Two caretakers charged with murder
Police say man found dead in Columbia County was strangled
When Ed Kessler was found dead in an Elizaville home, State Police did not initially call it a homicide.
But on Wednesday, two caregivers for the former Long Island man were charged with second-degree murder in his February death. Authorities came to believe Kessler was strangled.
Cassandra Fischer, 30, and Ryan Woods, 29, both of Elizaville, also face several felony charges related to the alleged endangerment of an elderly person. Fischer was additionally charged with second-degree grand larceny.
The victim had been staying with the two defendants since late 2021, according to the Columbia County district attorney’s office.
The victim’s death was officially called an “unattended death” by State Police after it was reported Feb. 7, but a pathologist and police later determined the victim was strangled, according to a law enforcement official with direct knowledge of the case who spoke on the condition of anonymity.
Kessler, who was in his
mid-60s and lived on Long Island before staying in Elizaville, had been dead for a couple of days before being found, according to the official.
The death was never announced publicly by State Police as a homicide, though they came to that conclusion within a few weeks of finding the body, the official said.
The house where Kessler was found sits on a bend of Mountain View Drive close to other properties, part of a cluster of residential streets around Twin Lakes near the Dutchess County border.
When a Times Union reporter knocked on the door in mid-april to inquire about the alleged murder — then only officially considered an unattended death — one of the eventual defendants, Ryan Woods, answered the door.
Woods said that he was renting the house for a couple of weeks and that the owner was not home. When asked, he said he had heard of the death, but said he was never told it was anything suspicious.
Kessler was killed sometime between November 2021 and Feb. 6, according to the indictment, which was unsealed in court Wednesday.
The grand larceny charge, faced only by Fischer, is leveled against those accused of stealing more than $50,000 worth of cash or property.
Columbia County Assistant District Attorney Ryan Carty argued Fischer should be ordered to pre-trial incarceration without the ability to post bail due to her criminal history and failure to appear in court.
Fischer is on felony probation from Suffolk County Court and is facing a felony case out of Rhinebeck, according to Carty, as well as being charged four times with failure to appear.
Though Carty said Woods did not have a criminal record like Fischer, he argued the man should also not be given the option of bail.
Fischer’s public defender, Shane Zoni, and Woods’ court-appointed attorney, William Galvin, both argued for bail. Galvin said his client was essentially homeless for two years in the Elizaville area, but had lived in the tri-state area his whole life and had no criminal history or warrants.
Columbia County Judge Richard Koweek denied both defendants bail, ordering them to Columbia County jail until their next appearance June 2.
The top charge, second-degree murder, carries a maximum sentence of 25 years to life in prison.