She sent one child to live with relatives while another was put up for adoption. Not everybody running them is being nefarious, but nefarious activity can crop up.. She also suffered a miscarriage. Chief later dismantled a garage in the backyard and installed a fresh concrete slab there as well. But soon, in the predominantly Hispanic neighborhood, Puente started going around as if she were a doctor, offering "vitamin" injections and medical advice to local residents. But unfortunately, "living on the fringes, in and out of police custody for heroin and [sex work], Brenda wasn't taken seriously.". McFaul left her in late 1948.[5][6]. Who was Dorothea Puente and what happened to her? Unbeknownst to Puente, the pensioner recognized her as the woman he saw on television news reports. In total, seven bodies were found in Puente's yard. Although their marriage lasted over ten years, most accounts agree that it was an unhappy and violent relationship. O'Mara's closing argument focused on Puente's acts of murder: Does anyone become responsible for their conduct in this world? 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. When they came to me, they were so sick, they weren't expected to live.". She had vanished, according to "Murders At The Boarding House.". On April 11, 1982, Monroe also moved in with Punente, ostensibly to "save on expenses" since Monroe's husband had entered into hospice care. When the police arrived, Puente told them that Monroe had been depressed due to her husbands terminal illness. This story has been shared 102,612 times. After she was released, he moved to be with her, The Los Angeles Times reported. There, the former prostitute turned back to a life of crime. It wasn't until Alvaro "Bert" Montoya disappeared that Dorothea Puente's house of death was finally addressed. Create a free profile to get unlimited access to exclusive videos, breaking news, sweepstakes, and more! Dick Schmidt/Sacramento Bee/Tribune News Service via Getty ImagesDorothea Puente after her arrest in Los Angeles, en route back to Sacramento. She created a fake persona, calling herself "Teya Singoalla Neyaarda", a Muslim woman of Egyptian and Israeli descent. Soon afterward, Chief disappeared. In 1993, after several days of deliberations and a deadlocked jury (due in part to her grandmotherly disposition), Dorothea Puente was ultimately convicted of three murders and received back-to-back life sentences. Puente was accused of murdering nine people between 1982 and 1988 and cashing their government support checks. Grandson of Dorothea Puente, shared a 'real connection' with her - Daily Newshttps://www.youtube.com/channel/UCGIQ4XcqArGYqiw70QoKcvw?sub_confirmation=1Grand. [citation needed], In November 1985, Puente hired a man named Ismael Florez to install some wood paneling in her apartment. Betty Palmer, 78. Finally, they found the body of78-year-old Leona Carpenter, and the police realized what they thought was beef jerky was actually human flesh. Florida family found dead in pool identified as mom reveals dad and kids went on daily swim that came to a 'sudden end'. Throughout the trial, Dorothea Puente was portrayed as either a sweet grandma-like type or a manipulative criminal who preyed on the weak. Corporate. She took it all Death is the only appropriate penalty. Newspapers dubbed Puente the "Death House Landlady". 'We had a real connection,' Harder told VICE. are mark harmon and joe spano friends "Yet despite the fact that Dorothea was on everybody's radar, nothing was done. [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. On November 11, 1988, Dorothea was arrested and detained by Sacramento police officials. "Sometimes [he] held a gun to his head and threatened to kill himself in front of his children," wrote the LA Times. Pathologists testified that they hadnt been able to fix the cause of death for any of the corpses. Preliminary hearings began in 1990, and the trial and sentencing took place in 1993. Some of the remains were in a mummified state - bound in bed sheets, cloth and duct tape (above), Puente would lure her victims to their deaths by baking them cake laced with sleeping pills. By 1982, Puente was sent to prison for her thefts. Murderpedia . AboutPressCopyrightContact. The marriage only lasted two years. While the police were digging, Dorothea Puente asked if she could run out to buy a coffee. According to All That's Interesting, in 1968, Dorothea married Roberto Puente. "In 1948, she stole some government checks and used them to buy clothes" in San Bernardino. He alerted the police to her presence and she was arrested. She also established herself as a respected member in Sacramento's Hispanic community, funding charities, scholarships, and radio programs. Gillmouth's body remained unidentified for three years. 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. For five days, Dorothea Puente was on the lam. The Untold Truth Of Dorothea Puente, The Death House Landlady, drugging elderly people and stealing their benefit checks, remained unidentified until police connected it. 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 . Puente's trial was still looming, so she decided to flee Sacramento after emptying the joint bank account she had shared with Monroe. During the 1992 proceeding, investigators revealed that Puente - who was then 63 - had been killing the tenants for money, making $4,000 a month from cashing their social security checks. In 2015, the Ghost Adventures crew investigated the house, due to reports of hauntings by the victims and Puente herself. Six months after her release, she left Riverside. In 1982, Puente picked up a man in a bar, and they went back to his apartment together. It was difficult to determine, though, whether she had poisoned the tenants or if they had taken the fatal overdoses themselves, according to Sactown Magazine. 'The contents might be what you'd never expected. One of these was of a 61-year-old woman named Ruth Monroe, who Puente persuaded to move into her house in April 1982, when her husband died. SACRAMENTO, CA On November 11, 1988, detectives swarmed a Victorian-style home on F Street in Sacramento where guests had a habit of checking in and then never checking out. Puente was sentenced to five years for "drugging elderly people and stealing their benefit checks" on August 19, 1982. The founder of MurderAuction - an auction house for serial killer memorabilia - Harder's macabre obsessions have also seen him befriend the likes of Charles Manson and Richard Ramirez. Like us on Facebook atwww.facebook.com/TheSunUSand follow us from our main Twitter account at@TheSunUS, 2020 THE SUN, US, INC. ALL RIGHTS RESERVED | TERMS OF USE | PRIVACY | YOUR AD CHOICES | SITEMAP, Dorothea Puente's 1993 trial was heavily covered by the media. Kara Goldfarb is a writer living in New York City. Victims included Puente's boyfriend Everson Gillmouth, 77, and eight tenants who lived at the . 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.. That is a human quality that deserves to be preserved. Even when someone disappeared from the boarding house, Puente was ready with an excuse. Afterward, she gave Gillmouth's red pickup truck to Ismael Florez, a carpenter she'd hired, and got him to unknowingly dispose of Gillmouth's body in a river. John OMara, the prosecutor, called over 130 witnesses to the stand. In the 1980s, Puente ran a boarding house in Sacramento, California, killing nine of her elderly and mentally disabled boarders. Then aged 63 (above), 103 witnesses were called to testify against her in the trial, Suspicion arose in 1988 when Alberto Montoya, a mentally disabled and schizophrenic tenant, was reported missing by a social worker, Puente's victims: (left to right)Everson Gillmouth, 77. 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. She was eventually let go, although the next day investigators converged on the home to continue searching the backyard. Dorothea Puente awaiting arraignment in Sacramento, California on November 17, 1988. according to a 2011 Los Angeles Times article. One of the bodies was missing its head, hands and feet, Body parts were also found scattered across the property. It was too late for them to arrest Puente, though. She took in about $87,000 from the scheme and spent some of the cash on a facelift, prosecutors at her trial alleged, according to a 2011 Los Angeles Times article. Puente's deceptive appearance would later go on to confuse the jury presiding over her trial. 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. Preview. Her time in prison was spent visiting the prison chapel, reading John Grisham books, and watching TV. Puente told them that they were welcome to do so, and even provided an extra shovel. [6], Gray and Johansson divorced in 1966, although she continued to use Johansson's name for some time following their separation. In the documentary, police say: This could be my grandma, she was the little old lady next door. She was released early in 1990, but not before a state psychiatrist evaluated her and diagnosedher with schizophrenia. She alerted police, who went to the house, where they were met with the same answer that Alvaro was on holiday. During the preliminary hearing, she was even re-arrested for another set of check forgery charges from an additional victim. Between 1982 and 1989, Puente would take in the vulnerable and homeless people. [citation needed]. Dorothea Puente (birth name Dorothea Gray) was born in 1929 in Redlands, California. 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. Juan Ignacio Blanco MALE murderers: . In 1993, after several days of deliberations and a deadlocked jury (due in part to her grandmotherly disposition), Dorothea Puente was ultimately convicted of three murders and received back-to-back life sentences. Puente's first victimmay not have been one of her boarders, though. The boarding house at 1426 F Street in Sacramento was included in the 2013 home tour held by the Sacramento Old City Association. We've received your submission. On New Years Day, a fisherman spotted the box, noticed that it looked suspiciously like a coffin, and informed the police. 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. When she was just 16, she started engaging in sex work, although she eventually met and married a World War IIveteran. However, since many of her victims were houseless or otherwise vulnerable individuals, it's impossible to determine an exact number. In 1998, Puente began corresponding with Shane Bugbee. During that time, it appears that they had two children together, although one was sent to live with relatives and the other was put up for adoption. Puente and her family moved to Los Angeles in the 1930s to be closer to a veterans' hospital, but her father's condition continued to deteriorate. She spent her teen years bouncing between foster homes and orphanages, and was allegedly sexually abused at one point, according to a 2011 Los Angeles Times article. On April 28, Monroe was dead. 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. The union lasted just two years. 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." At one moment, he was said to be in Utah, while at another, she claimed that he went back to Mexico, despite the fact that he was from Costa Rica, writes LARB. Vera Faye Martin, 64. She eventually opened an unlicensed boarding house that she operated throughout the '70s, catering to disabled, elderly, and homeless people. Gillmouth disappeared not long after he and Puente moved to F Street. Puente ran a boarding house on F Street in downtown Sacramento in the 1980s and was convicted of drugging, killing and burying her tenants in the backyard. [citation needed]. As soon as he regained the ability to move, he called the police, and Puente was arrested. Shes been digging a lot of holes.. After sixteen months, the couple separated, with Gray citing domestic abuse. The marriage only lasted two years. The tenant eventually told police Puente hired prisoners on furlough to dig holes in her yard and filled some of the holeswith concrete, and also alerted them to another boarder who had mysteriously vanished. Puente died in prison at Chowchilla on March 27, 2011, from natural causes; she was 82. Thanks for contacting us. At one point, she tried to earn a living as a sex worker in Washington state. The fourth episode titled "Call Me Grandma" detailed her killings and how Dorothea was ultimately caught and convicted by law officials. 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. She lost her first boarding house after getting caught signing her own name to tenants benefit checks. 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. In November 1985, Dorothea Puente hired a handyman named Ismael Florez to install some wood paneling in her home. She was incarcerated at Central California Women's Facility (CCWF) in Chowchilla, California. But God always puts obstacles in peoples way.". Moise initially asked Puente where Montoya was, but Puente gave conflicting stories. Months earlier, they had been told Puente was killing and burying her tenants, but they dismissed the claims because the informant had a heroin addiction, The Los Angeles Times reported. On New Years Day, a fisherman spotted the box, noticed that it looked suspiciously like a coffin, and informed the police. Given Dorothea Puente's image, this meant the controversial artist, Shane Bugbee, would collaborate with her on a cookbook. She was put on trial in 1993 for the nine murders. Multiple murder suspect Dorothea Montalvo Puente, right, is brought back to Sacramento from the LA area in the early morning hours of November 17, 1988. She was a tenant of Puente's when she vanished. In the spring of 1948, Gray was arrested for purchasing women's accessories using forged checks in Riverside. Her lawyers argued that she might be a thief, but not a murderer. Serial Killers and Female Criminals claims that Puente "realized that there was an untapped population of alcoholics, senior citizens, and chronically ill people who were in need of care and, more importantly, [] received government money." Puente then married Pedro Angel Montalvo, but he left her only a week after they were wed. A manhunt ensued for the 59-year-old woman, and she was eventually foundfour days later at a California motel. She was the sixth of seven children but didnt grow up in a stable family environment. Puente then asked police permission to meet a nephew for tea at a nearby hotel, claiming her nerves were getting the best of her. Now Playing. According toLARB, the only person who seemed to notice something was Brenda Trujillo, Puente's former cellmate, who lived at 1426 F Street briefly. After a number of legal hurdles, Puente's trial eventually went ahead four years later. Despite all evidence to the contrary, Dorothea Puente believed herself to be an able caretaker. Between 1982 and 1988, she killed nine people, all of whom were renting rooms at her boarding house. '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. Language links are at the top of the page across from the title. He and Puente struck up a pen pal relationship while she was in prison and he fell in love. In the 1970s, she opened her first boarding house in Sacramento. Dorothea Helen Puente ( ne Gray; January 9, 1929 - March 27, 2011) was an American convicted serial killer. Dorothea Puente is an American serial killer. Charged with a total of nine murders, Puente was flown back to Sacramento. But her reputation had caught up with her, and her face was all over the news. Everson Gillmouth, 77. Published: 22:09 BST, 21 January 2019 | Updated: 22:42 BST, 21 January 2019, Dorothea Puente was arrested in 1988 after the dismembered bodies of seven residents were found in the garden of her home in Sacramento, California. The children had been placed in an orphanage after their father's death, and Puente remained there until she ran away at the age of 16. ', Puente died in 2011 aged 82 in her prison cell at the Central California Facility, in Chowchilla. Gray would continue to use the surname Puente for more than twenty years. She asked Florez to build a 6-by-3-by-2-foot box to store "books and other items". What followed was a string of marriagesand criminal convictions. In the documentary, police say: This could be my grandma, she was the little old lady next door. On November 29, 1987, Trujillo wrote a letter to the Social Security Administration detailing her suspicions that Puente was stealing her SSI checks. Some reports say that McFaul died of a heart attack, while others state that he left Puente, possibly after she had a miscarriage. She denied everything.. 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. Mental health experts testified of Puente's abusive upbringing and how it motivated her to help the less fortunate. Does she have to be killed?" Dorothea often took in the elderly and homeless and placed them as her tenants. Sacramento Bee Two more murders She'd. But after installing a concrete slab in the boarding house basement and one over the foundation of the garage, "Chief" disappeared. 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. During her trial, a witness also testified that Puente was sexually abused during her time at the orphanage. But in fact, it's believed that Puente murdered Gillmouth in late November or early December 1985. She pled guilty to two counts of forgery, serving four months in jail and three years' probation. There, Puente was described as having an unstable personality, and she was prescribed an antipsychotic for the first time. A well-researched play by Mark Loewenstern entitled "Dorothea Puente Tells All!" 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. Montoya struggled with mental health issues and had been homeless for years. The reality, in fact, was that across a period of 10 years, Puente had meticulously murdered at least seven tenants at the boarding lodge she ran in Sacramento, California. In 1966, she and Johansson divorced. Dorothea Puente remained imprisoned at the Central California Women's Facility in Madera Country, California, until she died at the age of 82 in 2011. Investigators opened the box and found the badly decomposed and unidentifiable body of an elderly man inside. [citation needed], The defense called several witnesses, who showed Puente had a generous and caring side to her. 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. Some of the bodies were mummified in cloth, bed sheets and duct tape. The disappearances of these so-called shadow people went unnoticed for years, until eventually a social worker Judy Moise who speaks in newNetflixdocumentary Worst Roommate Ever reported a tenant missing. This video answers the question: Can I analyze the case of Dorothea Puente?Support Dr. Grande on Patreon: https://www.patreon.com/drgrandeSubscribe to the Be. Owen Brewer/Sacramento Bee/Tribune News Service via Getty ImagesDorothea Puente awaiting arraignment in Sacramento, California on November 17, 1988. After learning about the murders inside Dorothea Puentes house, read about the serial killer known as the Angel of Death. Ultimately, Puente was convicted of just three murders and sentenced to life in prison. The prosecution stated that Puente used sleeping pills to drug her tenants, suffocated them, and then hired convicts to bury them in the yard. She married Roberto Puente in 1968, but the relationship dissolved sixteen months later. She got in serious trouble for the first time in her life after bouncing a check in San Bernadino and spent four months in jail. However, even though she was supposed to stick around town to serve her probation, Puente promptly packed up and fled. 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. The only time [the boarers] were in good health was when they stayed at my home, Puente insisted from prison. Who is Senator Brian Schatz's wife Linda? An outreach counselor withVolunteers of America had placed him at Puente's boarding houseand she was alarmed to learn he had seemingly vanished in October 1988, according to Sactown Magazine. Theyve never talked to me. During one fundraiser, she even danced with California Governor Jerry Brown. They had two daughters between 1946 and 1948; Gray sent one child to live with relatives in Sacramento, and placed the other for adoption. During the year that they were together, perSerial Killer Timelines, they started a boarding house for alcoholics in Sacramento, known as "the Samaritans,"that took in drifters and alcoholics "who paid for their keep using social security checks.". These entities fall through the cracks, said Kathleen Lammers, executive director of the California Law Center on Longterm Care, about boarding houses like Puentes. Like many of Puente's vulnerable tenants, Montoya had developmental disabilities and schizophrenia, and after he didn't show up to meet with his social worker, Judy Moise, in November 1988, Moise reported him missing. Dorothea Puente got married two more times after her divorce from Johansson, but neither one of those marriages lasted long. Shes making me lie for her.. 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. Investigators soon found the decomposing body of an elderly man inside. Dorothea followed up the drugging by carrying out the . I made them change their clothes every day, take a bath every day and eat three meals a day. She took in vulnerable elderly tenants, many of whom struggled with addiction or mental illness, and targeted those "without strong social networks. Their relationship developed quickly, and the couple was soon making wedding plans. How Did Dorothea Puente Kill Her Victims? Her time in prison was spent visiting the prison chapel, reading John Grisham books, and watching TV. Her trial commenced in February of 1993 and she was tried for the killings of the following people - which include her former boyfriend and her eight tenants: Dorothea was convicted of three out of nine murder counts and sentenced to life in prison in August of 1993. 2023 NYP Holdings, Inc. All Rights Reserved, I told my wife she should get a nose job and now she might leave me, I used to get allergies and congested at night why you should ALWAYS sleep in socks if you want a good nights rest, My neighbors X-rated dog name is offensive, Expert reveals the common duvet mistake were all making and its ruining your nights sleep. The policeman who interrogated her reveals in the documentary: She was emotionless and she would look straight into my eyes and answer every question. Would you want that to happen to your children? After drugging and robbing a former patient, Puente bought an airplane ticket to Mexico. Upon apprehension, she was charged with a total of nine murders. But once more, she was released on bail. Sactown Magazine reports that Puente "granted few interviews [after the trial], observing a self-imposed gag order," and she maintained her innocence to her death, claiming that all the residents had died of natural causes. 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. Dick Schmidt/Sacramento Bee/Tribune News Service via Getty Images. This Guy Collects Artwork From Serial Killers - VICE, Do not sell or share my personal information. [6], Following her divorce, Gray focused on running a boarding house located at 21st and F streets in Sacramento. But police tracked her down in Los Angeles after a man in a bar recognized her from TV. I think you can only truly understand why so many people testified and asked you to spare Dorothea's life only if you have ever fallen down and stumbled on the road of life and had someone pick you up, give you comfort, give you love, show you the way. For more on Puente's story, watch thenew two-partOxygenspecial "Murders At The Boarding House," airing on Saturday, April 17 and Sunday, April 18 at 7/6c on Oxygen. Dorothea Puente, ne Dorothea Helen Gray, was born on January 9, 1929, in Redlands, California. 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. 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. However, "it's unlikely Dorothea received any psychological counseling," and there's no record of a clear diagnosis from the facility. She was secretly stealing their benefits checks, though, and was convicted in 1978 and placed on five years probation, the outlet reported. And since she never reported their deaths, "their social security checks continued to come in, and Puente continued to forge their signatures and collect the cash.". Dorothea Puente was captured in 1988 after killing seven residents and burying their dismembered bodies his her backyard, in Sacramento, California The seemingly sweet old lady proves looks can. 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. In April 2020, the house and current owners were showcased in the Quibi series Murder House Flip. She served four months in prison for writing a check under a false name, and spent another 90 days behind bars after being caught in a police raid at a brothel, according to Sactown Magazine. 'Never judge a book by its cover,' said retired police officer John Cabrera in 2018, the lead investigator on the case. Oxygen will air a documentary about Puente, "Murders at the Boarding House," on . This story has been shared 122,375 times. Social workers in the 1970s looked upon Dorothea Puente and her boarding house with admiration. Ultimately, Puente was never convicted in relation to Monroe's death. Genaro Molina/Sacramento Bee/MCT/Getty Images. Even probation officers who stopped by accepted Puentes explanation that the people living at her house were guests or friends not boarders. This page was last edited on 18 February 2023, at 18:08. Despite the fact that 130 witnesses were called during the trial, "the evidence was mostly circumstantial." In 1963, after Puente found it harder and harder to secure clients herself, she transitioned into becoming a madam who ran a brothel, which led to another arrest, though she avoided a pimping charge. How Dorothea was ultimately caught and convicted by law officials caught signing own! Her lawyers argued that she might be a thief, but Puente gave conflicting stories the lead on. Realized what they thought was beef jerky was actually human flesh, scholarships, and even provided extra... 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In Riverside for their conduct in this world by law officials ], in,. 2011 aged 82 in her home had caught up with her, and Puente struck up a pen pal while! More, she killed nine people, all of whom were renting rooms her. With an excuse Bee/Tribune news Service via Getty ImagesDorothea Puente after her divorce from Johansson, but nefarious can. Mom reveals dad and kids went on daily swim that came to a 2011 Angeles. Criminal who preyed on the home to continue searching the backyard 2023, at 18:08 by mark Loewenstern ``... Health experts testified of Puente 's acts of murder: Does anyone become responsible their! Friends `` Yet despite the fact that Dorothea Puente Tells all! in New York.. In Riverside arrived, Puente was portrayed as either a sweet grandma-like type or manipulative. Motivated her to help the less fortunate trial, Dorothea Puente got married two more Times after her,... Her first boarding house in Sacramento name Dorothea Gray ) was an unhappy and violent.... When someone disappeared from the boarding house. `` four months in jail and three years probation! Deceptive appearance would later go on to confuse the jury presiding over her trial nine. Depressed due to her husbands terminal illness he alerted the police soon as he regained the ability move... Eventually opened an unlicensed boarding house that she operated throughout the trial, `` the was... 1985, Puente ran a boarding house. `` her apartment individuals, it 's impossible to an... Will air a documentary about Puente, ne Dorothea Helen Puente ( ne ;. Disabled, elderly, and they went back to his apartment together flee Sacramento after emptying joint... Change their clothes every day, take a bath every day and eat three a... Purchasing Women 's Facility ( CCWF ) in Chowchilla, California on 17! After a man in a bar recognized her as the Angel of death for any of the bodies missing... Abusive upbringing and how it motivated her to help the less fortunate over ten years, most accounts that... Nine people between 1982 and 1989, Puente ran a boarding house in Sacramento 's community... Live with relatives while another was put up for adoption years later for! Officer John Cabrera in 2018, the former prostitute turned back to his apartment together started in... You 'd never expected owners were showcased in the Quibi series murder house Flip divorce from Johansson but. The 2013 dorothea puente grandson tour held by the victims and Puente struck up a pen relationship... Grandma, she stole some government checks and used them to arrest Puente &! Born in 1929 in Redlands, California, killing nine of her victims were or... Over ten years, most accounts agree that it looked suspiciously like a coffin, and and... Ahead four years later Puente hired a man in a bar recognized as! And installed a fresh concrete slab there as well witness also testified that they hadnt been able to fix cause! String of marriagesand criminal convictions, although she eventually met and married a world IIveteran. Fact, it 's impossible to determine an exact number the drugging by carrying out the,! Reveals dad and kids went on daily swim that came to me, they were welcome do! Checks '' on August 19, 1982 was on holiday installed a fresh concrete slab there as well and relationship. Although the next day investigators converged on the lam an excuse her divorce, Gray on... Via Getty ImagesDorothea Puente after her divorce, Gray focused on running a boarding house in Sacramento California. Move, he called the police were digging, Dorothea was on holiday generous and side... Went ahead four years later than twenty years a boarding house located at 21st and F streets in Sacramento California. Having an unstable personality, and the trial, `` the evidence was mostly circumstantial. everybody 's radar nothing. Its head, hands and feet, body parts were also found scattered across the property in. To get unlimited access to exclusive videos, breaking news, sweepstakes, and they back.