All language subtitles for How It Really Happened s08e09 Sante and Kenneth Kimes.eng

[audio logo]

If you believe in justice or
family, I beg for your help.

My son and I are innocent.

There is a huge, evil
cover-up going on.

The police have made
a terrible mistake

and are attempting to cover
up what they have done to us.

My son and I were arrested
on July 5, 1998, for a crime

that we did not do.

[theme music]

Hello, and welcome to
How It Really Happened.

I'm Jesse L. Martin.

It was July 5, 1998, when
82-year-old Irene Silverman,

a wealthy widow,
mysteriously disappeared from

her New York City townhouse.

While police went on a
frantic search to find her,

they had no idea that their
investigation would unravel one

of the most shocking crimes they
had ever seen, a deadly trail

of deceit and fraud that
stretched from the Bahamas

to Los Angeles.

This is how it really happened.

[music playing]

On the Upper East
Side of Manhattan, July

4th weekend is absolutely dead.

It's hot weather.

It's muggy.

You can hardly breathe.

The residents of
the Upper East Side

basically scurry out to Long
Island to be in their houses

on the ocean.

We had three
detectives working.

The uniformed officers
had a what I would

consider like a skeleton crew.

We were told that a gentleman
was downstairs who was looking

to report someone missing.

And that's where I
met Mr. Jeff Feig.

He was the manager for
Irene Silverman's accounts.

Irene Silverman was known
as a Manhattan socialite.

Jeff Feig is very nervous,
very worried about Irene

Silverman at the time.

He was very insistent
something happened to her.

He was very, very
adamant and credible

that she never left the house.

If she's not there,
there's a serious problem.

She was an unusual
person to suddenly

go missing at age 82, when she
never left the house alone.

[music playing]

Irene Silverman lived in
a beautiful home less than a

block away from Central Park.

It's an extremely
wealthy area.

She had been in that
neighborhood and that house

for many years.

She lived by herself and
had a small but very close

group of friends.

She had a certain reputation
among people in the arts,

in show business.

She's a former ballerina
for Radio City, which is

how she met her banker husband.

Irene Silverman
was married to Sam

Silverman, who was a
mortgage broker and a very

successful businessman.

She was red hair, vivacious,
very outgoing, charismatic.

THOMAS RYAN: She was
probably around 5 feet tall,

probably 100 pounds, if that.

After Irene Silverman's
husband passed away,

she converted her townhome
into individual apartments.

And she started
renting them out.

She was an early
version of an Airbnb.

To me, it seemed not so much to
make money as to have company.

[music playing]

Irene Silverman was very
cautious about the people

that she rented apartments to.

You'd have to be affluent
and recommended by someone.

She didn't advertise.

A couple of the famous
people she had in there

was Daniel Day
Lewis, Chaka Khan,

and other business tycoons.

Irene Silverman was last seen
in her office at about 11:45

in the morning on July 5 by a
worker who had been sent off

to do some chores and
to take the dog up

to the roof for its daily walk.

First order of
business is to go

around and Make sure we've went
through every nook and cranny.

We call every hospital-- do
you have an Irene Silverman?

Do you have a Jane Doe
with this description?

We called friends, anyone that
might have any contact with her.

Anything at all
that may give us

any clue as to where Irene was.

[eerie music]

At the initial stages
of the investigation,

there was no forensic evidence.

As far as a struggle, that
was not visible at all.

But as we got further
into the investigation,

we realized that something
was definitely amiss.

It was noticed that
approximately $10,000 which

several people knew that
she kept was, in fact,

missing from the closet.

We interviewed her staff.

And they told us that a man
in apartment 1B has been very

suspicious, to the
point where Irene

Silverman told them about him.

Apartment 1B was
located about 20

feet from Irene Silverman's
office on the first floor.

This was a young man going
by the name of Manny Guerin.

He's 6 foot 1, dark hair,
green eyes, broad shoulders.

The staff members
told us about a woman

who would come to apartment 1B.

She was known as Ava.

And the tenants became
suspicious of her

as well because she would
never look at people,

would never talk to anybody.

She seemed too old
to be his girlfriend,

but yet she'd spend
the night with him.

So this was making Irene
very nervous and scared.

[eerie music]

Manny Guerin was
renting the apartment

for approximately
three to four weeks

prior to Irene
Silverman's disappearance.

JOE REZNIK: Manny
Guerin had apparently

made arrangements to rent the
apartment 1B for one month.

We learned that Irene charged
$6,000 for the one month's rent.

Usually, she didn't rent
out her apartment until she

had vetted their references.

But she is taken in by the
fact that Manny Guerin has

$6,000 in cold, hard cash that
he's willing to pay right there

for the first month's rent.

And he says he's going to
get her his references ASAP.

MARIA ZONE: But his
references never came.

[music playing]

Irene Silverman
realizes pretty quickly

that Manny Guerin is
sketchy and she should never

have let him into her home.

THOMAS RYAN: There
was some talk that he

was seen right by the door
sort of listening for her.

She had security
cameras in her vestibule,

and he would duck those security
cameras every time he went

in and out of the building.

JOE REZNIK: Irene
had video cameras,

but unfortunately,
they were just

used for monitoring purposes.

There was no recording devices.

It was just where
she could look.

In case the doorbell rang,
she could see who, in fact,

that person was.

Irene was so suspicious
of Manny Guerin

that she did a trace of
his face, like a sketch.

And she even took meticulous
notes about his behavior.

On July 4, on a
party that she threw,

she mentioned to Jeff Feig
that she wanted to evict him.

And they did make plans that
on or about July 6 that Monday,

they would serve him with
papers to have him evicted.

CICI MCNAIR: She wanted him out.

On the morning
of July 5, 1998,

Manny Guerin was the only
tenant in the building.

Shortly after
Irene disappeared,

Manny Guerin was nowhere
to be found either.

We tried to locate
him, and we couldn't.

We did background checks on
the name-- nothing came back.

So we were at a dead
end at that point.

[music playing]

Questions tonight on the
mysterious disappearance

of a very wealthy woman.

And it's not just Silverman
who's missing tonight.

Also gone without a trace
is one of her tenants.

On Monday evening, July 6,
there's a press conference held.

And at that time, we released
a sketch of Manny Guerin

and a photo also
of Irene Silverman.

Just to tell people,
you know either

of these people or
any information,

please contact the tip line.

[music playing]

A big break came in the
case on the morning of July 7.

A detective from the
NYPD working this case

received a phone
call from the FBI.

One of the agents saw
the press conference.

As a result of him
recognizing the sketch

he conveyed that he, in
fact, thought that they

had Manny Guerin in custody.

The FBI had arrested the
fugitives the night before.

REPORTER: The tenant from
the millionaire's mansion

has been found and is
behind bars tonight.

Police think her tenant,
23-year-old Kenneth Kimes,

is a con artist who gave
the fake name "Manny Guerin"

to live on the first floor
of Silverman's townhouse.

Kimes' mother, Sante Kimes,
was also arrested Sunday night.

JOURNALIST: The Kimes allegedly
wrote a car dealership, a bad

check for $15,000 in March.

TOM HOVAGIM: Sante
and Kenneth Kimes

were arrested for
the bad check just

a few hours after
Irene Silverman

had been reported missing.

After meeting Sante
for the first time,

you would think she was the
best woman in the world.

I was assigned
to sit with her.

The first thing she says
is, that's a beautiful tie.

Your wife must have really
great taste in ties and men.

They had ID on them
of Irene Silverman.

They had her passport, her
Social Security card, and keys

to Irene Silverman's house.

Sante said Irene couldn't have
really disappeared because they

were going to have
plastic surgery together,

and that's why she
had the passport

and all these documents.

Irene trusted her.

We don't know where she
is, but we pray for her.

The biggest injustice is
that there's no crime.

They don't know
where the woman is.

They manufactured a crime.

TOM HOVAGIM: When my partner and
I went to interview Kenny Kimes,

I said, this kid is
the boy next door--

clean cut, good-looking
young man, very

intelligent, very well-spoken.

I was a UCSB college student.

I had a lot of friends.

I had-- I had a fun life.

He started to get emotional.

And I thought that he was
going to start to talk

to us about Irene Silverman.

However, he changed on a dime.

He became stone cold, and
he asked for an attorney.

As hard as we tried,
neither Kenny or Sante Kimes

were forthcoming with any
information in regards

to the disappearance
of Irene Silverman.

Our first concern,
of course, is

the welfare of Mrs. Silverman.

And if there's any possibility
that she is, in fact, unharmed,

that's what we're
concerned about.

[music playing]

LARRY KING: The
connection between you

and your son and
this woman was what?

I met Irene in 1994.

An Equitable Life Insurance
man had invited me to New York,

and I met her--

very friendly.

She called me in 1996 and
told me that she was worried

and that she wanted
to sell her apartment.

And she knew that I had
a lot of connections,

and could I help her?
And I said, I'd be happy to.

LARRY KING: Did you
eventually rent it or buy it?

- No, I--
- Your son lived there?

We did not rent the apartment.

[music playing]

REPORTER: Police say
the mother and the son

are accomplished con artists.

Authorities think they may
learn more about the Kimes

from evidence
found in their car.

We located a green Lincoln
Continental, the car that they

paid for with the bad check.

We send down one of the
best crime scene people.

This detective spent 24
and 32 hours painstakingly

fingerprints, hair
samples, blood,

testing every inch of the car.

Because right now,
it's our feeling

that Irene Silverman may have
been transported in that car.

[music playing]

[chatter]

The big question every day
to me was, where's Irene?

At first my initial
reaction was, um,

all right, these people
definitely have something to do

with Irene's disappearance.

But as far as arresting
them for Irene Silverman,

more work had to be done.

The fact of the matter is, the
more we looked into the Kimes,

the more we found, and the
more complex the case became.

TOM HOVAGIM: That was just
the tip of the iceberg.

[music playing]

We started doing
some background checks.

As far as Kenny was
concerned, he had one prior

arrest down in Florida.

But then we had Sante.

We found multiple
aliases, 11 prior arrests.

REPORTER: Sante
Kimes has a string

of arrests dating back to 1961.

One was for stealing a mink
coat down in Washington, DC,

at some kind of high-end party.

Another time, she was
arrested for slavery

in two different states.

JOE REZNIK: How does someone, in
1985, get arrested for slavery?

[music playing]

[inaudible]

[man chuckles]

Sante was very flamboyant.

She looked like
Elizabeth Taylor.

She would even get
mistaken for her

and would sign autographs,
which, of course, she loved.

She was a very
charismatic person--

effervescent.

She was very, very exciting.

For the outsider looking
in, we were living the life.

She wanted money and
had anxiety around money.

She was obsessed with
getting it and spending it.

She was a very
accomplished shoplifter,

and she had a lot of techniques
for getting away with it.

KENT WALKER: We drove a lot
of nice cars, but none of them

were paid for.

In 1970, Sante finally
meets her millionaire

that she's going to lock down.

His name is Kenneth Kimes.

He's a very successful
motel developer.

CICI MCNAIR: Ken Kimes was a
self-made multi-millionaire.

He was divorced.

He had a son and a daughter,
and 17 years older than Sante,

but he was intrigued by her.

My mother could make
any man in the room feel

like the most important
man on the planet.

And Ken eat it up.

His favorite color was white.

She always dressed in
white from that moment on.

He loved the scent of gardenia.

She walked around in a
cloud of gardenia perfume.

She thought of herself
as irresistible.

Sante would mold herself
to be his dream girl.

She's seducing him, babying him.

She's keeping him drunk.

She's filling his cocktail
glass over and over.

And then, on the flip side,
he's terrified of her sometimes.

Her personality was
fearsome, on the good side

and the bad side.

You never knew.

TORI TEFLER: Ken
recognizes who Sante is,

so he's always a little
bit suspicious of her.

THOMAS RYAN: Ken also
is fairly paranoid, man,

but he's also kind of
cheap for a millionaire.

He didn't like paying for stuff.

It was his money,
and he knew it.

That was his power.

And he knew that if
mom had access to it,

he'd lose his power.

And that's why he made sure that
my mom never had a credit card,

never had a checkbook, never
had access to the money.

CICI MCNAIR: Sante was nearly 41
years old when Kenny was born.

This baby is her
lockdown millionaire baby.

He can't leave her now
because she's had his son, who

she names Kenneth Karim Kimes.

They call him Kenny.

[music playing]

Sante and Ken wanted a staff,
because what's more rich

person than having a staff?

So they would drive down to
Mexico or Central America

to find girls from
poor families who

didn't speak a lot of English.

And they would present them
with this amazing offer,

this American dream--

we're going to pay
you so much money

that you can send money
home to your family.

And then they would put
the girls in the trunk

and drive back over the border.

When they arrived, the
nightmare would start.

They were being
kept locked in rooms.

They worked seven days a week.

She never paid them a cent.

She would say, if
you go to the police,

they're going to rape you.

She poured boiling
water on one of them.

She hit another one
with a coat hanger.

She had a gun that she
wasn't afraid to wave around.

One of them did eventually
manage to escape

and run to the authorities.

REPORTER: Suspect Sante
Kimes and her husband

were arrested for violating
US slavery laws for smuggling

and abusing four
Central American women

from San Diego to Las Vegas.

TORI TEFLER: Ken
takes a plea deal,

but Sante does go to trial.

For the slavery charge, Sante
was sentenced to five years.

However, after three
years, she was released.

Her maids decide to
bring a $35 million

civil suit against her and Ken.

Sante eventually gets her
insurance company to pay it.

How?

Coercion, threats.

She actually was threatening
one of the CEOs of one

of the insurance companies.

And they found a dead raven
in the front seat of his car.

That's what she could do.

[music playing]

Here in New York,
Irene was still missing.

So as we're looking
for Irene herself,

we learn more and more
about Sante and Kenny Kimes.

REPORTER: Police say in New
York City, Kenneth Kimes

and his mother may have
been scheming to defraud

the wealthy former socialite.

Police in Los Angeles have
a similar suspicion about

the couple in a murder case.

David Kazdin was
a friend of Kenneth

Kimes Sr. They had some
business ventures together.

And that's how the connection
grew between Sante and David.

I first met David about 1971.

It was a casual slash
business relationship.

I would say David was
very sharp, very quick,

good sense of humor.

He had come from New York, so
he had what in California we

would call a New York attitude.

[chuckles] When David wanted to
know something, he asked you.

David calls, says,
Phil, you available?

And I said, sure.

We went out to lunch.

He said, you
remember Sante Kimes?

He said, I have a
little issue going on.

A few years ago, I let
her and her husband

put my name on a piece
of property on a house

over in Las Vegas.

She didn't want it
in her name, he says,

so I let her put my name on it.

And now I find out
that my name has been

forged on some loan documents.

And as if this isn't shady
enough, the house burns down.

And there is so
much gasoline on it

that the arson investigating
dogs are just going wild.

PHIL: He said, these
people will do anything.

[music playing]

TORI TEFLER: On Saturday
morning, March 14, David's body

was found in a dumpster by LAX.

He had a gunshot wound
in the neck and no shoes.

I mean, his green Jaguar was
found parked a few blocks away.

I was contacted by LAPD.

And I think my first response
was, I think I know who

your first suspect should be.

But by the time
they contacted me,

I think maybe Sante was
already in New York.

[music playing]

Welcome back to How
It Really Happened.

Shortly after 82-year-old Irene
Silverman was reported missing,

Sante and Kenneth
Kimes were arrested

on a warrant out of Utah for
using a bad check to buy a car.

But investigators in both
New York and Los Angeles

had reason to believe the
mother and son con artists

could be responsible for
far more heinous crimes,

including murder.

[music playing]

During the investigation, we
found out that Sante Kimes was

involved in insurance fraud.

And one of the cases was with
a man named Elmer Holmgren.

Back in 1991, Holmgren
admitted setting fire

to a residence
belonging to the Kimes

and admitted he had
been paid $3,000

by the Kimes to set that fire.

Sante had asked him
to do that so they

could collect the insurance
money on the house.

Wherever Sante
had owned property,

there was the whiff of
arson, insurance fraud.

KENT WALKER: He was
interviewed by ATF.

They were going to
have him wear a wire.

He calls the ATF the
night before and says,

hey, we got to change it because
they found out what's going on.

They know I'm talking to you.

Elmer is going
to report Sante.

And somehow, Sante
finds this out.

So she says, let's go on a trip.

Elmer Holmgren decided
to go away with Sante

and Kenneth Kimes Sr.

Elmer has a really
bad feeling about this.

And he tells his son, look, if
you don't hear from me in three

days, go to the authorities.

And nobody ever hears
from Elmer ever again.

TOM HOVAGIM: I believe
that Sante was definitely

responsible for Elmer
Holmgren's disappearance

and probably murder.

[music playing]

As time went on, I
felt that the chances

of finding Irene Silverman
alive were slim to none.

The chief of detectives
would call every day--

what's going on?

So the pressure was
on, especially when you

have the suspects in custody.

We had an entire room
full of evidence.

REPORTER: Police say they
found a mountain of evidence

in the suspect's green town
car and in a gym bag that

was stored at the Plaza Hotel.

There was an unknown
fluid that was determined

to be a date rape drug.

Syringes, rubber gloves.

REPORTER: Guns, wigs, and the
suspect's handwritten notes

detailing their alleged crime.

Notebooks, journals
of what they'd done,

what they planned to do,
shopping lists such as buy milk,

large garbage bags, stun gun.

TOM HOVAGIM: Two masks
from the movie Scream.

A number of blank Social
Security cards and blank power

of attorney forms.

But the most important
piece of evidence

was the forged deed with
Irene Silverman's name on it.

Once we recovered
that forged deed,

we knew we had
motive right there.

They were
intending to transfer

Mrs. Silverman's multimillion
dollar townhouse to themselves.

In fact, Mrs. Kimes posed
as Mrs. Silverman to get

one of the documents notarized.

Sante dressed in
wigs, a hat and played

the part of a frail woman.

It would be comical
if it wasn't so tragic.

[music playing]

New York City became so
enthralled with this case.

THOMAS RYAN: It was everywhere.

CICI MCNAIR: The
tabloids just loved it.

They were calling them the
grifters from Los Angeles.

Mommy and Clyde.

CICI MCNAIR: It was Dragon Lady.

People were just
fascinated by it.

JOURNALIST: Attorneys
representing the mother and son

team say their clients
have been wrongly

linked to the disappearance.

It seems that the public
now has an impression

that these individuals
are responsible for the

disappearance of
this elderly woman.

And there isn't any good,
hard, reliable evidence.

This is a case of a witch hunt
and persecution by [inaudible].

But the obvious question
is, why you and your son?

Because we just happened
to be there at the apartment.

And they made the worst
mistake in history.

I mean, there is no crime.

There's no body.

CICI MCNAIR: I was
working in New York

City as a private detective.

This was my first murder case.

They were held on Rikers.

And Sante would be
paraded in wearing cuffs.

And immediately, even
with the handcuffs,

she began to flirt with her
lawyer, Matthew Weissman.

Oh, you're so wonderful to come.

I'm so delighted to see you.

She was like the Grand Dame
about to call the Butler

and bring champagne.

Sante was a enormously
gifted individual.

She had the gift of gab.

And intelligent-- she
was very intelligent.

Stop it.

Sante used her
charm on everyone.

It was constant seduction.

It was leaning
forward and saying,

Cici, You're the only person
who understands the case.

The lawyers are idiots.

They don't get it.

You are the one to
bring justice to this,

which is the greatest
miscarriage of justice

in the American history.

[music playing]

TOM HOVAGIM: After recovering
all the evidence in question,

we knew we had
overwhelming evidence

to take this case to the
district attorney's office.

But there was a
huge problem for NYPD

when it came to
charging Kenny and Sante

with Irene's murder,
which is that they

couldn't find Irene's body.

They couldn't find a scrap
of physical evidence.

I felt that they
are 1,000% guilty.

JOE REZNIK: The problem was, how
do we prove that they did it?

[eerie music]

[chatter]

Every place you look
where the Kimes have been,

there's either a body
or somebody's missing.

At that point, we had a
lot of very incriminating

circumstantial evidence.

We really had a mother
and son that were deadly.

[music playing]

Sante went
through a transition

when Ken Kimes Sr. died.

Back in 1994, Kenny Kimes
Sr. dies while waiting in a car

while Sante ran into a bank.

Ken died of an aneurysm,
took about 15 seconds to die.

And afterwards, she
couldn't find a will.

He only has this
old will that gives

everything to his
first two children

from a previous marriage.

CICI MCNAIR: Sante decided to
keep him alive by pretending

he was alive.

[music playing]

She needed him alive to sign the
checks and make the withdrawals.

He had money in various
banks all around the world.

She was forging checks
and getting money

out of these various accounts.

So whenever anyone would call
and ask to speak to her husband,

Sante would say he was
traveling, he was in the shower,

or he had laryngitis.

Kenny doesn't find
out for three months

that his dad is dead,
but Ken's two children

from that previous
marriage don't

find out for about two years.

[music playing]

The difference in the
relationship between mom

and Kenny from the
time before Ken

died to afterwards,
incomparable.

They were two totally
different people.

CICI MCNAIR: And
he suddenly becomes

very, very close to his mother.

She encourages him to
drop out of college in '96.

And this is when
they really become

partners in crime, literally.

As part of our
investigation, we

did come across some information
about them being involved

in a homicide in the Bahamas.

[music playing]

We had a property in
the Bahamas on the beach.

The Bahamas had an appeal to Ken
because of the offshore banking.

Sante and Kenny are
trying to get money

out of Ken's offshore account.

KENT WALKER: But the problem
was the bank was going belly up.

[music playing]

CICI MCNAIR: Syed Bilal Ahmed
became a little suspicious

with certain transactions.

Kenny and Sante took
the banker to dinner.

The banker was never seen again.

[music playing]

REPORTER: The mother
and son pair is

accused of the
murder of 82-year-old

millionaire Irene Silverman.

Sante and Kenny
are finally slapped

with this huge indictment--

84 counts.

It's a huge circumstantial
case against them.

And so they're finally charged
with the second-degree murder

of Irene Silverman.

I felt more and more
confident each day,

and so did the district
attorneys, that this is worth

a shot.

Before the trial in 1999,
Sante and Kenny did an interview

with 60 Minutes' Steve Kroft.

Well, I would describe
myself as a mom.

I was married to a wonderful
man, who was a big old Irishman.

Kenny looks a lot like him.

I would say that I'm a son of
a very wonderful, beautiful mom.

I think she's a
beautiful person,

spiritually and intellectually
and then physically.

Many people have
suspected or alleged that it

was a sexual relationship.

They held hands throughout
the entire interview.

It was very, very strange.

Kenny is a mama's
boy, and that's

how I looked at all of that.

TORI TEFLER: Their trial starts
in 2000 on Valentine's Day.

CICI MCNAIR: They wanted
to be tried together.

[music playing]

No one saw anybody
coming out of that house.

How did they get her
out if they got her out?

Not just that there was no
blood evidence and no body,

but there wasn't even
a trace, not a trace.

The strongest pieces of
evidence for the prosecution

was Irene Silverman's
ID being recovered

from Sante and Kenneth, in
addition to the forged deed.

The mansion was worth
millions and millions.

The sale price was so
low as to be laughable.

But it was supposed to be
transferring ownership.

[music playing]

The notebooks were
the most challenging

thing in terms of the defense.

The prosecution referred
to the notebooks as a roadmap

to the crime--

everything Sante and
Kenny wanted to do,

thought they should do in order
to ideally get Irene's mansion,

but ultimately kill Irene.

They also recorded
phone conversations

that they made to Irene.

Listening to those cassettes,
we learned that they apparently

tapped into the phone lines
and they were able to listen

in on Irene's conversations.

They tried to get Irene's
Social Security number.

She knew something was up.

She did not provide them with
that Social Security number.

And that was evidence
that was on the tape.

Sante insisted that
they were being framed.

The evidence was being planted.

The police were corrupt.

(SOBBING) I used to
believe in this country.

I don't believe in
this country anymore.

Americans are endangered.

Trust me, it can happen to you.

The prosecution had
over a hundred witnesses

at the trial that testified.

And the defense had one.

Nobody could say
they had seen Sante

and Kenny when they
were purportedly

dealing with Irene Silverman.

MICHAEL: But Sante
wanted to testify.

That judge stopped me
from taking the stand.

We had a defense!

We were ready to tell a
brainwashed jury what happened.

[music playing]

CICI MCNAIR: Nobody
wanted to bring up

her past of arson
and shoplifting,

but particularly
the slavery charge.

There was no defense.

All the jury had
heard were lies.

A bombshell courtroom
verdict today in Manhattan--

a jury found Sante and
Kenneth Kimes guilty.

Kenny came down the hall,
and his face was gray.

He never thought they
would be convicted.

REPORTER: The eight
women and four men

finding Sante and Kenneth Kimes
guilty of murder, robbery,

eavesdropping, weapons
possession, and forgery,

among other charges.

Kenneth and his mother
were each sentenced to more

than a hundred years in prison.

[music playing]

Are you optimistic
about an appeal?

The only reason
I think I'm alive

is that I must
prove his innocence.

TORI TEFLER: But they were
facing another murder charge.

And unlike the Irene Silverman
trial, in LA, they had a body.

[music playing]

My mom is--

is a wonderful, caring mother.

And her world is me.

And she is my world.

Once the New York
case was over with,

Sante and Kenny
Kimes now had to face

murder charges out in California
for the killing of David Kazdin.

We all knew California
was the death penalty case.

And they would have been
the first mother and son

to face the death penalty.

[music playing]

But before going
to LA, Kenny Kimes

did an interview at an upstate
prison called Dannemora.

I was a freelance
producer at Court TV.

On October 10, 2000, I
had a planned interview

with Kenneth Kimes.

And right away, I
noticed there was

something really off about him.

He was acting very
strange, very fidgety.

Could, um-- if I may ask,
uh, could we take a break

in maybe five or 10 minutes?

Sure, better.

Oh, just a little-- put
a little water on my face.

And then he said to
me, I'm really hungry.

Do you mind if you
get me something?

The only thing left in
the vending machines

was a Snickers bar
and a bottled water.

And I handed him these things.

And before I knew it--

[clamoring]

--he had his arm across my neck.

And he said to me, this
is a hostage situation.

[inaudible] Get back!

Camera man, back!

He took a ballpoint pen
and held the pen to her neck.

The guards were watching.

No one knew what to do.

He demanded to be
extradited to Canada.

I really didn't
think I was going

to make it out that day alive.

I was extremely terrified.

He threatened to kill
her for four hours.

I cried with him.

And I finally said to him,
do you know how to pray?

And he looked at me
and he said, yes.

Like, he really wanted to.

So we actually said the
Lord's Prayer together.

And it gave me lots of comfort.

And I saw it gave him comfort.

One of the hostage
negotiators said to him, OK,

Kenneth, let's end this now.

This is my business card.

And Kenneth went to grab
it, and I found that moment

and just took advantage and ran.

And I heard everybody
just pounce on him.

And I just thanked God
that he had let me go.

[music playing]

On November 19, 2003,
The Los Angeles Times

announced that Kenny
was going to confess.

He was going to
betray his mother,

something he had always
been terrified to do,

trained not to do.

He appealed to
the LA DA and said,

I will tell every detail of
the murder of Irene Silverman

and the murder of
David Kazdin if you

take the death penalty off the
table for me and my mother.

I was in the courtroom when
he described the murders,

and I think my heart stopped.

I had heard this person
proclaim his innocence

thousands of times,
and here he was

talking about gruesome details.

[music playing]

JOE REZNIK: Apparently,
that morning on July 5,

he'd left his apartment.

He'd met Irene out by the office
and asked her for a newspaper.

I think he used that opportunity
to see, was Irene alone?

Kenny then returns
to his apartment.

And now she happens to be
standing right outside his door.

TORI TEFLER: Kenny
flings open the door,

grabs Irene and
pulls her inside.

And Sante yells at Kenny, do it.

And so Kenny puts his hands
around Irene's throat,

and he strangles her to death.

[music playing]

He confessed to putting
her in the trunk of his car

and driving her
out to New Jersey,

where he said he dumped
the body in a dumpster.

Kenny confesses that he
killed David Kazdin as a result

of David wanting
to go to the police

because of a $280,000 loan
that was taken out on his name.

Kenny drove to
David Kazdin's house.

And David Kazdin had
known Kenny for years

because he'd been friends with
his father, friends with Sante.

He opened the door,
said hello to Kenny,

invited him in for
a cup of coffee.

And Kenny shot him in
the back of the head.

On the way home,
after disposing

of David Kazdin's body, Kenny
decides, this calls for flowers.

He spends $100 on a
bouquet of flowers.

He goes back to his mother,
said, mom, we did it.

Kenny also admitted to
the killing of Mr. Ahmed

in the Bahamas.

Kenny confessed to
drowning him in a bathtub

and throwing his body
into the Caribbean.

Finally, the truth was out.

Sante was softly
crying, and then

Kenny was manacled and trying
to stop the tears on his face.

I don't think that Kenny ever
turned and looked at his mother

during this
recitation of events.

[music playing]

After the trials, Sante was
sent back to New York State,

and Kenny was kept
in California.

And they weren't allowed to
contact each other ever again.

Over the years, I've
been involved in about

1,300 homicide investigations.

I'd say it's the most
complex and strange.

A mother and son
murdering people--

it boggles the mind.

Why did they do it?

She was a
multimillionaire's wife.

It's pathological.

It's a sickness.

Her answer to resolve
things was violence.

That's the way she took
care of loose ends.

Sante was the mastermind.

It was her idea to kill Syed.

It was her idea to kill David.

She was the one who
found out about Irene

Silverman's existence then
put this scheme in motion.

She has ruined countless
lives, including her own son's.

Mom was evil from day
one, no doubt about it.

Kenny made her more dangerous.

Kenny didn't care about people.

And put the two together,
they were that lethal.

Sante Kimes died at the
Bedford Hills Prison in 2014.

She was 79.

Kenneth Kimes is currently
serving life without parole

in a California state prison.

To this day, Irene Silverman's
body has never been found.

I'm Jesse L. Martin.

Thanks for watching.

Good night.

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