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 eventually died of natural causes at the age of 82 in 2011, The Los Angeles Times reported. 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. Dorothea often took in the elderly and homeless and placed them as her tenants. There, the former prostitute turned back to a life of crime. This story originally appeared on The Sun and was reproduced here with permission. For the rest of her life, she maintained her innocence, insisting that all of her boarders had died of "natural causes". According to All That's Interesting, Puente "told them that they were welcome to do so, and even provided an extra shovel.". In the 1980s, Puente ran a boarding house in Sacramento, California, killing nine of her elderly and mentally disabled boarders. 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.. 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. Some of the bodies were mummified in cloth, bed sheets and duct tape. However, "it's unlikely Dorothea received any psychological counseling," and there's no record of a clear diagnosis from the facility. Puente offered up a variety of stories, including that Montoya had gonedown to Mexico, before the counselor filed a missing persons report. Puente took in so-called shadow people people who were marginally homeless without close family or friends. [19] It was then the subject of the 2015 documentary short The House Is Innocent and was again opened to tours for one day in conjunction with a local film festival's showing of the film.[20]. A manhunt ensued for the 59-year-old woman, and she was eventually foundfour days later at a California motel. are mark harmon and joe spano friends [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. Check out never-before-seen content, free digital evidence kits, and much more! 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. He says he's often inundated with requests from crazed fans and fellow murder enthusiasts who ask to buy his grandmother's ashes. She maintained her innocence until her death. For years, the disappearances of these so-called shadow people who lived at the margins of society went unnoticed. She would later kill them by poisoning or strangling them. She set about creating a more matronly image with her clothes and makeup, added years to her age, and became an in-home caretaker. James Gallop, 62, (continued left to right) Dorothy Miller, 64. Convicted of three slayings, Puente earned the nickname the "Death House Landlady." The two-part Oxygen series "Murders at the Boarding House" chronicles Puente's unsettling story. In Olympia, Washington, she tried to make a living as a prostitute. However, according to the Los Angeles Times, there are conflicting reports about Puente's early life, with some accounts claiming that she was one out of 18 children. Puente passed away in 2011 from natural causes at the Central California Facility in Chowchilla, aged 82. 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. Her lawyers argued that she might be a thief, but not a murderer. More than 130 witnesses were called to the stand by the prosecution, and eventually the devilish landlady was convicted for three of the murderers and ordered to serve back-to-back life sentences. By the time the marriage ended, Puente claimed that the business had amassed a debt of $10,000. 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. The tenant backed Puente up but then slipped the cop a note saying thatPuente was forcing him to lie, the magazine reported. She immediately began doing both of those things." 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. letter to change from full time to prn; bstrong charity rating; Application. John OMara, the prosecutor, called over 130 witnesses to the stand. Six more corpses would follow, but Puente was still on the run. They agreed to let her go. 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. However Harder insists that's where he draws the line. She denied killing anybody. 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. Judy Moise, an outreach counselor with Volunteers of America, became suspicious when Montoya vanished. I had been removing it from the bone, one says in the documentary. Preview. 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. She once stated, "The only time they were in good health was when they stayed at my home. Puente's first victimmay not have been one of her boarders, though. 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. 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 took in vulnerable elderly tenants, many of whom struggled with addiction or mental illness, and targeted those "without strong social networks. Puente then married Pedro Angel Montalvo, but he left her only a week after they were wed. Dorothea Puente looked like a sweet grandmother but looks can be deceiving. 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.. She took it all Death is the only appropriate penalty. 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. Dorothea Puente was sentenced to life imprisonment without parole in December 1993. The granddaughter of one of Dorothea Puente's victims recalls finding out that Puente had run away from the police. 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. We are no longer accepting comments on this article. 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. ', Puente died in 2011 aged 82 in her prison cell at the Central California Facility, in Chowchilla. You can not judge a book by its cover and she had one heck of a cover.. Worst Roommate Ever is a documentary series that premiered on Netflix on March 1, 2022. She was later charged with two more murders in addition to the seven, bringing the total number of victims she had to nine. [1] Investigators soon found the decomposing body of an elderly man inside. 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. She had a traumatic childhood after being raised by alcoholic parents. 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. In 1961, Johansson had Gray briefly committed to DeWitt State Hospital after a binge of drinking, lying, criminal behavior, and suicide attempts. Dorothy Miller, 64. . Montoya struggled with mental health issues and had been homeless for years. Her lawyers argued that she might be a thief, but not a murderer. Some social workers and doctors, aware of the problem, steered their clients and patients away from Dorothea, but officially absolutely nothing was done.". She was the sixth of seven children but didn't grow up in a stable family environment. Would you want that to happen to your children? 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. . Bombs explained: What is the difference between a vacuum and a cluster bomb? Dorothea Puente was born Dorothea Helen Gray in Redlands, California, on January 9, 1929. Throughout the trial, Puente was portrayed as either a sweet grandma-like type or a manipulative criminal who preyed on the weak. If anyone had their suspicions, they didn't voice them. It wasn't until Alvaro "Bert" Montoya disappeared that Dorothea Puente's house of death was finally addressed. By 1948, McFaul asked for a divorce and Puente drifted south to California. I can't eat this any more! Dorothea Puente awaiting arraignment in Sacramento, California on November 17, 1988. Dorothea Puente was a California landlady who ran a boarding house in Sacramento during the 1980s. Despite the guilty verdict of her . When she was just 16, she started engaging in sex work, although she eventually met and married a World War IIveteran. Gray assumed the identity of "Sharon Johansson", hiding her delinquent behavior by portraying herself as a devout Christian woman. Dorothy Miller. But, behind the scenes, Puente had embarked on a path that would lead her to murder. She asked Florez to build a 6-by-3-by-2-foot box to store "books and other items". Dorothea Puente is an American serial killer. James Gallop, 62. The 59-year-old looked like an ordinary grandmother when she was arrested after a five day hunt across California. Despite the guilty verdict of her trial, she maintained her innocence until her death. She was given five years probation and ordered to pay $4,000 in restitution. After declaring "the Samaritans" bankrupt, Dorothea Puente promptly set up a new boarding house on 2100 F Street in a large 16-bedroom Victorian house in the early 1970s. Pathologists testified that they hadnt been able to fix the cause of death for any of the corpses. Witnesses, including her long-lost daughter, testified how Puente had helped them in their youth and guided them to successful careers. But John slipped them a message. Dorothea Puente (birth name Dorothea Gray) was born in 1929 in Redlands, California. [6], Gray and Johansson divorced in 1966, although she continued to use Johansson's name for some time following their separation. The jury deliberated over a month and eventually found Puente guilty of three murders. After an autopsy was done, medical examiners found a large amount of codeine in her system, and although her death was labeled "undetermined cause," it was believed to be a suicide. 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. It wasnt until 1988 that suspicions first arose about Puente, after one of her tenants, 52-year old Alvaro Montoya, went missing. Chief later dismantled a garage in the backyard and installed a fresh concrete slab there as well. 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. Puente had become interested in him after learning he received disability checks, The Los Angeles Times reported. These were people the Salvation Army wouldn't take them. EXCLUSIVE: Grandmother, 86, who arranged for her daughter-in-law, 27, to be lured to India and murdered in Could WhatsApp be BANNED in Britain? Dorothea Puente was a convicted serial killer suspected of murdering nine people during the 1980s in Sacramento, California, in order to collect their social security checks. 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. [10] According to investigators, most of her victims had been drugged until they overdosed; Puente then wrapped them in bed-sheets and plastic lining before dragging them to open pits in the backyard for burial. 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 . Seven bodies were discovered, belonging to Bert Montoya, Leona Carpenter, Dorothy Miller, Benjamin Fink, James Gallop, Vera Faye Martin, and Betty Palmer. Her father died of tuberculosis when Puente was eight while her mother, an alcoholic, routinely abused her children and died in a motorcycle accident a year later. In 1966, she and Johansson divorced. 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 passed away at Central California Women's Facility in Chowchilla, California. Dorothea was convicted of three out of nine murder counts and sentenced to life in prison in August of 1993. They had two daughters between 1946 and 1948; Gray sent one child to live with relatives in Sacramento, and placed the other for adoption. Culture Crossfire claims that parole officers made no fewer than 15 visits to Puente's home. Gillmouth disappeared not long after he and Puente moved to F Street. Charged with a total of nine murders, Puente was flown back to Sacramento. Another tenant, John Sharp, backed her up. Serial killer Dorothea Puente House Now- where she buried her victim is notably famous for paranormal activities. In 1998, Puente began corresponding with Shane Bugbee. cold and calculating female killers the country had ever seen., serial killer known as the Angel of Death, Aileen Wuornos, historys most terrifying female serial killer. Puente agreed even providing an extra shovel for them to do so. The episode featured testimonies from detectives and other people close to the case. An officer visited the home and spoke with Puente as well as a tenant while in Puente's presence. Soon afterward, Chief disappeared. The boarders who were found dead on her property include Dorothy Miller, a 64-year-old war veteran who died in October 1987; Benjamin Fink, a 55-year-old alcoholic who died in April 1988;Leona Carpenter, a very ill widow who died in 1987; Bert Montoya, a man with intellectual disabilities who died in 1988; Betty Palmer, 78; James Gallop, a 62-year-old with various health issues; and Vera Faye Martin, 64. After their deaths, Puente collected . Dorothea Helen Puente (ne Gray; January 9, 1929 March 27, 2011) was an American convicted serial killer. 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. Puente's alleged grandson, William Harder (pictured), insists his grandmother wasn't all bad. But 26 years after her conviction - and seven years after her death - a man who claims to Puente's grandson, William Harder, has stepped forward to reaffirm his grandmother's claim that she wasn't always bad. Everson Gillmouth, 77. O'Mara's closing argument focused on Puente's acts of murder: Does anyone become responsible for their conduct in this world? Investigators were initially searching for . 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 didn't stay in the facility long, and upon her release, she and Johansson moved to Broderick, California. Puente was sentenced to five years for "drugging elderly people and stealing their benefit checks" on August 19, 1982. 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. Eventually, the "Death House Landlady" would then drug her tenants to the point of rendering them incapacitated. 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. 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