Dorothea Helen Puente (; January 9, 1929 – March 27, 2011), also known as the Killer Landlady or the Death House Landlady, was an American serial killer and financial fraudster who murdered various tenants of the boarding house she ran in Sacramento, California, between 1982 and 1988.
Posing as a landlady, Puente procured various elderly and mentally disabled people to stay at the boarding house she ran. Beginning in 1982, she began killing her tenants, typically by poisoning, before burying their bodies around the residence and then cashing their Social Security checks. Puente was arrested on November 16, 1988, after authorities uncovered the bodies during the investigation into the disappearance of one of her victims.Howard, John (April 1, 1989). Sacramento landlady now accused of murdering 9 tenants. The Modesto Bee. Retrieved December 6, 2025.
Puente was tried on nine first-degree murder charges in 1993, but she was only convicted of three as the jury deadlocked on the six other counts. She was sentenced to life imprisonment without parole on December 10, 1993, and was imprisoned at Central California Women's Facility until her death in 2011.Female serial killer dies in prison at 82. Press Enterprise. Associated Press. March 29, 2011. Retrieved December 6, 2025.
Background Dorothea Helen Gray was born on January 9, 1929, in Redlands, California, to Trudy Mae () and Jesse James Gray. Both parents were alcoholics. Puente's father repeatedly threatened to kill himself, holding a gun to his head in front of his children. (Reports vary of whether Dorothea had 6 or 7 siblings.) He died of tuberculosis in 1937. Her mother, who worked as a sex worker, lost custody of her children in 1938 and died in a motorcycle accident by the end of the year. Dorothea and her siblings were subsequently sent to an orphanage, where she was sexually abused.
In 1945, 16-year-old Puente married her first husband, Fred McFaul, a soldier who had just returned from the Pacific theater of World War II. They had two daughters between 1946 and 1948; Puente sent one to live with relatives in Sacramento, and placed the other for adoption. She also suffered a miscarriage.
In the spring of 1948, Dorothea was arrested for purchasing women's accessories using forged checks in Riverside. She pled guilty to two counts of forgery, serving four months in jail and three years' probation. Six months after her release, she left Riverside. Later that year, her first husband left her.
In 1952, she allegedly married merchant seaman Axel Bren Johansson in San Francisco. She created a fake persona, calling herself Teya Singoalla Neyaarda, a Muslim woman of Egyptian and Israeli descent. They had a turbulent marriage; Puente took advantage of Johansson's frequent trips to sea by inviting men to their home and gambling away his money.
She was arrested in 1960 for owning and operating a bookkeeping firm as a front for a brothel in Sacramento; she was found guilty and was sentenced to ninety days in the Sacramento County Jail. In 1961, Johansson had her briefly committed to DeWitt State Hospital after a binge of drinking, lying, criminal behavior, and suicide attempts. While there, she was diagnosed by doctors as a pathological liar with an unstable personality.
Dorothea and Johansson divorced in 1966, although she continued to use Johansson's surname afterwards. Holding her identity, she assumed the name Sharon Johansson and portrayed herself as a devout Christian. She established her reputation as a caregiver, providing young women with a sanctuary from poverty and abuse without charge.
In 1968, Dorothea married Roberto Jose Puente. After sixteen months, the couple separated, with Dorothea citing domestic abuse. She attempted to serve him with a divorce petition, but he fled to Mexico; the divorce was not finalized until 1973. The two continued to have a turbulent relationship, and Dorothea filed a restraining order in 1975. She continued to use the surname Puente for over 20 years.
Following her divorce, Puente focused on running a boarding house near 15th and F Streets in Sacramento. She established herself as a genuine resource to the community to aid alcoholics, homeless people, and the mentally ill by holding Alcoholics Anonymous meetings and assisting individuals to sign up to receive Social Security benefits. She created her public image of a respectable older matron by wearing vintage clothing and large glasses, and not dyeing her greying hair. She established herself as a respected member of the local Hispanic community, funding charities, scholarships and radio programs. She eventually met and married Pedro Angel Montalvo, though Montalvo abruptly left the relationship a week after their marriage.
On December 21, 1978, Puente was convicted of illegally cashing 34 state and federal checks that belonged to her tenants. She was given five years' probation and ordered to pay $4,000 in restitution.
Victims On January 16, 1982, Puente met Malcolm McKenzie, age 74, in a bar and accompanied him back to his apartment. He later reported that Puente had drugged him by slipping something into his drink before she robbed him of a coin collection, watches and other jewelry, including a diamond ring belonging to his mother, which she removed from his finger while he was incapacitated.
On April 28, 1982, Ruth Munroe, age 61, who had visited Puente's home two weeks prior, was found dead due to respiratory depression, caused by a massive overdose of codeine. Munroe was reportedly in good health when she arrived at Puente's home; however, by April 25, she told a friend, "I am so sick I feel like I am going to die." Munroe's death was originally ruled an "undetermined overdose," but later classified as a homicide.
On May 16, 1982, Dorothy Osborne, age 49, found checks, credit cards, and other items missing eight hours after Puente visited her home and prepared her a drink. This resulted in Puente being convicted of three grand theft charges. She was sentenced to five years in prison, state parole until March 21, 1986, and her federal parole sentence was extended another two years, until 1990.
During her incarceration, she began corresponding with Everson Theodore Gillmouth, a 77-year-old retiree from Oregon. At the beginning of September in 1985, Gillmouth arrived at Puente's boarding house with his truck and trailer. On September 9, 1985, after serving only half her sentence, Puente was released from prison, whereupon she was picked up by Gillmouth and Ricardo Ordorica, a close friend who lived with his family in the downstairs flat at 1426 F Street. In October 1985, Puente wrote to Gillmouth's sister informing her that she and Gillmouth were to be married on November 2. A short time later, Puente hired a handyman, Ismael Carrasco Florez, to remodel some of her house. She asked him to build a 6-foot by 30-inch by 30-inch storage box. She agreed to give him Gillmouth's truck and $800 as payment. The day after Florez completed the box, he noticed it had been nailed shut. Puente asked Florez to help her move the box, which now weighed approximately , to a storage location, but she decided to leave it near a river about an hour's drive from Sacramento. On January 1, 1986, a fisherman discovered the suspicious-looking box along the Sacramento River and notified authorities. A severely decomposed human body was found inside the box, wrapped in several plastic bags and covered with a bed sheet secured by electrical tape; mothballs and toilet deodorizer were also placed in the box. The body was not positively identified as Gillmouth's until over two years later, on December 28, 1988. It was later discovered that after Gillmouth's death, Puente had mailed forged letters and cards to his sister in an attempt to make her believe Gillmouth was still alive. Puente was also found to have forged Gillmouth's signature on his truck's certificate of title, and she continued cashing Gillmouth's benefit checks until July, 1986.
In the fall of 1986, Betty Mae Palmer, age 78, arrived at Puente's boarding house. On October 14, 1986, Puente obtained a California ID card with her photo and Palmer's name. Two months later, the mailing address on Palmer's social security checks was changed to Puente's address. Puente forged Palmer's signature and cashed nearly $7,000 worth of benefit checks belonging to Palmer. In November 1988, the partially dismembered body of a woman was discovered in a shallow hole in Puente's front yard. The head, hands, and lower legs were never found. Toxicology reports of the body revealed the presence of doxylamine, an over-the-counter antihistamine, as well as haloperidol and flurazepam, both of which were previously prescribed to Palmer. The body was identified as Palmer's on January 24, 1989, through comparison to previous medical X-rays.
On October 21, 1986, Puente summoned a notary to the hospital room of Leona Carpenter, 78, who had suffered a flurazepam overdose. She was given power of attorney over Carpenter and began cashing her social security checks just ten days later. In December, after Carpenter was released from the hospital, she went to live with Puente. Once again, Carpenter returned to the hospital, and just a few weeks after she was discharged, in February 1987, she disappeared. In November 1988, her body was found in the southeastern corner of Puente's yard. Toxicology reports of Carpenter's brain tissue revealed the presence of codeine, diazepam, and flurazepam.
In February 1987, James Gallop, 62, moved into Puente's home. On July 20, 1987, a potentially malignant tumor was found in Gallop's colon. He agreed to further testing, but Puente later contacted his doctor's office, notifying them that he had gone to Los Angeles indefinitely. Gallop's body was discovered buried under a gazebo in Puente's yard in November, 1988. Toxicological testing of Gallop's brain and liver revealed the presence of amitriptyline, nortriptyline, phenytoin, and flurazepam.
In July 1987, Eugene Gamel, 58, was found dead of an apparent suicide, having overdosed on amitriptyline and ethanol. Puente, who was Gamel's landlady, said he had a history of suicide attempts. Though Puente was never charged with Gamel's murder, he was considered a possible victim.
On October 2, 1987, Vera Faye Martin, age 61, was sent to live with Puente. Beginning on October 5, 1987, Puente forged a number of Martin's social security checks, totalling over $7,000. On October 19, 1987, Martin failed to contact her daughter on her birthday, as she had done each year. In November 1988, Martin's body was found buried under a metal shed in Puente's yard. Toxicology reports of her brain and liver revealed flurazepam.
On October 21, 1987, Dorothy Miller, age 65, was placed in an upstairs flat in Puente's home. She introduced Miller to Ricardo Ordorica, who the following November became the representative payee for Miller's social security benefits. Just weeks after her arrival, Miller disappeared, and on November 20, 1987, Puente hired a carpet cleaner to remove a large "pile of foul smelling slime" in Miller's room. Puente continued to forge Miller's checks, totalling over $11,000, after she was no longer at her house. Miller's remains were later discovered buried under a slab of concrete, near some rose bushes. Tissue samples from Miller's brain revealed the presence of carbamazepine and flurazepam.