[citation needed]. She collected tenants' monthly mail before they saw it and paid them stipends, pocketing the rest for "expenses". Unlike many who passed through Puentes boarding house, however, someone had their eye on Montoya. Dorothea Puente had several children with McFaul but didnt raise them. She lost her first boarding house after getting caught signing her own name to tenants benefit checks. She was just pure evil, Mildred Ballenger, a social worker who knew her, told Sactown Magazine. 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 . Judy also questioned another of Puentes tenants, John Sharp, who told her: Something is wrong. 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. 1:08. [1] Culture Crossfire claims that parole officers made no fewer than 15 visits to Puente's home. Alvaro had struggled with his mental health and been homeless for years, and Judy didnt buy Puentes explanation that hed left for a holiday in Mexico with his brother especially as she knew he didnt speak to his family. Between 1982 and 1989, Puente would take in the vulnerable and homeless people. Dorothea followed up the drugging by carrying out the . To many, Dorothea Puente seemed like an angel. And she didnt buy Puentes explanation that hed left on vacation. Puente's early life is also difficult to pin down because she was known for exaggerating and being a pathological liar. 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. Puente's alleged grandson, William Harder (pictured), insists his grandmother wasn't all bad. [2], Puente was born Dorothea Helen Gray on January 9, 1929, in Redlands, California, to Trudy Mae (ne Yates) and Jesse James Gray. She took it all Death is the only appropriate penalty. Walt Zeboski/AP Dorothea Puente's crimes were revealed in 1988 after homicide detectives searched for a missing man at his last known address: Puente's house in Sacramento, California. 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. But unfortunately, "living on the fringes, in and out of police custody for heroin and [sex work], Brenda wasn't taken seriously.". Puente's heinous crimes were eventually discovered in 1988, when Alberto Montoya, a mentally disabled and schizophrenic tenant, was reported missing by a social worker. After burying the victims on her property, she then cashed in on the victims' social security checks. Puente's deceptive appearance would later go on to confuse the jury presiding over her trial. She denied killing anybody. In April of 1982, a 61-year-old woman named Ruth Monroe moved into Dorothea Puentes house. Moise alerted police, who went to the boarding house. But John slipped them a message. She established her reputation as a caregiver, providing young women with a sanctuary from poverty and abuse without charge. 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. Shed also been linked to another two previous deaths that were now seen as too similar to ignore. 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. At the time, the basement floor was covered with a concrete slab. We've received your submission. 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. '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. John OMara, the prosecutor, called over 130 witnesses to the stand. 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. Soon after, Monroe died from an overdose of codeine and acetaminophen. She died in prison in 2011, age 82, reports Crime Museum. Puente was arrested, returned to Sacramento, and held without bail. Language links are at the top of the page across from the title. For years, the disappearances of these so-called shadow people who lived at the margins of society went unnoticed. 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. She was incarcerated at Central California Women's Facility (CCWF) in Chowchilla, California. Clymo responded by evoking Dorothea the child and caregiver. Her lawyers argued that she might be a thief, but not a murderer. Although their marriage lasted over ten years, most accounts agree that it was an unhappy and violent relationship. 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. She was released early in 1990, but not before a state psychiatrist evaluated her and diagnosedher with schizophrenia. This wasn't the first time she had drugged and robbed someone. She then drugged three elderly female patients and stole their money and valuables, a scam that landed her in prison in 1982for five years, according to "Murders At The Boarding House." "You have heard of the despair which was the foundation of her life, the anger and resentmentIf anyone in the jury room tells you it was not that bad, ask them would you want that to happen to yourself? Gillmouth disappeared not long after he and Puente moved to F Street. However, since many of her victims were houseless or otherwise vulnerable individuals, it's impossible to determine an exact number. A human leg and a badly discomposed foot were dug up separately in another part of the yard. Being escorted to a police car after her capture in 1988, serial killer Dorothea Puente told gathering reporters 'I used to be a very good person, at one time'. Despite the seven bodies found in her yard (and the two other murders she was accused of), Puente pled not guilty to the nine charges against her. Puente continued to collect Gillmouth's pension and wrote letters to his family, explaining that the reason he had not contacted them was because he was ill. She continued to maintain a boarding house, taking in forty new tenants. She created a fake persona, calling herself "Teya Singoalla Neyaarda", a Muslim woman of Egyptian and Israeli descent. She was given five years of probation, which included the stipulation that she was forbidden from running a boarding house. In her absence, investigators dug up the whole yard and discovered the body of 78-year-old Leona Carpenter. In Female Serial Killers, Vronsky writes how Puente's patients often ended up in the hospital, and Puente's name kept coming up to the same doctor who treated the patients. Between 1982 and 1988, the elderly and disabled people living in Dorothea Puentes house had no idea that was she was poisoning and strangling some of her guests before burying them on her property and cashing their Social Security checks. Gray assumed the identity of "Sharon Johansson", hiding her delinquent behavior by portraying herself as a devout Christian woman. Genaro Molina/Sacramento Bee/MCT/Getty ImagesThe boarding house made infamous by Dorothea Puentes murders. Dorothy Miller, 64. . ", Between 1985 and 1988, Puente is believed to have murdered at least seven people who lived at her boarding house. Puente was charged with a total of nine murders: Puente's boyfriend, Everson Gillmouth, 77; and eight tenants who lived at the boarding house: Ruth Munroe, 61; Leona Carpenter, 78; Alvaro "Bert/Alberto" Gonzales Montoya, 51; Dorothy Miller, 64; Benjamin Fink, 55; James Gallop, 62; Vera Faye Martin, 64; and Betty Palmer, 78. 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. Shortly after, they found a second body. 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. Puente and her siblings were subsequently sent to an orphanage, where she was sexually abused. 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. 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. Social workers in the 1970s looked upon Dorothea Puente and her boarding house with admiration. She once stated, "The only time they were in good health was when they stayed at my home. Everson Gillmouth is believed to be her next victim. Investigators opened the box and found the badly decomposed and unidentifiable body of an elderly man inside. They had a turbulent marriage; Gray took advantage of Johansson's frequent trips to sea by inviting men to their home and gambling away his money. For the rest of her life, she maintained her innocence, insisting that all of her boarders had died of "natural causes". 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. LIFTING her apron over her head, Dorothea Puente beamed with pride at the freshly-baked cakes in front of her knowing her unsuspecting victims would be at her mercy moments after biting into After she was released, he moved to be with her, The Los Angeles Times reported. And I could see Dorothea staring out the window at us, above.. Dorothea Puente was a convicted serial killer who ran a boarding house in Sacramento, California in the 1980s. Shes making me lie for her.. Puente told police that the woman was very depressed because her husband was terminally ill. [citation needed], On November 11, 1988, police inquired after the disappearance of tenant Alvaro "Bert" Montoya, a developmentally disabled man with schizophrenia, who had been reported missing by his social worker. The policeman who interrogated her reveals in the documentary: She was emotionless and she would look straight into my eyes and answer every question. In Olympia, Washington, she tried to make a living as a prostitute. In November 1985, Dorothea Puente hired a handyman named Ismael Florez to install some wood paneling in her home. 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. In November 1985, Dorothea Puente hired a handyman named Ismael Florez to install some wood paneling in her home. Seven bodies were eventually found buried on the property.[10]. Gillmouth's body remained unidentified for three years. Hed been referred to Dorothea Puentes house because of her sterling reputation welcoming people like him. She would later kill them by poisoning or strangling them. She was the sixth of seven children but didnt grow up in a stable family environment. Theyd gotten so close that Puente had even told her children to Call me Grandma. Dorothea often took in the elderly and homeless and placed them as her tenants. During this period, parole agents visited Puente at least fifteen times; though she had been ordered to keep away from the elderly and refrain from handling government checks, no violations were ever noted. 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. The boarding house at 1426 F Street in Sacramento was included in the 2013 home tour held by the Sacramento Old City Association. Some reports say that McFaul died of a heart attack, while others state that he left Puente, possibly after she had a miscarriage. Dorothea Puente was a California landlady who ran a boarding house in Sacramento during the 1980s. During the preliminary hearing, she was even re-arrested for another set of check forgery charges from an additional victim. 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. Meanwhile, another six bodies had been found in Puentes back garden, including those of 51-year-old Alberto Montoya, 64-year-old Dorothy Miller, 55-year-old Benjamin Fink, 62-year-old James Gallop, 64-year-old Vera Faye Martin and 78-year-old Betty Palmer. 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. 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 looks can be extremely deceiving and, in this case, the innocuous landlady was actually a terrifying serial killer who committed at least nine murders inside her boarding house in Sacramento,Californiathroughout the 1980s. 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. Upon apprehension, she was charged with a total of nine murders. Her lawyers argued that she might be a thief, but not a murderer. Puente was born Dorothea Helen Gray on January 9, 1929. She eventually gave one child to relatives and put the other up for adoption, according to Sactown Magazine. In the 1980s, she worked as a personal caretaker who drugged her clients and stole their valuables. Dick Schmidt/Sacramento Bee/Tribune News Service via Getty ImagesDorothea Puente after her arrest in Los Angeles, en route back to Sacramento. Volunteers 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. Jodi Picoult mentions Puente's crimes and cookbook in her novel House Rules. Dorothea Puente, ne Dorothea Helen Gray, was born on January 9, 1929, in Redlands, California. By the time the marriage ended, Puente claimed that the business had amassed a debt of $10,000. There, Puente was described as having an unstable personality, and she was prescribed an antipsychotic for the first time. Apparently, "Most reviewers [say] the recipes are pretty basic, but tasty." Vera Martin, 64. She even wrote a cookbook from behind bars: "Cooking with a Serial Killer.". Betty Palmer, 78. 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. Dorothea Puente, who ran an unlicensed Sacramento boarding house, became infamous for actually killing residents in the 1980s. Then you will understand why these people believe Dorothea's life is worth saving. 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. Satisfied, the authorities ruled Monroes death a suicide and moved on. Dorothea Puente was sentenced to life imprisonment without parole in December 1993. [7] On August 18, 1982, Puente was convicted of three theft charges and sentenced to five years in prison; there, she began corresponding with Everson Gillmouth, a 77-year-old retiree from Oregon. But Puente presented herself as a harmless old woman who was given gifts, and the police let her out on bail. While staying at the Royal Viking Hotel in Los Angeles, Puente tried to go back to her old technique of picking up men at a bar and then proceeding to drug and rob them. During one fundraiser, she even danced with California Governor Jerry Brown. Email us atexclusive@the-sun.comor call212 416 4552. Murderpedia . Some social workers and doctors, aware of the problem, steered their clients and patients away from Dorothea, but officially absolutely nothing was done.". In fact, by that point, Dorothea had been arrested and released on bail four times. That is a human quality that deserves to be preserved. 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