d/o Jesse James Gray
& Trudy Mae Yates
1930 San Bernardino CA census
with parents & siblings
1940 Los Angeles CA census
living with oldest brother James G "Jim", his wife & their 2 young children
m#1 Fred McFaul/divorced
they had 2 daughter's
One lived in Sacramento with relatives, and the other one was given up for adoption.
She forged checks, and served 6 months in Jail
impregnated (father unknown) shortly after her release she gave this daughter up for adoption as well
m#2 Axel Johanson in 1952/divorced
In 1960 she was arrested for owning & managing a Brothel, & served 90 days in the Sacramento Jail.
After her release she was arrested again, this time for Vagrancy, and served another 90 days in jail.
m#3 Robert Puente, a man 19 years her junior, in Mexico City
the marriage lasted 2 years.
In 1968 she took over a three-story, 16 bedroom care home in Sacramento CA.
In 1976 she married for a fourth time to Pedro Montalvo, who was a violent alcoholic. The marriage lasted a few months.
She started to spend time in local bars looking for older men who were receiving benefits. She forged their signatures to steal their money, but she was caught and charged with 34 counts of treasury fraud. While on probation, she continued to commit the same fraud. According to California Court of Appeal records, in 1981 Puente began renting an upstairs apartment in downtown Sacramento.
The 9 murders with which she was charged in 1988 were associated with this upstairs apartment, and not her previous 16-room boarding house.
She maintained her innocence insisting all the tenants died of natural causes.
She died at the Central California Women's Facility in Chowchilla, Madera County CA, of Natural Causes
--------
Dorothea Helen Puente formerly of Sacramento, California was an American criminal. In 1980's Puente ran a boarding house in Sacramento where she stole and cashed the social security checks of her elderly and mentally disabled boarders. Those who complained were drugged and killed. Soon later police discovered nine dead bodies buried in her back yard. Puente who ran off to Los Angeles was later arrested while staying in LA's Royal Viking Hotel and brought back to Sacramento to stand a murder trial. Puente was charged with murdering nine elderly people and held without bail. After a long trial in Monterey County, California, she was convicted of three murders in December 1993 and sentenced to life in prison without the possibility of parole. She served her time at Central California Women's facility in Madera County, California. For the rest of her life she maintained her innocence and insisted that all her tenents died of natural causes. Dorothea Puente died of colon and liver cancer on March 27, 2011 aged 82 in state prison hospital in Chowchilla, California.∼Convicted Murderer
Dorothea Puente ran a boarding house for elderly and disabled residents out of her rented two-story Victorian home. She was known to give her tenants gifts and home-cooked meals.
But authorities said she was in fact drugging them and stealing their money. She was sent to prison for three years on those charges in the early 1980s, but reopened the boarding house after her release from prison.
Police began investigating her again in 1988 after a social worker told them she suspected something was wrong at the home, The Sacramento Bee reported. The social worker, Judy Moise, had referred Alvaro Montoya, a 51-year-old mentally disabled homeless man, to the boarding house. Moise filed a missing persons report with Sacramento police when Montoya disappeared after a few months.
Days later, investigators began unearthing bodies in Puente's backyard. Puente, however, escaped to Los Angeles during the digging. She was spotted in a bar there and arrested a few days later.
Authorities would eventually find seven bodies in her backyard.
Puente was convicted in 1993 of three murders — the jury did not reach verdicts on six other murder counts. She was given two life sentences and a concurrent 15-year-to-life sentence.
Puente died at around 10:15 a.m. Sunday of natural causes at the Central California Women's Facility in Chowchilla, State Department of Corrections spokeswoman Terry Thornton said.
& Trudy Mae Yates
1930 San Bernardino CA census
with parents & siblings
1940 Los Angeles CA census
living with oldest brother James G "Jim", his wife & their 2 young children
m#1 Fred McFaul/divorced
they had 2 daughter's
One lived in Sacramento with relatives, and the other one was given up for adoption.
She forged checks, and served 6 months in Jail
impregnated (father unknown) shortly after her release she gave this daughter up for adoption as well
m#2 Axel Johanson in 1952/divorced
In 1960 she was arrested for owning & managing a Brothel, & served 90 days in the Sacramento Jail.
After her release she was arrested again, this time for Vagrancy, and served another 90 days in jail.
m#3 Robert Puente, a man 19 years her junior, in Mexico City
the marriage lasted 2 years.
In 1968 she took over a three-story, 16 bedroom care home in Sacramento CA.
In 1976 she married for a fourth time to Pedro Montalvo, who was a violent alcoholic. The marriage lasted a few months.
She started to spend time in local bars looking for older men who were receiving benefits. She forged their signatures to steal their money, but she was caught and charged with 34 counts of treasury fraud. While on probation, she continued to commit the same fraud. According to California Court of Appeal records, in 1981 Puente began renting an upstairs apartment in downtown Sacramento.
The 9 murders with which she was charged in 1988 were associated with this upstairs apartment, and not her previous 16-room boarding house.
She maintained her innocence insisting all the tenants died of natural causes.
She died at the Central California Women's Facility in Chowchilla, Madera County CA, of Natural Causes
--------
Dorothea Helen Puente formerly of Sacramento, California was an American criminal. In 1980's Puente ran a boarding house in Sacramento where she stole and cashed the social security checks of her elderly and mentally disabled boarders. Those who complained were drugged and killed. Soon later police discovered nine dead bodies buried in her back yard. Puente who ran off to Los Angeles was later arrested while staying in LA's Royal Viking Hotel and brought back to Sacramento to stand a murder trial. Puente was charged with murdering nine elderly people and held without bail. After a long trial in Monterey County, California, she was convicted of three murders in December 1993 and sentenced to life in prison without the possibility of parole. She served her time at Central California Women's facility in Madera County, California. For the rest of her life she maintained her innocence and insisted that all her tenents died of natural causes. Dorothea Puente died of colon and liver cancer on March 27, 2011 aged 82 in state prison hospital in Chowchilla, California.∼Convicted Murderer
Dorothea Puente ran a boarding house for elderly and disabled residents out of her rented two-story Victorian home. She was known to give her tenants gifts and home-cooked meals.
But authorities said she was in fact drugging them and stealing their money. She was sent to prison for three years on those charges in the early 1980s, but reopened the boarding house after her release from prison.
Police began investigating her again in 1988 after a social worker told them she suspected something was wrong at the home, The Sacramento Bee reported. The social worker, Judy Moise, had referred Alvaro Montoya, a 51-year-old mentally disabled homeless man, to the boarding house. Moise filed a missing persons report with Sacramento police when Montoya disappeared after a few months.
Days later, investigators began unearthing bodies in Puente's backyard. Puente, however, escaped to Los Angeles during the digging. She was spotted in a bar there and arrested a few days later.
Authorities would eventually find seven bodies in her backyard.
Puente was convicted in 1993 of three murders — the jury did not reach verdicts on six other murder counts. She was given two life sentences and a concurrent 15-year-to-life sentence.
Puente died at around 10:15 a.m. Sunday of natural causes at the Central California Women's Facility in Chowchilla, State Department of Corrections spokeswoman Terry Thornton said.
d/o Jesse James Gray
& Trudy Mae Yates
1930 San Bernardino CA census
with parents & siblings
1940 Los Angeles CA census
living with oldest brother James G "Jim", his wife & their 2 young children
m#1 Fred McFaul/divorced
they had 2 daughter's
One lived in Sacramento with relatives, and the other one was given up for adoption.
She forged checks, and served 6 months in Jail
impregnated (father unknown) shortly after her release she gave this daughter up for adoption as well
m#2 Axel Johanson in 1952/divorced
In 1960 she was arrested for owning & managing a Brothel, & served 90 days in the Sacramento Jail.
After her release she was arrested again, this time for Vagrancy, and served another 90 days in jail.
m#3 Robert Puente, a man 19 years her junior, in Mexico City
the marriage lasted 2 years.
In 1968 she took over a three-story, 16 bedroom care home in Sacramento CA.
In 1976 she married for a fourth time to Pedro Montalvo, who was a violent alcoholic. The marriage lasted a few months.
She started to spend time in local bars looking for older men who were receiving benefits. She forged their signatures to steal their money, but she was caught and charged with 34 counts of treasury fraud. While on probation, she continued to commit the same fraud. According to California Court of Appeal records, in 1981 Puente began renting an upstairs apartment in downtown Sacramento.
The 9 murders with which she was charged in 1988 were associated with this upstairs apartment, and not her previous 16-room boarding house.
She maintained her innocence insisting all the tenants died of natural causes.
She died at the Central California Women's Facility in Chowchilla, Madera County CA, of Natural Causes
--------
Dorothea Helen Puente formerly of Sacramento, California was an American criminal. In 1980's Puente ran a boarding house in Sacramento where she stole and cashed the social security checks of her elderly and mentally disabled boarders. Those who complained were drugged and killed. Soon later police discovered nine dead bodies buried in her back yard. Puente who ran off to Los Angeles was later arrested while staying in LA's Royal Viking Hotel and brought back to Sacramento to stand a murder trial. Puente was charged with murdering nine elderly people and held without bail. After a long trial in Monterey County, California, she was convicted of three murders in December 1993 and sentenced to life in prison without the possibility of parole. She served her time at Central California Women's facility in Madera County, California. For the rest of her life she maintained her innocence and insisted that all her tenents died of natural causes. Dorothea Puente died of colon and liver cancer on March 27, 2011 aged 82 in state prison hospital in Chowchilla, California.∼Convicted Murderer
Dorothea Puente ran a boarding house for elderly and disabled residents out of her rented two-story Victorian home. She was known to give her tenants gifts and home-cooked meals.
But authorities said she was in fact drugging them and stealing their money. She was sent to prison for three years on those charges in the early 1980s, but reopened the boarding house after her release from prison.
Police began investigating her again in 1988 after a social worker told them she suspected something was wrong at the home, The Sacramento Bee reported. The social worker, Judy Moise, had referred Alvaro Montoya, a 51-year-old mentally disabled homeless man, to the boarding house. Moise filed a missing persons report with Sacramento police when Montoya disappeared after a few months.
Days later, investigators began unearthing bodies in Puente's backyard. Puente, however, escaped to Los Angeles during the digging. She was spotted in a bar there and arrested a few days later.
Authorities would eventually find seven bodies in her backyard.
Puente was convicted in 1993 of three murders — the jury did not reach verdicts on six other murder counts. She was given two life sentences and a concurrent 15-year-to-life sentence.
Puente died at around 10:15 a.m. Sunday of natural causes at the Central California Women's Facility in Chowchilla, State Department of Corrections spokeswoman Terry Thornton said.
& Trudy Mae Yates
1930 San Bernardino CA census
with parents & siblings
1940 Los Angeles CA census
living with oldest brother James G "Jim", his wife & their 2 young children
m#1 Fred McFaul/divorced
they had 2 daughter's
One lived in Sacramento with relatives, and the other one was given up for adoption.
She forged checks, and served 6 months in Jail
impregnated (father unknown) shortly after her release she gave this daughter up for adoption as well
m#2 Axel Johanson in 1952/divorced
In 1960 she was arrested for owning & managing a Brothel, & served 90 days in the Sacramento Jail.
After her release she was arrested again, this time for Vagrancy, and served another 90 days in jail.
m#3 Robert Puente, a man 19 years her junior, in Mexico City
the marriage lasted 2 years.
In 1968 she took over a three-story, 16 bedroom care home in Sacramento CA.
In 1976 she married for a fourth time to Pedro Montalvo, who was a violent alcoholic. The marriage lasted a few months.
She started to spend time in local bars looking for older men who were receiving benefits. She forged their signatures to steal their money, but she was caught and charged with 34 counts of treasury fraud. While on probation, she continued to commit the same fraud. According to California Court of Appeal records, in 1981 Puente began renting an upstairs apartment in downtown Sacramento.
The 9 murders with which she was charged in 1988 were associated with this upstairs apartment, and not her previous 16-room boarding house.
She maintained her innocence insisting all the tenants died of natural causes.
She died at the Central California Women's Facility in Chowchilla, Madera County CA, of Natural Causes
--------
Dorothea Helen Puente formerly of Sacramento, California was an American criminal. In 1980's Puente ran a boarding house in Sacramento where she stole and cashed the social security checks of her elderly and mentally disabled boarders. Those who complained were drugged and killed. Soon later police discovered nine dead bodies buried in her back yard. Puente who ran off to Los Angeles was later arrested while staying in LA's Royal Viking Hotel and brought back to Sacramento to stand a murder trial. Puente was charged with murdering nine elderly people and held without bail. After a long trial in Monterey County, California, she was convicted of three murders in December 1993 and sentenced to life in prison without the possibility of parole. She served her time at Central California Women's facility in Madera County, California. For the rest of her life she maintained her innocence and insisted that all her tenents died of natural causes. Dorothea Puente died of colon and liver cancer on March 27, 2011 aged 82 in state prison hospital in Chowchilla, California.∼Convicted Murderer
Dorothea Puente ran a boarding house for elderly and disabled residents out of her rented two-story Victorian home. She was known to give her tenants gifts and home-cooked meals.
But authorities said she was in fact drugging them and stealing their money. She was sent to prison for three years on those charges in the early 1980s, but reopened the boarding house after her release from prison.
Police began investigating her again in 1988 after a social worker told them she suspected something was wrong at the home, The Sacramento Bee reported. The social worker, Judy Moise, had referred Alvaro Montoya, a 51-year-old mentally disabled homeless man, to the boarding house. Moise filed a missing persons report with Sacramento police when Montoya disappeared after a few months.
Days later, investigators began unearthing bodies in Puente's backyard. Puente, however, escaped to Los Angeles during the digging. She was spotted in a bar there and arrested a few days later.
Authorities would eventually find seven bodies in her backyard.
Puente was convicted in 1993 of three murders — the jury did not reach verdicts on six other murder counts. She was given two life sentences and a concurrent 15-year-to-life sentence.
Puente died at around 10:15 a.m. Sunday of natural causes at the Central California Women's Facility in Chowchilla, State Department of Corrections spokeswoman Terry Thornton said.
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