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On January 9, 1929 Dorothea Puente was born, given the birth name Dorothea Helen Gray. Her parents were both alcoholics. Her father worked as a cotton picker and died when she was just four years old from TB, and her mother was a prostitute who died two years later from a motorcycle accident. After the death of her mother, she was sent to an orphanage and claimed seven years later by relatives. She was reportedly sexually abused while she stayed at the orphanage and often lied about her life to seem more interesting to others. A bad habit that stuck with her for life. Dorothea Puente also never finished school.
Dorothea Puente
The boarding house and the yard she buried most of her vicitims. Puente killed 9 people in all, but only had room to bury 7 bodies in her yard.
Eventually neighbors would report a gross smell coming from Dorothea Puente's home. Most of the time, Dorothea blamed rotting rats, the sewer, or fertilizer she used in the garden for the horrific smell. But one day , a suspicious social worker, explained her concern to the police. Thats when the police paid Mrs. Puente a visit.
Betty Palmer died when she was 78 and was found with her arms, legs and her head missing. In a sleeveless white dress, buried a few feet from the sidewalk.
When Dorothea Puente was arrested her face was still pretty tight from a recent facelift and police found $110 bottles of Giorgio perfume and silk chiffon dresses.
On December 10, 1993, Judge Virga sentenced Puente to prison for life without the possibility of parole. Puente was 64 when she was sent to Central California Women's Facility near Chowchilla, California the largest women's prison in the country. She died on March 27, 2011 from colon cancer. She was 82 years old.
On November 11, 1988, Detective John Cabrera visited 1426 F street looking for Albert Montoya one of Puente's tenants who the social worker had reported missing. The police along with Detective John Cabrera entered the house and nothing seemed to be out of the ordinary. So they ventured out into the yard.
Detective Jimmy Cabrera and his team decided to dig at where ground in the yard had been recently disturbed. He dug until he hit something hard. He tried to pull it up with a shovel but that didn't work, so he pulled it out with his hand. It turned out to be a human bone.
When Puente was told that they've found a human corpse in her yard. She acted like she was shocked. The team continued digging the next and they found six more bodies in her yard.
Since Dorothea was not under arrest yet, she fled from Sacramento to Los Angeles. Where she met an elderly guy at a bar who eventually turned her in. At 10:40 pm, Dorothea was arrested in L.A. and flown back to Sacramento. She told the authorities she didn't kill anyone, she just cashed checks.
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At the age of six Dorothea was sent into orphanage where she was sexually abused after her parents died.
She worked as a teenage prostitute.
Dorothea always believed she was rich and would forge the checks of her own friends for fancy clothes, a fancy car and a face lift.
Dorothea was a cold-hearted woman. She never raised her own children, while married she would sleep with other men for money, and continue to forge the checks of those closest to her.
She was diagnosed with schizophrenia.
Her main goal was to get money.
And she always lied about her life.
Dorothea Helen Gray also known as Dorothea Puente or Dorothea Puente Montalvo is an American serial killer from Sacramento, California. She was an elderly woman accused of running a boarding house for the elderly and mentally disabled, abusing their personal information, forging their signatures and cashing their social security checks. She refused to allow her tenants to touch the phone or mail. She would take any money that was sent to them and keep most of it for herself. After they gave her their personal information, she killed and buried them in her yard. Its been said that one of the bodies had its head, arms , and legs removed. Puente showed no remorse for her crimes and was imprisoned for 23 years till she died in 2011 from cancer.
Dorothy Miller was one of Puente's tenants who had a drinking problem and often recited poems about heartbreak. She was 64 when she died. She was found buried with her arms duct taped to her chest.
By Annmarie Walker
Austin Fisher