Dorothea Puente

Dorothea Helen Puente (; January 9, 1929 – March 27, 2011), also known as the Killer Landlady or the Death House Landlady, was an American serial killer and financial fraudster who murdered various tenants of the boarding house she ran in Sacramento, California, between 1982 and 1988.

Posing as a landlady, Puente procured various elderly and mentally disabled people to stay at the boarding house she ran. Beginning in 1982, she began killing her tenants, typically by poisoning, before burying their bodies around the residence and then cashing their Social Security checks. Puente was arrested on November 16, 1988, after authorities uncovered the bodies during the investigation into the disappearance of one of her victims.

Puente was tried on nine first-degree murder charges in 1993, but she was only convicted of three as the jury deadlocked on the six other counts. She was sentenced to life imprisonment without parole on December 10, 1993, and was imprisoned at Central California Women's Facility until her death in 2011.

Background

Dorothea Helen Gray was born on January 9, 1929, in Redlands, California, to Trudy Mae () and Jesse James Gray.

In 1945, 16-year-old Puente married her first husband,

In 1952, she allegedly married merchant seaman Axel Bren Johansson in San Francisco. She created a fake persona, calling herself Teya Singoalla Neyaarda, a Muslim woman of Egyptian and Israeli descent. They had a turbulent marriage; Puente took advantage of Johansson's frequent trips to sea by inviting men to their home and gambling away his money.

Victims

On January 16, 1982, Puente met Malcolm McKenzie, age 74, in a bar and accompanied him back to his apartment. He later reported that Puente had drugged him by slipping something into his drink before she robbed him of a coin collection, watches and other jewelry, including a diamond ring belonging to his mother, which she removed from his finger while he was incapacitated.

On May 16, 1982, Dorothy Osborne, age 49, found checks, credit cards, and other items missing eight hours after Puente visited her home and prepared her a drink.

In the fall of 1986, Betty Mae Palmer, age 78, arrived at Puente's boarding house. On October 14, 1986, Puente obtained a California ID card with her photo and Palmer's name. Two months later, the mailing address on Palmer's social security checks was changed to Puente's address. Puente forged Palmer's signature and cashed nearly $7,000 worth of benefit checks belonging to Palmer. In November 1988, the partially dismembered body of a woman was discovered in a shallow hole in Puente's front yard. The head, hands, and lower legs were never found. Toxicology reports of the body revealed the presence of doxylamine, an over-the-counter antihistamine, as well as haloperidol and flurazepam, both of which were previously prescribed to Palmer. The body was identified as Palmer's on January 24, 1989, through comparison to previous medical X-rays.

On October 21, 1986, Puente summoned a notary to the hospital room of Leona Carpenter, 78, who had suffered a flurazepam overdose. She was given power of attorney over Carpenter and began cashing her social security checks just ten days later. In December, after Carpenter was released from the hospital, she went to live with Puente. Once again, Carpenter returned to the hospital, and just a few weeks after she was discharged, in February 1987, she disappeared. In November 1988, her body was found in the southeastern corner of Puente's yard. Toxicology reports of Carpenter's brain tissue revealed the presence of codeine, diazepam, and flurazepam.

On October 2, 1987, Vera Faye Martin, age 61, was sent to live with Puente. Beginning on October 5, 1987, Puente forged a number of Martin's social security checks, totalling over $7,000. On October 19, 1987, Martin failed to contact her daughter on her birthday, as she had done each year. In November 1988, Martin's body was found buried under a metal shed in Puente's yard. Toxicology reports of her brain and liver revealed flurazepam.

On March 9, 1988, Benjamin Fink, age 55, was sent to live with Puente. Fink's brother visited him on a weekly basis, for six weeks. By the end of April, Fink was gone. Another tenant reported smelling a foul odor emanating from his room, but was told by Puente that it was a sewer backup. On April 29, Puente received 12 bags of cement. That June, next to the door of the metal shed, she had a hole dug, which was later filled in with concrete. In November, Fink's body was discovered in this area, wrapped in a plastic knotted bedspread, secured with duct tape, and covered with blue absorbent pads. His toxicology report revealed the presence of amitriptyline, loxapine, and flurazepam. Just hours afterward, Puente slipped away from police. On November 13, 1988, an all-points bulletin was issued for her.

On November 16, 1988, Charles Willgues, along with Gene Silver of CBS, alerted police to Puente's whereabouts at a motel in Los Angeles. Willgues met Puente, who was using the alias Donna Johansen, the day before at a nearby bar. He later recalled seeing her on a CBS morning newscast and reached out to Gene Silver, who met with Willgues at his apartment. The two contacted local law enforcement, and Puente was arrested the same day.

Trial and conviction

On November 17, 1988, Puente was flown from the Hollywood Burbank Airport to Sacramento, escorted by police, and booked in the county jail. She was then formally charged with the murder of Montoya.

On March 10, 1989, criminal charges against Ismael Florez were dismissed because the statute of limitations had expired three years after Gillmouth's body was discovered. Florez was later granted immunity for his testimony against Puente.

On March 31, 1989, an amended complaint was filed, charging Puente with nine counts of murder, with special circumstance, qualifying it as a death penalty case. According to investigators, most of her victims had been drugged until they overdosed; Puente had then wrapped them in bed-sheets and plastic lining before dragging them to open pits in the backyard for burial. On June 19, 1990, a judge ruled that there was "ample circumstantial evidence" to send Puente to trial, and on July 31, 1990, Puente pleaded not guilty.

After numerous delays, on October 19, 1992, a judge ruled that Puente would face all nine murder counts, and that all cases would be heard in Monterey County. On December 21, 1992, twelve jurors, consisting of eight men and four women, were selected for Puente's trial. The following month, six alternate jurors, five women and one man, were selected to back up the twelve regular jurors.

thumb|Puente on trial in 1993

Puente's trial began on February 9, 1993. By the conclusion of the trial, 156 witnesses testified, more than 3,100 exhibits had been submitted, and over 22,000 pages of transcript were recorded. After deliberating for eleven days, the jury told Judge Michael J. Virga on August 2, 1993, that they were deadlocked on all nine counts of murder and asked for further instruction. The next day, Virga ordered the jury to resume their efforts to break the deadlock. On August 26, 1993, Puente was convicted on three counts of murder: Benjamin Fink, Leona Carpenter, and Dorothy Miller. The jury, after deliberating for 35 days, remained deadlocked on six cases: Ruth Munroe, Everson Theodore Gillmouth, Betty Mae Palmer, James Gallop, Vera Faye Martin, and Alvaro Gonzales Montoya.

During the penalty phase of the trial, jurors found themselves deadlocked once again, and on October 13, 1993, Puente was spared the death penalty. On December 10, 1993, she was sentenced to life imprisonment without the possibility of parole. She was incarcerated at Central California Women's Facility (CCWF) in Chowchilla, California.

On August 28, 1997, an appellate court in San Jose, California, affirmed Puente's murder convictions, but ordered an examination of juror misconduct allegations. After a three-day hearing, on September 25, 1998, Judge William D. Curtis rejected each allegation of jury misconduct in Puente's trial.

Death

Puente died in prison at Chowchilla on March 27, 2011, from natural causes; she was 82 years old.

In 1998, Puente began corresponding with Shane Bugbee.

References

External links

—KRON-TV news report about the initial investigation