So due to the graphic nature of this episode, listener discretion is advised.

This episode includes discussions of sexual abuse of a minor and assault.

We advise extreme caution for children under the age of 13.

Most of us have remade ourselves at one time or another.

It's not always a big change, but I think that if you look back on your life, you'll

find that there were moments when you became someone new.

If Sante Kimes did that, she'd have trouble keeping count of the ways and reasons she squeezed

herself into a different shape.

Whether it was makeup to lighten her skin color, trading up husbands based on their bank

balance, or becoming the perfect upper-class socialite, Sante was no stranger to metamorphosis.

But the problem with that is that Sante Kimes only seemed motivated by one idea.

Stuff is never enough, and eventually the line between who she was and who she was pretending

to be must have felt pretty blurry.

Maybe that's how she tripped her way from shoplifting to embezzlement to enslaving people

to murder.

Then again, maybe that's who she was all along.

I'm Vanessa Richardson, and this is Serial Killers, a Spotify podcast.

Today we're diving into the life of Sante Kimes, a woman whose crimes were so outrageous,

we're gonna need three episodes to cover them all.

First, we'll explore Sante Kimes childhood during the Great Depression and Dust Bowl era.

Then I'll take you through her earliest crimes and how they played a part in her rags

to ultra-riches story.

...