Wednesday, January 30, 2013

Dorothea Puente: Looks can be Deceiving

Dorothea Puente in court
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).

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: 

Scheeres, Julia. " Dorothea Puente." . Web. 30. Jan. 2013.

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.


Wednesday, January 23, 2013

Lavinia Fisher: The First Female Serial Killer


                                                                     Lavinia Fisher


It seemed fitting to start my first blog post with Lavinia Fisher the woman known as the first recognized serial killer. Lavinia Fisher was born in 1793, although her origins are unknown. Lavinia grew up and married John Fisher. They resided near Charleston, South Carolina making a profit from owning a hotel, the Six Mile Wayfarer House, in the beginning of the 1800's (Weiser,1). Mysteriously, men started disappearing in Charleston and when it was brought to the authorities attention they started to investigate. It was then determined that most of the men were last seen at the Six Mile Wayfarer House. Although the authorities did start an investigation, unfortunately it was dropped due to no evidence and the Fisher's being well known in the town. As time passed by more men still were disappearing in Charleston. Rumors were flying around town and locals still believed the Fisher's had something to do with all the disappearances. The locals decided to take the matter into their own hands and have a man named David Ross stand watch in the area. While on watch David Ross was attacked and dragged before Lavinia Fisher (Weiser,1). Expecting her to help him she did the quite opposite by choking him and smashing his head through a window. Miraculously Ross escaped and alerted authorities right away. Around the same time a man was traveling and wanted to stay at the Six Mile Wayfarer House. Before retiring for the night the man was questioned profusely by Lavinia.When the man got to his room he realized how suspicious it was that he was questioned so much and believed he was going to be robbed. Instead of sleeping in the bed he fell asleep on a chair in the room. In the middle of the night he awoke a loud crash and noticed his bed had disappeared into a black hole beneath the floor. The traveler then jumped out of the window and fled to the police. Lavinia and her husband were both found guilty and were hung on the gallows in 1820 (Weiser,1). Lavinia Fisher wasn't so compliant when being hung she requested to wear her wedding dress, and she had to be carried while screaming and ranting. Right before she was executed she yelled to the crowd " If any of you have a message for the Devil, give it to me, for I am about to meet him!"(Weiser,1).
This case is so interesting because it's almost considered a myth. There's no records on Lavinia's childhood and on till she resided in Charleston. Many people argue about many aspects of this case. For example, some people believe they gave their victims tea with poison in it, then finished them off when they slept. Others believe they used the tea with poison then had a mechanism flip the bed underneath the floor so they could kill them. Even Lavinia's last words aren't completely known overtime different variations were suggested, although almost all are the same in context. Lastly to this day it's still argued if Lavinia is even a serial killer, yet alone the first female one in America.

If that isn't enough people believe the jail she stayed at ,the Charleston Jail, is haunted by her spirit. It is said that Lavinia roams the halls and occasional peaks out a window in the jail. In 2011 the hit show Ghost Adventures took a trip to the Charleston Jail to investigate. Below is the whole episode on the Charleston Jail and Lavinia.

Personally, I believe Lavinia Fisher is a serial killer and I do believe her ghost haunts the Charleston Jail. Common in most serial killers their are many factors from their past that explains their actions, but in this case their is no past history that is known. There is so many unknown answers it is almost amusing, because you can create your own version of how you portray Lavinia Fisher.

So how do you portray Lavinia Fisher? Innocent and wrongfully committed? or a coldblooded female serial killer?

Work Citied:

Weiser, Kathy."Lavinia Fisher." Legends of America.Web. 13 Jan. 2013.           <http://www.legendsofamerica.com/sc-laviniafisher2.html>.

Monday, January 21, 2013

Introduction to my Blog Topic: Women Serial Killers

After much thought and consideration I decided the topic for my blog will be about American women serial killers. I have been intrigued by serial killers for quite some time now, and I catch myself yearning to learn more about them. Having said that, this blog would be an excellent way to record more research and be one step closer to understanding serial killers. When you hear the words "serial killer" most people imagine a male right away. Which is why I'm not only blogging about serial killers, but specifically women serial killers. I believe society really down plays women serial killers because there rare. Most people assume all women are compassionate and wouldn't commit murder ever. Perhaps for most this blog will be a rude awakening to the chilling statistic that is, over fifteen percent of known serial killers have been women. A recent study found that women serial killers killing careers last much longer than the men. The women killing careers ranged between eight and eleven years and men being only two years, with an average of nine victims. The reason for the huge difference in killing careers is that the females tend to operate under the radar. Most of the women didn't have any prior criminal history, killed those closest to them, and most importantly used quieter methods of elimination (Johnston, 1). The most common method of elimination among the women was to poison their victim. In the end the only reason men serial killers were getting more media attention was simply because their murders were much more vicious acts. As a result, I hope I can convince my readers that women serial killers are in fact out there, and more dangerous than male serial killers. Word to the wise "Don't underestimate a dangerous woman. And don't judge by appearances; evil can be pleasant and pretty on the outside. Just like poisoned candy" (Johnston, 1).