Dorothea Puente
(Nicole, 1)
Dorothea Puente is the perfect definition of the phrase "looks can be deceiving." The sole reason she got away with murder was because she worked hard to keep a certain image. Dorothea Puente looked grandmotherly,sweet, and portrayed herself as an upstanding member of Sacramento society. Dorothea lived in a two-story pale blue Victorian house in a quiet neighborhood (Scheeres,1,2). The first level was treated as a boarding house for elderly or alcoholic persons. The second level was Dorothea's living quarters (Scheeres, 5).
Although Dorothea seemed like a sweet old lady to the neighborhood there was one compliant, the stench that came from her house. When neighbors complained to Dorothea she explained that " The sewers backed up." or that there were rats rotting underneath her house (Scheeres, 1). No one would have ever guessed what was really going on behind those Victorian house walls.To every one's dismay Dorothea Puente had never told anyone about her five felony convictions. Years before, she owned a halfway house and was convicted of larceny along with drugging and robbing the elderly. Social workers failed to do a background check and claimed she was the "best the system had to offer" (Scheeres, 12). Dorothea went to great lengths to cover up her tracks even involving a resident named Donald Anthony. She paid Anthony to call a social worker and act as his victims brother-in-law. Telling the social worker that the victim, Alvaro Montoya, was with family out of state (Scheeres, 15). Unfortunately for Dorothea, Anthony used his name in the message instead of the brother-in-laws. This huge mistake is what made the social worker feel bewildered and contact the police (Scheeres, 15). The next morning detectives visited Dorothea's house to look for the missing man the social worker reported. When they walked into the house they didn't notice anything out of the ordinary. Until they reached the back yard. In a section of her yard there looked like some dirt that was disturbed. Right away they got shovels and began digging (Scheeres, 2). By the next day the police unearthed a total of seven bodies in her back yard (Scheeres, 4). Dorothea was feeding her victims sleeping pills known from toxicology tests. What she did after is unknown because when the bodies were found they were badly decayed (Scheeres, 15).
Dorothea went to trial and on December 10, 1993 was found guilty of three murder charges. There is no explanation why the jury didn't find her guilty for the other four murders (Scheeres, 17). With tons of mounting evidence against Dorothea I'm shocked to see she wasn't charged with all murders. In the end, the victims did get some justice by her spending the rest of her life in prison. Just recently in 2011 Dorothea passed away in the Central California Women's Facility in California (Adams, 1).
Although Dorothea seemed like a sweet old lady to the neighborhood there was one compliant, the stench that came from her house. When neighbors complained to Dorothea she explained that " The sewers backed up." or that there were rats rotting underneath her house (Scheeres, 1). No one would have ever guessed what was really going on behind those Victorian house walls.To every one's dismay Dorothea Puente had never told anyone about her five felony convictions. Years before, she owned a halfway house and was convicted of larceny along with drugging and robbing the elderly. Social workers failed to do a background check and claimed she was the "best the system had to offer" (Scheeres, 12). Dorothea went to great lengths to cover up her tracks even involving a resident named Donald Anthony. She paid Anthony to call a social worker and act as his victims brother-in-law. Telling the social worker that the victim, Alvaro Montoya, was with family out of state (Scheeres, 15). Unfortunately for Dorothea, Anthony used his name in the message instead of the brother-in-laws. This huge mistake is what made the social worker feel bewildered and contact the police (Scheeres, 15). The next morning detectives visited Dorothea's house to look for the missing man the social worker reported. When they walked into the house they didn't notice anything out of the ordinary. Until they reached the back yard. In a section of her yard there looked like some dirt that was disturbed. Right away they got shovels and began digging (Scheeres, 2). By the next day the police unearthed a total of seven bodies in her back yard (Scheeres, 4). Dorothea was feeding her victims sleeping pills known from toxicology tests. What she did after is unknown because when the bodies were found they were badly decayed (Scheeres, 15).
Dorothea went to trial and on December 10, 1993 was found guilty of three murder charges. There is no explanation why the jury didn't find her guilty for the other four murders (Scheeres, 17). With tons of mounting evidence against Dorothea I'm shocked to see she wasn't charged with all murders. In the end, the victims did get some justice by her spending the rest of her life in prison. Just recently in 2011 Dorothea passed away in the Central California Women's Facility in California (Adams, 1).
A very controversial subject that has been arising is the selling of serial killers items and merchandise for profit. Whether the serial killer is getting the profit, or a random person, or both. This market got so well known it was on the television show Taboo. The reason it is so controversial is because the victim's relatives feel offended. The relatives would never want to hear about their relatives killer getting a profit from their crime. Not only that, if they don't get a profit they could still get a self-esteem boost. This is just one website that sells serial killer merchandise on the Internet Serial Killers Ink. Dorothea's story ties in with this because I read an article on a online magazine called "Midtown". The article talked about a guy that lived in the same neighborhood as Dorothea and saw the diggings happen. Oddly enough when Dorothea was brought to jail the guy's roommate ended up taking her Christmas lights off her house. The roommate hung the Christmas lights up every year.
Grant it I would read books and look at original items from the serial killers. It's very intriguing to me and you don't see items like this everyday. I wouldn't on the other hand want to own original copies or buy merchandise. I can understand where the families are coming from I would be offended also. Like some relatives, I would also try to start some type of lawsuit. If I were in this situation my mission would be to make sure my relatives killer would never make a profit or get some type of self-esteem booster. It seems as though that's how most other victims relatives feel. I look forward to the future and seeing what law suits come up. I think there should be some type of ban on buying the merchandise. Would you on a religious holiday want to hang up Christmas lights that were last on a murderers house? Would you own any type of merchandise from a serial killer?
Work Citied:
Work Citied:
Scheeres, Julia. " Dorothea Puente."
Adams, Nicole. " Ten American Female Serial Killers." Listverse. 29. Dec. 2012. Web. 30 Janurary 2013.
"Midtown Murderess Dorothea Puente Dead at 82." Midtown. 27. Mar. 2011. Web. 30. Jan. 2013.
When you want to link to other sources, bury those URLs in more specific links: linking to the word "Magazine" without stating which one might come across as haphazard to readers.
ReplyDeleteI think it would be fascinating to do a post on the sale of murderer memorabilia. There is a market for it, right? Why is that? What is it about humanity that we find fascinating a book the belonged to Manson or Dorothea's Christmas lights? Or maybe he was just cheap?
How about some analysis into the minds of these women killers? What to the psychologists say? Do you agree?