A lot of people saw your running away as a sign of guilt. In her absence, investigators dug up the whole yard and discovered the body of 78-year-old Leona Carpenter. Today the 59-year-old Cabrera works cold cases for the department as a retired sergeant. She recalls the future president and his first wife, Jane Wyman, as her good friends. When I mention the Gippers second wife, she frowns. These were peoplethe Salvation Army wouldnt take them. That is mitigating. For years, the disappearances of these so-called shadow people who lived at the margins of society went unnoticed. That was my tomcat. 3.23. Look at Job, John, Paul, Moses. 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. Vera Martin, 64. Even probation officers who stopped by accepted Puentes explanation that the people living at her house were guests or friends not boarders. Sometimes she includes small handmade gifts. Next, Dorothea Puente went to San Francisco, where she married her second husband, Axel Bren Johansson, in 1952. 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 answers without pause. Dorothea followed up the drugging by carrying out the . Intense news coverage led to Puentes trial moving to Monterey. She declines to disclose the fathers name, when and where they were born and died or the circumstances of their deaths.). Johansson divorced Dorothea in 1966. Both have died, and police cleared them early in the investigation. But every time youd go to see her, Ballenger says, her cancer had moved from her brain to her breast to her liver. As the trial neared, Vicary found her in an agitated, paranoid state. Then, she asked if it would be ok if she went to buy a coffee. We break the ice. After the notorious female serial killer Dorothea Puente died in prison at the age of 82, the filmmaker Nick Coles stumbled upon her obituary. She stuck to her story that he had left for Utah after a trip to Mexico, and agreed to let her three visitors search the two-story house. Police and forensics experts swarmed Puentes property the next morning. I inquire how she juggled the demands of professional golf with her Rockettes career while flying between San Francisco and New York every week. "You have heard of the despair which was the foundation of her life, the anger and resentmentIf anyone in the jury room tells you it was not that bad, ask them would you want that to happen to yourself? 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. Her warmth for him appears unrequitedshe hasnt heard from him for awhile nowand reflects rose-tinted nostalgia for a marriage that, despite near constant turmoil, lasted longer than her other three combined. Today she repeats a tale she first spun for me three months ago, showing remarkable fidelity to the specifics of the earlier version. Police later accused Puente of lacing food or drinks she served her victims with a lethal mix of prescription drugs, poisoning them to collect their Social Security checks, a scheme that netted more than $5,000 a month. I made them change their clothes every day, take a bath every day and eat three meals a day When they came to me, they were so sick, they werent expected to live.. 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. Puente passed away in 2011 at the Central California Women's Facility at age 82 from natural causes. I now see them as tokens of loneliness, trifles to mark the time. An officer dispatched to the house that morning interviewed Puente and one of her tenants, John Sharp. If you lived anywhere else, theres still a good chance you recognize it, or at least the rough outline of her crimes. At the time, the basement floor was covered with a concrete slab. Federal law shields inmate medical records from the public, leaving open the question of whether she has had three surgeries since entering prison. I ask why the cops targeted her. It was always moving. George Deukmejian (second from left) in this undated photo. He says he's often inundated with requests from crazed fans and fellow murder enthusiasts who ask to buy his grandmother's ashes. Dorothea Helen Puente, rozen Grayov (9. ledna 1929 - 27. bezna 2011) byla americk sriov vraedkyn.V 80. letech 20. stolet provozovala penzion pro seniory v Sacramentu v Kalifornii, kde zabila nkolik starch i mentln postiench klient, aby zskala jejich finann prostedky.Na jejm kont je devt vrad; za ti byla odsouzena a porota trvala na . Tests revealed high levels of unprescribed drugs in their systems, and in time, the physicians fingered her as the culprit. Grandson of killer granny Dorothea Puente, who laced cakes with sleeping pills and then smothered them at her California boarding house, reveals how he shared a 'real connection' with her and. Her bedroom was on the second floor. The Boarding House Killer: Directed by Steve Allen. In his sessions with her, Vicary had inched up to the subject of guilt, knowing that she would withdraw if he asked directly whether she had killed people. She gave them clothing, she gave them food. In another twist to the case, Sacramento police escorted her back to the city on a plane chartered by KCRA for its news crew. The boarding house made infamous by Dorothea Puentes murders. In 1998, Puente began corresponding with Shane Bugbee. They had two daughters between 1946 and 1948; Gray sent one child to live with relatives in Sacramento, and placed the other for adoption. She is to be considered dangerous, and her living environment and/or employment should be closely monitored. The following year, without a license and in violation of her federal probation, she opened a boardinghouse at 1426 F Street, with enough space for as many as eight tenants. Cooking what I want. and other board games that the prison makes available to visitors. Social workers in the 1970s looked upon Dorothea Puente and her boarding house with admiration. She purchased the refills through a pair of doctors who, presumably oblivious to her past drugging of clients, trusted her stories that she simply wanted to help boarders sleep. As most serial killers, Dorothea had a rough childhood. Sitting knee to knee, they stare without speaking, eyes wet. A woman known as Dorothea Puente runs a boarding house for those less fortunate, but her seeming benevolence belies motives that are much darker. Genaro Molina/Sacramento Bee/MCT/Getty ImagesThe boarding house made infamous by Dorothea Puentes murders. The initial jolt of uncovering a dead body on Nov. 11 ebbed as Cabrera weighed three factors. Scattered about the house were photos of her with the likes of California governors George Deukmejian and Jerry Brown, who once danced with her at a fundraising ball. But there were seven dead bodies in your yard. [1] Sua contagem total chegou a nove assassinatos confirmados e seis no . He stares at the photo and points at her purse. Her statement hangs between us. While there, doctors diagnosed her as a pathological liar with an unstable personality. Bodies were found buried in what is now the yard at left. Then there was the riddle of Puente. Theyve never talked to me. On another occasion, she casts her circumstance in a biblical light. 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. They were met by Dorothea Puente, an elderly woman with big glasses, who repeated her story that Montoya was simply on vacation. 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. To reduce chest pain, she wears a nitroglycerin skin patch. Puente and McCauley had caught a cab from the Clarion Hotel to a West Sacramento bar. Their first series of holes dislodged only soft dirt and a vague sense of futility. 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. Puente was found guilty of the murders of 64-year-old Dorothy Miller, 55-year-old Benjamin Fink, and 78-year-old Leona Carpenter. Again and again, it is not her. Cabrera scrambled out of the hole, pulse rate and thoughts quickening. 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. But, behind the scenes, Puente had embarked on a path that would lead her to murder. Puente took in so-called shadow people people who were marginally homeless without close family or friends. There are so many sad stories in here. Going to church every day. Granddaughter of Dorothea Puente Victim Talks About Her Disappearance The granddaughter of one of Dorothea Puente's victims recalls finding out that Puente had run away from the police. An alarmed Ballenger urged fellow counselors to steer clear of Puente. I wonder if she ever wishes she had received the death penalty. Thats just too much coincidence., Finally, on the 24th day of deliberations, the holdout juror acquiesced, voting guilty on two counts of first-degree murder and one second-degree count. To my surprise, an envelope stamped with the words Central California Womens Facility State Prison arrived a few weeks later. 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. MONTEREY . The conversation soon veers toward why I want to interview her, and before I finish explaining, she interrupts. 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 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. Pathologists testified that they hadnt been able to fix the cause of death for any of the corpses. Well regarded for taking in substance abusers and the homeless, she had earned respect in political circles for her charity work. I have talked to her attorneys, to the cop who unmasked her, to the prosecutor who tried her for murder, to jurors who found her guilty. Hed been referred to Dorothea Puentes house because of her sterling reputation welcoming people like him. Been here 27 years. Driven by routine, Puente rises by 4:30 a.m. most days, long before her seven cellmates. I now see them as tokens of loneliness, trifles to mark the time. After Puente was released from her first spell in prison for three counts. The founder of MurderAuction - an auction house for serial killer memorabilia - Harder's macabre obsessions have also seen him befriend the likes of Charles Manson and Richard Ramirez. When attempts to extract it with a shovel failed, Cabrera climbed into the hole. Prison persuades some inmates to repent, their perspective evolving with time as they forsake their younger selves. Satisfied, the authorities ruled Monroes death a suicide and moved on. A gentle bear of a man, the 52-year-old Montoya suffered from untreated psychosis, a condition that for years had consigned him to the streets and homeless shelters. (Details of reports on such incidents are not public record.) Betty Palmer, 78. During her trial, the persecution said. Since Ive been in here, she says, its like all of that never happened.. A year later her mother died in a motorcycle accident. By 1948, McFaul asked for a divorce and Puente drifted south to California. McFaul left her in late 1948.[5][6]. I have also done this: Late at night, when it is said her deeds turned darkest, I have pondered the vastness of human nature as I stood outside the tiny yard where she buried her victims. Sacramento Co. By Remy Millisky / March 14, 2022 11:13 am EDT. She was ultimately convicted in three of the. Trapped by tan cinderblock walls that climax in a Tsteepled ceiling, chatter and laughter create a kinetic mood amid the dense scent of microwaved pizza, burgers and fried chicken strips. Instead, after buying the coffee, she fled immediately to Los Angeles, where she befriended an elderly male pensioner whom she had met in a bar. For William Clausen, by contrast, the bodies buried in Puentes yard confirmed what he already considered fact: she killed for profit. Stone, Michael H., M.D. Dorothea Puente after her arrest in Los Angeles, en route back to Sacramento. It wasnt until 1988 that suspicions first arose about Puente, after one of her tenants, 52-year old Alvaro Montoya, went missing. Sacramento Bee Two more murders She'd. Police found seven bodies. 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. The jury deliberated over a month and eventually found Puente guilty of three murders. Hayden spent months processing thousands of pieces of evidence related to the case, including a shovel used to dig up human remains. She pled guilty to two counts of forgery, serving four months in jail and three years' probation. He was a good-hearted man, very kind, she says. [6], Following her divorce, Gray focused on running a boarding house located at 21st and F streets in Sacramento. Puente claims she spent time in the 70s with California governors Pat Brown, Jerry Brown and Ronald Reagan. Dorothea Montalvo Puente might seem like "a grandmotherly figure," says prosecutor John O'Mara. My question about the incident draws an explanation akin to the one Puente gave a county judge nearly a half century earlier: I was there visiting a friend when the cops came. She refuses to elaborate. A search of the home showed nothing amiss. Part of the Daily Mail, The Mail on Sunday & Metro Media Group, '2023 will be our year of victory! She wound up serving four months in jail and shortly afterward fled Riverside County, flouting the terms of her probation. Dorothea Puente, ne Dorothea Helen Gray, was born on January 9, 1929, in Redlands, California. Despite the guilty verdict of her . Axel Johansson rates as Puentes favorite of her four ex-husbands, a presumably unwanted distinction. He speculates that running a boardinghouse began for her as a humane endeavor rooted in a desire to undo painful childhood memories. They wanted to question her about Bert Montoya, her onetime tenant who had been reported missing. Get Sactown's top stories in your inbox by signing up for our weekly newsletter. Dorothea Helen Puente (nascido Gray; 9 de janeiro de 1929 - 27 de maro de 2011) foi uma assassina em srie americana.Na dcada de 1980, Puente mandava numa hospedaria em Sacramento, Califrnia, e assassinou vrios idosos e pensionistas com deficincia mental antes de descontar seus cheques de seguridade social. The discovery prompted Cabrera to summon Puente to the backyard. Dorothea Puente had several children with McFaul but didnt raise them. 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. The police returned and searched the house. The home belonged to seemingly sweet Dorothea Puente, who was arrested in 1988 and later convicted as a serial murderer.