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. Nor could anyone rule out that the four women and three men had taken the drugs on their own, considering their assorted substance addictions, physical maladies and mental illnesses. The serial killer shuffles into the room with a chickens hitched gait. Dorothea Puente after her arrest in Los Angeles, en route back to Sacramento. Newspapers dubbed Puente the "Death House Landlady". Retired social worker Mildred Ballenger first met Puente in the late 1970s. In 1993, facing nine counts of murder after prosecutors linked her to two other deaths, she stood trial without testifying. The penalty phase of the prosecution was highlighted by her prior convictions introduced by O'Mara. It wasn't until the first body was found in her backyard that authorities realized Dorothea was not the sweet old woman she first appeared to be. Investigators soon found the decomposing body of an elderly man inside. In 1961, Johansson had Gray briefly committed to DeWitt State Hospital after a binge of drinking, lying, criminal behavior, and suicide attempts. Some play Scrabble, Sorry! Dorothea Helen Puente (ne Gray; January 9, 1929 - March 27, 2011) was an American convicted serial killer.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. I wondered whether, when thinking back to 1988, she saw her past as her own or that of a different Dorothea Puente, one who, over time, had faded into something of a stranger. The police bulletin sent out after Puentes escape (Courtesy of John Cabrera), Throughout our meetings, Puente furtively points out inmates and comments on their crimes. Axel Johansson rates as Puentes favorite of her four ex-husbands, a presumably unwanted distinction. She eventually met and married Pedro Angel Montalvo, though Montalvo abruptly left the relationship a week after their marriage. Dorothea Puente awaiting arraignment in Sacramento, California on November 17, 1988. Puente had already been convicted and executed in the media, and the attorneys understood the long odds of winning in court. No, Dorothea Puente is no longer alive as of 2022 as she died on March 27th, 2011. The forensic psychiatrist, assigned to evaluate the alleged serial killer as her case proceeded toward trial, would spend 12 hours talking with her over the next four years. The two talked through the afternoon, with Willgues both attracted to and wary of the well-dressed stranger who sipped screwdrivers. So you knew she was a liar.. Through her early teen years, young Dorothea found herself handed off to a series of relatives and foster homes, bouncing between Napa and Los Angeles, court records reveal. Between 1982 and 1989, Puente would take in the vulnerable and homeless people. EXCLUSIVE: 'I killed JonBent Ramsey! Convicted pedophile Rose West's son breaks silenceto tell how his killer mother Isabel Oakeshott receives 'menacing' message from Matt Hancock, Insane moment river of rocks falls onto Malibu Canyon in CA, Mom who lost both sons to fentanyl blasts laughing Biden, Pavement where disabled woman gestured at cyclist before fatal crash, Pro-Ukrainian drone lands on Russian spy planes exposing location, 'Buster is next!' A lot of people saw your running away as a sign of guilt. A couple who braved the stigma of the house's curse purchased the home, fully aware of the history. 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. But before the cop left, Sharp managed to slip him a hand-written note that read, Shes making me lie for her. He later divulged unsettling details about life at the house. Unchanged are his lean, square-shouldered build and animated manner, his eyebrows spiking and hands windmilling as he recounts the investigation. Puente had stayed poised a day earlier when Cabrera showed up with a fellow homicide detective and a federal probation agent. 104-107. Petitioner raises several claims and a request for a federal evidentiary hearing. Puente claims she spent time in the 70s with California governors Pat Brown, Jerry Brown and Ronald Reagan. In the end, Cabrera erred on the side of skepticism. The boarding house at 1426 F Street in Sacramento was included in the 2013 home tour held by the Sacramento Old City Association. She tells me they appreciate the advice she provides them, whether informal legal counsel on their cases or how to traverse the social services network after their release. ', Puente died in 2011 aged 82 in her prison cell at the Central California Facility, in Chowchilla. 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. [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. 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. Dorothea Puente, ne Dorothea Helen Gray, was born on January 9, 1929, in Redlands, California. I made them change their clothes every day, take a bath every day and eat three meals a day. As we continue talking, the topic switches to her life before prison, and I ask what she misses most about Sacramento. Old bones sometimes turned up in downtown and midtown yards, vestiges of the early 20th century, when families unable to afford a cemetery plot interred loved ones on their property. She sent one child to live with relatives while another was put up for adoption. But no one noticed. She wound up serving four months in jail and shortly afterward fled Riverside County, flouting the terms of her probation. The hospitalization occurred a year after Sacramento police busted Dorothea in a raid on a residential house of ill fame on Fulton Avenue that had fronted as a bookkeeping service, according to court records. (Puente tells me she also had twin daughters who as young adults committed suicide one week apart. She changed her public image to that of a respectable older matron by putting on vintage clothing, wearing large granny glasses, and letting her hair turn gray. On January 1, 1986, a fisherman spotted the suspicious looking coffin-like box near the river and called police. 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Her upstanding reputation concealed a habit of forging the signatures of tenants on their benefits checks before signing them over to herself. The 59-year-old looked like an ordinary grandmother when she was arrested after a five day hunt across California. Dorothea Helen Gray met the world on Jan. 9, 1929, in Redlands, Calif., the sixth of seven children born to Jesse James Gray and Trudie Gray. Shes making me lie for her.. In her note, written on plain lined paper in a grade-schoolers swirling cursive, she invited me to visit. But you gotta do something so you dont go crazy.. Both have died, and police cleared them early in the investigation. Some months earlier, another tenant, a longtime alcoholic on a bender, had vanished after Puente went to his room to make him feel better. The acrid stench of rotting flesh soon spread through the home and beyond, an odor she blamed on sewer problems and that drew complaints from neighbors. 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. 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. She was just pure evil, Ballenger says. (AP Photo/Walt Zeboski). Seven bodies were eventually found buried on the property.[10]. With Jeff Rechner, Joelle Uzyel, Mikel Welch. Wearing purple pumps and a long red coat over a pink dress, Puente carries a large maroon purse and pink umbrella, her eyes cast downward to watch her step. During a brief in-flight interview with reporter Mike Boyd, she said, I have not killed anyone. [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. A lot of people get old in here really quickly cause they just kind of stop doing anything., Ruth Munroe, believed by authorities to be Puentes first victim (Courtesy of The Sacramento Archives). The discovery prompted Cabrera to summon Puente to the backyard. Clymo responded by evoking Dorothea the child and caregiver. But the jury had a difficult time believe the matronly grandmother was capable of carrying out such menacing crimes. But eventually, police searching for a missing tenant spotted a patch of disturbed dirt near the boarding house and uncovered the first of several bodies. Others wave and smile. Others disparaged the closet alcoholic who on occasion punctuated roof-raising, cuss-filled tirades with a piece of furniture heaved down the stairs. A local Spanish-language newspaper that referred to Puente as la doctora (Courtesy of John Cabrera), The unlicensed venture thrived from the start. She had a terrible adolescence after being . She met and married Fred McFaul in 1945. Puente's alleged grandson, William Harder (pictured), insists his grandmother wasn't all bad. Im not that kind of person. I prod for more, to no avail. [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. Granddaughter Of Dorothea Puente Victim Visits Boarding House Exclusive Granddaughter Of Dorothea Puente Victim Visits Boarding House Dorothy Miller was eventually found buried in the yard of Dorothea Puente's boarding house. The jury was deadlocked eleven to one for conviction on all counts, and the lone holdout finally agreed to a conviction of two first-degree murder counts, including special circumstances, and one second-degree murder count. Dorothea Puente is one of the criminals whose crimes are detailed in 'Worst Roommate Ever.' Puente was known in her neighborhood for housing individuals who were homeless, elderly, or otherwise unable to care for themselves. She lost her life in a motorcycle wreck the same year, orphaning Dorothea before she turned 10. For my benefit, she recites her prison medical history: a tumor removed from behind one knee last year; angioplasty in 2003; repair of a ruptured artery in 1998. Joy the last person to have seen her alive. Investigators opened the box and found the badly decomposed and unidentifiable body of an elderly man inside. But while digging a second hole, Wilson heard a muted thud as his blade struck something hard three feet down. Puente was convicted in. After what was then the longest deliberation in a murder case in state history24 daysthe jury convicted her of three killings. In turn, I know that when she receives my letter telling her as much, shell cut off contact. She would later kill them by poisoning or strangling them. 31 of the Royal Viking. She recalls the future president and his first wife, Jane Wyman, as her good friends. When I mention the Gippers second wife, she frowns. The views expressed in the contents above are those of our users and do not necessarily reflect the views of MailOnline. 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. Her escape brought coast-to-coast ridicule of Police Chief John Kearns and his department while authorities chased dead-end leads from Las Vegas to Mexico. Questions about her criminal record will elicit short answers trailed by awkward silence, during which she will stare at the table or the far wall, in the direction of Winnie and friends. Beneath the rooms ashen lighting stand neat rows of small round tables, some 50 in all. (To the question of which verse most resonates with her, she shrugs and replies, All of em.) She then quietly gathers the clothing of her slumbering roomies to wash later in the morning, when prisoners are allowed out of their cells. Here are 5 things you may not know about Dorothea Puente: 1. She answers with a look of mild reproach that pulls taut her soft fist of a face. Dorothea Puente. [1] Sua contagem total chegou a nove assassinatos confirmados e seis no . Dorothea Puente's House Has Been Bought. Nonetheless, with decades to mull what she might say about her case, she sounds as unpersuasive now as during her plane ride from Los Angeles. The truth about this notorious woman serial killer's spree finally emerged in October of 1954 after her fifth husband Samuel Doss died in a hospital in Oklahoma. On the other hand, when these people, as could be expected, would act upat that point, she snapped and decided to kill them., The Puente trial dragged on for five months, with more than 150 witnesses, thousands of pieces of evidence and unrelenting media scrutiny. As the search expanded, cabin fever seized Puente. I dont know that she ever did anything good without a bad motive.. On a later visit, she brags that she won $10,000 on a 1950s game show on NBC called Feather Your Nest; another time, that she played a few tournaments on the fledgling LPGA tour in the 50s. The union lasted just two years. After her mother passing Dorothea and her 18 siblings . However, Dorothea's outward demeanor was a smokescreen, concealing [] For years, the disappearances of these so-called shadow people who lived at the margins of society went unnoticed. Puentes neighbors and acquaintances murmured disbelief that the white-haired landlady who handed out homemade tamales and fussed over her rose beds and vegetable garden could be a mass murderer. Their first series of holes dislodged only soft dirt and a vague sense of futility. Disguised as a kind-hearted boarding house owner, Dorothea Puente allegedly murdered tenants who lived on her property, and buried them in her backyard, according to the Los Angeles Times. The inmates know who she is, the official says. 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. But Puente has lodged in his psyche as the rarest predator he confronted: in age, gender and disposition, she inhabits an extremely narrow strata of serial killers. Behind them, a twentysomething blonde clutches the hands of a young man with a sun tattoo on his forearm. But police tracked her down in Los Angeles after a man in a bar recognized her from TV. Federal law shields inmate medical records from the public, leaving open the question of whether she has had three surgeries since entering prison. Wood earlier sent Puente to prison for drugging and robbing the elderly. Prison persuades some inmates to repent, their perspective evolving with time as they forsake their younger selves. It seems fitting that a published recipe collection by serial killer Dorothea Puente, aka the "Death House Landlady," includes how-to's for whipping up . Released after three for good behavior, she returned to Sacramento, with her federal probation extended to 1990 due to the state conviction. I stare at the brick and wrought-iron front gate through which Dorothea Puente walked for the last time on Nov. 12, 1988. I wonder what she wants when death does come. In fact, Puente was a serial killer who committed at least nine murders inside her boarding house in Sacramento, California throughout the 1980s. During their initial meeting, he encountered a woman of utter ordinariness, one far removed from the media caricature that depicted her as the embodiment of evil. A pair of Christmas ornaments made by Puente in prison. 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. With Bill Courage, John Cabrera, Bill Clausen, Judy Moises. FacebookDorothea Puente right before she fled Sacramento. As the others begin to stir, she tidies up the space, a boardinghouse landlady to the last. The total included a man she had met after her release from prison in 1985 whose body turned up the following year in a wood box next to the Sacramento River; Ruth Munroe, her former business partner; and the seven boarders found in her yard, among them Montoya, whom police speculated may have been unwittingly recruited by Puente to carry wrapped-up bodies out of the house, then perhaps learned the truth and paid with his life. Pathologists testified that they hadnt been able to fix the cause of death for any of the corpses. I talk about the foggy drive to the prison, she recounts her trip to the visitors hall. When they returned to his apartment, he watched in a stupor as Puente helped herself to his checks and cash; before leaving, she slipped a diamond ring off his pinky. We break the ice. But, behind the scenes, Puente had embarked on a path that would lead her to murder. Among them were four of her five husbands, two children, her two sisters, her mother, a grandson and a mother-in-law. Beyond that lurked the vexing conundrum of the accused herself. As reported by Dailymail, seven year after Puente's death, a man named William Harder had claimed to be his grandson. The first episode centers around one of the worst of all: Dorothea Puente, a Sacramento, California woman who has been dubbed Sacramento's most notorious murderer. If Im thinking about getting away, you think Im going to ask permission?, Police escort Puente after apprehending her in L.A.; Cabrera walks behind her. The 1991 film Evil Spirits, starring Karen Black and Arte Johnson, is loosely based on the Puente murders. [6], Following her divorce, Gray focused on running a boarding house located at 21st and F streets in Sacramento. Ringed by four chairs, each serves as the setting of a reunion between a prisoner and those she knows from the outside. She has sent more than 15 letters and postcards in the months since I first wrote to her. Yet for all the local, national and international coverage of the bizarre case in ensuing years, the public heard virtually nothing from its main character. Social workers in the 1970s looked upon Dorothea Puente and her boarding house with admiration. Others spoke of a calculating criminal who feigned altruism to mask her avariceand a homicidal bent. In 1967, she attempted to serve him with a divorce petition[inconsistent], but Puente fled to Mexico; the divorce wouldn't be finalized until 1973. 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. "Which is gross," Hayden said. Puente watched the images flicker across the TV screen in her Los Angeles motel room. 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. 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. She has sent me more than 15 letters and postcards in the months since I first wrote to her. Puente's deceptive appearance would later go on to confuse the jury presiding over her trial.
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