Suspects in N.Y. Crime May Be Charged in L.A. Man’s Slaying

New information provided by witnesses may enable Los Angeles authorities to file murder charges next week against a mother and son who police suspect killed a Granada Hills man before being named in a sensational New York crime case, police said Friday.

Sante Kimes, 63, and her 23-year-old son, Kenneth, are currently being held without bail in New York as suspects in the disappearance and presumed killing of an elderly Manhattan socialite.

Los Angeles police say the Kimeses also are suspects in the death of David Kazdin, 63, whose body was found in a trash bin at Los Angeles International Airport on March 14. Kazdin, who had been shot to death, had been an acquaintance of Sante Kimes for more than 20 years, investigators said, and detectives have been looking for months for more evidence in the case.

Det. Brian Carr of the LAPD’s robbery-homicide unit said Friday that the district attorney’s office may file murder charges as early as next week based on new information about Kazdin’s death provided to them by “several witnesses.”

New York City authorities are holding the alleged mother-and-son crime team on a $650 fraudulent credit card charge while they investigate the disappearance of 82-year-old Irene Silverman, a wealthy Manhattan widow. At the time of their arrests, the Kimeses possessed Silverman’s passport, some of her checks and her bank account information, police said.

Police also found a ledger containing Silverman’s and Kazdin’s names. But Silverman’s body has not been found, and police sources say New York police have been unable to link the Kimeses with the elderly woman’s disappearance.

The Kimeses’ attorney, Mel A. Sachs, said he doubts the motives of any witnesses speaking to police so long after Kazdin’s death. “I’d like to know who the person is,” he said. “What his criminal background is, his psychology, his motive, his interest in coming forward eight months after a homicide.”