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Dorothea Puente is considered to be one of the most notorious killers in US history. Having murdered several people, reports indicate that Puente ran a boarding house in Sacramento during the 1980s. Several media outlets have mentioned that Puente would organize meetings in her apartment. However, the authorities soon got to know about her crimes and arrested her.
According to FOX40, Dorothea Puente would offer aid to alcoholics, the homeless, and mentally unstable people. Puente would help them in several ways and even give them a place to live. However, The Sun reported that Puente would drug her tenants and kill them before burying them in her backyard and garden. Subsequently, she would cash in their social security cheques.
Nevertheless, the disappearance of one of her victims led to Puente’s downfall. As per Oxygen, a counselor working with Volunteers of America filed a missing report after Puente did not tell the former where the victim was. The outlet also mentioned that one of the tenants living with Puente eventually told the police how she hired furloughed prisoners to dig holes in her yard.
The authorities learned about her whereabouts after a man recognized Puente and contacted them. Eventually, the authorities searched her house and found strong evidence against her. The authorities tried catching the culprit and finally caught her at a motel in California, per Oxygen.
Dorothea Puente’s murder case explored
After the arrest, the authorities brought her back to Sacramento. Subsequently, the authorities charged her with nine counts of murder, as reported by FOX40. As the investigation moved forward, the authorities dug Puente’s yard and discovered seven bodies. However, she denied her involvement and vehemently denied all the charges against her. Moreover, her attorney also said that she would be acquitted.
During the trial, the prosecutors argued that Puente killed the weak and elderly, per The Los Angeles Times. The prosecution team also contended that she killed them for their social security cheques. Meanwhile, the defense noted that Puente might have cashed in their cheques, but she never killed anyone. After listening to several testimonies, the jury deliberated for 24 days for murdering three of her victims. The Los Angeles Times reported that the jury could not reach a verdict on the six other charges.
As per CBS News, the court gave her two life sentences and a concurrent 15-year-to-life sentence. The outlet also mentioned that Dorothea Puente died in prison in 2011. The Netflix documentary Worst Roommate Ever featured an episode on the crimes committed by Dorothea Puente, titled “Call Me Grandma.”
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