Dorothea Puente Witness Interrogation | The Devil Grandmother

Dorothea Helen Puente (née Gray; January 9, 1929 – March 27, 2011) was an American convicted serial killer. In the 1980s, she ran a boarding house in Sacramento, California, and murdered various elderly and mentally disabled boarders before cashing their Social Security checks. Puente's total count reached nine murders; she was convicted of three and the jury hung on the other six. Newspapers dubbed Puente the "Death House Landlady".

Background
Dorothea Helen Gray was born on January 9, 1929, in Redlands, California, to Trudy Mae (née Yates) and Jesse James Gray. Both parents were alcoholics. Puente's father repeatedly threatened to k*** himself, holding a g** to his head in front of his children. (Reports vary of whether Dorothea had 6 or 17 siblings.) He died of tuberculosis in 1937. Her mother, who worked as a s** 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 s******* 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 a****. 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.

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.

Following this, Puente went on to kill at least 9 victims.

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