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'. Soon after, Monroe died from an overdose of codeine and acetaminophen. Seven bodies were eventually found buried on the property belonging to the"Death House Landlady," and she was ultimately accused of killing nine people total. 1:08. Boy, 14, accused of murdering Logan Mwangi, 5, 'seen playing Call of Duty hours after body pulled from river'. 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. Social workers in the 1970s looked upon Dorothea Puente and her boarding house with admiration. In the spring of 1948, Gray was arrested for purchasing women's accessories using forged checks in Riverside. Now Playing. This is the untold truth of Dorothea Puente, the Death House Landlady. Dorothea Puente was a convicted serial killer who ran a boarding house in Sacramento, California in the 1980s. Some social workers and doctors, aware of the problem, steered their clients and patients away from Dorothea, but officially absolutely nothing was done.". 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. 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. [6], Following her divorce, Gray focused on running a boarding house located at 21st and F streets in Sacramento. [citation needed], In November 1985, Puente hired a man named Ismael Florez to install some wood paneling in her apartment. Her time in prison was spent visiting the prison chapel, reading John Grisham books, and watching TV. 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. For a while, social workers looked past what they considered to be Puente's "eccentricity" and admired her for dealing with "tough cases." 104-107. But God always puts obstacles in peoples way.". [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. Dorothea followed up the drugging by carrying out the tenants' murder and burying them in her backyard and garden. Silver-haired, dressed in a long red coat and wearing large rounded glasses, the 59-year-old resembled just a regular grandmother - proving looks truly can be deceiving. [citation needed], The defense called several witnesses, who showed Puente had a generous and caring side to her. "She is to be considered dangerous, and her living environment and/or employment should be closely monitored.". Despite maintaining her innocence until the day she died, Puente has been immortalized as one of America's most notorious female serial killers. '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. Prosecutors would later allege she pulled in over $87,000 from her scam and spent some of the cash on a facelift, the outlet reported. She pled guilty to two counts of forgery, serving four months in jail and three years' probation. Who was Dorothea Puente and what happened to her? 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. Investigators soon found the decomposing body of an elderly man inside. In November 1985, Dorothea Puente hired a handyman named Ismael Florez to install some wood paneling in her home. 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. She spent her teen years bouncing between foster homes and orphanages, and was allegedly sexually abused at one point, according to a 2011 . The prosecution stated that Puente used sleeping pills to drug her tenants, suffocated them, and then hired convicts to bury them in the yard. When they came to me, they were so sick, they weren't expected to live.". ': 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! Puente eventually died of natural causes at the age of 82 in 2011, The Los Angeles Times reported. Monroe had just moved in with Puente when she died of an overdose but a coroner couldn't determine if it was homicide or suicide,The Los Angeles Times reported in 1993. 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. Dorothea Puente was born Dorothea Helen Gray in Redlands, California, on January 9, 1929. Pathologists testified that they hadnt been able to fix the cause of death for any of the corpses. Once there, Puente drugged him. Then, she asked if it would be ok if she went to buy a coffee. Dorothea Puente (birth name Dorothea Gray) was born in 1929 in Redlands, California. 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. But unfortunately, "living on the fringes, in and out of police custody for heroin and [sex work], Brenda wasn't taken seriously.". In Olympia, Washington, she tried to make a living as a prostitute. That is a human quality that deserves to be preserved. But in 1978, her house of cards started to falter. 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 Puente, also known as the Death House Landlady, was a little-old-lady serial killer who preyed on the elderly and drug-addicted men and women of Sacramento, CA in the 1980s. She immediately began doing both of those things." 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. To many, Dorothea Puente seemed like an angel. 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. According to All That's Interesting, Puente "told them that they were welcome to do so, and even provided an extra shovel.". After sixteen months, the couple separated, with Gray citing domestic abuse. In 1966, she and Johansson divorced. The prosecution stated that Puente used sleeping pills to drug her tenants, suffocated them, and then hired convicts to bury them in the yard. By 1982, Puente was sent to prison for her thefts. 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. 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. Judy Moise, an outreach counselor with Volunteers of America, became suspicious when Montoya vanished. 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. 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. 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. 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. The tenant backed Puente up but then slipped the cop a note saying thatPuente was forcing him to lie, the magazine reported. We were just digging and digging, he says. Gray would continue to use the surname Puente for more than twenty years. [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. This Guy Collects Artwork From Serial Killers - VICE, Do not sell or share my personal information. 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. 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. Puente moved to San Francisco, where she met and married Axel Johansson, a sailor, in 1952. [citation needed]. Petitioner raises several claims and a request for a federal evidentiary hearing. Charged with a total of nine murders, Puente was flown back to Sacramento. Eventually, the "Death House Landlady" would then drug her tenants to the point of rendering them incapacitated. Were so sick, they were so sick, they were so sick they... Should be closely monitored. `` that deserves to be preserved - VICE, Do not sell share. As a prostitute tenants to the point of rendering them incapacitated of them! 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