of Fred Andrews' career was about to be eclipsed by an even bigger scandal in Pekipsi involving another town official. Her name was Susan Fassett. She worked in the town of Pekipsi town hall. And her death would expose the sorted underbelly of life

in this otherwise picturesque suburban community. We don't know what goes on behind closed doors. Lots of people hold secrets, even in small towns. Coming up, the hunt for Susan's killer results in a standoff. The town of the Kipsit. There's what the aim responds. As police uncover another suspect, a shocking secret, and an unlikely motive. They realize, wow, we got one hell of a convoluted investigation. Here. The first time in a long time. The first time in a long time.

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The first time in a long time. The first time in a long time. The first time in a long time. The first time in a long time. The

first time in a long time. The first time in a long time. The first time in a long time. The first time in a long time. The first time in a long time. The Pleasant Valley, New York, October 28, 1999. It was not quite nine o'clock on a Thursday evening, when 48-year-old Susan Fassett was gunned down in a parking lot, as she left choir practice at the Pleasant Valley United Methodist Church. As soon as Susan sits down in a car and straps her seatbelt on, shots ring out. There were a number of other choir members that had heard the shots.

Police and EMTs were on the scene within minutes. She's still breathing. She's still alive when they put her in that ambulance. And even as the EMTs fought to save Susan's life, the investigators were already tracking down a crucial clue that could lead to the shooter. Several members of the choir had spotted the suspect fleeing the scene. They see a car taking off up the hill. Not only did the investigators know

they were looking for a metallic colored station wagon, at least one member of the choir had given them a partial license plate number. We got a general description of which way it left the scene coming out of the parking lot, where the actual shooting took place. But other than that, we had very little to work with at the time. But was it enough?

When the investigators ran the plate, they came up with a possible match. Susan's husband. The car was registered to get facet. And since Jeff Fassett was a lieutenant in the Pekipsi Police Department, law enforcement proceeded with caution. He'd town of Pekipsi, their SWAT team respond to Jeff's residence. They have a cop inside of a house,

and they think he might have shot his wife, and they know he's got one weapon. Jeff Fassett soon spotted the SWAT team massing outside his house, resulting in a tense standoff. He drew the shades in the house. He talked on the phone about having a gun. He was uncertain about what had happened.

He was asking questions that rose our suspicion. Meanwhile, Susan Fassett is at the hospital, right? Struggling to survive. It was a struggle she would lose. Susan Fassett is at the hospital, right? Struggling to survive. It was a struggle she would lose. We're advised that she was dead. Soon after, the swamp team stormed in and took her husband into custody.

Jeff was physically removed from the house at gunpoint. Once he was cuffed in the back of a cruiser, the authorities transported Jeff to a nearby state police barracks for questioning. They begin to ask what's going on in the marriage. Is there a motivation here? And all boy, do they get a story? Jeff denied any involvement in his wife's death,

but he told the police that just a month earlier, he had discovered that Susan had been having an affair. He and Susan talked about it, Jeff had confronted her about it. She asked for forgiveness, so they seemed to be getting back together. They had agreed to have new wedding bands made to start fresh. And since his wife had supposedly broken it off, Jeff suggested that the investigators talk to Susan's jilted lover, but Kipsey's former water supervisor, Fred Andrews. You said this is a guy you definitely want to talk to.

This guy was involved in all kinds of unsavory things, criminal and otherwise. He had a reputation of floating out the fact that he was connected to the mob. The implication being he could have people hurt, have them killed. Did Susan's affair with Fred Andrews have something to do with her murder?

Everybody in and around the town of Bikipsi knew who Fred Andrews was. And they knew his reputation, both as a corrupt official on the tape and as a lady's man. Fred is running around with Susan. He's running around with Don. Or was it possible Susan's husband was counting on Fred's reputation to divert suspicion

from him? Based on Jeff's behavior in the interrogation room, the investigators didn't think so. We felt that he was being honest, he was cooperative. He never requested an attorney. He also agreed to take a polygraph. The average polygraph test can take two to three hours. This ran five or six, maybe a little bit more. At the same time, the investigators went looking for Fred andros. It was roughly two, three in the morning.

We decided to go knock on Fred's door. He appeared genuinely distraught over Susan's death. He was emotional. He cried. He was very upset over it. He said that he loved her. Fred confirmed that he and Susan had been seeing each other for almost four years, and that the affair had ended over a month ago, just as her husband claimed. One of the questions asked early on was when was the last time you had sexual relations with her?

And he claimed it had been quite some time. Well, when the investigators asked Fred whether he had killed Susan, he said no, and that he could prove it. He had a perfect out by. He was having dinner in his home, and he had some close friends over. One of them was a city-bekepsy police officer.

There's no way Fred Andrews could have killed this woman. And after a grueling six-hour polygraph examination, it appeared that there was no way Susan's husband had killed her either. The polygraph examination. It appeared that there was no way Susan's husband had killed her either. The polygraphist was comfortable that he was telling the truth, and we basically ruled him out. But what about the witnesses that had seen Jeff Fassett's car fleeing the scene? It was a mistake.

There were some miscommunications running license plates. In the confusion, the officer at the crime scene had accidentally given dispatch the license plate number of the victim's car, which was registered in her husband's name. That led some police to believe that it was the car belonging to Jeff Fassett that actually left the scene. As a result, the investigators had two men with a possible motive to kill Susan Fassett,

and neither of them could have pulled the trigger. They realized, wow, we got one hell of a convoluted investigation here. And when the medical examiner finished Susan's autopsy, the result was another unexpected twist. There was no surprise about how Susan had died. She had been shot six times with a 45-calibre pistol. The first round severed both carotid arteries.

Instead, the surprise was what Susan had been doing before the shooting. Susan Fassett had sex within 24 hours of her death. The question was, who had she been sleeping with? Was it the husband she had supposedly reconciled with? Or Fred Andros, the man who claimed to be her former lover? It apparently wasn't her husband, Jeff, based on what he told the investigators

when they dropped by his house later that day. I.S. Jeff, the last time he'd had relations, he indicated to me it would have been at least four or five days. And when the detective asked him for a DNA sample, the police lieutenant knew what that meant. Less than a month after their reconciliation, Susan had already been unfaithful. The look on his face.

It was...it was terrible. But when the investigators asked Fred for a DNA sample on November 4th, he was far less cooperative than Jeff. He wouldn't offer a DNA sample, said he had to talk to his lawyer. Rebuffed by Fred, the detectives decided to try an indirect approach. We made a decision to take him out and get him lunch. We were going to get his DNA sample from a straw. And when one of the detectives asked Fred to meet him for lunch so they could discuss the case,

he fell for the rules. They test that DNA and they find out that Fred was the one who had sex with Susan Fass at last. As police suspected, the DNA was a match and Fred had lied. That is not two people who were breaking apart. That's two people who were back together again. But if Fred and Susan were still seeing one another on the slide, why would he kill her? Was it possible her death had nothing to do with the affair? After all, Fred had been busted as part of the FBI's ongoing investigation of Pekipsi's city government.

The feds are working on this corruption case for many, many years. Was it possible that Susan had some dirt on Fred, something that could violate the plea bargain he'd made with the feds? The police begin to hear stories about, well, maybe Susan was involved with Fred in some of this corruption that he was involved in passing envelopes around.

One thing was certain, however, no matter what Susan's involvement was, the fact that Fred had cut a deal with the feds gave them considerable leverage over the former water supervisor. He had signed a participation agreement with the feds that he would cooperate in any investigation, otherwise his plea agreement was gonna get thrown out.

They can really put the squeeze on him. So soon after the DNA test confirmed that Fred had slept with Susan shortly before her death, the investigators went to the FBI. We sat down with the FBI, explained to them that this guy's lying to us on this homicide investigation. Intrigued by what they heard, the FBI agreed to cooperate with the local police.

On December 21st, they brought Fred in for questioning. And as expected, the federal agents did put the squeeze on him. He was there all day until about 10 o'clock at night. And they started to ask him questions about their case, the corruption case. But through that, he's asked, was Susan runnin' envelopes because there's some stories around that Susan was transporting money for Fred, and is that why she wound up dead?

At first, Fred tried to stall. He was giving him just enough where he was hoping they'd believe him and think he was being honest and move on. But eventually, as the hours ticked by, Fred's resistance began to crumble. and think he was being honest and move on. But eventually, as the hours ticked by, Fred's resistance began to crumble. Who's tired, very, very tired.

And sensing that Fred was about to break after the grueling all day session, the agents turned up the heat. Look, Fred, you're gonna go to jail for a long time. Probably the rest of your life. They were gonna remove the deal that he had. It was about to be pulled off the table. The pressure was really ratcheting up.

But they also offered him a way out. Name Susan's killer. And that's when he does it. Bang! Don Silvernau. Coming up, the investigators uncover a sorted trail of secrets. Set up a couple lights, puts a video camera on that.

But will it lead them to the killer in time? He was face down in the carpet with a pool of blood under his head. Hey, listener, it is me, Jason Bateman. I want to tell you that we've struck podcast gold in our new episode with David Letterman available four weeks early on one Drupal Plus. It's like a late night talk show hangout, but with a smart list twist. We are diving deep into David Letterman's incredible career in the moments that shaped him into the beloved icon he is today. Our interview with David Letterman was reported live in Brooklyn in front of thousands of our biggest fans

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I know I have. You can listen to these episodes four weeks early in ad free on Wundry Plus, find Wundry Plus in the Wundry app or on Apple Podcasts. On December 21, 1999, almost two months after Susan Fassett had been gunned down while leaving choir practice in Pleasant Valley, New York. The investigators had finally made a breakthrough. During a day-long interrogation by the FBI, Susan's lover, a disgraced Fakipsi City official named Fred Andrews, had given the authorities what he claimed

was a solid lead. You identified the shooter. He was done silver now. However, there was one small problem with Fred's claim. What the hell is Don? They didn't even heard the name. Had Fred just thrown out a name in hopes of saving himself. That's what at least one of the investigators

thought after they pulled up Don's DMV photo. When I approached me, we looked at her picture, she said, just doesn't look like a murder. What is for you talking about? But the part the police had the hardest time believing was the 50-year-old supposed motive for murder. According to Fred, Don was Susan's jilted lover. They were carrying on a lesbian relationship. This is pleasant value.

This is suburbia. However, when the police dug a little deeper into their database, they discovered two facts that lent at least some credence to Fred's story. The first had to do with the murder weapon, a 45-calibre pistol. She does, in fact, have a 45-reg a 45 caliber pistol. She does in fact have a 45 registered to her. The second had to do with the getaway vehicle witnesses disgrunt.

Her husband had a vehicle registered to him that generally fit the description of the car leaving the same. So on December 23, 1999, the investigators made the hour drive up into the cat skills to question Dawn at the home she shared with her husband. Don brought a sense out of town. Ashes if we wanted anything to drink, cup of coffee, anything like that, being the perfect host.

And once Don and the detective sat down to coffee, she was extremely cooperative. They said our records indicate that you have a 45-pounder. Oh, she jumped out of her chair chair absolutely. I'll go get it. She removed the gun, handed it to me. Dawn also admitted to knowing Fred Andrews, although according to her, they were just friends. They were friendly. It was a casual acquaintance. They would talk on the CBs when CBs were popular, or that kind of thing.

But she denied knowing Susan Fasseth at all. And she seemed shocked when the investigators told her that Fred had implicated her in the woman's murder. She appeared surprised by that. I don't know why I'd say that. I would never harm a fly. I wouldn't hurt anybody. Considering Fred's shady reputation,

the fact that Dom was a married woman who worked with disabled children and that she had just voluntarily turned over her gun, the police were inclined to believe her. She couldn't have been more cooperative than she was. But was there a reason Dom had no problem giving the police her gun? When the investigators turned it over to the ballistic examiner,

he immediately noticed something wrong. Someone had tampered with the gun's barrel. They worded out whether drill press or a drum roll tool. There's only one reason to do that. And that's so that police won't be able to do a ballistic test on it. But did that mean Dawn really was Susan's killer? Or had someone set her up? Maybe Dawn hadn't done this.

Maybe Dawn loaned her gun to either Andrew Storers, some third party that we didn't know. On December 28th, the investigators asked Dawn to come in for another interview. And Dawn, cooperative as ever, readily agreed. Once we tell her that the barrel of that gun had been tampered with, her demeanor changed. She was more anxious, more concerned.

She was more honest, too, admitting that she had been cheating on her husband with Fred Andrews. Don Silvernail was one more female in Fred Andrews' life. But while the affair was sexual, Don said it wasn't exactly. Dawn Silvernau was one more female in Fred Andrews' life. But while the affair was sexual, Dawn said it wasn't exactly romantic. She called Fred her little troll. She told the police that she slept with Fred strictly to pay off the money he had loaned her over the years. She said that she had owed a great deal of money, something like $5,000. However, according to Dawn, she didn't just work off her debt

by having sex with Fred. Andrews had paid her money to have sex with his friends. Dawn claimed that not all of Fred's friends were male, either. She told the investigators that in the summer of 1999, Fred had approached her with a new proposition. I want you to have sex with this woman that I'm involved with, and I'm going to videotape it. Andro so offered her $350 cash to participate in this.

This was Fred's idea to get the two women together for his own sexual appetite. According to Don, the other woman was Susan Fassett. They had sex the three of them in the town Water Pumping Station. It was just like something they did a couple of times. To please Fred, but that, they ended up liking it. And it was exciting, it was new, it was fresh. Don said she and Susan had performed for Fred on several occasions.

But she also claimed that by the end of the summer, Susan had started to have second thoughts and not just about the menager, to on. Susan begins to talk about, maybe I should get back with my husband. This isn't working. I'll Fred, we're just not meant to be together. Susan had broken up with him,

and nobody breaks up with Fred Andrews. And when the investigators pressed Don further. She finally just cracks and says, I shot that woman. I shot that woman. I shot that woman. But I didn't do it on my own. Don said Fred was the mastermind behind us.

He said this will eliminate your debt. Don said she had initially refused, causing Fred to resort to blackmail. Fred said, I have these video tapes of you and this other woman, and I'll show them to everybody. And Don claimed that when blackmail didn't work, Fred had started making veiled threats against her family.

For example, he took a photograph of her son on a break from his factory job, shows it to Don when he's trying to coerce her into committing murder on his behalf, and he says this would be a good place for a drive-by. When she saw those pictures of her son, that was it. She was ready to kill someone else in order to save her son's life. According to Dawn, that was why she had killed Susan outside her church.

Dawn sits there, just gives it all up. Dawn's confession was more than enough for the police to arrest her on murder charges. She's gotten down a woman, a mother, a wife, and cold blood shot her with a 45 caliber. She's placed in jail, and she knows her one hope is that she can go into court, tell this story, and that her sentencing will be light.

But would she tell that story as a defendant or a witness for the prosecution? The next day, December 29, police pounded on Fred Andrews' door. No one answered. But that didn't stop the investigators. We had our wants, we had what we needed, and we came in anyway. Once inside, the investigators fanned out and searched the house. We had our wards, we had what we needed, and we came in anyway. Once inside, the investigators fanned out and searched the house. I saw Fred's wallet, I think his page was there.

There was every indication that Fred was there in the house. Then, one of the investigators climbed the stairs to the attic. You could see dust moving, somebody had just moved from the top of that stairwell, and I basically announced that I was going to come up to talk to him. And he's calling Fred's name, I'm Fred. Fred, we got you, man. You give it up. But the disgraced city official wasn't about to give up.

At least not to the police. And when the investigators burst into the attic moments later. That was Fred, face down in the carpet, gone next to him. It was a pool of blood under his head. Fred had just shot himself. I'm thinking this thing is over. Coming up, don't go to court. You could hear a pin drop as she told her story.

But it's not her story that shunks the courtroom. There was an audible gasp in the room. On January 29, 2001, the accused murderer of Susan Fassett went on trial at the Duchess County Courthouse in Pekipsi, New York. We were comfortable that we had a pretty good case. However, the person the prosecutors were presenting the case against wasn't the woman who had confessed to the shooting. Don Silvernail. It was Fred Andrews, a disgraced city official

who had resigned from his position after pleading guilty to corruption. Fred had attempted suicide a year earlier when police came to his house to arrest him. Fred tried to take the coward's way out and kill himself. However, he had miraculously survived the self-inflicted wound. Underneath the chin came out through the nose. He had a lot of soft tissue damage to the face. It was unbelievable how he did not have any brain damage. He wasn't blind.

He could see. Although when he walked into court after a year's worth of reconstructive surgery, few people recognized the town's self-described lady's man. It was actually an audible gasmen in the room when he walked in the first time. He really looks like a disfigured man at this point. I mean, he really looks bad.

And he constructs his nose. Don wasn't in the courtroom, however. She was sequestered outside, waiting for her turn to testify against Fred. She had made a plea deal with the discontourney's office. Don had pled guilty to the murder, but in exchange for her testimony, the prosecutors had agreed to a reduced sentence, 18 years to life, instead of the maximum 25 to life.

We're the like-the-very-evener of the max, but we needed her. In its open, the prosecutors claimed that Fred had orchestrated Susan's death. After she had dared to break off her affair with him. He was a person behind the death of Susan Fassett, even if he did not pull the trigger on the gun. The defense countered by presenting a very similar scenario, although they cast Dawn as the chilted lover. The defense was trying to contend that Dawn

did this of her own volition, perhaps because she and Susan Fassett had had a lesbian affair. And according to the defense, Fred's disgraced reputation made him the perfect scapegoat. The defense theory is that Don realized that she could possibly frame Fred for it. However, when Don took the stand to testify against Fred, she hardly seemed like the sort to mastermind such a crime. She had short, rather un-stylish hair.

She was overweight. She was just a regular person who got caught up in something. And her remorse at being caught up in Fred's fiendish plot appeared heartfelt. I'm sorry that I killed that woman. I ruined family's lives. I took this woman away from her kids, away from her husband.

Don said she had only been trying to protect her family. Dawn claimed they would be harmed if she didn't do exactly what Fred told her to do. Dawn is married to a guy she really loves. She has a job working with mentally challenged kids. Well, all that blow up on her if this secret is revealed of who she is. Then, before the hushed courtroom, Don recounted just how she had waited in ambush, while Susan finished choir practice.

She sat in the front seat of a car, pulled the seat back. She has her pistol on her lap. Don said that Susan didn't see her when she walked across the street from the church. When Susan got in her car, going sat up. And according to Don, she immediately started firing at her former lover

through the cars open window. Don said she just kept pulling the trigger till the gun was empty. You could hear a pin drop as she told her story. She is a riveting witness. I mean, there's tears. You know, she gives the whole narrative of what happened. Never misses a beat.

Then, once the gun was empty, Don had driven away as quickly as she could. She stopped at a payphone and paid Fred a certain code in his pager, and that would tell Fred that the job was done. Susan was dead. Dawn said that after the shooting, Fred had drilled out the gun to foil the ballistics and taken other steps to cover their tracks.

We actually paid for Dawn to get four new tires thinking that we would be able to get our tracks at the scene. She gives them detail after detail. But would Dawn's detailed account be enough to ensure Fred's conviction? The jury has to believe that yes, she killed her, but yes, she's telling the whole truth here.

On cross, the defense did its best to discredit Don. What Fred's attorneys do, they attack Don's deal. Don was the killer here. Don got the plea bargain. Don got the reduced sentence. The legal system couldn't hold Fred accountable for what Don Silvernell did to Susan Fasson. Then, when it was the defense's turn to present their case,

they called Fred to the stand. It was clear when Don Silvernell was finished testifying that she had made a very powerful impact, and that the defense would have to come back with something very strong in order to counter it. And the defense strategy to counter it was to put Fred Andrews on the stand in hopes that Fred could go head-to-head was done. However, contrary to Don's compelling performance, Fred came across as a broken man.

Fred stammered. He reversed course. He wasn't clear. He would say, well, I shot myself so I don't have a lot of my memory. Although as Fred explained to the jury, it wasn't guilt that led him to attempt suicide rather than face arrest.

It was the hopelessness of his situation. He lost everything. He'd lost his job. He'd lost his esteem in the community. He was just so broken down and so tired. According to Fred, the fact that he was about to be arrested for a crime he didn't commit, was just too much to take. He didn't have anything to do with it. It was, oh, I'm done so, Vernail and her alone.

And the idea that his jealousy had led to Susan's death? Fred testified that it simply wasn't the case, and the police had the DNA test to prove it. Fred says, I had sex with her the day before she died. Why would I want to kill her? Coming up, the jury reaches its verdict. The jury came back within hours. But whose story will they believe? Dawn Silvernell did hold the fate of Fred Andrews in her hands. On February 23, 2001, the jury announced that it had reached a verdict in the trial of disgraced Pekypsi, New York City official Fred Androves.

The jury came back within hours. Fred was on trial for masterminding the October 1999 murder of Susan Fassett, the wife of a Pekipsi police officer. Susan and Fred had been having assorted three-way affair with Don Silvernail. Susan's confessed killer. It's like a soap opera. It really is in small town America.

It's a story of political intrigue. It's a story of political intrigue. It's a story of very powerful people laid low. It's a story of sex and violence. At trial, Fred had testified that the killing was entirely dawns doing, that the fact that he'd had sex with Susan less than 24 hours before her death proved that he had no motive for murder.

Or was that, as the prosecutors had argued in their closing, all part of Fred's plan? He manipulated Susan to get back together with him again, so he could have sex with her, just so he could prove that he was still with her, why would I want her dead, just so he could later say that. That's who Fred Andrews is. In the end, it all came down to Fred's word versus dawns.

And when he finished telling the sad story of his attempted suicide, it was obvious Fred figured he had won the jury sympathy. He walks away with his chest sticking out like this cocky man thinking they bought it. Only they didn't. When the verdict was read, the jury found Fred Andros guilty of Susan's murder.

Ultimately, Don Silvernell did hold the fate of Fred Andros in her hands. She's the one who put him away. Although she didn't put him away for long, despite the fact that he received a sentence of 25 years to life. Within two years, died of a heart attack. He wasn't a healthy man when he went in.

In the years since his death, Fred's daughter has come to accept the jury's verdict. I think he did what they said he did. I think my biggest regret is being nice to him towards the end when he was in jail. And Don Silvernail, the woman who killed Susan and his testimony put Fred in prison, she not only has to serve her time, she has to live with what she's done. Even though she got the last word, she paid dearly for what she did on behalf of Fred, Andross. She has nightmares every night about this woman and over in her head.

Don Silvernail was released on parole in December 2017 at the age of 68. She currently lives in New Fay, New York. you