Someone reached across the table at one point and almost got into a fistfight with him, says Hewlett, who now lives in Oregon. As the trial neared, Vicary found her in an agitated, paranoid state. McFaul split from his young wife in 1948. [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. So after that, I was out in New York on Thursday, Friday, Saturday and Sunday, and then Id come back to California the rest of the week. Known at the time as Dorothea McFaul, the last name of her first husband, whom she had recently divorced, she performed on stage as Sharon Neyaarda. But a bit of digging in the backyarda tenant had reported seeing large holes excavated and filled behind the houseunearthed a human leg bone and a decomposed foot. She collected tenants' monthly mail before they saw it and paid them stipends, pocketing the rest for "expenses". Somehow a neighbor got suspicious, when the police officers investigated the house, the back yard, at least five bodies were buried in her back yard! Puente was convicted of three of the murders, although the jury could not agree on the other six. The case rested on the shifting sands of circumstantial evidence. Eventually, the "Death House Landlady" would then drug her tenants to the point of rendering them incapacitated. She donated to Hispanic arts and education programs while providing cheap medical care to her boarders and other patients, falsely claiming she had worked as a nurse in World War II. The jokes on me. Some of the remains were in a mummified state - bound in bed sheets, cloth and duct tape (above), Puente would lure her victims to their deaths by baking them cake laced with sleeping pills. 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. I just dont believe that strongly in coincidence. The higher volume results from the presence of more children, most of whom exhibit the happy symptoms of a sugar buzz. She then asked Florez to transport the filled, sealed box to a storage depot. Shes making me lie for her.. I dont feel like confessing my sins to anyone, she says sharply. With age and health concerns relieving her of work duty, she considers her self-assigned morning chores, attending chapel and other diversions a means of survival. 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. A lot of women shouldnt be here., She counts herself among them, even while conceding few people believe in her innocence. Puente, meanwhile, was a model prisoner, often cooking for the other prisoners and guards her tamales, in particular, were much loved. 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. Im here until I die.. It occurs to me that if I were unaware of her past and talking with her outside of prison, she could come across as the little old lady next door. Her eyes fix on the mural of Winnie the Pooh. Montoya struggled with mental health issues and had been homeless for years. During her trial, the persecution said. The Monstrous Crimes Of The Dorothea Puente, The Death House Landlady. As the story goes, while shopping at a department store called The Emporium in San Francisco in 1948, a 19-year-old Puente felt a tap on her shoulder. The two talked through the afternoon, with Willgues both attracted to and wary of the well-dressed stranger who sipped screwdrivers. Puente got the second-degree charge for Carpenter's death, as. She lost her life in a motorcycle wreck the same year, orphaning Dorothea before she turned 10. (Courtesy of The Sacramento Bee/Genaro Molina). We spent 2 hours in here looking and reading most of the items. Beyond that lurked the vexing conundrum of the accused herself. She turns to look at me. The home belonged to seemingly sweet Dorothea Puente, who was arrested in 1988 and later convicted as a serial murderer. Sharp also told police that Puente had hired prisoners on work furlough to dig and fill large holes in the backyard, and that some of the holes were covered with concrete. She sits erect, legs crossed at the ankles and tucked beneath her chair. Some of the bodies were mummified in cloth, bed sheets and duct tape. He remains convinced of her innocence, arguing that her crimes were limited to filching the benefits checks of her tenants. 'The contents might be what you'd never expected. [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. He escorted her out of the propertys wrought-iron front gate, a moment captured in a photo lying on the conference table. I wonder what its like to be known as a murderer. [6], Following her divorce, Gray focused on running a boarding house located at 21st and F streets in Sacramento. It is a wistfulness that lays bare the depth of chaos that defined Puentes status quo long before they married in 1952. Dorothea was convicted of three out of nine murder counts and sentenced to life in prison in August of 1993. [6], In 1968, Gray married Roberto Jose Puente. . Under the law, Puente received life without the possibility of parole. Axel Johansson rates as Puentes favorite of her four ex-husbands, a presumably unwanted distinction. The guards will come by and go, What you got cooking today? , She marks much of the day reading mind-candy fictionshes a fan of John Grisham and Dan Brownand watching TV; her favorite prime-time shows include CSI, Criminal Minds and Cold Case. MONTEREY . The inmates know who she is, the official says. Now 80, she speaks out in a series of rare interviews on her crimes, her "relationships" with the Kennedys and the Reagans and whyin the endthe person she really wanted to kill was herself Martin Kuz [citation needed], In November 1985, Puente hired a man named Ismael Florez to install some wood paneling in her apartment. Aug. 27, 1993 12 AM PT. She seems entirely harmless. (AP Photo/Walt Zeboski). Julio Santana dropped to his left knee and propped his right elbow on his . Puente's crimes were featured on the Netflix show . 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.. Been here 27 years. 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). Working in my yard. Then learn about Aileen Wuornos, historys most terrifying female serial killer. During a brief in-flight interview with reporter Mike Boyd, she said, I have not killed anyone. They all know who I am, she says. The authorities left the cause of death as undetermined, since there was such an excessive amount of both these drugs, and she was bedridden at the time. They were men and women who had skidded toward lifes edges. 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. 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. In late 1981, his mother, Ruth Munroe, went into business with Puente, leasing and running the restaurant side of the Round Corner Tavern in midtown. Eleven jurors were convinced of Puentes guilt in killing the seven boarders found in her yard; one juror disagreed. Cooking what I want. Vera Martin, 64. 3 min read. Ill be waiting for her.. To soothe her anxiety, she wanted to walk to the nearby Clarion Hotel with one of her boarders to meet her nephew for a cup of coffee. James Gallop, 62. I scan the room out of empty impulse, certain I havent missed her. Working in my yard.. In her telling, after showering and dressing, she prays, recites the rosary and reads a few pages of the Bible, favoring Proverbs and Romans. In 1961, Johansson had Gray briefly committed to DeWitt State Hospital after a binge of drinking, lying, criminal behavior, and suicide attempts. But every time youd go to see her, Ballenger says, her cancer had moved from her brain to her breast to her liver. Most of the lot has been paved over. Marathon Man 63m Prosecutors said that Puente was one of the most cold and calculating female killers the country had ever seen.. I have listened to the lingering grief and anger of a man whose mother died mysteriously while in her care. Others disparaged the closet alcoholic who on occasion punctuated roof-raising, cuss-filled tirades with a piece of furniture heaved down the stairs. Puente's alleged grandson, William Harder (pictured), insists his grandmother wasn't all bad. The string of thefts led to her arrest, and in 1982, a Superior Court judge sentenced her to five years in prison at the California Institution for Women in Corona. She will send me the list in a few daysthe bill will total $114.70but I already know I wont oblige. As most serial killers, Dorothea had a rough childhood. In October 1988, discovering he no longer lived at the house, Moise began to hound Puente about his departure. "Someone. I could give her my answer now, but there are a few more questions to ask. While Puente was charged with the murders of nine people, she was convicted of only three of them in 1993: A jury could not decide on the other six deaths. Alcoholics dont stay in one place for long. It's been 20 years since Sacramento's most notorious murderer, Dorothea Puente, buried seven bodies in the garden of her F Street boardinghouse. She played the stoic in court, her face as frozen as her mug shot. For Puente, the distortions of her past have congealed into a personal reality that grows ever more fanciful. The comments below have not been moderated. April 27, 2019 1:12pm. Charged with a total of nine murders, Puente was flown back to Sacramento. Dorothea Puente, ne Dorothea Helen Gray, was born on January 9, 1929, in Redlands, California. Joy the last person to have seen her alive. The Boarding House Killer: Directed by Steve Allen. During my meetings with Puente, a number of prisoners softly greet herHi, Miss Dorothea; How are you, Miss D?as they walk past. She was the sixth of seven children but didn't grow up in a stable family environment. Today the 59-year-old Cabrera works cold cases for the department as a retired sergeant. Still, prison has changed Puente in one profound aspect, reforming her into an obedient citizen. I wondered how the last two decades had changed her, how she had endured. One-time hitman Julio Santana (right) stopped counting after he reached 492 kills. They described a woman of contradictions. For a moment the prisons visitors hall feels bereft of other people and sounds. The initial jolt of uncovering a dead body on Nov. 11 ebbed as Cabrera weighed three factors. The Victorian on F Street. She gave birth to a daughter in 1946 followed by a second less than a year later, but public documents suggest she inherited her mothers aversion to childrearing. Would you want that to happen to your children? Once, when I asked if she ever hears from her surviving siblings or two daughters, she shook her head. Im not that kind of person. I prod for more, to no avail. After a number of legal hurdles, Puente's trial eventually went ahead four years later. 'I saw her as a human - despite her crimes.'. Puente was charged for seven murders, but her trial wouldn't begin for another four years. A man identifying himself as a talent scout for the Radio City Rockettes, the famed New York City dance troupe, sized her up and, on the spot, invited her to fly east for an audition. But looks can be ext She parlayed its success by pumping money into political campaigns and charitable causes, contributions that bought her the appearance of legitimacy and access to elite circles. Published: 17:09 EST, 21 January 2019 | Updated: 17:42 EST, 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. [9], Puente continued to accept elderly boarders and was popular with local social workers because she accepted referrals of the "tough cases", including drug addicts and abusive tenants. In 2004, she released a cookbook titled Cooking with a . Puente cashed in the Social Security checks of the elderly and disabled boarders living in her house. Puente occupies a lower bunk owing to her age and tenure at the prison, sleeping on the same kind of thin, lumpy mattress as other inmates. So we knew wed have an uphill battle in convincing the jurors that all of those were accidental deaths.. When we later part, Puente disappears through the gray metal door at the back of the hall. Beneath the rooms ashen lighting stand neat rows of small round tables, some 50 in all.