Dorothea Puente When the News

Dorothea Puente

When the news of a new serial killer rocks the country, our first reaction is that of confusion accompanied by the question: Why would they do this? In most cases, the answer remains highly elusive and the question goes unanswered. But in the case of Sacramento serial killer Dorothea Puente, that was not the case. Why she killed at least nine people is absolutely clear: for money and money alone. True, there could be hundred and one other reasons, related to her psychological and mental health, her past emotional problems and her family history that could explain why exactly would someone who appeared relatively normal would resort to killing. But on the surface, it appears that the only obvious motivating factor was money. Dorothea robbed each one of her victims of their social security benefits, pension check and other valuables making it clear that an abnormal obsession with money forced her to do something so horrible and cruel.

Dorothea Puente is now a convicted killer whose criminal activities can be traced back to her first marriage in 1946. Though we are not certain if she was involved in illegal activities before that but it is clear that after the death of her first husband, she was caught for treasury fraud. Sentenced to a year in jail, Puente resorted to the same activities as soon as she was released. During the next two decades, Puente was regularly caught and sentenced to jail for illegal activities that turned into serious crimes.

Puente primary crime location was her own boarding house where she could apparently provide care and comfort to the ill and vulnerable. While neighbors sometimes grew suspicious of her activities, they couldn't possibly thing 'murderer' since Puente appeared so innocent and vulnerable herself. Puente's modus operandi was simple. She would open the mail of her boarders before they had a chance to see it and collect their social security and old age/other benefits on their behalf. Since most of them were old people, drug addicts and alcoholics, they were not mentally agile to suspect any wrongdoing. Puente would only give them a small portion of their benefits and keep the rest.

In 1982 the first case of one death at her boarding house reached Sacramento police. Puente was questioned but never suspected. Ruth Monroe was 61 and Puente said she died of drug overdose. In 1985, she was sentenced to five years in prison on three counts of theft. However Puente turned this into a highly productive period for herself, developing pen-pal relationship with a 77-year-old Everson Gillmouth. The man was so "besotted" by her that he married her despite her criminal record (Crime Library). Gillmouth was later found dead in a box that had apparently been thrown into riverbank by Puente herself.