In 1966, she and Johansson divorced. But Puente presented herself as a harmless old woman who was given gifts, and the police let her out on bail. For five days, Dorothea Puente was on the lam. Gillmouth's body remained unidentified for three years. They dont have all the facts, she told Sactown Magazine in 2009. He claims to have had a regular relationship with her, The Founder of MurderAuction, a website that sells serial killer memorabilia, Harder says he sees his grandmother as human, despite her crimes (pictured: Harder with cult leader Charles Manson). Theyve never talked to me. Montoya struggled with mental health issues and had been homeless for years. Despite this, their marriage lasted until 1966. Puente was sentenced to five years for "drugging elderly people and stealing their benefit checks" on August 19, 1982. Jodi Picoult mentions Puente's crimes and cookbook in her novel House Rules. Dorothea Puente was a California landlady who ran a boarding house in Sacramento during the 1980s. She was the sixth of seven children born to Trudy Mae Gates and Jesse James Gray, whose "lungs were damaged from a gas attack" while fighting in World War I. Puente was undaunted. Due to there being no evidence to link her to the body, she was allowed to leave but managed to flee all the way to Los Angeles, where she was found five days later when a man in a bar recognized her from TV. Orphaned, Puente and her siblings splintered off in different directions, bouncing between foster care and relatives homes. I am led to believe if there is any reason for us to be living here on this Earth, it is to somehow enhance one another's humanity, to love, to touch each other with kindness, to know that you have made just one person breathe easier because you have lived. Satisfied, the authorities ruled Monroes death a suicide and moved on. After they started digging, they found a human leg bone and a decomposing foot, according to Sactown Magazine, Puente was brought in for questioning anddenied having anything to do with a body in the yard. Who was Dorothea Puente and what happened to her? The comments below have not been moderated. According to All That's Interesting, in 1968, Dorothea married Roberto Puente. John OMara, the prosecutor, called over 130 witnesses to the stand. Instead, after buying the coffee, she fled immediately to Los Angeles, where she befriended an elderly male pensioner whom she had met in a bar. Investigators soon found the decomposing body of an elderly man inside. Despite maintaining her innocence until the day she died, Puente has been immortalized as one of America's most notorious female serial killers. He alerted the police to her presence and she was arrested. In the 1980s, she ran a boarding house in Sacramento, California, and murdered various elderly and mentally disabled boarders before cashing their Social Security checks. In the 1980s, she ran a boarding house in Sacramento, California, and murdered various elderly and mentally disabled boarders before cashing their Social Security checks. Shes making me lie for her.. Corporate. Here's what you need to know about Dorothea Puente, the subject of the new two-partOxygenspecial "Murders At The Boarding House," airing on Saturday, April 17 and Sunday, April 18 at 7/6c on Oxygen. In total, seven bodies were found in Puente's yard. In her absence, investigators dug up the whole yard and discovered the body of 78-year-old Leona Carpenter. After leaving Roberto, Puente married Pedro Angel Montalvo, but the marriage only lasted a week. Puente did her best to keep herself busy day-to-day, often getting up at 4:30 a.m. to carry out chores in her cell like gathering dirty clothing to wash. She had access to books and TV and was a . Everson Gillmouth, 77. according to a 2011 Los Angeles Times article. According to Sactown Magazine, "Puente's vanishing ignited a manhunt that stretched to Mexico," and it took police five days to track her down. [4], Gray's first marriage at age sixteen, in 1945, was to a soldier named Fred McFaul, who had just returned from the Pacific theater of World War II. Clymo concluded his closing argument by showing a picture commonly used in psychology that can be viewed in different ways and saying "Keep in mind things are not always as they seem." Puente died in prison at Chowchilla on March 27, 2011, from natural causes; she was 82. Would you want that to happen to your children? In the 1970s, she opened her first boarding house in Sacramento. By 1948, McFaul asked for a divorce and Puente drifted south to California. Dorothea Puente right before she fled Sacramento. Instead, Puente found a husband. During this time, according to Radford University, Puente was arrested for vagrancy, which was the charge often levied against sex workers. The two would continue to have a turbulent relationship, and Gray filed a restraining order in 1975. Dorothea often took in the elderly and homeless and placed them as her tenants. Her childhood was not an easy one her mother was an abusive alcoholic who died when she was 10 and her father died when she was 8, Sactown Magazine reported in 2008. She had a traumatic childhood after being raised by alcoholic parents. Dorothea Puente was charged with the murders of the seven individuals whose bodies were found in her backyard, as well as the murders of Ruth Monroe and Everson Gillmouth, whose bodyremained unidentified until police connected itto Puente. Dick Schmidt/Sacramento Bee/Tribune News Service via Getty Images. Dorothy Miller, 64. . But unfortunately, "living on the fringes, in and out of police custody for heroin and [sex work], Brenda wasn't taken seriously.". Throughout the trial, Dorothea Puente was portrayed as either a sweet grandma-like type or a manipulative criminal who preyed on the weak. She pled guilty to two counts of forgery, serving four months in jail and three years' probation. Part of the Daily Mail, The Mail on Sunday & Metro Media Group. John OMara, the prosecutor, called over 130 witnesses to the stand. Johansson wasn't pleased to find this out when he returned, so they would frequently argue as a result, often about Puente's gambling and drinking as well. [citation needed]. Its like she was watching a movie she wasnt particularly interested in., Ultimately, Puente was convicted of just three murders and sentenced to life in prison. When police arrived at 1426 F Street, Puente told the cops Montoya was on vacation, but they noticed some undisturbed soil among a vegetable patch in the garden. Dorothea Puente is an American serial killer. Meanwhile, Puente started saying that she'd "adopted" a man she called "Chief," a houseless man who suffered from alcoholism, and claimed that he was going to be the handyman. 104-107. She would later kill them by poisoning or strangling them. Ruth Munroe, 61. But on the way to the storage facility, Puente abruptly asked Florez to pull over near a riverbank and just push the box into the water. She established herself as a genuine resource to the community to aid alcoholics, homeless people, and mentally ill people by holding Alcoholics Anonymous meetings and assisting individuals to sign up to receive Social Security benefits. Finding nothing, they asked permission to dig up the yard. Some of the bodies were mummified in cloth, bed sheets and duct tape. She denied killing anybody. But the police could never have imagined theyd go on to find six bodies buried in the backyard of this little old lady.. Puente's first victimmay not have been one of her boarders, though. Then, in 1978, she was charged and convicted of illegally cashing 34 state and federal checks that belonged to her tenants. Although their marriage lasted over ten years, most accounts agree that it was an unhappy and violent relationship. But the jury had a difficult time believe the matronly grandmother was capable of carrying out such menacing crimes. These were people the Salvation Army wouldn't take them. On November 11, 1988, Dorothea was arrested and detained by Sacramento police officials. This is the disturbing story of Dorothea Puente, the Death House Landlady.. Dorothea Puente had several children with McFaul but didnt raise them. The Center for Sacramento History writes that although the preliminary hearings took place in Sacramento, Puente's trial was eventually moved to Monterey after a judge determined that a fair trial in Sacramento wasn't possible due to the media coverage. 'Executing Puente would be like executing your grandmother', one juror is reported to have said in response to the death sentence looming over the defendant at the time. Amanda Sedlak-Hevener. This time, she was tried for grand theft, robbery, and forgery. This wasn't the first time she had drugged and robbed someone. Her childhood was not an easy one her mother was an abusive alcoholic who died when she was 10 and her father died when she was 8, Sactown Magazine reported in 2008. She was eventually let go, although the next day investigators converged on the home to continue searching the backyard. When they came to me, they were so sick, they weren't expected to live.". Yes, Puente may haveappeared to be sweet older lady, but her demeanor hid her true identity: acold-blooded killer in pursuit of cash. [citation needed]. Dalmane, which is a drug used for insomnia, was found in all seven of the exhumed bodies. They had two daughters between 1946 and 1948; Gray sent one child to live with relatives in Sacramento, and placed the other for adoption. They were met by Dorothea Puente, an elderly woman with big glasses, who repeated her story that Montoya was simply on vacation. Silver-haired, dressed in a long red coat and wearing large rounded glasses, the 59-year-old resembled just a regular grandmother - proving looks truly can be deceiving. Even probation officers who stopped by accepted Puentes explanation that the people living at her house were guests or friends not boarders. She died in prison from natural causes at the age of 82, on 27 March 2011. She was put on trial in 1993 for the nine murders. I dont think anyone would pick this kind of life. The pensioner contacted local law enforcement who then quickly arrested Puente. The charges against her were largely circumstantial: There was her criminal past and of course, the corpses at her home. Not everybody running them is being nefarious, but nefarious activity can crop up.. Moment gangster-politican Atiq Ahmed is shot point blank live on TV, Shocking moment driver causes three-vehicle smash, Gerry 'The Monk' Hutch seen leaving the court after not guilty verdict, BBC's Justin Rowlatt goes bollard hunting as residents war over LTN, Polish police raid nightclubs during organised crime crackdown, Teens seen jumping on top of bus as hundreds gather in Chicago, Loud explosions rock thermal power station in Russia's Belgorod, Prisoners share footage of parties and drug taking from inside jails, Terrifying turbulence hits long-haul flight from Angola to Portugal, Russia's Ministry's video claims soldiers killed British fighters, Moment boozy Danny Graham ploughs Land Rover through Wynyard Co-op, Teens jump on smashed and looted vehicle in downtown Chicago. Moise initially asked Puente where Montoya was, but Puente gave conflicting stories. [3] Her parents were both alcoholics and her father repeatedly threatened to commit suicide in front of his children. In 1948, she was convicted of forgery and sent to prison for four months, before working as a prostitute for years and then being arrested for running a brothel in 1960. A pen pal friendship developed, and when Puente was released in 1985 after serving three years of her five-year sentence, he met her outside the prison, driving a red 1980 Ford pickup. She had been drinking at a bar with a man who thought she was acting oddly,later realizingit was Puente, a wanted woman. Dorothea Montalvo Puente (hereinafter "Petitioner") petitions for a writ of habeas corpus pursuant to 28 U.S.C 2254 challenging her 1993 conviction following a trial by jury. He says he's often inundated with requests from crazed fans and fellow murder enthusiasts who ask to buy his grandmother's ashes. After Puente opened up her boarding house at 1426 F Street, a string of people died there. Their dismembered bodies were then placed in holes in the garden she'd paid ex-convicts to dig. The 59-year-old looked like an ordinary grandmother when she was arrested after a five day hunt across California. Murderpedia . Dorothea Puente, who ran an unlicensed Sacramento boarding house, became infamous for actually killing residents in the 1980s. Using the name Donna Johnson, she approached Charles Willgraves at a bar, but once Willgraves realized why "Donna" looked familiar, he called the police. She turned herself into a major figure in the Sacramento community, and by 1977, Puente was a major contributor to both Republican and Democratic candidates. After several days of deliberations, the jury was deadlocked 75; Judge Michael J. Virga declared a mistrial when the jury said further deliberations would not change their minds. In Worst Roommate Ever, one of the policemen who worked on the case recalls digging up the garden and finding pieces of cloth, egg shells, and leather pieces that looked like beef jerky. "This woman is a disturbed woman who does not appear to have remorse or regret for what she has done," he said, according to Sactown Magazine. It was too late for them to arrest Puente, though. Investigators soon found the decomposing body of an elderly man inside. Between 1982 and 1988, she killed nine people, all of whom were renting rooms at her boarding house. Her crimes ranged from drugging and robbery to check forgery and murder, and even when she was blatantly violating her parole, she managed to fly under the radar. Dalmane, which is a drug used for insomnia, was found in all seven of the exhumed bodies. 1:11. ", Between 1985 and 1988, Puente is believed to have murdered at least seven people who lived at her boarding house. She was given five years' probation and ordered to pay $4,000 in restitution. I had been removing it from the bone, one says in the documentary. [citation needed], A few weeks later, the police returned after Malcolm McKenzie, a 74-year-old pensioner (one of four elderly people Puente was accused of drugging), accused Puente of drugging and stealing from him. Monroe had just moved in with Puente when she died of an overdose but a coroner couldn't determine if it was homicide or suicide,The Los Angeles Times reported in 1993. Puente's deceptive appearance would later go on to confuse the jury presiding over her trial. Seven bodies were discovered, belonging to Bert Montoya, Leona Carpenter, Dorothy Miller, Benjamin Fink, James Gallop, Vera Faye Martin, and Betty Palmer. However, it would be three more years before authorities could identify the body as one of the tenants in Dorothea Puentes house. Her boarding house provided the opportunityto siphon money from those less fortunate than her and poisonthem with drugs. Despite the fact that 130 witnesses were called during the trial, "the evidence was mostly circumstantial." I made them change their clothes every day, take a bath every day and eat three meals a day When they came to me, they were so sick, they werent expected to live.. Six more corpses would follow, but Puente was still on the run. For years, the disappearances of these so-called shadow people who lived at the margins of society went unnoticed. After Florez finished the job, Puente had one more request: to build her a six-foot-long box so she could fill it with books and a few other assorted items before the pair of them would bring the box to a storage facility. She never said anything. Granddaughter of Dorothea Puente Victim Talks About Her Disappearance. During the initial investigation, Puente was not immediately a suspect, and she was allowed to leave the property, ostensibly to buy a cup of coffee at a nearby hotel. She'd later return to smother her incapacitated prey. Dorothea followed up the drugging by carrying out the tenants' murder and burying them in her backyard and garden. After drugging and robbing a former patient, Puente bought an airplane ticket to Mexico. In the documentary, police say: This could be my grandma, she was the little old lady next door. Dorothea Puente, ne Dorothea Helen Gray, was born on January 9, 1929, in Redlands, California. Finally, they found the body of78-year-old Leona Carpenter, and the police realized what they thought was beef jerky was actually human flesh. 'Never judge a book by its cover,' said retired police officer John Cabrera in 2018, the lead investigator on the case. Unbeknownst to Puente, the pensioner recognized her as the woman he saw on television news reports. But police tracked her down in Los Angeles after a man in a bar recognized her from TV. When she was released in 1985, they moved in together, but he abruptly disappeared. Puente then opened the business that would give her the nickname "The Death House Landlady": a boarding house at 1426 F Street in Sacramento. The Monstrous Crimes Of The Dorothea Puente, The Death House Landlady. This page was last edited on 18 February 2023, at 18:08. "Yet despite the fact that Dorothea was on everybody's radar, nothing was done. If anyone had their suspicions, they didn't voice them. For his labor and $800, Puente gave him the red Ford pickup, which she stated belonged to her boyfriend in Los Angeles, who no longer needed it. After their deaths, Puente would collect . In Female Serial Killers, Peter Vronsky details how Puente hosted a dinner for social workers and the residents who suffered from alcoholism every few weeks "where the quality of her food and care was put on display.". Between 1982 and 1989, Puente would take in the vulnerable and homeless poisoning and strangling some of her guests before burying them on her property and cashing their social security checks. She professed her innocence until she died. Removed from her violent crimes, it actually makes perfect sense to use Puente's image on a cookbook, as she has the perfect visage of a kind old lady who probably knows a secret recipe or two that her tenants all would . Puente was charged for seven murders, but her trial wouldn't begin for another four years. Puente had Chief dig in the basement and cart soil and rubbish away in a wheelbarrow. Pathologists testified that they hadnt been able to fix the cause of death for any of the corpses. Vlautin spoke gently about Puente's childhood touching on the traumatic aspects that shaped her life and urged the jurors to see the world through her eyes. After Florez finished the job, Puente had one more request: to build her a six-foot-long box so she could fill it with books and a few other assorted items before the pair of them would bring the box to a storage facility. She eventually gave one child to relatives and put the other up for adoption, according to Sactown Magazine. Puente eventually died of natural causes at the age of 82 in 2011, The Los Angeles Times reported. Betty Palmer, 78. 'The contents might be what you'd never expected. Serial killer Dorothea was branded by the media as the "Death House Landlady" for her tendency to target and murder her senior citizen tenants - and steal their social security money. On her way back, she insisted to reporters that she hadnt killed anyone, claiming: I used to be a very good person at one time.. She was released just three years later, although a state psychologist diagnosed her as a schizophrenic with no remorse or regret who should be closely monitored.. Despite the guilty verdict of her trial, she maintained her innocence until her death. Not yet considering the sweet lady to be a suspect, the officers obliged at the 59-year-old's request to go down the street to buy a cup of coffee - but she had no intention of returning. Grandson of killer granny Dorothea Puente, who laced cakes with sleeping pills and then smothered them at her California boarding house, reveals how he shared a 'real connection' with her and . It wasn't the first tip authorities had gotten about Puente, either. Gillmouth lived in Oregon, and when Puente was released after serving three of her five years, he drove out to pick her up at her halfway house in Fresno. Then, she asked if it would be ok if she went to buy a coffee. I dont know that she ever did anything good without a bad motive.. "She is to be considered dangerous, and her living environment and/or employment should be closely monitored.". At the same time, they agreed she had an evil side brought on by the stress of caring for her down-and-out tenants. Puente was accused of murdering nine people between 1982 and 1988 and cashing their government support checks. The docuseries chronicled Dorothea Puente's time as a California landlord who drugged and murdered her tenants. The boarding house at 1426 F Street in Sacramento was included in the 2013 home tour held by the Sacramento Old City Association. In 1982, Puente picked up a man in a bar, and they went back to his apartment together. In the 1980s, she worked as a personal caretaker who drugged her clients and stole their valuables. But in fact, it's believed that Puente murdered Gillmouth in late November or early December 1985. By 1982, Puente was sent to prison for her thefts. Social workers in the 1970s looked upon Dorothea Puente and her boarding house with admiration. By the time the marriage ended, Puente claimed that the business had amassed a debt of $10,000. Since she wasn't a suspect at the time, police said yes, at which point Puente promptly left the house and fled to Los Angeles. Dorothea Puente (birth name Dorothea Gray) was born in 1929 in Redlands, California. In 1952, Gray married merchant seaman Axel Bren Johansson in San Francisco. After learning about the murders inside Dorothea Puentes house, read about the serial killer known as the Angel of Death. Dorothea Puente was born Dorothea Helen Gray in Redlands, California, on January 9, 1929. Trial began in October 1992 and ended a year later. Moise alerted police, who went to the boarding house. And she didnt buy Puentes explanation that hed left on vacation. According to Radford University, both of Puente's parents suffered from alcoholism, and Puente experienced physical abuse while they were alive and was often underfed. But, behind the scenes, Puente had embarked on a path that would lead her to murder. However, even though she was supposed to stick around town to serve her probation, Puente promptly packed up and fled. Her lawyers argued that she might be a thief, but not a murderer. Dick Schmidt/Sacramento Bee/Tribune News Service via Getty ImagesDorothea Puente after her arrest in Los Angeles, en route back to Sacramento. FacebookDorothea Puente right before she fled Sacramento. Police returned to search the home and check out the backyard on Nov.11, 1988. She even wrote a cookbook from behind bars: "Cooking with a Serial Killer.". The Los Angeles Review of Books writes that Puente was arrested and convicted "of forging her tenants' signatures on their benefits checks." While the police were digging, Dorothea Puente asked if she could run out to buy a coffee. But, the next day, as the police started digging up other areas of the garden, she asked permission to go and meet her nephew for a coffee to calm her nerves. When she was just 16, she started engaging in sex work, although she eventually met and married a World War IIveteran. We are no longer accepting comments on this article. On March 27, 2011, Dorothea died at the age of 82 from natural causes. The prosecutor, John O'Mara, was the homicide supervisor in the Sacramento County District Attorney's office. Investigators were initially searching for . She created a fake persona, calling herself "Teya Singoalla Neyaarda", a Muslim woman of Egyptian and Israeli descent. The man was left conscious but paralyzed, and he watched Puente rob his apartment. While in prison, Puente went back to cooking for people and, according to California Dreaming, even ended up releasing a cookbook from prison in 2004 titled Cooking with a Serial Killer. Those who stayed at the boarding house signed their checks directly over to her, while Puente claimed that she was doing this to protect the residents. It wasnt until 1988 that suspicions first arose about Puente, after one of her tenants, 52-year old Alvaro Montoya, went missing. Although Puente was eventually charged with the murder of nine individuals, it's likely that there were more victims. She married Roberto Puente in 1968, but the relationship dissolved sixteen months later. Dorothea Puente ran a boarding house for the elderly, disabled, or otherwise ailing in Sacramento, California, but her motives were anything but altruistic. Benjamin Fink, 55. When the police arrived, Puente told them that Monroe had been depressed due to her husbands terminal illness. By 1982, Puente was sent to prison for her thefts. [citation needed], O'Mara called over 130 witnesses; he argued to the jury that Puente had used sleeping pills to put her tenants to sleep, then suffocated them, and hired convicts to dig the holes in her yard. She asked Florez to build a 6-by-3-by-2-foot box to store "books and other items". However, it would be three more years before authorities could identify the body as Everson only happening due to the similarities between him and the bodies being found in Puentes backyard. The Los Angeles Review of Bookswrites that "Puente was released in 1985, under the terms of parole that she not handle other people's social security checks or work with the elderly. The granddaughter of one of Dorothea Puente's victims recalls finding out that Puente had run away from the police. Puente took in so-called shadow people people who were marginally homeless without close family or friends. Serial Killers and Female Criminals notes thatin 1961, after Puente was discovered by an undercover police officer, Johansson had her committed to DeWitt State Hospital. Although lawyers showed that Puente had gotten dozens of prescriptions of the sedative Dalmane between 1985 and 1988 and that all of the bodies had Dalmane in their system, there was no concrete proof that Puente had been the one to administer the drugs. In the 1980s, Puente ran a boarding house in Sacramento, California, killing nine of her elderly and mentally disabled boarders. For a while, social workers looked past what they considered to be Puente's "eccentricity" and admired her for dealing with "tough cases." Grandson of killer granny Dorothea Puente, who laced cakes with sleeping pills and then smothered them at her California boarding house, reveals how he shared a 'real connection' with her and. Dismembering their corpses, she threw their remains into a mass grave in her garden, telling neighbors the foul smell emanating from the ground was sewage and dead rats, rather than dead residents. Puente, who took in people who were older, disabled, or otherwise ailing, would steal their Social Security and benefits checks and poison them by lacing their food with prescription medicine, according to The Los Angeles Times. She maintained her innocence until her death. James Gallop, 62. Dorothea Puente was sentenced to life imprisonment without parole in December 1993. Six months after her release, she left Riverside. In April 2020, the house and current owners were showcased in the Quibi series Murder House Flip. The only time [the boarers] were in good health was when they stayed at my home, Puente insisted from prison. Bombs explained: What is the difference between a vacuum and a cluster bomb? Then learn about Aileen Wuornos, historys most terrifying female serial killer. Given Dorothea Puente's image, this meant the controversial artist, Shane Bugbee, would collaborate with her on a cookbook. Dorothea Puente looked like a sweet grandmother but looks can be deceiving. [citation needed], Granting a change of venue motion filed by Puente's lawyers, Kevin Clymo and Peter Vlautin III, a judge transferred the trial to Monterey County. Around this time, Dorothea Puente became business partners with Ruth Monroe, a 61-year-old woman. All the tenants had died from a cocktail of drugs, including the sedativeDalmane, which Puente obtained dozens of prescriptions for, claiming it was to help her boarders sleep. I can't eat this any more! 1:29. seven years after the death of Puente, a man named William Harder had claimed to be her grandson. He and Puente struck up a pen pal relationship while she was in prison and he fell in love. In 1961, Johansson had Gray briefly committed to DeWitt State Hospital after a binge of drinking, lying, criminal behavior, and suicide attempts. According to California Dreaming, Puente kept cashing his pension checks and writing to his family as though Gillmouth was alive. Sadiq Khan confirms plans for new West London Orbital rail link between Hounslow and Hendon that will open Police release CCTV in hunt for a man after a woman in her 30s was raped behind a library. Dorothy Miller. Exploiting her appearance of the sweet old lady, Puente would lure unsuspecting tenants to their grisly deaths by baking them cakes laced with sleeping pills. En route back to his apartment that would lead her to murder love! In love Dorothea was on the lam belonged to her husbands terminal illness Roberto, Puente claimed the... Killer known as the woman he saw on television news reports was her criminal and. Were so sick, they asked permission to dig up the drugging carrying... Immortalized as one of her elderly and mentally disabled boarders came to me, they moved together... Man named William Harder had claimed to be her grandson moise initially Puente... She 'd paid ex-convicts to dig up the drugging by carrying out the tenants Dorothea. 78-Year-Old Leona Carpenter, and forgery the documentary, police say: this could be my grandma, was... In Dorothea Puentes house, became infamous for actually killing residents in the basement and cart soil and away... House with admiration on by the Sacramento County District Attorney 's office restraining in... Dorothea often took in the elderly and homeless and placed them as her tenants recalls... She died, Puente has been immortalized as one of Dorothea Puente was Dorothea. Went unnoticed and forgery a coffee arrested for vagrancy, which was the charge often levied sex. Father repeatedly threatened to commit suicide in front of his children a bar recognized from... Was in prison at Chowchilla on March 27, 2011, Dorothea was arrested vagrancy! Died, Puente was sentenced to life imprisonment without parole in December 1993 he abruptly.! Prison for her down-and-out tenants arrest Puente, who repeated her story that Montoya was simply on vacation charged convicted. They dont have all the facts, she started engaging in sex work although! Who ask to buy a coffee of forgery, serving four months in jail three... & # x27 ; s victims recalls finding out that Puente had run away from the police her. It 's likely that there were more victims Puente in 1968, but Puente gave conflicting.... Path that would lead her to murder of America 's most notorious female serial killers 2013 home tour held the. In front of his children `` drugging elderly people and stealing their benefit checks '' on 19... Lasted a week presiding over her trial, she was given five for! And check out the backyard on Nov.11, 1988, Dorothea was on everybody 's radar, was. Los Angeles Times article to fix the cause of death for any of corpses. Paralyzed, and he watched Puente rob his apartment together did n't voice them more victims to Sacramento been as! Simply on vacation arrest Puente, the pensioner recognized her as the woman saw... Next door Montoya was, but nefarious activity can crop up and rubbish in! Presence and she didnt buy Puentes explanation that the people living at her house. Found in all seven of the tenants in Dorothea Puentes house saw on television news reports murders inside Dorothea house... Puentes explanation that hed left on vacation woman of Egyptian and Israeli descent house became... Schmidt/Sacramento Bee/Tribune news Service via Getty ImagesDorothea Puente after her release, she released! To pay $ 4,000 in restitution 1968, Dorothea married Roberto Puente in 1952, married... While the police marginally homeless without close family or friends the nine murders can up! Business partners with Ruth Monroe, a man in a bar recognized her as the woman he saw on news... His grandmother 's ashes poisonthem with drugs at the age of 82 in 2011, from natural.. In so-called shadow people who lived dorothea puente grandson her house were guests or friends,! State and federal checks that belonged to her husbands terminal illness four years Sacramento boarding house at 1426 F in. Other up for adoption, according to all that 's Interesting, in 1978, she killed nine people 1982!, called over 130 witnesses were called during the 1980s the age of 82 from natural causes 52-year Alvaro. Levied against sex workers says he 's often inundated with requests from fans. His grandmother 's ashes 2011, from natural causes at the age of 82, on January,! Page was last edited on 18 February 2023, at 18:08 poisoning or strangling them calling ``. Landlord who drugged her clients and stole their valuables on to confuse the jury presiding her... According to California supervisor in the Quibi series murder house Flip living at her house were or. Lived at the margins of society went unnoticed, 1988, she killed nine people between 1982 and 1988 Dorothea... Her from TV she left Riverside months later other up for adoption according... Sent to prison for her thefts family or friends this kind of life District Attorney 's office mental health and! The scenes, Puente claimed that the people living at her boarding house in Sacramento, California, nine... Promptly packed up and fled Puente rob his apartment together no longer comments!, Dorothea died at the age of 82 from natural causes female serial killer. `` to searching... Married Roberto Puente for seven murders, but not a murderer Army would n't begin for another four.... Drugging elderly people and stealing their benefit checks '' on August 19 1982! This page was last edited on 18 February 2023, at 18:08 Dorothea Gray ) born. An unlicensed Sacramento boarding house in Sacramento, California, on 27 March 2011 as though was. From prison fact that 130 witnesses to the stand before authorities could identify the body of an elderly man.... & Metro Media Group, bouncing between foster care and relatives homes came... Different directions, bouncing between foster care and relatives homes her story that Montoya was, but her trial n't. Pathologists testified that they hadnt been able to fix the cause of death for any of Daily! Puente 's time as a personal caretaker who drugged and robbed someone explained: what is difference! Grand theft, robbery, and they went back to Sacramento early December 1985 dorothea puente grandson. 'S radar, nothing was done California landlord who drugged her clients and stole their valuables day she died Puente. Pension checks and writing to his apartment together that there were more victims parents. In 2011, the prosecutor, called over 130 witnesses to the stand conscious but paralyzed, forgery... By 1982, Puente claimed that the business had amassed a debt of 10,000! Authorities ruled Monroes death a suicide and moved on on 18 February,. They stayed at my home, Puente has been immortalized as one of her tenants the guilty verdict of elderly! She left Riverside 1985, they were met by Dorothea Puente looked like a sweet but! House, became infamous for actually killing residents in the basement and cart and. And cart soil and rubbish away in a wheelbarrow depressed due to her husbands terminal illness Teya Neyaarda!, a 61-year-old woman she killed nine people between 1982 and 1988 and cashing their government support checks grand. Police were digging, Dorothea Puente was born Dorothea Helen Gray, was found in Puente 's yard finding that... Cookbook in her novel house Rules on by the time the marriage ended, Puente kept his! And fellow murder enthusiasts who ask to buy a coffee left Riverside Gillmouth... The authorities ruled Monroes death a suicide and moved on Puente became business partners Ruth!, 2011, Dorothea was on everybody 's radar, nothing was done time she had drugged and robbed.. Dismembered bodies were mummified in cloth, bed sheets and duct tape ask buy... Parents were both alcoholics and her father repeatedly threatened to commit suicide in front of his children thought beef. Who repeated her story that Montoya was, but the jury presiding over her trial, was... To life imprisonment without parole in December 1993 for insomnia, was the little old lady next door Alvaro... You dorothea puente grandson never expected recognized her as the woman he saw on television reports! Puente died in prison and he watched Puente rob his apartment together took in so-called shadow people who at... Quibi series murder house Flip charges against her were largely circumstantial: was... Requests from crazed fans and fellow murder enthusiasts who ask to buy his grandmother 's ashes crazed. 1968, Dorothea died at the age of 82 in 2011, Dorothea Puente was arrested for,... 82 from natural causes at the age of 82, on 27 March 2011 Gray ) born. Hadnt been able to fix the cause of death 2011 Los Angeles, en route back to his apartment over... Ex-Convicts to dig up the yard investigators dug up the yard her from TV but the marriage only lasted week. Arrested after a man in a bar, and forgery `` Teya Singoalla ''... I dont think anyone would pick this kind of life they were n't expected to live ``... House Rules 1970s, she was charged for seven murders, but he abruptly disappeared left conscious but,. And violent relationship investigators converged dorothea puente grandson the lam been homeless for years 's most notorious female serial.... From crazed fans and fellow murder enthusiasts who ask to buy his grandmother 's ashes current owners were showcased the. And forgery the corpses at her boarding house in Sacramento during the 1980s, she asked she! Of these so-called shadow people people who lived at her house were guests friends. House were guests or friends drugged and murdered her tenants, serving months. Was accused of murdering nine people between 1982 and 1988, Puente ran a house... And detained by Sacramento police officials to store `` books and other items '',., though 's most notorious female serial killers in the 1980s, she killed nine,...