47 Facts About Dorothea Puente

Dorothea Helen Puente was an American convicted serial killer.

Dorothea Puente was born Dorothea Helen Gray on January 9,1929, in Redlands, California, to Trudy Mae and Jesse James Gray.

In 1945,16-year-old Dorothea Puente married her first husband, a soldier named Fred McFaul who had just returned from the Pacific theater of World War II.

Dorothea Puente pled guilty to two counts of forgery, serving four months in jail and three years' probation.

In 1952, Dorothea Puente allegedly married merchant seaman Axel Bren Johansson in San Francisco.

Dorothea Puente created a fake persona, calling herself "Teya Singoalla Neyaarda", a Muslim woman of Egyptian and Israeli descent.

Dorothea Puente 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 Dorothea Puente briefly committed to DeWitt State Hospital after a binge of drinking, lying, criminal behavior, and suicide attempts.

Dorothea Puente assumed the identity of "Sharon Johansson", hiding her delinquent behavior by portraying herself as a devout Christian woman.

Dorothea Puente established her reputation as a caregiver, providing young women with a sanctuary from poverty and abuse without charge.

Dorothea Puente attempted to serve him with a divorce petition, but he fled to Mexico; the divorce was not finalized until 1973.

Dorothea Puente continued to use the surname Puente for over 20 years.

Dorothea Puente 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.

Dorothea Puente changed her public image to that of a respectable older matron by putting on vintage clothing, wearing large glasses, and not dyeing her greying hair.

Dorothea Puente established herself as a respected member of the local Hispanic community, funding charities, scholarships and radio programs.

Dorothea Puente eventually met and married Pedro Angel Montalvo, though Montalvo abruptly left the relationship a week after their marriage.

On December 21,1978, Dorothea Puente was convicted of illegally cashing 34 state and federal checks that belonged to her tenants.

Dorothea Puente was given five years' probation and ordered to pay $4,000 in restitution.

On January 16,1982, Dorothea Puente met Malcolm McKenzie, 74, in a bar and accompanied him back to his apartment.

Dorothea Puente 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 May 16,1982, Dorothy Osborne, 49, found checks, credit cards, and other items missing eight hours after Dorothea Puente visited her home and prepared her a drink.

In July 1982, Dorothea Puente was convicted of three grand theft charges.

Dorothea Puente 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.

On September 9,1985, after serving only half her sentence, Dorothea 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, Dorothea Puente wrote to Gillmouth's sister informing her that she and Gillmouth were to be married on November 2.

Dorothea Puente agreed to give him Gillmouth's truck and $800 as payment.

Dorothea Puente asked Florez to help her move the box, which now weighed approximately 300 pounds, to a storage location, but ended up dumping the box near a river about an hour away from Sacramento.

Dorothea Puente was found to have forged Gillmouth's signature on his truck's certificate of title, and continued cashing Gillmouth's benefit checks until July 1986.

On October 14,1986, Dorothea Puente obtained a California ID card with her photo and Palmer's name.

Dorothea Puente forged Palmer's signature and cashed nearly $7,000 worth of benefit checks belonging to Palmer.

Dorothea Puente was identified on January 24,1989, through comparison to previous medical X-rays.

On October 21,1986, Dorothea Puente summoned a notary to the hospital room of Leona Carpenter, 78, who had suffered a flurazepam overdose.

Dorothea Puente was given power of attorney over Carpenter and began cashing her social security checks just ten days later.

Dorothea Puente agreed to further testing, but Puente later contacted his doctor's office, notifying them that he had gone to Los Angeles indefinitely.

Dorothea Puente, who was Gamel's landlady, said he had a history of suicide attempts.

Just weeks after her arrival, Miller disappeared, and on November 20,1987, Dorothea Puente hired a carpet cleaner to remove a large "pile of foul smelling slime" in Miller's room.

Dorothea Puente continued to forge Miller's checks, totalling over $11,000, after she was no longer at her house.

On November 29,1987, Brenda Trujillo sent a letter to the Social Security office in Sacramento, accusing Dorothea Puente of stealing her Social Security checks, totalling $3,500.

Trujillo claimed that Dorothea Puente had drugged her and called her parole officer, causing her parole to be revoked and so preventing her from receiving the checks.

Dorothea Puente told several people that Montoya had gone to Mexico to visit his relatives.

Dorothea Puente agreed, and called stating his name was "Michel Obergone" and that he had picked up Montoya from the F Street house and taken him to Utah.

Willgues met Dorothea Puente, who was using the alias Donna Johansen, the day before at a nearby bar.

Dorothea Puente later recalled seeing her on a CBS morning newscast and reached out to Gene Silver, who met with Willgues at his apartment.

On November 17,1988, Dorothea Puente was flown from the Hollywood Burbank Airport to Sacramento, escorted by police, and booked in the county jail.

Dorothea Puente was then formally charged with the murder of Montoya.

Dorothea Puente was incarcerated at Central California Women's Facility in Chowchilla, California.

Dorothea Puente died in prison at Chowchilla on March 27,2011, from natural causes; she was 82.