Slaying May Be Linked to Fraud, Arson

Insurance fraud and arson may have led up to the killing of a Granada Hills man whose death has been linked to a suspected mother-son crime team under investigation in a sensational New York City case, Los Angeles police said Monday.

It was the first public explanation of the connection between David Kazdin, 63, found shot to death March 14, and Sante and Kenneth Kimes, who are in police custody in New York. They are suspects in the disappearance of an elderly New York socialite and other crimes from the Bahamas to Louisiana to Utah.

Los Angeles police detectives believe Kazdin and the Kimeses were introduced in Las Vegas more than 20 years ago and that at first, their relationship was social. Kazdin had no criminal record and was not involved in any criminal activities with them, said LAPD Det. Dennis English.

The Kimeses owned a 4,400-square-foot home in Las Vegas and put Kazdin’s name on the property title in 1992, English said.

It was not clear why they did that, because Kazdin had no financial interest in the house, English said, but Kazdin knew and did nothing about it.

The Kimeses allegedly took out a $280,000 loan on the house in December with Florida-based Ocwen bank--taking the loan in Kazdin’s name without his knowledge or consent, English said. The documents were forged and fraudulently notarized, he said.

Sante Kimes then had the proceeds deposited in an account where she was able to draw the $280,000, English said.

As a homicide detective “not experienced in white-collar crime,” English said, “I found it very unusual to obtain a loan in this manner without having more investigation done.”

Kazdin found out about the loan when he received paperwork from the bank notifying him of his monthly mortgage payments, English said. Kazdin told bank officials he never agreed to the loan. The bank then notified the FBI’s financial crimes unit in Detroit, English said.

In January, and again allegedly using forged documents, the Kimeses quit-claimed the title of the house from Kazdin to Robert McCarren, a Las Vegas resident. In doing so, they kept the mortgage on the house but transferred ownership to McCarren, English said.

They had McCarren obtain a fire insurance policy on the house, English said. The two-story home went up in flames Jan. 31, resulting in $250,000 in damage, according to a Clark County Fire Department report which concluded that the fire was “incendiary in nature and that the probable cause is set by human hands.”

Had the insurance fraud worked, the insurance money would have been deposited to an account to which the Kimeses had access, English said.

Because the fire was intentionally set, the Kimeses were never able to collect on the insurance claim, English said.

Meanwhile, Kazdin was found dead in a trash bin near Los Angeles International Airport, shot through the head.

LAPD detectives traveled to New York late last week in hopes of talking to Sante, 63, and Kenneth Kimes, 23, but the attorneys for the mother and son refused to let police talk to their clients.

“They struck out,” said LAPD spokesman Lt. Anthony Alba.

They did, however, recover the Kimeses’ fingerprints which police will attempt to match with fingerprints taken from the scene where Kazdin’s body was found, Alba said.

The Kimeses are being held in Riker’s Island Jail in New York on suspicion of fraud for allegedly bilking a Cedar City, Utah, car dealership of nearly $15,000 by purchasing a 1997 Lincoln Continental with a bad check. They are fighting extradition to Utah.

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The mother and son also are being questioned in the mysterious disappearance of Irene Silverman, a wealthy and prominent New York widow who was last seen July 5 by an employee at her turn-of-the-century Manhattan mansion. Police in New York are testing what appear to be blood stains on the sidewalk in front of the widow’s home.

Kenneth Kimes had rented a $6,000-a-month apartment in Silverman’s home on June 14. When mother and son were arrested July 5 on the Utah fraud warrant, Sante Kimes was found with Silverman’s passport, some of her checks and her bank account information, New York papers have reported.

New York police recovered the Kimeses’ Lincoln and in it found a ledger containing Silverman’s name along with the names of three people who are either missing or dead. These included Kazdin, the Associated Press reported.

The Kimeses have not been arrested in Silverman’s disappearance or in Kazdin’s slaying.

English said that although the Kimeses are suspects in Kazdin’s death, there are other suspects, including a Latino man frequently seen with the Kimeses. He has not yet been identified.