Does she have to be killed?" 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. Language links are at the top of the page across from the title. Some social workers and doctors, aware of the problem, steered their clients and patients away from Dorothea, but officially absolutely nothing was done.". The 1991 film Evil Spirits, starring Karen Black and Arte Johnson, is loosely based on the Puente murders. 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. It was Montoya's disappearance that led to Puente's downfall. Know Her Death House Now In June 2020, the house was featured in a ten-minute documentary with 60 Second Docs about the purchase and renovation of the house by the current owners. There, Puente was described as having an unstable personality, and she was prescribed an antipsychotic for the first time. 'I saw her as a human - despite her crimes.'. She and Gillmouth moved into 1426 F Street, where Puente opened up a boarding house again. 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. Their dismembered bodies were then placed in holes in the garden she'd paid ex-convicts to dig. She was later charged with two more murders in addition to the seven, bringing the total number of victims she had to nine. She once stated, "The only time they were in good health was when they stayed at my home. Dorothea followed up the drugging by carrying out the . The two would continue to have a turbulent relationship, and Gray filed a restraining order in 1975. Another tenant, John Sharp, backed her up. Dorothea Puente died in prison of natural causes on March 27, 2011, at age 82. We were just digging and digging, he says. 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." "Sometimes [he] held a gun to his head and threatened to kill himself in front of his children," wrote the LA Times. In 1952, Gray married merchant seaman Axel Bren Johansson in San Francisco. These were people the Salvation Army wouldn't take them. [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. The charges against her were largely circumstantial: There was her criminal past and of course, the corpses at her home. Puente's alleged grandson, William Harder (pictured), insists his grandmother wasn't all bad. 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. 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. In 1988, seven bodies were found buried in the backyard of the boarding house she ran for the indigent and elderly. Dorothea followed up the drugging by carrying out the tenants' murder and burying them in her backyard and garden. Puente was caught and convicted of forgery, and after serving six months of a four-year sentence, she was released. Dalmane, which is a drug used for insomnia, was found in all seven of the exhumed bodies. Gillmouth's body remained unidentified for three years. 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. Corporate. seven years after the death of Puente, a man named William Harder had claimed to be her grandson. I dont know that she ever did anything good without a bad motive.. Her time in prison was spent visiting the prison chapel, reading John Grisham books, and watching TV. [2], Puente was born Dorothea Helen Gray on January 9, 1929, in Redlands, California, to Trudy Mae (ne Yates) and Jesse James Gray. Murderpedia . According to Sactown Magazine, "Puente's vanishing ignited a manhunt that stretched to Mexico," and it took police five days to track her down. Puente's deceptive appearance would later go on to confuse the jury presiding over her trial. The union lasted just two years. When she was released in 1985, they moved in together, but he abruptly disappeared. Her business parter, a 61-year-old woman named Ruth Monroe, died suddenly in 1982, shortly before Puentewas arrested for drugging herthree elderly patients. Dorothea Helen Puente ( ne Gray; January 9, 1929 - March 27, 2011) was an American convicted serial killer. Jodi Picoult mentions Puente's crimes and cookbook in her novel House Rules. At the same time, they agreed she had an evil side brought on by the stress of caring for her down-and-out tenants. 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 never flinched. But after installing a concrete slab in the boarding house basement and one over the foundation of the garage, "Chief" disappeared. Dorothea Puente awaiting arraignment in Sacramento, California on November 17, 1988. Dorothea Puente was born Dorothea Helen Gray in Redlands, California, on January 9, 1929. Dorothea Puente was a California landlady who ran a boarding house in Sacramento during the 1980s. 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. According to All That's Interesting, Puente "told them that they were welcome to do so, and even provided an extra shovel.". When questioned by police initially, Puente remained calm and denied everything. 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. The marriage only lasted two years. 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.. 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. Eventually, the "Death House Landlady" would then drug her tenants to the point of rendering them incapacitated. Dorothea Puente was sentenced to life imprisonment without parole in December 1993. When Puente offered to perform a sex act on an undercover cop at a house of ill-repute, her husband sent her to a psychiatric ward. In total, seven bodies were found in Puente's yard. 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. She never said anything. She was the sixth of seven children but didn't grow up in a stable family environment. She spent her teen years bouncing between foster homes and orphanages, and was allegedly sexually abused at one point, according to a 2011 . When the police arrived, Puente told them that Monroe had been depressed due to her husbands terminal illness. Dorothea Puente (birth name Dorothea Gray) was born in 1929 in Redlands, California. Between 1982 and 1989, Puente would take in the vulnerable and homeless people. She asked Florez to build a 6-by-3-by-2-foot box to store "books and other items". But Puente presented herself as a harmless old woman who was given gifts, and the police let her out on bail. [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. Gray-haired landlady, Dorothea Puente, made headlines as one of the most shocking serial killers in Sacramento history. However, she was arrested before she could board the plane, and this time, her lawyer wasn't able to argue that she wasn't a flight risk. Orphaned, Puente and her siblings splintered off in different directions, bouncing between foster care and relatives homes. Dorothea Puente is an American serial killer. Puente cashed in the Social Security checks of the elderly and disabled boarders living in her house. What followed was a string of marriagesand criminal convictions. But once more, she was released on bail. In Olympia, Washington, she tried to make a living as a prostitute. 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. 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.. Investigators opened the box and found the badly decomposed and unidentifiable body of an elderly man inside. She eventually gave one child to relatives and put the other up for adoption, according to Sactown Magazine. They dont have all the facts, she told Sactown Magazine in 2009. Victims . Shes making me lie for her.. She denied everything.. She had a traumatic childhood after being raised by alcoholic parents. Judy Moise, an outreach counselor with Volunteers of America, became suspicious when Montoya vanished. Her boarding house provided the opportunityto siphon money from those less fortunate than her and poisonthem with drugs. 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. But volatility seemed to follow Puente wherever she went and the new couple argued frequently about Puentes drinking and gambling. Chief later dismantled a garage in the backyard and installed a fresh concrete slab there as well. Known as the "Death House Landlady," Dorothea Puente targeted elderly and disabled people, especially those who were already houseless or didn't have a strong support system. She maintained her innocence until her death. Pathologists testified that they hadnt been able to fix the cause of death for any of the corpses. Dorothea Puente ran a boarding house for the elderly, disabled, or otherwise ailing in Sacramento, California, but her motives were anything but altruistic. She was put on trial in 1993 for the nine murders. 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. 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.. This time, she was tried for grand theft, robbery, and forgery. 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. [17] The result was Cooking with a Serial Killer (2004),[18] which included a lengthy interview, almost fifty recipes, and various pieces of prison art sent to Bugbee by the convicted murderer. according to a 2011 Los Angeles Times article. Seven bodies were eventually found buried on the property.[10]. [6], In April 1982, 53-year-old Ruth Munroe began living with Puente in her upstairs apartment, but soon died from an overdose of codeine and acetaminophen. Dorothea often took in the elderly and homeless and placed them as her tenants. She immediately began doing both of those things." 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. Montoya struggled with mental health issues and had been homeless for years. A manhunt ensued for the 59-year-old woman, and she was eventually foundfour days later at a California motel. The docuseries chronicled Dorothea Puente's time as a California landlord who drugged and murdered her tenants. Dorothea Puente, infamously known as the "Death House Lady," was responsible for the deaths of nine elderly and mentally disabled individuals, plus an additional unconfirmed six people (via Crime Museum).From April 1982 through November 1988, Puente ran a boarding house where she stole from her tenants to the tune of $5,000/month (via Murderpedia), before she would kill them with drug overdoses. For five days, Dorothea Puente was on the lam. Shes been digging a lot of holes.. Dorothea Puente had several children with McFaul but didnt raise them. Finally, they found the body of78-year-old Leona Carpenter, and the police realized what they thought was beef jerky was actually human flesh. During her trial, a witness also testified that Puente was sexually abused during her time at the orphanage. 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. Thanks for contacting us. At the time, the basement floor was covered with a concrete slab. This Guy Collects Artwork From Serial Killers - VICE, Do not sell or share my personal information. Despite the fact that parole officers visited Dorothea Puente's boarding house numerous times and were aware of the stipulation that she stay away from elderly people and not handle government checks, nothing ever happened. 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. On November 29, 1987, Trujillo wrote a letter to the Social Security Administration detailing her suspicions that Puente was stealing her SSI checks. She passed away at Central California Women's Facility in Chowchilla, California. Puente was born Dorothea Helen Gray on January 9, 1929. Owen Brewer/Sacramento Bee/Tribune News Service via Getty ImagesDorothea Puente awaiting arraignment in Sacramento, California on November 17, 1988. We are no longer accepting comments on this article. She created a fake persona, calling herself "Teya Singoalla Neyaarda", a Muslim woman of Egyptian and Israeli descent. But the police could never have imagined theyd go on to find six bodies buried in the backyard of this little old lady.. She even wrote a cookbook from behind bars: "Cooking with a Serial Killer.". ': Royal fans hit out at King Charles' coronation quiche as Royal wedding baker reveals how Meghan Markle gave her 'specific' brief for the cake - and says it is 'funny Slice to see you! & Brucato, Gary, Ph.D., The New Evil: Understanding the Emergence of Modern Violent Crime (Amherst, N.Y.: Prometheus Books), pp. 'The contents might be what you'd never expected. 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.". Nevertheless, she would come back to this business model. Petitioner raises several claims and a request for a federal evidentiary hearing. 1:11. The police returned and searched the house. 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.. Betty Palmer, 78. In 1961, Johansson had Gray briefly committed to DeWitt State Hospital after a binge of drinking, lying, criminal behavior, and suicide attempts. [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. 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. On New Years Day, a fisherman spotted the box, noticed that it looked suspiciously like a coffin, and informed the police. Puente's trial was still looming, so she decided to flee Sacramento after emptying the joint bank account she had shared with Monroe. Dorothea Puente, the Sacramento Victorian boarding house Landlady where police found seven bodies buried in her yard. According to Sactown Magazine, the jury deliberated for 24 days, "the longest deliberation in a murder case in state history," and convicted Puente on three out of the nine killings in August 1993. ", They added: "You can not judge a book by its cover and she had one heck of a cover.". 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. '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. Gray would continue to use the surname Puente for more than twenty years. An extensive five-day search for the elderly fugitive ended when a stranger she'd befriended in Los Angeles recognized her face from the news and turned her into police. 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