Episode 1 Dorothea Puente the Landlady of Death

Episode 1 Dororthea Puente, the Landlady of Death

Dorothea Puente (Death House Landlady)

The background

Dorothea Helen Gray, or better known as Dorothea Puente or the Death House Landlady

Was born January 9th 1929 in Redlands, California
To Trudy Mae and Jesse James Gray

Dorothea and her siblings had a really rough childhood
Both Trudy and Jesse were alcoholics

Jesse often would threaten to end his life in front of the kids
By 1937, Jesse had passed away from tuberculosis

Not long after in 1938 Trudy had lost custody of all the children
Which resulted in them being sent to an orphanage

During the Puente children’s stay at the orphanage, they experienced sexual assault
Trudy passed in a motorcycle accident at the end of 1938

In 1945 at the age of 16, Dorothea married her first husband
Fred McFaul, a WW2 soldier, who had just returned from the Pacific Theater

Between 1946 and 1948 they had two children together
Dorothea had sent one of them to stay with family in Sacramento, Cali
And the other child was put up for adoption
Fred and Dorothea had split up by 1948, when Dorothea experienced a miscarriage

Riverside, Cali 1948, Dorothea has been arrested for using fake cheques and buying stuff with them
She had been charged with two counts of forgery and pled guilty
She served 4 months of jail time and 3 years of probation time

In 1952, Axel Bran Johansson, a merchant marine from San Fransico

Had asked Dorothea to marry him, and she said yes to her second husband!
She would use an alias, saying she was a Muslim of Egyptian and Israel decent named “Teya Singoalla Neyaarda”
Dorothea and Axel had a really tempestuous marriage
When Axel would leave for sea
Dorothea would invite random men over and gamble all of Axel’s money

In 1960 Dorothea was arrested in Sacramento, but this time it was for running a brothel under an alias of a bookkeeping firm
She was found guilty in trial and sentenced to 90 days of jail time in the county jail
In 1961 Axel had Dorothea committed to DeWitt State Hospital (a WW2 US army hospital)
For excessive drinking, lying, criminal acts, and attempted suicide multiple times

During her stay the doctors examined her and ran test, she had been diagnosed with Mythomania (chronic liar), and an unstable personality

By 1966, Axel and Dorothea had divorced, and she continued to keep her last name as Johansson for a little bit
She told people her name was Sharon Johansson, portraying herself as a good Christian woman
Everyone around her knew her as a kind hearted women, who helped young women in abusive situations and poverty by letting them stay with her free of charge

In 1968 she married her third husband, Roberto Jose Puente
After 16 months of marriage, the couple had separated
And in 1967, Dorothea had served Roberto with divorce papers
The reasoning for separation was abusive

But before Roberto could get the papers, he had already peaced out to Mexico
It wasn’t until 1973 when the divorce was finalized and complete
But Dorothea continued to use the last name Puente for over 20 years

After her divorce, Dorothea decided to run a boarding house in Sacramento, for troubled souls

People who were victims of alcoholism, mental illness, and homelessness
AA meetings were held at the boarding house
And Dorothea would even help people sign up for Social Security Benefits
Social Security Benefits OA SDI (old-age, survivors, disability insurance...American welfare)
She would dress in vintage clothing, big glasses, her hair in a big bun and appear as this wholesome old lady

Dorothea was a big member of the Hispanic community, by funding local charities, and programs

She married her fourth husband Pedro Angel Montalvo, who abandoned her after 1 week of marriage

In 1978 she was arrested and charged for cashing in 34 checks that were for her tenants

She received 5 years' probation, and a 4000$ fine to pay back the money

The Murders and other crimes

In 1982 Dorothea had rented one of her rooms to her friend Ruth Monroe
Ruth was lovely, and had a terminally ill husband
And Dorothea had a bad habit of asking Ruth for money before the move

Not long after Ruth had moved in, she was found deceased from and over dose on codeine and Tylenol
Autopsy found out Ruth’s body was pumped full of drugs
Dorothea had told the police Ruth was extremely depressed about her husband's illness
The police believed her and ruled Ruth’s death as a suicide

Ruth’s children, came out speaking of the odd behaviours between their mother and Dorothea the last 3 days of Ruth’s life
They noticed their mother drinking
She never drank as it made her sick due to an allergy to it
Ruth and Dorothea said the drinks were cream de mint and it would help Ruth sleep better
The day before Ruth’s passing, her son went by to visit her

Dorothea explained Ruth was in bed, not feeling the best
Ruth’s son insisted on seeing his mother and went to her room and sat on her bed with her
He was comforting her and noticed she was just lying there with her eyes open crying
He just assumed his mother was upset about their father and continued to comfort her
The next day, Dorothea called Ruth’s children and told them to come by and collect their mothers' belongings as she had passed

When they went over to grab her stuff, all Dorothea handed them was an empty purse
She claimed their mother left all her jewelry and money to Dorothea

Ruth’s children went to the police about all the suspicious activities going on at Dorothea’s boarding house
Workers and the police started doing routine checks on Dorothea’s boarding house

But Dorothea always knew the right thing to say and how to manipulate people off her trail
For years this woman was portraying an experienced health care worker, when she never even owned a medical degree

The cops soon returned to Dorothea’s house not long after Ruth’s passing
As 74-year-old Malcom McKenzie pressed charges against her.

They had met in a bar, and Malcom had invited her to his place
Once they arrived and started having drinks Malcom felt a bit woozy
When he was unable to move, Dorothea took the advantage and robbed him of his belongings
Including the ring off his finger
All while Malcom was paralyzed conscious on the floor

She was also still serving her 5-year probation
Dorothea was charged with 3 counts of theft and 5 years of jail time

In prison she started a pen pal-ship with 77-year-old Everson Gillmouth
They communicated during her incarceration and met outside the prison in his red Ford pickup truck when she was released 3 years into her sentence in 1985

Not long after their relationship blossomed and they started having the wedding talk
That November she hired a man Ismael Florez, to help build her a wooden storage box for books and such
For his help, she paid him 800$ and gave him a red Ford pickup truck
Her excuse was it was her boyfriend's truck who lives in LA and no longer needs it
Ismael built her a 6x3x2 foot box, that she requested

She asked Ismael to help her remove the box from her house as it was heavy after putting all those books inside
They come to the Garden Highway in Sutter County
Where they leave the box of BoOkS aNd SuCh next to a riverbank
NYD 1986 a fisherman was out fishing and saw a sus box along the riverbank and called 911
When police arrived and inspected the box, to their surprise was a dead body inside

The body was severely decomposed, making it almost impossible to identify the person, making them a John Doe
They can tell though, that it’s a senior male
Dorothea would write letters to Everson’s family explaining he is ill and that is why he is unavailable to write back to them

Dorothea rented the boarding house to 40 tenants until her arrest

She would take the more troublesome cases, like drug, alcohol and abusive tenants
She would even collect the tenants mail and take a cut of their insurance money and give them almost nothing while she pocketed the remaining money
During these few years, she had been visited multiple times by her parole officer telling her to stay away from elderly people and handling other people’s money
But no violations of her parole were ever noted
Dorothea had “Adopted” a homeless man “Chief” and had him help her around the property

She had Chief dig in her basement and move soil and garbage out of the house
Her basement had a cement floor
Chief helped her with a garage in her backyard and put a concrete floor in the garage
Not long after Neighbours noticed Chief had just disappeared

The Arrest

In 1988 Dorothea had a tenant named Bert Montoya
Bert had a developmental disability and schizophrenia
He was very scared of boarding houses and it took a lot for his social workers to find him a good boarding house
They had been referred to Dorothea who had a room with a tv and a recliner chair waiting for Bert
When they had everything set up, Dorothea offered to be a payee and cosigner of Bert’s if need be

Bert’s social worker, told Dorothea she would be keeping tabs on Bert during his stay

Bert’s social worker had contacted Dorothea one day asking where Bert was
She explained he had come to Mexico with people
Well. . . Bert’s social worker was like no fucking way that happened, I'm calling the police and reporting him missing

Which is exactly what she did
When the social worker arrived looking for Bert
Bert’s worker asked another tenant John, if Bert was in Mexico and her replied no
Something weird is going on, she is digging holes in the yard
Dorothea explained he had gone to Mexico and when he returned his family came to pick him up

When Police arrived after getting the call from Bert’s social worker
They did a background check on her and noticed she had a bad criminal habit of drugging, theft and forging checks
When they walked up to Dorothea, she told her parole officer she violated her parole
They asked to search her property and she agreed, so they started searching her house

They found blue pills all over her house and the calendar was even marked “Bert’s gone!” as if she knew they would see the calendar

Bert’s social worker, requested they dig in the yard as she had a bad feeling he was under the dirt
And there were also freshly dug holes around the yard
The police asked if that was okay and Dorothea once again agreed to them digging in her yard

As they started digging, they came across garbage, and smoke butts, eggshells
They also found this weird leathery fabric in the dirt, they compared it to beef jerky
When they hit something hard, they discovered a femur
That was still attached to the rest of a body
After testing, they discovered the beef jerky material was actually skin that had come off the body they found

Dorothea was arrested and questioned
She denied any involvement with the death of the body they found
Claimed she had no knowledge the body was even there
The police hired an anthropologist to assist with the dirt and bones being found

When they returned to Dorothea’s house to finish digging her yard up
She asked if she could get a coffee across the street at the hotel with her nephew who is staying there
The detective allows her to go, as at that moment she wasn’t arrested or charged with anything and denied having the involvement
I mean who would believe a tiny old lady to kill someone

Well. . . They ended up finding another body
They went to get Dorothea because this time she had to fucking know about the bodies
And she was gone, she had fled really fast out of there
The detective realized his mistake and they soon put a warrant for her arrest out
She was on the wanted list for a bit there

They continued to dig up her yard as it was now a very active crime scene
And soon found Bert buried along with 5 more bodies, bringing the total to 7
Every victim that was buried was drugged, left in the fetal position and wrapped in table cloth and duct taped

The police interviewed the other tenants, along with John

Who told them his experience and how she asked him to lie to the workers about Bert
The police also discovered in the living of her house, that the floor had two carpets on top one another
When they lifted the rugs up, they discovered left over bodily fluids on the floor

Dorothea had fled to LA and was soon arrested by the LAPD at a bar from customers recognizing her off the TV

After being brought back to Sacramento she was charged with the 7 murders
The police soon picked up on the similarities of Ruth Monroes death and charged her with that murder as well bringing it to 8
Emerson’s family also came forward to the police when they heard about Dorothea on the news
And mentioned their father's disappearance
Soon the police put two and two together and figured out Emerson was the John Doe in the Riverside box

When they noticed the similarities, they through that murder on Dorothea as well, bringing her total up to 9!
The bodies found belonged to: Everson Gillmouth, 77; Ruth Monroe, 61; Leona Carpenter, 78; Alvaro “Bert/Alberto” Gonzales Montoya, 51; Dorothy Miller, 64; Benjamin Fink, 55; James Gallop, 62; Vera Faye Martin, 64; and Betty Palmer, 78

Dorothea never admitted to killing anyone
But did admit to digging the holes for the very sick tenants she had

As she was scared and didn’t know what to do because she was an old lady on probation
The jury tried hard to continue portraying her as a helpful old lady, but no one bought it
Mental health experts were involved with the trial
And used her traumatically abusive childhood as her motivation for helping people
But after a mistrial over the jury being unable to make an agreement on her involvement with every victim's demise

Dorothea was convicted of 3 murders and received two life sentences in prison without parole

Fun Facts

Dorothea lied about her age to everyone, portrayed herself as 70-year-old women when she was actually closer to 50
She was bold for a serial killer
Not only was she in a very populated and busy city of California

But she managed to kill and bury people in her own fucking yard without people noticing
Dorothea would donate her victims clothing to charities around Sacramento
Dorothea passed March 27th 2011, from natural causes at the age of 82
Her story was featured in Netlix’s show “Worse Roomate Ever-Call Me Grandma”
She did tell some people to call her grandma. . . ick

Ghost Adventures has investigated her boarding house in 2015 after people had reported seeing spirits of the people who had passed and Dorothea herself

Last Thoughts