33 Facts About Sante Kimes

Sante Kimes known as the Dragon Lady, was an American murderer, con artist, robber, fraudster, serial arsonist and possible serial killer who was convicted on multiple charges, including: two murders, robbery, forgery and slavery.

Sante Kimes admitted to her son that she murdered the partner in one of her arsons, Elmer Ambrose Holmgren, who had disappeared during a trip to Costa Rica with her; no charges were brought in this crime.

Sante Kimes was born Sante Louise Singhrs in Oklahoma City, Oklahoma, on July 24,1934, the third of four children born to Illinois native Mary Gertrude and Prama Mahendra "Doc" Singhrs.

Sante Kimes had an older brother and sister, and one younger sister.

Sante Kimes was an herb doctor in Oklahoma City who died from heart disease when Sante was nearly six years old.

When she was a teenager, Sante Kimes moved with her mother and younger sister to Los Angeles, California, and was allegedly adopted by Edwin and Mary Chambers, along with another boy.

Sante Kimes moved with her new family to Carson City, Nevada, where she graduated from Carson High School in 1952.

At school, Sante Kimes earned a reputation as a bully who frequently belittled and intimidated younger students.

Walker was a general contractor who built homes in the Sacramento area; in December 1960, Sante Kimes set fire to a house he had built to fraudulently collect insurance.

Sante Kimes only destroyed the kitchen and received.

Sante Kimes spent the better part of her life fleecing people of money, expensive merchandise and real estate, either through arson, elaborate con games, forgery or outright theft.

Sante Kimes committed insurance fraud on numerous occasions, frequently by committing arson and then collecting money for property damage.

Sante Kimes committed many acts of fraud that were not even financially necessary, such as enslaving maids when she could easily afford to pay them.

Sante Kimes frequently offered young, homeless undocumented immigrants housing and employment, then kept them as virtual prisoners by threatening to report them to the authorities if they did not follow her orders.

Sante Kimes was eventually arrested in August 1985 and was sentenced by the United States District Court to five years' imprisonment for violating federal anti-slavery laws and was successfully sued by Honolulu civil attorney David Schutter in civil court.

On September 18,1990, Sante Kimes hired 50-year-old lawyer Elmer Ambrose Holmgren to burn her Honolulu home due to a lien on the property, and the fact it would have cost to sell it.

Sante Kimes testified that the two acted together to drug Ahmed, drown him in a bathtub and dump his body offshore, but no charges were ever filed in that case.

Sante Kimes denied any involvement in or knowledge of the murders, and she claimed that Kenneth Jr.

Several years later, Sante Kimes convinced a notary to forge Kazdin's signature on a loan application for $280,000, with the house as collateral.

When Kazdin discovered the forgery through a letter sent from his bank and threatened to expose Sante Kimes, she ordered Kenneth Jr.

Authorities believe mother and son devised a scheme whereby Sante Kimes would assume the identity of Silverman and appropriate ownership of her mansion, which was valued at $7.7million.

Sante Kimes held a forged deed which approved the transfer of Silverman's multi-million dollar townhouse to Sante's shell corporation for $395,000.

Sante Kimes claimed to have been forced to stay in the house by the Kimes family, who hoped to collect the insurance money from the loss of the house.

Sante Kimes was told of several potential felony charges stemming from the murder and mortgage fraud, and reluctantly agreed to cooperate with police in apprehending the pair to avoid prosecution.

Sante Kimes threatened to have Sante handcuffed during further court appearances if she persisted and restricted her telephone access to calls to her lawyers.

Sante Kimes had earlier chosen to not take the stand in her own defense after the judge ruled that prosecutors could question her about her previous convictions, including her prison time on her slavery conviction.

Sante Kimes went on to compare their trial to the Salem Witch Trials and claimed that the prosecutors were guilty of "murdering the Constitution" before the judge told her to be quiet.

Sante Kimes's demand was that his mother not be extradited to California, where the two faced the death penalty for the murder of Kazdin.

Sante Kimes then testified in trial against his mother, exposing every detail about their multiple crimes and describing how she indoctrinated him into becoming her accomplice.

Sante Kimes again made a prolonged statement denying the murders and accusing police and prosecutors of various kinds of misconduct, and she was again eventually ordered by the presiding judge to be silent.

Sante Kimes was returned to New York state to continue serving her first murder conviction, and died at the Bedford Hills Correctional Facility for Women on May 19,2014.

Sante Kimes was featured in a 2009 episode of the television show Dateline and a 2015 episode of Diabolical Women.

The Sante Kimes' story was recounted on Oxygen's Snapped, in an episode that aired on August 30,2020.