Sante Kimes
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Sante Kimes (born July 24, 1934) is an American woman infamous for the murder of Irene Silverman, an 83-year-old New York City socialite. She also was convicted of killing David Kazdin, a business associate of her husband, in California.
Born Sante Louise Singhrs, possibly to a Dutch mother and East Indian father (she reinvented herself so often even her children were unsure of the facts), Kimes spent the better part of her life fleecing people of money, expensive merchandise, and real estate, either through elaborate con games, forgery, or outright theft. She committed insurance fraud on numerous occasions, frequently by committing arson and then collecting for property damage. She delighted in introducing her husband as an ambassador - a ploy that even gained the couple access to a White House reception during the Ford administration - and impersonating Elizabeth Taylor, who she vaguely resembled. She had a habit of befriending people, usually illegal aliens, at homeless shelters and offering them housing and employment, then keeping them virtual prisoners by threatening to report them to the authorities if they didn't follow her orders. As a result, she and her second husband, alcoholic motel tycoon Ken Kimes, spent years and squandered his fortune on lawyers' fees defending themselves against charges of slavery. She eventually was convicted and spent several years in prison, but even from behind bars she wielded a bizarre control over her family.
Sante Kimes and her son have also admitted to the brutal killing of an Indian Banker, Syed Bilal Ahmed, in Nassau, Bahamas on the 4th of September,1996, just because he refused to approve her loan. Both, mother and son, drugged Ahmed, drowned him in the bathtub and stored his body in garbage bags overnight. Next day, they dumped the body in the sea.
In 1998, with her son Kenny, Kimes perpetrated a scheme whereby she would assume Irene Silverman's identity and then appropriate ownership of her $7.7 million Manhattan mansion. Despite the fact Silverman's body was never found, both mother and son were convicted of murder in 2000, in no small part because of the discovery of Kimes's notebooks detailing the crime and notes written by Silverman, who was extremely suspicious of the pair.
Sante Kimes is currently serving a life sentence at Bedford Hills Correctional Facility for Women in New York. Both she and Kenny also are serving additional life terms for the death of Kazdin [1].
[edit] In popular culture
A 2001 made-for-TV movie, Like Mother, Like Son: The Strange Story of Sante and Kenny Kimes, starred Mary Tyler Moore as Sante Kimes, Gabriel Olds as Kenny, and Jean Stapleton as Silverman. It hinted at an incestuous relationship between the mother and son, a fact not supported by their family and friends. In 2006, another television movie, A Little Thing Called Murder, starring Judy Davis and Jonathan Jackson, aired on Lifetime.
An autobiography by Kimes' older son, Kent Walker, reveals many facts about his mother, her personality, and her crimes from his point of view. His book, Son of A Grifter: The Twisted Tale of Sante and Kenny Kimes, the Most Notorious Con Artists in America, (ISBN 0-06-103169-0), was a national bestseller [2] and winner of the Edgar Allan Poe Award for best Fact Crime book in 2002.
