Kriti Mehrotra
When elderly socialite Irene Silverman was reported missing from her luxurious New York townhouse in July 1998, a mother-son duo ended up being arrested for her brutal homicide. No one knew at the time that Sante Singhrs Kimes and Kenneth Kimes Jr. had not only killed for money at least once before, but were also fraudsters whose actions were orchestrated by the former. That’s what ultimately earned her the moniker of Dragon Lady, as explored in NBC’s ‘Dateline: The Devil Wore White,’ but what many often forget is that she had another son, Kent Walker.
Kent Walker’s Childhood and Upbringing Weren’t Ordinary
It was reportedly around 1962 that Kent Walker was born to grifter Sante Kimes and architect Edward Walker, but he never had a stable environment since his parents soon divorced. According to his accounts, he believes his mother took advantage of his father throughout their relationship by engaging in affairs and running up large credit card bills before leaving him in financial ruin. He claims she went as far as to destroy his father’s career, only to then move on in life with wealthy real estate developer Kenneth Kimes Sr., with whom she had Kenneth Kimes Jr. in 1975.
However, before the two Kenneths ever came into the picture, Sante allegedly taught her elder son to commit crimes, put on a show, and help her land a rich husband to secure their future. In his 2001 memoir titled ‘Son of the Grifter,’ Kent accused his mother of frequently using him as a decoy so she could shoplift and of often stealing cars to ensure they could not be tracked. He added, “When candidates for ‘millionaire husband’ came to visit, I put on my show and mom did her own. She projected glitz and excitement, though there was rarely anything but peanut butter in the refrigerator.”
Kent further claimed that somehow his mother’s dates never realized “her address was always temporary and everything in the house was either stolen, on long-term unintentional loan, or obtained via nonexistent credit.” Since he was just a child at the time and didn’t really have a grasp of right or wrong, he actually shared a rather close connection with Sante until Kenneth Kimes Sr. came into the picture. According to records, they started drifting apart before they ever had their first fight when he was 12 because his mother hadn’t informed him of the fact that he now had a younger brother.
Kent Walker Tried to Protect Kenneth Kimes Jr. From Their Mother
Although Kent was deeply hurt about being left out of Sante’s newfound young family, he took on the role of big brother with pride the moment he was granted access to Kenneth Kimes Jr. He still remembers feeling an intense sense of care, love, and protectiveness toward his younger brother, which is why he later tried to prevent him from forming a tight bond with their mother. By the mid-1980s, he knew his mother was a con artist and robber, as she had been convicted of charges like grand larceny, transporting illegal immigrants, and violating federal anti-slavery laws.
Kent was in his 20s when Sante was arrested on federal charges, with him being nowhere near involved in her ongoing crimes because he had long moved away and turned over a new leaf. He had decided he needed to stop being involved in her schemes around the mid-1970s, when he found himself facing a very real possibility of spending some time in a juvenile detention center. The idea of prison, as well as the possibility of not being able to be there for Kennenth Jr. if he needed, was enough for him to work towards being a better individual in every way possible.
Therefore, upon graduating from high school, Kent served in the army for a few years before returning to civilian life, marrying the love of his life, and then settling in Las Vegas, Nevada. He also evolved into a vacuum cleaner salesperson by the 1980s, all the while still trying to maintain a close bond with his brother in the hopes of keeping him on the right path. But alas, according to records, Kenneth Jr. eventually followed in his mother’s footsteps and even dropped out of college, which is when the elder sibling chose to cut contact with both his mother and his brother.
Kent Walker Prefers to be Surrounded by Family and Lead a Quiet Life Today
Kent tried hard to lead a normal life away from his family when he had the opportunity to move out. Even after he cut off contact with them, things turned upside down in 1998. That’s when Sante and Kenneth Jr. were arrested on suspicion of Irene Silverman’s kidnapping homicide, something he revealed he immediately came to believe was a crime they committed. His wife, as well as the mother of his three kids, couldn’t understand his perspective at the time, though, but that’s because he hadn’t really told her the truth about his past and family until then.
As per Kent’s accounts, his mother and brother’s arrest left his life in chaos as friends began looking at him differently simply owing to his blood relations, and he couldn’t concentrate on work. Therefore, he opened up to his found family before sitting down at a computer and letting go of everything he had been holding back for years, which culminated in his 2001 memoir ‘Son of the Grifter.’ In the years to follow, he grew angrier as it came to light that Sante and Kenneth Jr. had killed not only Irene Silverman in New York in July 1998 but also David Kazdin in California in March 1998.
In his book, Kent has also alleged that his mother and stepfather also killed a lawyer named Elmer Holmgren in 1991, but it has never been proven. Therefore, when the topic of Sante and Kenneth Jr. potentially standing trial for their crimes came up, Kent agreed to testify to let the world know exactly what he thought of his mother. In the end, in 2000, the duo was convicted of 118 charges in New York, including burglary, conspiracy, forgery, grand larceny, illegal weapons possession, and Irene’s murder. They were subsequently sentenced to over 120 years in prison each before being extradited to California to face justice in connection with David Kazdin’s homicide.
In 2004, while Kenneth Jr. pleaded guilty in exchange for the death penalty to be taken off the table for both him and his mother if she is convicted, she stood trial and was found guilty. By this point, Kent had earned the Edgar Allen Poe Award for Best Fact Crime for his memoir and decided to move forward with his life. He tried visiting Sante once during this period, but was denied owing to security reasons – he never tried again, and she died while incarcerated in 2014. Since then, Kent has preferred to lead a private life, so all we know is that the 63-year-old resides in California, where he is surrounded by a family of his own. He is a proud husband, father, and likely grandfather.
Read More: Irene Silverman Murder: Where Are Sante and Kenneth Kimes Now?
