True Crime Friday: Dorothea Puente, Death House Landlady Serial Killer
Dorothea Puente, born Dorothea Helen Gray, was introduced to the world on January 9, 1929, in Redlands, California. Dorothea did not grow up in a stable family environment. Her father died of tuberculosis when Puente was eight and her mother was an alcoholic who routinely abused her children. The mother died in a motorcycle accident a year later.
Dorothea ran a boarding house for under serviced adults. These adults were considered to be the less dead. People who did not mean much to others in life so they are considered less dead by police. Many of the residents in this boarding house were addicted to drugs, alcohol, transients or mentally challenged. She murdered the elderly and mentally disabled boarders in order to get her hands on their Social Security payments. She committed nine murders before being caught. You see one tenant had a social worker that cared about him and would check in on him regularly. She became suspicious when the tenant named Bert could not be reached. Each time she got a different story from Dorothea. It was at this time the social worker decided to contact the police.
The Early Childhood of Dorothea Puente
Dorothea Puente was born Dorothea Helen Gray on January 9, 1929 in Redlands, California to parents Trudy Mae Yates and Jesse James Gray. Her father repeatedly threatened to kill himself in front of his children. Tuberculosis claimed him life before he got the chance to kill himself. Her mother who had no other way of caring for the children became a sex worker. Because of her job she lost custody of her children. Trudy Mae died in a motorcycle accident in 1938. The children were sent to an orphanage. Dorothea was sexually abused at the orphanage.A New Persona
Puente's first marriage was at the age of 16, to a soldier named Fred McFaul. They had two children. In 1948, Puente was arrested for forged checks. She pled guilty to two counts of forgery and served four months in jail and three years’ probation. It was during this time Puente's first husband left her. She married again in 1952 to Axel Bren Johansson. She began calling herself "Teya Singoalla Neyaarda" a woman of Egyptian and Israeli descent. The marriage was made in hell. Puente took advantage of Johansson's frequent trips to sea by inviting men over for business.She was arrested again in 1960 for owning and operating a bookkeeping firm as a front for a sex worker ring in Sacramento. She was found guilty of prostitution and was sentenced to ninety days in the jail. Her second husband had Puente committed to a state hospital after she was found binge drinking. While at the hospital doctors diagnosed her as a pathological liar with an unstable personality. Puente and Johansson divorced in 1966.
In 1968, Dorothea married Roberto Jose Puente a name that would go down in infamy. The marriage lasted sixteen months. Following her divorce, Puente focused on running a boarding house located near 15th and F streets in Sacramento. As most liars and manipulators do she established herself as a genuine resource to the community to aid alcoholics, homeless people and the mentally challenged. She changed her public image to that of a respectable older matron by putting on vintage clothing, wearing large glasses with greying hair. She also established herself as a respected member of the local Hispanic community.
On December 21, 1978, Puente was convicted of illegally cashing thirty-four state and federal checks that belonged to her tenants. She was ordered to pay $4000.00 and was placed on a five year probation. Dorothea was not supposed to be running a business since she was on probation and was a felon at the time. The house was not owned by Dorothea unbeknown to the landlord she was using it as a place of business without their permission.
The Victims of Dorothea Puente
- Ruth Monroe, 61
- Everson Gillmouth, 77
- Dorothy Miller, 64
- Benjamin Fink, 55
- Leona Carpenter, 78
- Bert Montoya, 50ish
- Betty Palmer, 78
- James Gallop, 62
- Vera Faye Martin, 64
Lady Justice
Dorothea Puente died while serving her life sentence at Chowchilla on March 27, 2011. She was spared the horrific death she dealt her tenants. The killer died from natural causes at the 82 years old.References
Dorothea Puente - WikipediaDorothea Puente, The 'Death House Landlady' Who Killed Her Boarders (allthatsinteresting.com)
'I Live in a Serial Killer's Old Home. She Laid Her Victims Out in Our Bedroom' - Newsweek
1426 f street sacramento inside - Search (bing.com)
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