All language subtitles for Blood.&.Money.S01E05.High.Society.Schemers.1080p.PCOK.WEB-DL.AAC2.0.H.264-playWEB_track3_[eng]

In the criminal
justice system,

detectives and prosecutors
face daunting challenges

when money
is the motive for murder.

[dramatic sting]

Irene Silverman,

82 years old,

last seen July 5th, 1998.

Irene lived
on the Upper East Side.

She's worth a lot of money.
Now she's missing.

The disappearance
of a wealthy socialite

grips a nation...

This was the largest search

that I have
ever participated in by far.

And New York detectives
stop at nothing to find her.

The investigation
is in full swing.

Everyone is riveted
to this case.

But the city faces a case

that has never been tried
and won.

There was no body.
This was an uphill battle.

No one's prepared
for how twisted

the real story truly is.

She was the devil
in sheep's clothing.

She loved to lie.

These men and women
dedicate their lives

to law and order.

I had nightmares about her.

She was as dangerous
as a cobra.

These are
their true stories.

♪ ♪

[dramatic sting]

[dramatic music]

July 5th, 1998 was
a beautiful summer night.

There were three of us working
in the detective squad.

Around 6:00 p.m.,
the detectives were notified

about a missing person.

[siren wails]

The patrol officers said
that they had

a missing elderly woman.

[camera shutter snaps]
Her name was Irene Silverman.

When the detectives
responded to

Irene Silverman's
disappearance,

they immediately started
conducting interviews.

[camera shutter snaps]

She fit the category
of special missing persons

because of her age,
and that alarmed everyone.

In 1998,
I was an active detective

in the 19th precinct.

I worked with Joe Reznick.

He was a lieutenant

in the 34th precinct
detective squad.

New York City in 1998
was fairly good.

We had come a long way
as far as crime was concerned.

You could literally see
good changes

throughout the city,

all the way until July 5th,

when I'm given this case.

I spent 36 years
doing investigations.

The ten-foot-tall moments

that I've encountered
over the years,

they're rare.

But on July 5th,

that's a ten-foot-tall moment.

Irene Silverman had a staff

of housekeepers
and personal assistants

who were all very concerned
with her sudden disappearance.

One person that was available
that evening

to talk to detectives

was a female named Aracelis,
the weekend housekeeper.

She says that on July 5th,

approximately 11:45
in the morning,

she was asked by Irene
to walk the dog,

clean some garments.

And she went off to do
those things.

That, in fact,
was the last time

that Irene Silverman
was seen by any of the workers.

They were people that Irene
had employed over the years.

They were concerned for her.

So they gave us
a lot of details,

hoping that that would help us
figure out what happened.

[phone rings]

At about 2:20 that afternoon,

Irene Silverman received
a phone call.

Aracelis knocked
on Irene's door,

but she didn't get a response.
[knocking at door]

About 4:40 p.m.,

Aracelis tried once again
to wake up Irene Silverman

and then realized
she was not in her apartment.

♪ ♪

We see that the bedroom
is in disarray.

We asked her
if this was typical

of Irene Silverman
to keep her bedroom like this.

Aracelis says,
"Absolutely not."

Irene's
a very meticulous woman,

keeps everything neat
and squared away.

She also said
that Irene Silverman

always kept a lump sum
of money in her apartment--

approximately $10,000
in nice, crisp bills.

That appeared to be missing.

There was also jewelry missing
from the apartment

and Irene Silverman's
passport.

[indistinct radio chatter]

She was adamant

that something was amiss
with Irene.

Irene never leaves
the house alone.

She would have told
somebody where she went.

Being a millionaire
missing from 65th Street

in Manhattan,

Irene Silverman's disappearance
became the top news.

"NBC News In Depth" tonight--

the search for a wealthy
and eccentric widow

missing from her fashionable
New York town house.

About 50 detectives
are dispatched city-wide.

We go to the airports.
We're doing flight checks.

We go to the train station,
the bus stations.

We are looking
in every nook and cranny.

[camera shutter snaps]

This is the Irene I knew...

where she's sitting
in her living room,

her very ornately decorated
living room.

I love this picture of her.

She's a very sophisticated
lady, you know,

even though she didn't act
that way.

It's a very interesting combination

of personality traits.

She had no children.

And I felt, in a way,

like I was
her adopted daughter.

She would regale me
with stories of her life.

[bold jazz music]

Irene Silverman was
a Rockette

here in New York.

And on October 3rd, 1941,

she met a gentleman
named Sam Silverman.

He was very wealthy.

They got married and moved to

a very up-scale section
of the city.

♪ ♪

Because of
her husband's wealth,

she knew what to do
with finances,

even after her husband
passed away.

After Sam died,
she owned property

in France, Hawaii,

obviously in New York.

A wealthy widow,
Irene kept company

with friends, politicians,

and well-to-do
New York society.

Irene liked to throw
elaborate parties.

She loved having
interesting people come,

affluent people come.

She was a party--I'd love to
hang out with Irene Silverman.

I wish I was invited
to one of her parties.

Irene would serve
very expensive champagne.

We went to
some very posh restaurants.

At that age, she was living
her life to the fullest.

But Irene's
multimillion-dollar townhome

was too big
for her to live in alone,

so she converted
many of the rooms

into apartments
as short-term rentals.

Irene liked to rent
to affluent or notable people.

One was an actor,
Daniel Day-Lewis,

a singer, Chaka Khan.

You had to have money
to rent a room from Irene.

[dramatic music]

Interviewing everyone
connected to Irene Silverman

was a must in this case.

One of the staff members
who we were unable to locate

was a male
by the name of Menji.

We wanted to find Menji,
because after she disappeared,

he went right to Atlanta--
what he said was a vacation.

That was suspicious to us
at the time.

A fellow like Menji
becomes interesting

because we learn
that he had access

to some of Irene Silverman's
financial records.

He was guiding her

on some
of her financial business.

Definitely heightened us

to really want
to question him.

We start tracking them down.

The search continued
until we find Irene Silverman.

[dramatic sting]

Irene Silverman...

very rarely leaves
her residence.

It seems like she disappeared

under suspicious circumstances
on 7/5.

We got to figure out
what went on

over at 20 East 65th Street.

♪ ♪

We search
the neighboring buildings.

We try to recover video

that might have been
on the block.

We search the house
high and low.

Inside Irene's office,
we find a sketch

of what appeared to be a male.

And, of course, we didn't know
who he was.

♪ ♪

It depicted just basic
characteristics of a person,

but we were told
that she had drawn that picture

because she was skeptical

of the tenant
in apartment 1B--

a man named Manny Guerrin.

For Irene Silverman
to draw up a sketch

two weeks prior
to when she disappeared

definitely heightened us
to really want to look at him.

[dramatic sting]

Manny was a businessman
from West Palm Beach.

He was able to rent
the apartment from Irene

through her butcher.

Apparently the butcher

told him about the apartments
that Irene rents,

so he had a good reference,
knew somebody that she knew.

And Manny paid her
$6,000 up front

to rent a room.

The staff told us that Irene
was suspicious of him

from day one
that he rented the apartment.

There was just something
about him

that gave her an ill feeling.

Irene Silverman
also had cameras

throughout her building.

She found it strange
that he would elude

the cameras that she had.

He'd walk up against the wall,
out of sight.

The staff also told us

that she would see him
standing at the door.

She'd see his feet
through the bottom of the door.

She'd see him looking

out the peephole
of the apartment,

observing her.

[fireworks popping]

The night of Fourth of July,

Irene Silverman had a party,

where she had a discussion
with one of her assistants

in regards to evicting
Manny Guerrin.

Their plan was,
is just to serve him

with an eviction letter

and to get him
out of the building.

[train horn blares]

But the next day,
Irene Silverman had vanished.

The sketch,

the apartment
being in disarray,

her leaving
without telling anyone...

♪ ♪

Now we have ourselves
a mystery on our hands.

It was frightening.

- [camera shutter snaps]
- There was a stun gun box,

wigs, Mace,
and plastic handcuffs.

This is the anatomy
of a frame-up.

They underestimated
the perseverance

of the New York City
Police Department.

Detectives were searching
for two people of interest

in the missing-persons case
of socialite Irene Silverman--

her tenant Manny Guerrin

and her personal assistant
Menji Melis.

[dramatic sting]

Menji was down in Atlanta,

but we were able
to contact him.

So he immediately flew
back to New York.

While questioning Menji,

he offered for us to look
at his financial records.

He was very forthcoming
with all his answers

and everything he told us.

After speaking to Menji,
it was just a matter

of checking out
what he had said.

We concluded
he has nothing to do

with Irene Silverman's
disappearance.

Don't forget--
we were counting hours here.

We're also tracking down
this guy Manny Guerrin.

When you look at everything,

like that sketch
that Irene prepared

or the strange feelings

that Irene Silverman
had about them,

he was a suspect.

As the investigation
is unfolding,

we determine that we have
to get into apartment 1B,

which was
Manny Guerrin's apartment.

We needed to know,

was Irene Silverman
in that apartment?

We get into the apartment.

We notice
that the bed was stripped,

and one of the quilts
was missing.

In the garbage,

they found some
rolled-up used duct tape.

There were
some black plastic bags

that were present in a box,

and either five
or six bags were missing.

[dramatic music]

Add that to all
these other comments

made by the people
in the building,

Manny Guerrin

went from being
a person of interest

to a suspect in this case.

Now we know
what we need to do.

Let's find him.

During the search
for Manny Guerrin,

investigators discovered
that he wasn't

the only resident
in apartment 1B.

Accompanying Manny Guerrin,
there was a female,

possibly in her 60s or so.

She used the name Eve or Eva.

Some of the information

we obtained during the investigation

was that this woman
was living with Manny

in apartment 1B.

She was an older woman,

and Manny Guerrin said that
that woman was his assistant.

We don't know exactly
what role this woman played,

but we needed to talk to her.

Detectives knew that
with each hour that went by,

the hope of finding
Irene alive diminished.

[dramatic sting]

[distant sirens wail]

You know, there's thousands
of people missing

here in New York City.

And press conferences are great
because you get the publicity.

So Monday night I conducted
a press conference.

And I was able
to show the sketch

that was prepared by the
witnesses earlier in the day.

Irene Silverman
was in good health,

both physically and mentally.

However, she would never
leave her residence

without one of her workers.

The disappearance
is highly uncharacteristic

of the victim.

The whereabouts
of Irene Silverman

remains a mystery.

Authorities have also
increased the reward money

to $10,000,

and they're asking
anyone with information

to call Crime Stoppers.

After the press conference,
the FBI called us

and said, "Listen, you better
get down here.

We think we have something
that you are looking for."

[dramatic sting]

♪ ♪

While we were searching
for Irene Silverman,

the regional joint task force,

which is
with different departments,

arrested Sante and Kenny Kimes

based on a warrant
that was issued in Utah.

Sante and Kenneth Kimes
were a mother and son.

They were wanted for an arson
and insurance-fraud case.

When Kenny Kimes was searched,
they found identification

and an American Express
credit card...

in the name if Irene Silverman.

♪ ♪

When they searched Sante,
they find $10,000 cash.

They asked her
what that money was.

She said, "That's nothing.
That was just travel money."

Detectives
were very alarmed.

Sante and Kenny Kimes
had Irene's credit card

and cash in the same amount

that was missing
from Irene's townhome.

And they fit a description
of the suspicious tenants

from apartment 1B--

Manny Guerrin
and his assistant Eva.

During the interview,

we tried to take
a gentle approach.

And we appealed
to her sense of humanity,

saying, "Listen, Irene's
an older woman,

"a little bit older than you.

"She's very frail.
She can still be alive.

"You still might be able
to save her.

You still might be able
to save yourself."

It didn't go anywhere.

She said, "Well, she could be
out walking her dog.

"Maybe she fell.

"Maybe she's laying
in an alley somewhere

"down some steps
and she's passed out.

Why are you wasting your time
with me?"

Kenny denied knowing her.
He denied anything about her.

We asked, "Well, why was the ID
found on you?"

And he kept saying, "What ID?
What are you talking about?"

Denying it.

Kenny also had a knife,
brass knuckles,

and two sets of keys.

One set of those keys were,
in fact, Irene Silverman's.

We asked,
"Why was her apartment keys

found on you?"

And he kept saying,
"What apartment keys?"

Everything seemed to connect
Kenny to Irene's apartment.

It was at that point
we believed

Kenny was the person
renting apartment 1B

from Irene Silverman

under the name
of Manny Guerrin.

Detectives believed
that they had finally located

the primary suspect

in Irene Silverman's
disappearance.

Hoping to find Irene alive,

they try to cut a deal
for information.

I said, "It's time for you
to fess up.

You can help us find
Irene Silverman."

Kenny started to break
and well up in tears.

We had him.

I thought
he was gonna start talking

and we were gonna have
the answers

that we've been looking for.

All of a sudden,
he turned to stone...

and the tears went away
very quickly,

and he requested
an attorney at that time.

While NYPD patrol units

search the city
for Irene Silverman,

detectives continue to learn

more about their
primary suspects--

Sante Kimes and her son Kenny.

[dramatic sting]

[train rattling]

[dramatic music]

As far as the investigation
was concerned,

we have two suspects
possibly in custody.

It's a matter of figuring out
how they're connected.

Our concentration
was on Irene Silverman.

Where was she?
What did they do with her?

And who is this Kimes family?

Sante Kimes comes
from money.

In the '70s, she married
a man named Ken Kimes Sr.

We learned
that he was a hotel developer.

He was a millionaire.

Sante and Kenneth Kimes
had so much money,

they bought property in Hawaii

in one
of the most expensive areas,

in addition to homes
in Las Vegas.

In 1975,

they had a son
they named Kenny Jr.

Kenny Kimes,
while being brought up,

had the best of everything.

He had private tutors.
He lived in elaborate homes.

He had housekeepers.
He had nannies.

They had plenty of money.

This just wasn't enough
for Sante.

We had done background checks.

One in particular is called
a Triple I check,

where they check other states
for criminal histories.

And what we discovered
about Sante

was that she had, in fact,

approximately 12 prior arrests.

In Washington, D.C.,

Sante and Ken Sr.
were at some elaborate party,

and she happened
to have stolen

a fur coat from the coatroom,

and she was arrested for that.

She also served
three years in prison

for kidnapping back in 1986.

She held one
of her housekeepers captive

in her house in Hawaii.

Kenny Kimes Sr.
had a distrust for her,

but divorce was never
either of their intentions.

In 1994, he does pass away,

and Sante inherits
all of his wealth.

NYPD was confident
Sante and Kenny Kimes

were behind
Irene's disappearance.

But despite having them
in custody,

investigators had a problem.

Both the FBI and the LAPD

wanted the Kimes
for their own investigations.

We found out
that they were both wanted

in a homicide from LA
for a man named David Kazdin.

David Kazdin was
actually a business associate

with Sante and Kenneth Kimes.

They were involved
in some real-estate fraud.

He wanted out.

An approximate $210,000 loan
was taken out

on his property
without him knowing it.

And then on March 14 of 1998,

his body was discovered
in a dumpster at LAX airport.

[train horn blares]

We knew
that we had to move quick

to develop our case

before the Kimeses
were extradited back to L.A.

We had to really make friends

so there wouldn't be
any jurisdictional problems.

LAPD agreed to suspend
their investigation

while New York detectives
searched for Irene.

We had a lot of work to do.

Inspector Reznick wanted us
to find Irene Silverman.

By some remote chance,
she might be alive.

So he creates a task force
of about 20 detectives.

We are dubbed
the Silver Task Force.

[dramatic sting]

[indistinct chatter,
telephones ringing]

We held our very first
meeting in the war room.

♪ ♪

There was a picture
of Irene Silverman

in the war room.

As a task force
and as detectives and humans,

we all felt that we needed
to solve this case.

This could have been anyone's
grandmother or mother.

We were all very invested

in doing whatever we had to do
to solve this case.

It was very obvious to us
we had two objectives.

One of them was to find
Irene Silverman,

and the second one
was to prove

that Sante and Kenny Kimes

were responsible
for her disappearance.

Detectives look back
at the evidence

found on Kenny and Sante Kimes

and discover a parking stub
for a garage

in Midtown Manhattan.

♪ ♪

They recovered
Sante and Kenny's car,

for which a warrant
had been issued.

It became instrumental.
[camera shutter snaps]

For approximately 30 hours,

a continuous search took place
by the Crime Scene Unit.

The garage was hot.

And there was
a lot of things in that car.

It was a grueling day
in the basement of that garage.

Some of the items

that were recovered
from the car--

there was a stun gun box.

Stun gun was missing,

but the box was there,
and the receipt was there.

One of the things we found
was a caramel-color suitcase.

Inside the suitcase
was a 9-millimeter handgun

which had 15 bullets
in the magazine.

There was also $22,000
in cash,

unused syringes,
and disposable gloves.

In the trunk, police find
an empty duffel bag,

big enough to hide a body.

They also find
a mason jar of liquid.

It was sent to the lab and
determined to be "roofilin,"

which is a knockout drug.

♪ ♪

Adding all this now
to what we've had so far,

we came to our conclusion

that Irene Silverman
was murdered.

Evidence discovered

in Sante and Kenny Kimes'
Lincoln Continental

led New York detectives
to believe

they were no longer investigating

a missing-persons case.

[dramatic sting]

Everything now pointed
to Irene Silverman

having been killed
and disposed of by the Kimes.

The need to find her body
created new urgency

for proving a murder case.

We wanted to establish
a timeline

of when Irene was killed.

The parking attendant
assured us

that the car was checked in
on June 14th at 11:02 a.m.

It was not moved
until July 4th.

So we could
kind of narrow down,

he took her out of the building
on July 5th,

from 11:45 a.m.
to 2:20 p.m....

and then he dumped her.

Given that it was
a holiday weekend,

streets were sort of desolate.

This provided Kenny
the ideal opportunity

to just walk that body out.

Lifted up the duffel bag,
put it into the trunk,

and then ransacked
Irene Silverman's apartment.

We're getting
a lot of media attention.

New York City Police
Department has a tips hotline.

And day after day,
they'd call us and say,

"Here, we got another one
for you."

Dozens of police officers

combed the perimeter
of Central Park.

Their search for clues
gained in intensity.

We searched the Meadowlands
in New Jersey based on a tip.

We searched it by ground,
and we searched it by air.

Detectives also were sent
to go through garbage

at garbage dumps,

because we thought
at that point

that Irene Silverman
was dumped in a dumpster.

So we had
probably about 50 detectives

raking through garbage
looking for Irene.

Despite
the massive search effort,

investigators were unable
to locate

Irene Silverman's remains.

Meanwhile, Sante Kimes
began her own media campaign

from her prison cell

by hiring a production team
to push her own narrative.

It is my great pleasure

to introduce
my beloved attorneys,

who are champions of justice--

Mel Sachs. and this is
Matthew Weissman.

We will have other attorneys
probably helping us.

Sante was doing
press conferences

out of the prison
like she was getting ready

to do a stage performance

as opposed to defending
for her life.

Michael Hardy
was an associate

of civil rights activist
Reverend Al Sharpton.

And Sante wanted him
on her defense team.

I got involved
when I received letters

from Sante.

"I really need you."
"We are being prosecuted."

"Our rights
are being violated."

She was appealing
to my instincts, if you will.

And eventually I decided
to say yes.

After she hired
Michael Hardy and Mel Sachs,

her defense attorneys
hold press conferences

accusing the NYPD

of setting up
Sante and Kenneth Kimes,

framing them
for the disappearance

of Irene Silverman.

They're not being charged

with murder
or anything of that nature.

It's solely
a warrant from Utah,

and that's it.

This was a way
of detaining them

and holding them.

This is the anatomy
of a frame-up.

The little woman
who has disappeared,

if anything
has ever happened to her,

it's on the hands
of the police.

To prove her innocence,

Sante hired
private investigators

Larry Frost
and Clarissa McNair.

My name is Clarissa McNair.

I became
her private detective.

I got a lot of flak
for taking on this case.

But it was
my first murder case,

and I think everyone
is entitled to a good defense.

If a lawyer were there,

she would tell him
a certain story.

Another lawyer might come
for 20 minutes,

and they'd talk.

She'd tell him
an entirely different version

of the story.

And I'd say,
"Sante, what are you doing?

"We're on your side.

You're confusing everybody."

And she'd say,
"They believe me.

It's my way of having fun."

She loved to lie.

[dramatic sting]

On July 23rd,

detectives intercepted
a phone conversation

between Sante and one
of her private investigators,

Larry Frost.

Sante needed a favor.

What she didn't realize

was that all
of her jailhouse conversations

were being monitored.

Sante asked
her private investigator

to go to the Plaza Hotel

to retrieve a bag
that she had checked there.

Unbeknownst to the private investigator,

we had a wiretap on the phone,

and we intercepted
this information.

Once he retrieved the bag,

the authorities
were there waiting.

What became critical
about finding that bag

was the contents.

And those contents included
a .22-caliber handgun

that was wrapped
in a white turban,

forged social security cards,

15 notebooks, wigs, Mace,

and plastic handcuffs.

There were
birth certificates

for Manny Guerrin,

for Kenny Kimes, for Sante--

all sorts of documents
that were incriminating.

Other important items

included these
spiral notebooks.

One page had a list of items.

It included a shower curtain,
rope, tape,

which was most of the evidence
recovered from apartment 1B.

They also find a folder
that said, "Final dynasty,"

which was a key piece
of evidence.

Inside was the deed
of Irene Silverman's mansion.

♪ ♪

The paperwork said
that Irene sold

her very, very expensive
$10 million town house

for only $300,000
to an offshore account

which had the name
The Atlantic Group.

It was forged.
It all looked bad.

It was the evidence
detectives needed

to secure a motive
in Irene's murder.

Knowing Sante's history
of obtaining money,

the plot was, kill Irene,
take over the town house,

move the money to
an offshore account,

and then dump her
somewhere in Jersey.

♪ ♪

On December 16th, 1998,

the mother-son duo
were indicted

on 84 counts,

which included
a second-degree murder,

burglary, robbery,
as well as fraud.

But there was
no direct evidence--

no DNA, no fingerprints,
none of that.

This was
a pure circumstantial case,

and prosecutors knew
they had an uphill battle.

Okay, just relax.

And then the pauses
are really great.

They're essential.

[exhales deeply]

Just relax, Ken.

Hello, my name is
Kenneth Kimes.

You don't really know me.

You may think you know me.

You may think you know
my mother, but you don't.

We are innocent.

♪ ♪

There were lots of stories
about Sante and Kenny.

The tabloids had a field day.

She would often call
the press,

try to give statements
to various newspapers.

Sante was a celebrity.

I mean, she literally used to
have reporters

come up to her cell
and be giving interviews.

We're innocent,
and if just given our rights,

we will prove it.

Sante Kimes was
practically Meryl Streep.

Her eyes could fill with tears
in a second.

This case is different,
like you said,

in that they don't have
any evidence.

- This case should have...
- We will show that...

- Never even been--
- At trial, Sante.

If you're gonna defend someone

who's being accused of murder,

I do not want my client
doing daily interviews

about the case.

But Sante continuously
neglected to take

the advice of her attorneys.

The reason why we're doing
this before trial is because

of the unfair portrayal
that's been given about us.

I mean, I've even
heard rumors about

how I don't love my mother,
how I hate her.

The media has portrayed us
totally like we are not.

We're just a mother and son.

Essentially, what Sante
was attempting to do

is gain some sort of sympathy.

You are talking about
potential jurors

reading newspapers,
watching the news.

So she was hoping to get to
and through them.

If you believe
in justice or family,

I beg for your help.

My son and I are innocent.

Her playing with the media

and attempting to generate
some sympathy

makes me want to laugh,

because people who commit
these crimes are sociopaths.

Over the next year,

detectives work closely
with the DA

to prepare for trial.

But despite all
the circumstantial evidence

in their favor,

a conviction was a long shot.

The Silver Task Force,
along with the DAs,

really were up
against something

that New York City
has never seen before.

We were going
for a murder conviction

without having a body.

We didn't have
any forensic evidence--

no blood, no hair fibers,
no fabric fibers, nothing.

In a case
where there's no body,

the likelihood of
it ending in a conviction

was slim to none.

[dramatic sting]

[indistinct chatter]

Going into the trial,

Judge Rena Uviller
was the judge.

And Judge Uviller had
a great reputation.

And so you really felt like
you were walking into

a level playing field.

To limit any influence
on the jurors

and the outcome of the trial,

Judge Uviller
barred all cameras

inside the courtroom.

[dramatic music]

♪ ♪

First drawing I did
of Sante and Kenneth,

the son
was exceptionally handsome

and put together,

although he had kind of
a vacantness about his eyes.

His mother, she just looked,
like, dangerous.

Her eyes were like coals.

And there was
something kind of strange

about the relationship
between Sante and Kenny.

There was a physical intimacy
that is unusual

between a mother and her son.

She would actually grasp
her son's hand

and hold on to it like
he was a child

or like he was her man.

The judge had the feeling
Sante was in fact manipulating

everyone in the courtroom
by this display of affection.

Oh, who could think
such horrible things about

such a caring mother?

And she just said,
"Cut it out."

And after that, they were put
several seats apart.

[dramatic sting]

[indistinct chatter]

On February 14th of 2000,
the trial eventually commenced.

In their opening statements,

the prosecution painted
Sante Kimes

as a woman addicted to crime.

Ladies and gentlemen
of the jury,

this is a case
about arrogance and greed.

The prosecution did bring up

that Sante had a very nice life

as the wife of
a multimillionaire.

But she still was driven
to steal.

This was a compulsion.

And I think
there was something in her

that was constantly thirsting
for thrills.

Sante Kimes was dangerous.

I never stopped feeling

she was as dangerous
as a cobra.

This mother-son duo,

they had long planned to steal

Irene's $7 million town house.

The mother posed as Irene
in this case,

duped a notary into approving
a fraudulent deed

that transferred the ownership
of the mansion

to a Kimes-owned shell company

after stealing
Irene's identity.

She had to be gotten
out of their way.

Now, I'm confident
that at the end of this trial,

you will be left
with no choice

but to come back
with a verdict,

guilty as to all counts.

This is a picture
of Michael Hardy

doing his opening argument
with Sante.

Ladies and gentlemen,

there's gonna be
a mountain of evidence

that the prosecution
puts before you.

They are going to show you

date-rape drugs, rope,
tape, guns.

They're gonna show you
all of these things.

But let me ask you,

where is the evidence
of foul play

against Irene Silverman?

Was Irene Silverman strangled?

There's nothing here to
say that.

[camera shutter snapping]
What about the guns?

Was Irene Silverman shot?

There's not even any blood.

If she was shot,

there would have to be
blood somewhere.

Was Irene Silverman choked?

There would be DNA evidence.

There is none, not a shred.

And if there is no evidence,

there can be no guilt.

Their biggest defense was,
"There's no body.

"So how could there be
a crime?

"We don't know
where Mrs. Silverman is.

"She could be on
a round-the-world cruise.

She could be anywhere."

At the end of the day,

you knew
no matter what they said,

they could not present a body,

so there was reasonable doubt.

But the jury was
still in store for

the most dramatic testimony
yet to come.

While the defense
argued reasonable doubt,

the prosecution
painted Sante Kimes

as the mastermind behind
Irene Silverman's murder.

[dramatic sting]

One of the pieces
of evidence in the case

was a tape recording.

- [cassette player clicks]
- We recovered the cassette

from that green
Lincoln Continental.

There's no way to
describe it

except as damning evidence.

It was Irene Silverman's voice
and Sante's voice

on a recording.

She posed
as a representative

from the Circus Circus Hotel
in Las Vegas.

She was telling
Irene Silverman

that she had won
a trip to Las Vegas.

All she needed to claim it

was her social security number.

This tape was proof

that Sante
was actually eavesdropping.

I was horrified.

I mean, Sante had made
the recording herself.

I think it had a great impact
on the jury

to know that Sante Kimes
was on a mission

to dupe Mrs. Silverman.

After 43 days of testimony,
the prosecution rested,

and the defense presented
their case.

The defense argued to
the jury that officers

and the law enforcement
officials in this case

did not truly rule out
other individuals

that could have become suspects.

Irene Silverman was
a very interesting victim

because she did have employees,

some of whom
had a self-interest.

And she regularly invited
people into her home.

And there was a not-for-profit
that would inherit her house

whenever she may have passed.

So you had people in her life,

all of whom could
have motivation

for her disappearance
and death.

[dramatic sting]

It's always
a very tense atmosphere

when the verdict comes in.

You're really literally

practically holding
your breath.

As to Sante Kimes,

guilty.

Three counts of murder
in the second degree,

one count of robbery
and conspiracy,

16 counts of forgery,

29 counts of eavesdropping,

totaling 58 counts.

[dramatic music]

Kenny was convicted of
those exact counts

in addition to two counts

of possession
of a forged instrument,

for a total of 60 counts.

"Guilty, guilty, guilty,"

rang out
dozens and dozens of times.

I was shocked.

The jury unanimously voted
the two of them were guilty

without the evidence
of Irene's body.

That was the first time
in New York City history

that it ever happened.

Before the judge
delivered the sentence,

she calls Sante Kimes

"the most degenerate person

who'd ever been
in her courtroom."

She knew what we knew.

Sante Kimes was the devil
in sheep's clothing.

Following her remarks,

Judge Uviller sentenced
Sante Kimes to

120 years in prison

and her son Kenny to
125 years.

[dramatic sting]

Now Los Angeles authorities
wanted their turn

for the murder of
David Kazdin,

the Kimes'
former business partner.

This time Kenny Kimes
took a deal.

The deal was that
if he told everything about

the Irene Silverman murder

and to confess to
the David Kazdin murder,

California would take
the death penalty

off the table
for him and his mother.

I will never forget
Kenny getting on the stand,

and he began to recount

how he murdered
Irene Silverman

on July 5th, 1998.

He said that his mother
stun-gunned Irene.

She fell to the floor.
He choked her.

He put her in the bathtub,

wrapped her in that missing
caramel-colored quilt,

duct-taped her,

put her in the trunk
of his car,

drove through
the Lincoln Tunnel,

and dumped her
somewhere in Jersey.

Unfortunately, to this day,

Irene Silverman's body
was never found.

Frankly, I was surprised

when I heard that he confessed.

But Sante never confessed

to having killed anyone,
for that matter.

♪ ♪

Best of all articles
relating to the Kimes

is probably this one here.

We knew he did it all along.

♪ ♪

Sad.

In 2004, Kenny Kimes was
sentenced to life

without the possibility
of parole.

That same year, his mother,
79-year-old Sante Kimes,

died in prison
while serving her sentence.

The lesson that was learned
in this case to me was

you can't judge a book
by its cover.

Sante and Kenneth Kimes
presented themselves

like the elite,
like the affluent,

and they were really
the worst people that

anyone could ever come
in contact with.

They were serial killers.

The Kimes underestimated
a couple of things here.

They underestimated
the capabilities

of Irene Silverman.

And they underestimated
the professionalism

and the perseverance

of the New York City
Police Department.

They met their match.

♪ ♪

For the first ten years
after she disappeared,

I had this fantasy that
she was gonna reappear.

But I gave it up.

I would have been wonderful
if it had happened.

She was a special lady.

Here's to Irene.

♪ ♪