News briefs for June 12, 2001

Tuesday, June 12, 2001 | 9:45 a.m.

Arrest made in homeless slaying

A 39-year-old man accused of killing a homeless Las Vegas woman last month was arrested Friday night in California.

Michael Kennedy was arrested Friday in San Bernardino, Calif., on a warrant charging him with the May killing of Lynn Thorson in the area of Main Street and Owens Avenue, Lt. Wayne Petersen of Metro Police's homicide unit said.

California authorities came into contact with Kennedy Friday night, and a computer check of him revealed the Las Vegas warrant. Kennedy was arrested and is being held in a California jail pending extradition.

Kennedy is accused of taking Thorson's blanket on May 22. When she stood up to protest, police said, Kennedy allegedly knocked her down, causing her to hit her head against a wall. She died the next day in University Medical Center, police said.

3 dead, 14 injured in highway crashes

A 4-year-old girl was killed and four other people were injured in a rental truck crash Monday morning on Interstate 40 west of Needles, Calif., authorities said.

The crash, involving a family from Albuquerque, N.M., was the second fatal wreck in a little more than 15 hours on the interstate in the desert near Needles, the California Highway Patrol said.

A 6-year-old boy and a 4-year-boy were flown by helicopter to University Medical Center in Las Vegas with head injuries after Monday's crash about 7:45 a.m. They are both in critical condition, hospital spokesman Rick Plummer said.

CHP Officer Rick Sigler said they were thrown from the U-Haul truck as it rolled over in the median.

A 23-year-old woman who was driving and a 20-year male passenger were taken to Colorado River Medical Center in Needles.

Kimes will get day in court

Sante Kimes, who is serving 120 years for the murder of a Manhattan widow, is getting a day in court to fight extradition to California in another murder case -- one that could lead to the death penalty.

Kimes, whose son Kenneth has already been extradited to California for the trial, will be given the opportunity Wednesday to prove that she was not in California when a Los Angeles businessman was shot and that she is not the Sante Kimes who is wanted in the killing.

Acting state Supreme Court Justice Mary Smith noted that California has identified its suspect by name, several photographs and a physical description that appear to match the 65-year-old Kimes. But the judge added that two different birth dates are given on the warrant and on the felony complaint.

The businessman, 63-year-old David Kazdin, was found dead in a trash bin near Los Angeles International Airport in 1998. Police believe Kazdin was shot and killed after he learned that the Kimeses had forged his name on a loan. They allegedly took $200,000 from the loan account.

The Kimeses were convicted in May 2000 of murdering 82-year-old Irene Silverman, whose body was never found.