Dorothea Puente: Life and Death of the Serial Killer

Dorothea Puente, famed as the “Death House Landlady” was an American serial killer who disguised herself as a caregiver, owned a boarding house, murdered her victims from 1948 to 1988; and claimed some of their fortunes. 

She was later convicted of first-degree murder with special circumstances and second-degree murder. She was sentenced to life imprisonment and died in 2011 at the Central California Women’s Facility, in Chowchilla, California.

Her story has been featured in many TV shows and documentaries such as Deadly Women, Worst Roommate Ever, and The House is Innocent.

She Had a Troubling Childhood and was Sexually Abused

The serial killer was born Dorothea Helen Gray on January 9, 1929, in Redlands, California. Dorothea didn’t have a normal childhood as she was torn between two alcoholics as parents who were also emotionally abusive.

Still, as a child, she lost her father Jesse James Gray to tuberculosis, and later her mother, Trudy Mae Yates,
who also had a job as a sex worker and died in a motorcycle accident.

Her life and those of her siblings increasingly became difficult and she was consequently forced to live in an orphanage. There, she was faced with another difficult phase, having to deal with sexual abuse.

In her later life, she would suffer different things, from drinking to suicide attempts, and to being diagnosed as a pathological liar with an unstable personality, and schizophrenic.

Dorothea Puente was involved in Petty Crimes and Used Different Names

After forging checks, the Death House Landlady was first arrested when she was 19 in 1948. This would lead to her spending four months in jail and three years’ probation.

In 1960, she was detained after being caught in a police brothel raid.

Yet, her crimes did not end there. She later disguised herself as a caring woman for the elderly, homeless, and disabled. However, under her mask, she was a criminal who stole from them. This crime led her to prison with a five-year probation.

Stealing from the elderly, especially, was something Puente did not stop even after she was arrested the first time. Instead, she went further and became involved in drugging three elderly female patients and stealing from them. In 1982, she was apprehended for this crime and spent 5 years in prison.

While committing her crimes, she disguised herself using different names at different points in her life. While in San Francisco, she described herself as a Muslim woman of Egyptian and Israeli descent and called herself Teya Singolua Neyaarda.

She later chose a devout Christian persona, adopting Sharon Johansson as her name.

She was Married Four Times and Had two Daughters

At one point in her life, Dorothea was a sex worker. Regardless, she was married four times and even became a mother of two girls.

She was first married to a soldier, Fred McFaul in 1945 when she was 16 and they split in 1948.

From the marriage, Dorothea became a mother of two girls, the first in 1946 and the second in 1947.

Puente failed to raise any of her daughters. Instead, she gave one to relatives and gave the other up for adoption.

In any case, she moved on and became married for the second time in 1952. She married merchant seaman Axel Bren Johansson but the union didn’t last. Based on reports, she would spend his money recklessly and on gambling; as well as inviting men to their home.

The marriage crashed in 1966 and in 1968, she married for the third time. She married Roberto Jose Puento and like the first 2 marriages, it ended after a short period. The difference, however, is that Dorothea did not drop his name, Puento.

She later married Pedro Angel Montalvo and experienced her shortest surviving marriage. The union lasted a week before they went their separate ways.

Her Murders and Victims

Her first known murdered victim was a 61-year-old woman named Ruth Monroe. The woman was found dead on April 28, 1982, and it was first ruled as an undetermined overdose but was later ruled as a homicide. Monroe was believed to have been overdosed on codeine by Dorothea.

A few months before the crime, Puente drugged a 74-year-old she met in a bar. The man, Malcolm McKenzie reported that the serial killer had put something into his drink and stole valuables from him.

In a similar vein and after her first murder, Dorothea was convicted of three grand theft charges. She was released in 1985 and shortly afterward, she killed her boyfriend, Everson Theodore Gillmoth. Like her other victims, she stole from him. His body was discovered in a box along the Sacramento River on January 1, 1986.

Her other victim, Betty Mae Palmer was 78 years old when she was admitted into Puente’s boarding house in 1986. Nothing was later heard of Palmer until 1988 when her partially dismembered body which was found in a shallow hole in Puento’s house in 1989.

Puento enjoyed $7,000 of Palmer’s money after forging her signature.

In 1987, her victims increased with James Gallop, 62;  Leona Carpenter, 78, Vera Faye Martin, 61, Dorothyy Miller,  and although there is no confirmation, she was believed to possibly have killed  Eugene Gamel, 58 whose death is also believed tp have been suicidal.

Dorothea’s list of victims continued to increase over time. In 1988, there were the records of the murders of Alvaro “Bert” Gonzales Montoya, 51, and Benjamin Fink, 55 whose body was discovered wrapped in plastic knotted bedspread.

See Also: Who Killed the Most People in History? Top 10 Serial Killers

Her Arrest and Conviction

The disappearance of Gonzalez Montoya gained her the police attention and a man named John Sharp told authorities what he knew even though Dorothea asked him to lie.

On November 11, 1988, bodies were discovered at her residence. Although she managed to escape to Los Angeles under the alias, Donna Johansen, she was arrested on November 16, 1988.

The killer was charged with 9 counts of murder but was eventually found guilty of three counts of murder of Benjamin Fink. Leona Carpenter, and Dorothy Miller.

She was spared the death penalty and was sentenced to life imprisonment. She was incarcerated at Central California Women’s Facility (CCWF) in Chowchilla, California where she died on March 27, 2011, from natural causes at 82.

Her Story has been Featured in Many Works

Like many other serial killers, Puente’s story has made several news pages as well as TV shows. Some of them include the following:

• Crime Stories
• Deadly Women
• A Stranger in My Home
• World’s Most Evil Killers
• Worst Roommate Ever

She was also featured in Cooking with a Serial Killer and her boarding house was featured in the documentary The House is Innocent in 2014.