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I have been listening to the Martha's Vineyard Beach and Book Club, which actually Elena recommended to me.
She did not listen to it, but she said, girl, this title sounds so you.
And let me tell you, it did. I've been listening to it while I walk and I am absolutely loving it.
I love all the different narrators I love Audible.
There's more to imagine when you listen.
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I am absolutely obsessed with a sweet treat after dinner, and my favorite sweet treat right now is my mochi.
It's mine! Not yours, just kidding, you can have some too.
This is a cool, creamy scoop of ice cream wrapped in a soft chewy dough it's like a sweet little ice cream dumpling or ravioli i'm obsessed It's pillowy.
It's satisfying. I feel indulged. I just love it so much.
I really am obsessed with the strawberry flavor right now.
My mochi is only around 70 calories per piece, which like, hello, that's amazing.
My mochi is gluten free and each box has six perfectly portioned mochi snacks. do i eat two a night yeah yeah i do because they're that good and guess what my mochi is the number one mochi ice cream in the u.s of a The strawberry flavor is bursting with fresh picked fruit flavor that tastes incredibly refreshing.
I love, love, love them after dinner this August.
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Hey, weirdos, I'm Ash. And I'm Elena. And this, this here, this guy, this gal. is morbid.
Yeah, I don't know. I was going to open up and say way here does.
Yeah. And then I was going to say aim... ish to just like you know move all the letters around but then Alina said, don't do that because people will say, stop recording at night.
Yeah, that's... I literally... I was like, you know what, we're gonna get a million tweets that are like, love you guys so much, but please never record at night again.
You've gone too far. far you've crossed over and that is not okay yeah But you know what?
Here we are. It's at night again. It's morbid at night.
You're not going to get this, but it reminds me of SpongeBob.
I've said this before when it's like. at night there you go at night you would like this she's doing finger guns at me you would like the episode it's like a horror episode of spongebob horror episode at night it's a little horror in it it's about the hash slinging slasher well there you go that's Something I got to catch up on.
Definitely on my list. The sarcasm ringing in the air.
Dripping. No, I still have to catch up on Succession.
Fuck dude, me too, because I want to watch the finale with you.
I do too. And I want to be live. Like I want to be with you all.
I'm pointing at you in the microphone right now.
I want to be with everybody who's watching it currently right now.
I want to be on your level. My problem is that I'm on season one episode where fucking... What's his name?
Greg? Don't spoiler. it's not a spoiler okay greg is just saying is his name greg yeah cousin greg i haven't watched it the best greg is picking up his grandpa Oh, okay.
I'm on that episode. She's real far behind.
Like, I'm very far behind. We're almost done with season two, so John and I are, like, pretty close to getting... getting to the uh to the present day here but i keep going on twitter and i see people because like apparently i have a lot of friends who watch success me too and i keep seeing almost spoil and i'm like and i start like yelling and just have to like throw my phone and walk away Well, and like other podcasts that I listen to sometimes, they'll talk about like the latest episode of Succession in the beginning.
And I'm like, don't do that to me. Don't do it.
Don't do it. So for anybody who's like on our level, let's all do this together.
We're going to make it. And if you're not watching Succession, you should.
It's a great show. Guys, it is so fucking good.
So good. as John said it is corporate Game of Thrones and he is that really was 100% correct the best way to describe it But we're not here to talk about succession.
We're not succession sisters. That's not what this podcast is.
No. Maybe we will be because that's a great podcast idea.
I thought you were saying like maybe we'll be like fighting over.
Oh no, no, no. I mean like maybe we would make a podcast called Succession Sisters and we just recap succession.
TM. tm we should fucking do that we should all right we'll talk get rid of that take this out of the episode TM, TM, TM, TM.
We'll, you know, we'll get back to that.
But... I wanted to remind everybody about that missing child case that I talked about in part one of Dorothea Puente.
It's Michael Vaughn, and he is missing from Fruitland, Idaho.
He's five years old. We posted on our social media.
I'll post again, though, because... I'm going to keep posting.
We got to keep posting about him. Um, It's giving certain cases like, you know, Daniel.
It's like Gabby Petito. It's like these cases just like.
I just latch on to. They take a piece of your heart, I feel like.
And it's like, and this one gives me Summer Wells vibes.
Mm-hmm. but like i'm like like in the same sense that like it's like two little baby five-year-olds And then it's been way too long since they've been missing and that there's not enough coverage of it.
No, it's just so and especially Michael like People need to push this out because it's not getting, he doesn't, you know, he doesn't have an Amber Alert.
There's no Amber Alert for him. Why? No idea.
And that's what his family is, like, struggling to do because something like...
They're saying he doesn't meet the Idaho Amber Alert guidelines.
And I'm like, he's been missing since July.
Dear Idaho, He's a missing five-year-old that they believe was abducted.
What else do you need? for an amber that's the thing though it's like when we were talking about noah and amber claire yeah and like amber didn't meet the criteria it's like you shouldn't have to meet criteria when you're fucking missing.
When you're in a, especially when you're five.
Like a child? He's a five-year-old. Yeah.
Come on, guys. That's why we made the Amber Alert system.
And Amber Alerts work. later too so like there's no harm in doing it I just really like let's I want to like push on them to do an Amber Alert.
Me too. Um... And I'll retweet. I've seen a couple of people have tweeted like the information you can you can like email call certain places where, you know, police departments and all that, where you can try to push them to do an Amber Alert for Michael, so we'll try that.
I'll put it out. We'll try to put it on the show notes so everybody can see the information right there.
Again, I've said this before, but just in case you didn't catch it the other times.
Show notes are the description of this episode wherever you are listening to it.
You might have to hit show more. And it'll show you the whole description, all our sources, our sponsors, all that fun stuff.
But any information we say will be in the show notes.
That's where it will be. Show notes. Show notes.
And this has been show notes. But yeah, so let's hope, you know, bring Michael home.
I want him to be home with his family really bad.
I do too. But yeah, so I just wanted to touch on that really quick.
But we are officially in part two. of Dorothea Puente.
This is only going to be two parts? This is only going to be two parts.
This is only going to be two parts. Yeah, it's only going to be two parts.
I just meant like this has been a horrific journey.
Yeah. And I can't hear more about elder abuse past this point.
No, and I didn't really want to like dive too much further into elder abuse.
So I'm glad that this is where it's ending.
Me as well. And you might have noticed, too, initially in part one, I said the medication that she had stolen and... tried to poison her elderly patient with.
I believe it was Esther Busby that she tried to poison her with.
I pronounced it digoxin. Yeah. That's not how you say it.
It's digoxin. It is digoxin. And I put a little edit in the episode so that like, you know, I, we don't get like a hundred things at A day.
It's like, hey, that's not how you spell it.
But people were really nice and were like, hey, by the way, that's not how you say it.
So I appreciate it. Medicine names are so hard to say.
And I honestly had never heard of that one.
No, neither have I. So thank you for letting me know.
And usually I look those things up, but for some reason I was like real, I just went in with blind confidence on that one.
It was like, Degoxin. I know it. Words are hard, man.
And I was wrong. So I just wanted to say thanks for letting me know and I edited it.
So thanks a million. I love you. It's fixed.
And here we are in part two. So when we left you in part one with Dorothea, Oh man, don't leave me anywhere with Dorothea.
Honestly, no one should be left with Dorothea.
And as we're going to see, people are left with Dorothea and it goes back. bad so when we last left you she was with an 82 year old woman named irene gregory She had met this woman and said her name was Betty Peterson.
It wasn't. She had given her water pills to basically, like... mess up her system.
She also gave her other pills that were like sedation pills that were putting her under.
It's so crazy to me that she I mean, obviously, like you can look these things up, but like.
She had no medical background and she knows how to poison people.
Yeah. Yeah, it's because she did a ton.
She used to read about it all the time. She was very interested in it. she was looking for ways to steal.
So she really went for it. She did. When poor Irene Gregory was unconscious, she was robbing her blinds.
She was stealing diamond rings from her, medications from her.
She stole a ton of sedatives and sleeping pills from her and she kept doing it to other women. a bunch of elderly women.
She did it to Claire Malaville and Loretta Chalmers.
Those were two other victims. who I said this at the end of the first episode, they were too sick and elderly to testify in person against her.
That's so sad. So that's who she was going after.
People who couldn't even come to court to testify against her.
She's a horrible person. Yeah, she's like, she's a horrible dare I say human being.
Yeah, she's a monster, like a true monster, and we're going to see that right now.
So in 1982, she began working at a bar. she was working as a cook because she was also a good cook like her husband said that everybody who knew her said that she was a good cook i would not want to eat dorothea's food Well, and unfortunately she used that whole, like, I'm a good cook thing to poison people too.
Yeah, of course. You know, like Esther Busby, once she was in a nursing home, she brought her food because she cooked good food and she poisoned her again.
So but she did get a she got a job cooking food at a bar.
And it was basically just to kind of like keep the heat off for a while.
It was like she was... definitely getting weird, people were suspicious.
Yeah. this is you know after the whole hospital debacle after all her patients are suddenly getting sick or reporting that they're missing things and they're having these periods of blackouts and unconsciousness she's got to kind of take a down a notch I just picture her like skipping to the bar like don't be suspicious don't be suspicious I think that's literally what she was doing I think you're right While she worked there, she worked with a guy named Harold Monroe, and he was diagnosed recently with terminal cancer.
Oh, man. He was married to a woman named Ruth and he introduced Ruth and Dorothea because he was like, oh, I think they would get along.
Oh, God. Now, Ruth was a grandmother. She was a hard worker.
She was close to her friends and her kids and her grandkids.
She was like a sweet lady. They liked each other, Ruth and Dorothea.
Like right away, they got along. And eventually they got along so well that they decided to open up a catering business together. together because apparently Ruth had worked in restaurants a bit she knew the business end of it and then Dorothea was like I can do the cooking and I've also worked in restaurants so I think this will work.
This would be Great, because you could stop terrorizing the lives of others and actually just feed people and make money off of it.
Exactly. Just use your skills, man. It's like, this is what kills me.
I'm like, you think you only have skills and like being a monster.
But you have, like you're a good cook. You can cook good.
Open up a restaurant. Just do that and don't hurt anyone.
Right. Just make people happy. You don't have to.
That kind of shows that she liked it. Enjoyed it, of course.
Now, again, this business included opening up a joint bank account together.
No. And you can see where this is going.
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Now, during this time, Harold is not doing great, Ruth's husband.
He's in and out of the hospital, and at one point he had to go to the veterans hospital for a very long stay.
Oh, I know. Now, Ruth was, like, devastated.
It's not going well. Like, you know, and they're having problems, too, because it's, like, a lot of stress on their memories. marriage.
And Dorothea had 61-year-old Ruth come live with her in her apartment in April of 1982.
No. And almost immediately, Ruth, something about Ruth changed.
Yeah, she got poisoned. She was suddenly sick all the time.
She lost weight and she was drinking cream.
I can't say this word, but cream de menthe.
There we go. I said it. Cream de menthe, which is an alcohol.
It's like a minty alcohol. And it's like a... Oh, like menthol?
Yeah, like creme de menthe. And it's like a mint kind of thing.
But she was not a big drinker. And all of a sudden, every time her kids would come visit her, she was drinking creme de menthe.
And she would just be like, oh, Dorothea made it for me to calm my anxiety.
Uh-huh. And they were like, huh. So like, stop drinking that shit.
Yeah. And Dorothy is going to kill you. And they said every time they saw her, she looked awful.
Like they were like, she's getting worse and worse.
She doesn't look like her. What is going on?
She was healthy. Fucked up individual to do this to this woman whose husband is also dying at the same time.
And then her kids are coming to visit her at your apartment.
Watching you slowly kill her. And you know that their father is also dying.
Like, what the fuck is wrong with you? Oh, yeah, she doesn't give a shit.
Now her children in particular were confused why she suddenly needed round the clock care by dorothea when she was totally fine she was about to just open up a business yeah and now she's now she needs like actual nursing care They tried to help, but she kept saying no, Dorothea will take care of me.
Totally brainwashed into thinking that Dorothy was... I'd be like, but you just met!
Yeah. Her friends saw her at a hair salon at one point when she was able to actually go to the hair salon and they all said like, Holy shit.
Like they were like, you don't even look like you.
What the fuck is going on? Oh, that's so sad.
Yeah, like her friends were horrified. They were like, what happened?
Like you were fine a couple of weeks ago.
Right. And she finally told one of her close friends.
She said, quote, I can't talk to you. I think I'm going to die.
And then she said she couldn't remember long periods of time and was blacking out and she couldn't understand why.
And so did she go to the doctor at all? No, because Dorothea was a nurse, remember?
And she's taking care of her. Yeah. And she was blacking out.
She was losing periods of time. Of course. was dosing her with those creme de menthe drinks and was slowly poisoning her.
Do you know what with? Well, we'll get to it, but she was using a lot of things.
So April 28th, two of her children, Rosie and Bill, they visited her separately that day.
She was basically unconscious, they both said, but Dorothea assured them that she had gone to the hospital and that the doctors had given her some kind of shot to calm her down, a tranquilizer of some sort. okay and bill her son said he went upstairs to see ruth and her eyes were wide open But she seemed paralyzed and unable to move.
Oh, strange. Does that make you think of anyone in part?
One. It does. Yes. Malcolm McKenzie had the same exact thing happen to him where he was paralyzed. eyes wide open and had to watch what she was doing in his apartment.
That's so scary. Yes. I wonder if in that moment Ruth was like oh... what's happening here because like in her kids later were like i know she was just watching me and they said she looked upset like her face looked upset.
Like, I think it was Bill who said like, he remembers seeing like tears in her eyes.
Oh my God. Yeah, and he was like, and she couldn't say anything to me.
She was unable to move anything. And he just kept he was like, I believed Dorothea.
So I just kept telling her Dorothy is going to take care of you.
Don't worry, mom. And she's sitting there like tears in her eyes because she's like, she's not taking care of Like she's realizing she's getting worse and worse.
Yeah. So. Dorothea called her kids later that night and told them something is going wrong.
And this was in the middle of the night.
And they said, your mom is not doing well.
And I just called 911. When they arrived, she said, your mother is dead.
Oh, my stomach just dropped even though I knew that was going to happen.
Dorothea said it was her heart. Again, Ruth was 61 years old. she was young 61 and ruth died from an overdose of codeine and alcohol and not alcohol, Tylenol and a tranquilizer that was prescribed to her.
But the codeine and Tylenol were not prescribed to her.
And they were not in the room with her. She was bedridden when this occurred and could not have gotten them herself and there was massive amounts in her system.
Mm-hmm. That alone will fuck a person up.
Now, her autopsy showed there was a little damage to her liver.
But it was damage that could have been done because of chemical toxicity.
So they looked further into it. And when they opened up her stomach, it only had that minty liquid in it.
She hadn't eaten for days and there was only those creme de menthe drinks in her stomach.
Ew. For days this sick woman had only been force-fed minty alcoholic drinks with drugs in them.
What the fuck? fuck dude like she couldn't even i mean she's poisoning her so what i can't even yeah Her medical records showed she had a physical at the end of March.
This was in April, by the way. less than a month prior and she was completely healthy.
So less than a month prior, completely healthy, 100% checks out.
Poisoned. Less than a month later, being with Dorothea, she is dead.
So what's the reaction here when this happens?
Now, Dorothea told the police, because as soon as this was all happening, she's like, I just want you to know that she's very depressed because her husband is terminally ill.
But the overdose was so significant that it didn't make sense.
Like the Tylenol and codeine would have probably killed them alone or killed her alone in their amounts.
Yeah. so much in her system. Right. Because that would have made it almost impossible for her to control her breathing.
So the tranquilizers edition showed that there was definitely something else going on here.
Foul fucking play. She didn't do this herself.
And again, knowing that those two things, the Tylenol and codeine, weren't even in the room where she could have gotten to them, someone else gave them to her.
Yeah. Like, that doesn't make sense, but no one's thinking that way.
They listed her death as undetermined. Wow.
Which at least they didn't say natural or, you know, suicide because that's what she was trying to push.
Dorothea was trying to say she died by suicide.
What a fucking monster. Yeah.
To then go that far and be like, well, she was really depressed.
Yeah. It's like... And apparently... horrible well and apparently rusa was like very religious and very like That would have been something she wouldn't have wanted said about her because she didn't do it.
Like that would have been like, which is really sad.
Right. you know, like, it's like, it's just really frustrating.
Now, immediately, she did it again to a former patient, quote unquote, of hers.
Dude, she has... Oh yeah, oh yeah. And this woman's name was Dorothy Osborne.
She asked if she could come over to Dorothy Osborne's home because she said, I'm so upset a woman died in my home.
Meaning Ruth. So she brought over alcohol and she dosed Dorothy's drink at her own home.
Stop. Dorothy remembers, luckily Dorothy lived through this, but she tried to kill her.
Dorothy remembers feeling hazy and then passing out.
When she woke up, she was missing checks, money, and credit cards.
But Dorothy also found that remnants of the drinks that Dorothy had made that night that this happened I think they were blended drinks, so they were in a food processor.
She took samples of it in an empty pill bottle.
Bad bitch vibes. And Dorothy brought it to the police and Dorothea was finally caught again because of this.
Okay, so it all could have fucking ended again here.
Exactly. They arrested her. right before she jumped on a plane to Mexico, May 19th.
Whoa. This time she was fucked. and she had made the mistake of telling Dorothy, and this shows you that she planned to kill her, she told Dorothy she was going to Mexico.
So Dorothy told the police, by the way, You should probably go catch her.
She's on her fucking way to Mexico. It's a fucking movie.
Isn't this wild? And the fact that she was just gonna leave that woman for dead.
Yeah, she was just gonna leave her for dead.
She's getting crazy. crazy oh she's getting balls yeah i was gonna say she's got some balls she is reckless.
Now, she was convicted of three charges of theft on August 18th, 1982.
And she was sentenced to serve five years in jail for this.
Because, again, she's not caught for Ruth yet.
That's attempted murder, my guys. Now...
California Institution for Women in the city of Chino is where she was sent.
And before her sentencing, she actually wrote a letter to the judge trying to get a lesser sentence.
Trying to woo him. Because she said... She was 13 when she was first married off and her husband died shortly after.
And she's had such a sad life since then and blah, blah, blah.
This was a lie. She didn't get married at 13.
She didn't, her husband didn't die. Like, none of this is true.
So off she goes to jail. I just love that she thought she was going to be like, you know what?
I had a sad life. Yeah. My bad that I tried to kill someone.
She thought. My bad, judge. She thought.
She thought wrong. Because the judge was like, don't curl.
No. So while she's in jail, she was beaten almost to death. and then placed in protective solitary whoa so she didn't start out great she started to correspond with someone in jail Because she's there for five years, so you got to do something, I guess.
She starts corresponding with a 77-year-old retiree. to retiree and widower living in oregon how does she oh i said oregon they're gonna yell at me oregon oregon oregon i said it right sorry oregon i corrected it i have like ptsd oregon i said oh i'm so sorry um i just lost my computer you're like organ organ sorry it was like a trigger like no literally um I just love that she's like literally in jail, like victim searching.
That's the thing. It's like... You're in prison.
Can't Stop Won't Stop, Dorothea. She's still going.
Mama, you're in the slammer. If she's on the outside, she's either in people's homes pretending to be nurses to kill them, Or she's going to bars trying to find old pensioners to try to rip them off.
Right. She's just always... It's like in sales, they say like ABC always be closing.
That's Dorothea. It is always closing. She's always working.
She's always it. She's always being evil.
A, B, K. She's always killing. Yeah, she's always A, B... be always be being evil that's what she's doing always being evil she is Now, this man's name was Everson Gilmuth, and they called him Gil.
Don't. Yeah. Don't do that to me. He was said to be a very good man, a real gentleman.
His name is Gil, so obviously. Yeah. I'm Gil.
Yeah. Anybody watch Gilmore Girls? I do, but I don't remember that.
Gil is like Sebastian Bach. I don't remember that.
Lane's band. Oh. Yeah. Oh, yeah. Yeah. Yeah.
Yeah, you guys got it. Sorry, I have, like, no memory.
Like, what? Wonder what? But yeah, I guess it didn't belong there, but it was...
I still love Gil. It did. I still love Gil from Gilmore. ago.
My mind was like, what? Memory? No. It's a nighttime recording and there's also our neighbor is cutting down trees so there's like a lot of chainsaw happening and I think it's distracting us both.
There's a lot of chainsaw happening. There's a lot of Texas chainsaw happenings.
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The sale ends 831. Don't miss it. So poor Gil is just lonely.
And he said to everyone he knew, he's like, I just want, he's 77.
And he's like, I just want to get married again oh like i want a wife that she's in prison oh yeah he was writing two women in prison because he was like so lonely oh sweetie Now, he was also known for being, like, a really impressive and intricate woodworker.
Like, that's who... And he was also had like insane leather working skills.
So he was like a very skilled man. So this pen pal relationship like got a little spicy.
And it became like a romantic kind of relationship.
I'd be rooting for that if it was anybody else.
I know. But Puente was actually released in 1985 after only serving three years of that five-year sentence.
Yeah, it was because she had good behavior, apparently.
Yeah. Guess what, guys? That's a lie. Not always an indicator.
That's just called self-control. Especially in Dorothea's case.
Now, when she was released, a psychologist for the State Department of Corrections actually evaluated her.
Yeah, and this kind of tells you everything you need to know about who Dorothy is.
So I found this in The Bone Garden by William P. Wood, and I linked it in the first half of this, but I'll link it again.
It says, now, she was going by the last name Montalvo. by right now because that was her latest ex-husband and she kept that name okay So it says Montalvo appears to disassociate herself from any of the crimes for which she has been arrested and received time. she tends to minimize the importance of what she did or her responsibility for any of them.
It appears at this time that although Montalvo does not evidence any symptoms does not evidence any symptoms of psychosis, that is hearing voices or having delusions of grandeur, that she is in fact schizophrenic.
So we have a second one. This woman is a disturbed woman who does not appear to have remorse or regret for what she has done. and who at least on two occasions has been involved with administering drugs and or poison to unwitting victims.
She is to be considered dangerous and her living environment and or employment should be closely monitored.
So this guy was like right on the, like hit the nail on the head.
Doink, doink, doink, doink, but whatever.
So she leaves and she is not closely monitored.
I wonder, too, and I'm not sure if you have it, but I wonder if Ruth's kids found out that she went to prison and then were like, hey, wait a second.
Oh. Yeah, they did. Oh, okay. Don't worry.
Because this entire time, at first, Ruth's kids were like, yeah, I guess like...
It was an accident or, you know, but meaning like Ruth accidentally overdosed or they were like, maybe she did like, you know, like.
She was going through a lot. A lot was going on.
What are you going to think? The first thing you're going to think is not that the person who was taking care of her murdered her.
That's not what you want to believe. I mean, that's the first thing that I'm going to think.
But you don't want to believe that about your mother, especially.
You don't want to think somebody would do that.
No, of course not. so i think you try to make like whatever you can in your head no yeah i just meant because i sit in this couch week to week.
Like 100% I would, but I wouldn't want to.
I would probably try to come up with other things that could have happened just to clear my own brain.
We'd be sleuthing, girl. Right? But so they at first were like, you know what?
This is what happened. But slowly they all were talking.
Putting the pieces together. I don't know.
And then like Rosie came and was like...
I didn't trust Dorothea. And all of a sudden they were all like, I don't know, like, this is weird.
And I don't think I trusted her. And is she really a nurse?
And they started all... coming to the conclusion.
That's so scary to have that discussion with your brothers and sisters.
It must be horrifying. Is she even a nurse?
Yeah. terrible so now she's talking to gill and she had told him that she loved children she loved taking care of people but you know no no she didn't like that's not true no um and She also told this psychologist that did this evaluation on her She told him the same thing.
She said, I love children. I love taking care of people.
And this guy was like, no, she doesn't. He was like, no, that is a lie.
She's a liar. And He specifically said in one of the evaluations, she should be kept away from children, the elderly and anyone vulnerable.
She was a danger to all of them. So why not leave her in prison, my dude?
He recommended it? He's a psychologist. No, I know this guy did, but I'm like...
Yeah. My other dudes. All those dudes. What the hell is going on?
Like, come on. So unfortunately, she was released after three years with that good behavior, despite that evaluation.
I genuinely. cannot and gill was outside the gates waiting for her in a red 1980s ford pickup stop it yep Their relationship developed very quickly.
Soon... He was writing his sister, her name is Reba Niklaus.
And he was writing her and saying, we are going to get married if everything goes well. uh he loves love yeah he really does she was suspicious right away though reba his sister good And he started pulling away from her because of it.
Like, cause he was in love and he thought that she was just being a stick in the mud.
Just a wet blanket. But really, she was like... Never pull away from your sister.
She always knows. she always knows and unfortunately dorothea and gil opened up a joint bank account together no no i told you i didn't like those.
Yeah, it's no good. And they lived in the upstairs apartment at 1426 F Street in Sacramento.
They lived there together. Is that? Yeah.
Okay. So that's the one that we were talking about earlier.
Probably in part one, actually. For some reason, they're running together in my head.
Always F Street. So, you know, he starts pulling away from his sister.
The letters are getting a little more like, no, I don't really want it.
Like, I don't want to hear it. And then she just stops hearing from him altogether.
Then she receives this weird letter and it says it's from her brother. but it clearly is not from her brother.
And it says the wedding was off and he was leaving.
Okay. And she's like, what? She's like, that's sudden.
Yeah, like, she's like, okay um and then dorothea told ricardo her landlord the one who owns that um that house that she's renting the upstairs apartment in, she says, you know what, Gil just left me. and that's it like she had no explanation he just left and ricardo was like what like i thought you guys were getting married like What?
Yeah, like he was like very much in love with you.
And he was just gone. And he was like, I didn't even see him move out.
Like what happened? And you live above me.
Yeah, like I'm very confused. Then Reba gets another letter.
And it says it's from a woman named Irene. huh, who Gil is now in love with and is engaged to.
And Irene says, we're in love. We're engaged.
Hi, future sister-in-law. I just want to let you know he's okay.
He had a stroke recently, but like we took care of him.
It's okay. And like, see you later. Goodbye.
What? Now, if you remember, one of Dorothea's recent victims name is Irene Gregory.
She's fucked. Yeah. Exactly. So this was fake, obviously.
She apparently... Now, Dorothea apparently tried to hire... an inmate that she was in the prison with this inmate's boyfriend to help her dispose of something At this point.
Uh-huh. Now, when he came, he was like, oh, like, show me what you need me... Because she didn't say it was...
Of course not. She just said, I have some stuff I need you to get rid of.
Can you help me? Yeah, he was probably thinking like, oh, she didn't have time to call 1-800-JUNK.
Like, I'll get rid of this for her. So he shows up and he said, I saw something clearly wrapped in plastic on the floor and it looked like a human being wrapped in plastic.
And he said, nope and he turned around and walked away like nope imagine how scary that would be to say like nope and walk out no i would think that i was next i would be running And then I would skip town.
I could never run again. Now, in November 1985, she hired someone else to... do it a guy named ismael flores and she asked him instead of saying can you get rid of this thing for me She said, can you build me a wooden box six feet by three feet?
It's six feet by three feet by two feet.
That's what she said. Okay. And he was like, sure, what do you need this for?
And she was like... Oh, I need to store like a bunch of books and other items in it.
It'll be like a good little like chest. He's like... get a bookshelf lady yeah like obviously and he did he was like all right like she must be moving and maybe that's what she's putting them in So for payment, because this was going to be like a nice box.
Yeah. That's a big box. She was like, you know what?
Do you want this 1980s red Ford pickup truck?
Because It belonged to my boyfriend, but he's in Los Angeles now and he doesn't want it.
And he said I could do whatever I want with it. oh my god and he was like um okay so then she says that's when you say No, ma'am.
No, I don't. No, ma'am, I do not want that car.
Well, and he said that she then asked him to transport... this this box that he has just made no to the storage place with her No.
Get the fuck out of my face, lady. He's like, okay.
And he's like, I guess we'll use the pickup truck, I suppose. so he helps her be and he said it was so heavy and he was like what is in this thing and she's like i told you it has like a ton of books and stuff which honestly books are Yeah, so she was like, I told you that's like a very heavy thing.
He was like, all right, that's heavy. So sure.
So she went with him and he was like, tell me where the storage place is.
So they're on the way to the storage unit and she's like, you know what you can pull over right here and it was like a little ways down like you know pretty far away and he was like okay why and she was like you know we can just like throw it in the river over here And he was like, but I thought it had like all the stuff you want.
And she was like, no, it's kind of junk and I want to get rid of it. sir, you're an accessory to a disposal of a body.
I don't know if that's for real. So this was in November.
Sir, and January 1st, New Year's Day, 1986, a fisherman spotted that box.
He said it was on like the riverbank and he said it was partially open and he could see inside that there was clearly something like decomposing inside.
Yeah. So he called the police. They found a very decomposed and unidentifiable body. of an elderly man inside.
Oh that's so horrible. Now there were layers and layers of black garbage bags wrapped around him.
There were also mothballs and deodorant stuffed in there around him to stop the smell.
Like what is, first of all, you're disgusting.
And second of all, what a stupid way to do that.
Yeah. Like, you really think mothballs and deodorant is gonna stop decomp, you idiot?
Yeah. And it's like, what? What? That shows too, like the level of her, like, thought process throughout this is, like, she's adding, like, things to stop the smell.
She's... really planning this. Yeah. This is not like crimes of passion this is not crimes of convenience well I mean she's killing them slowly like she's poisoning them Of course, it's not a crime of passion.
Now, we obviously find out that this later, we find out it's the body of Everson Gil. but it took a long time to identify him because she made sure to, to dump him in a place where he was not known.
So it was just a note. an unidentifiable, badly decomposed body, which I'm sure she waited until it would be unidentifiable.
And it seems like his family, like, obviously he really only had a sister.
Yeah. She got that weird letter. So she doesn't even know where he is.
Exactly. She thinks he's somewhere with Irene.
And I think he said, like, we're in the south now.
So she's thinking like he's nowhere near there.
It's not him. That poor sister. Well, she continued Dorothea to collect his pension checks and even called and demanded they continue to send them when they got lost in the system when she moved addresses.
Because when he moved, from where he was living into Dorothy's home.
I guess the system got confused and was like, messing up where they were sending the checks.
So she called after she had killed him to be like, you're not sending my checks.
Wow. And had them redone. Like you haven't done a thing in your life other than scam, murder.
And destroy. And you think that you're owed money.
Oh, yeah. Okie dokie. Artichokie. Oh, okie dokie, artichokie.
Sure. She is an artichokie because I hate artichokies.
Right? There you go. I don't have a lot of strong feelings about artichokies.
Like I like them like spinach and artichoke dip.
I like that. There you go. Well, you have a strong feeling, so, you know.
I don't like spinach and artichoke dip. It is kind of gross when you think about it, but I still like it.
It's... heinous but you know what is really gross dorothea she is also and her soul her soul is Her soul is an artichoke.
Yeah, it's a moldy artichoke. Now, it wasn't until about 1988.
Really? So a few years later that suspicions actually caught up with her for all of this.
Wow. And in that time span, she did a lot.
Of course she did. Now, it began when a man who was 52 years old named Alvaro Montoya went missing.
Now, he was known as Bert. That's how people called him.
He had struggled with mental health issues.
He had been homeless for a number of years.
He was diagnosed with schizophrenia at a young age, so he had trouble like staying at these shelters and people like just didn't know how to take care of him like he had he was like had it rough like he feels so bad And he was known by friends as kind, honest and always trying to help.
But he was just struggling. Yeah. He was not an angry person, not somebody who lost his temper a lot.
He had been, and he had actually been referred to into Dorothea's new house that she was running. for people.
And it was by this woman named Judy Moyes.
So this was an outreach counselor with Volunteers of America.
Oh man. Yes. Now, he ended up becoming so close to her that he would refer to Dorothea as Mama.
And she obviously kills him. Yeah. And she took... And apparently...
She would get all his Social Security benefits for the month, which was like $600 a month. from his social security benefits.
She would take that in order to, you know, take care of him, question mark.
But suddenly, and this was after, you know, Dorothea had started to open her own like new shelter.
Because this is like her third one, I think.
Yeah, it is. And suddenly Bert tells a worker at another shelter... he suddenly is like, you know what, Dorothea like force feeds me medication.
And he said, and weirdly, I always feel tired.
Like I'm always tired and she's force feeding me this medication, but she says she's taking care of me.
Now this worker at this other shelter calls Dorothea and like flips.
And Dorothea is pissed when she hears this.
So the worker sent him home back to Dorothea. and said why would you do that and took dorothea's word when she said he's lying and that's like really offensive to say and And this worker told Bert, you need to go apologize to her.
Dude, what the fuck? And that was the last time anyone saw him.
Of course it was because that person failed at their job.
Like, what the fuck? Like, you don't look more, you call the lady directly?
Like, what thought process happened there, man?
Now, of course, social workers are wondering where Bert is because they're not hearing from him and she tells them.
She wants to bring Bert to Mexico with her to see her family there.
As we know, she does not have family in Mexico.
He never came back, obviously, from this vacation. and she claimed that he was going to be back soon, but her family just loved him so much they wanted to hang out with him more.
Guys, that doesn't make any sense. And they were like, oh, that's weird, but okay.
No. Then a man called the social workers and told them he was Bert's brother-in-law.
And he said, Bert is moving to Ohio to stay with me and his sister.
No, guys. Yeah. He didn't have a brother-in-law.
No. And you can't just call and say, I'm Bert's brother-in-law.
I'm going to need you to come down and... and show some kind of way that you actually are related to him, thank you. fucking voice on the phone well and also what's even better is he said they said what's your name and he said donald anthony And that was a man who had worked for Dorothea.
And he had been told to use a fake name, but he forgot.
Unreal. But it didn't matter because nobody checked into that, huh?
Well, immediately the police were alert.
Oh, good. Because they were like, oh, wait a second.
We're already waiting. We are wicked suspish of this whole he's in Mexico and your family just wants to hang out with him more.
But there was nothing they could do at that point because he's an adult and they have nothing to say it.
Once they had this fake thing where this... man who works for Dorothea, outed himself and said he was Bert's brother-in-law and he was now living with him, clearly trying to cover it up that's when the police were like, shit's going down.
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So the police go to the boarding house. Yeah.
For the 400 gajillionth time. Now, they were met by Dorothea Puente.
I'm sure they were. And she said, Bert is just on vacation in Mexico.
Like, I don't understand what your problem is.
And another tenant who was there, a guy named John Sharp, was like, yep, he's in Mexico.
Like, I know that too. So the police are like, okay, we can't do anything.
Like what are you supposed to do? So they go to leave and John Sharp quickly slips them a piece of paper as they're leaving.
So sharp. They open it up and it says, she's making me lie for her.
My stomach just got all tingly and like nervous.
She's making me lie for her. And he later went to the police later that day and told them all of his suspicions, what was going on.
Like John Sharp. John Sharp. FTW. So November 11th, 1988.
How are we still chugging along here? I know we're chugging along.
They come to the house and they begin to search.
Because they're like, we're searching. It's the police.
So they find nothing of real note in the house.
So they're like, we would like to look in the yard.
Yeah. And they were like, we'd also like to dig in your yard.
Mm-hmm. And Puente says, absolutely. And hands them a shovel.
Unreal. Go ahead. They start digging, and three holes in, they found a human leg.
Now, initially the detectives thought it was a gnarled tree root.
It wasn't. They brought her in for questioning and she said, Wait, there's someone buried in my backyard?
Oh my god. Excuse me? Girlfriend, you got to give it up.
And she was like, I know nothing about that.
I handed you a shovel to dig in there. Why would I do that if I knew that I buried someone in my backyard?
What are you talking about? Burt's in Mexico.
You guys are crazy. wow you know that's what you like she thought that she was gonna outsmart them by being like i gave you a shovel like being like i gave you a fucking shovel okay they're like yeah why would you i gave you a spade a spade is a spade is a spade i gave it to you okay unreal So they actually had nothing to actually physically tie her to it.
They couldn't prove that she had buried someone in that backyard because that wasn't her house forever. right who knows how long that person had been there you're gonna look into that so they had to let her go home oh man now the next day november 12th they come back obviously they start digging again because they're like now we have to dig up the whole yard Apparently, she was just pissed she was talking to tenants inside being like,
I hope they don't like fuck up the gardens that we just planted.
Oh man. And they're like, they probably will.
They probably will because you're a terrible, terrible human being.
You're a monster. And it was a... packed audience of people watching this happening.
Like onlookers, they gathered on the street to watch because they're like, what the hell is this? going on i knew that woman was strange something's weird and now they're digging up her backyard I knew that former Rockette was weird.
I knew it. It all got strange when that all started.
Now, right before they start digging... She says, excuse me, would it be okay if I ran out real quick? to get a cup of coffee with my nephew Ricardo at a nearby hotel.
No. And the police said, yes, ma'am. In fact, there's a...
A pretty little picture of a police officer escorting her out into her waiting car.
I gotta go. Go ahead, Dorothea Puente. Bye.
She's wearing like a red dress. She's got a little umbrella.
And he's just like, there you go, ma'am.
We are digging up your backyard where we found human remains yesterday.
This is an active crime scene. But by God, go have that cup of joe.
Get a donut while you're there. Go get coffee.
You're fine. I'm leaving. You're fine. No, excuse me.
I'm not leaving. Dorothea is leaving. No, she's leaving.
She's the only one allowed to leave. If she's leaving, I'm staying.
I'm staying. I am kaput right now. right here wherever she goes I will not follow I'm gonna stay here where she leads I won't follow.
Anywhere. Anywhere that she tells me to.
Nowhere. Done. Because and I said it in part one, I was like, we were like, what's with the police?
What is going on? I was like, oh, part two is really going to take you into a hole.
Yeah, I remember. this part. Here it is.
So as soon as she left, they're Bye, Dorothea.
Enjoy your cup of joe. Enjoy your, you know...
French vanilla latte. Bold's brew. They were like, bye.
The police first dug up A full body. Of course they did.
The body of 78-year-old Leona Carpenter.
Aww. Now, as soon as they finally own a carpenter, uh, and we'll get into every, all the victims names too, and things about them in a minute.
So they immediately are like, oh, shit, because that's another body.
That's body number two. Yeah. they run to the hotel that she said she was going to be at to get her.
And they thought she was going to be there.
That's my favorite part. Of the entire story.
She wasn't there. Let's go to that hotel where she said she's going to go.
Because as we're digging up her freaking bodies in the yeah she's definitely going to where she said she was going they were like bummer she left nuts just mr nuts that murderous woman lied to us yeah Like, weird.
I literally wrote duh in big letters. Like, of course she's not going to be there.
She escaped to Los Angeles immediately. And luckily, and with Wright, the police department was shamed for allowing her to leave and allowing her to escape.
I mean, they were... demolished like i mean the entire community was on them that tons of newspapers were all over them the news was like how the fuck do you let a clear, like what we think is probably a female serial killer.
Go out for coffee while you're digging up her backyard, you idiot.
That just goes to show how she could literally charm anybody.
Anybody. She'd charm the pants off of them.
Because again, when you look at the picture of them escorting her out, she looks like an adorable old grandma.
I know. You're not worried about that. Don't trust anybody.
Now, they... And this is nuts. They then undug.
They then undug. I meant unearthed. I just made Ash choke on water.
When you start to laugh and you have a sip of water in your mouth and I'm like, I'm going to spit this across the whole room.
I meant to say dug up and unearthed, and then they just collided into a crazy non-word.
Gruel. Gruel. So that's literally what that was.
So they unearthed six more bodies in her backyard.
All had been wrapped in plastic, like tons of plastic, and bed sheets, and they were all sprinkled with lime.
One was missing the head and another was believed or at least one, possibly two or more. had been buried alive.
What? I didn't remember that. And one of the people who had been buried alive, Burt Montoya.
No. Because she was mad. She was mad. The bodies were Leona Carpenter, who was 78 years old, They believe she was the first to die in the third boarding house.
She was, she had been discharged from the hospital straight into her care.
Oh. Because, again, she was pretending to be a nurse's aide at this point, too.
And this was in February of 1987. So this is in between the time when she was released from prison for the whole...
Dorothy Osborne kind of situation and between now and then is when i said like she was real busy so this was what was happening in the interim Now, she was discharged straight into Puente's care in February 1987.
She had had cancerous tumors on her brain.
Wow. And she was recovering from that. And at 78 years old, she was like getting better.
Good for her. She was a widow and Dorothea said that basically she thought she wasn't going to be missed.
Wow, you're a piece of shit lady. Yep. She was buried near the back fence and Her leg bone was the one that the detective, Detective Cabrera, I believe his name was, thought was a gnarled root. and like grabbed it and he was like, oh, that's not a root.
Dorothea had used her checks to order herself clothing and shoes after she was killed.
She's a grade A asshole. Grade A. The next one was 62 year old James Gallop.
So young. He survived a heart attack and brain tumor surgery.
Stop. but he died in that boarding house.
He was independent and strong, but he had been like really ill.
He refused to let Dorothea take all financial control of his like life.
Yeah. So she poisoned his food. Of course she did.
The next one was 64 year old Vera Faye Martin.
She was a mother. She was poisoned with a drugged drink the day she moved into the boarding house.
Are you serious? She was in that house for one day.
When her body was found, her mouth was wide open and it looked like she had tried to kick herself free from her body. uh plastic binding oh god her wristwatch was still ticking What?
And they said she was one of the ones they clearly believe was buried alive.
That is so haunting. The next one was Dorothy Miller.
She was 64 years old and she was a Native American Army veteran.
She had moved in October 1987. She was struggling with alcoholism. because aside from dealing with PTSD from her time in the service, she also had a really traumatic childhood.
She also suffered from night terrors because of this stuff.
And had medication to allow her to sleep peacefully.
She liked to recite poems. Like that was something everybody knew about her.
And she really liked Dorothea. And had tried to like befriend her.
And Dorothea was annoyed by her. And she said that her night terrors annoyed her.
The way she would talk annoyed her. Girl, you don't have the right to be annoyed by anything. anything like dorothea you're the most annoying you're annoying you're really you're a nuisance to society What she did was ground up Dorothy's sleeping pills and put them in her drink.
Wow. And that's how she killed her. And she had taped, like, duct taped her arms to her chest.
That's how she was found. Wow. Now, Benjamin Fink was the next one.
He was 55 years old. He was struggling with alcoholism when he moved into the house.
Because again, that was like what she was kind of banking on was people who were struggling with addictions and illnesses.
So they were like really down on their luck.
Trying to get better from a lot of different things.
Right. He also had severe lung illnesses that he was dealing with.
And I guess right before he disappeared, it was in April 1988, another tenant said, She watched as he as like she basically brought Ben upstairs and she turned and said, I'm going to take Ben upstairs and make him feel better and he no one ever saw him again wow and he was found only in striped boxer shorts The next one was Burt Montoya, who was 51 years old.
He was found under a brand new apricot tree that had been planted right on top of him.
Wow. The next one was Betty Palmer. She was 78 years old.
She had moved into the boarding house because she basically had a ton of medical bills and couldn't afford them.
Oh. Yeah, and she was a very good, very responsible woman.
She was just having trouble affording her own medical bills and needed a little help.
Medical bills will destroy you. She was another one who refused to let Dorothea have control of her finances.
She had a ton of friends and family. And Dorothea was actually really scared when she killed her because she was like, I knew she would be missed because people loved her.
Yeah. Which like what a piece of shit. Seriously, you're just taking away everybody's friend and loved one. she had somebody one of her handymen because she called these men that would like work for her her handyman cut off her head legs and hands so that they couldn't identify her.
And when she was found, she was wearing a sleeveless white nightgown.
And above her, Dorothea had put a statue of the patron saint of missing things.
And it was right next to the sidewalk. St.
Anthony? And if you don't think that that was on purpose, the patron saint of missing things. of course it was and she is not only missing herself but she is missing her head and her limbs that's fucked yeah is that scene anthony Yeah, I believe so.
Yeah. Yeah. Dorothea cashed her checks and she did it.
Because again, Betty didn't want her having any control of her finances.
Right, of course. And she did the thing where she wrote on all her things check ID when you had to like cash or check or anything.
So what she did was she stole her ID after she killed her and then put her picture on top of hers and just used it to cash all her checks.
How is this old lady so conniving and evil?
Yeah. And what's even sadder is they never found Betty's head or her limbs.
Dude, fuck this lady. I'm like pissed. Now, all seven of these people had in their systems benzodiazepines.
Sorry, I just started on that. Benzodiazepines, and mainly what they all had in their system was Florazepam.
And this happened to be one of the drugs stolen from Irene Gregory.
And they found empty capsules of it in Dorothea's drawer.
So the capsules where she would open them and put the powder in the drinks, they were all... First of all, what? you just put them in your drawer after you did that?
Like the evidence of you poisoning people, you just kept in your drawer? it up and look at it.
Look how many people I poisoned. Like, what the fuck?
Now, she was on the run for five days in Los Angeles.
What's so confusing to me is how did nobody see her digging in that backyard?
I know. But I think she had handymen do it.
Yeah, and act like they were doing gardens.
Exactly. And then she would say like, what?
I just planted this. So I don't remember.
And I'm sure you'll get to it. But do they find any of those handymen?
You know what? I could not find a ton about the handymen.
I don't know if they like She was just saying that or if she named any of them or if they were ever able to find them.
Wow. I know some of them were, you know, victims themselves that I think are missing now.
So I think, like, she might have offed most of them.
Wow. Or had other ones off the ones before.
I think she had a whole operation going on.
Wow. She's so scary. She's one of the most terrifying people we've covered.
Because she's so calculated and so cunning and so heartless.
In the package of like... a grandma. And when you see her outside packaging, it is so much scarier.
It is. Like you said, she looks like a sweet old grandma.
It's really scary. It's terrifying. Yeah.
I don't trust anybody and I'm afraid of grandmas now.
And she went on the run in Los Angeles for five days and...
And while she was out there, Everson's body, Gil's body was identified while she was out there.
And it was identified because now they saw all those bodies in her backyard wrapped in sheets and in a plastic wrap.
Uh-huh. And they were like, wait a second, she has a connection to this guy and we just found this unidentified body here.
Let's do this. They immediately tied it to that Dorothea.
Wow. Also, Ruth Monroe's kids finally were able to get a case opened against Dorothea for their mother's death.
As if everything else, they knew it. They knew what was going on, but they didn't have anything that they could use to prove it.
That was the problem. But with this, they were like, boom, boom, boom, open up the case now.
So... Dorothea had been holding up in a motel in Los Angeles. but every night she would still go out to bars in Los Angeles trying to get old men.
Wow. Yeah. She can't stop, won't stop. She can't stop, won't stop.
Like, never. Never. You can't stop her. No, she would have gone on forever.
Oh, she would have gone on forever. There would be no, she would have had to die first before she stopped.
She really would have. Now, she met a man named Charles out at a bar.
And she introduced herself as Donna Johansson.
And he said immediately he got like a weird feeling about her. yeah because at this point she's like really like yeah she's gone through it at this point so he he was like i don't know but like sure like she's fine like she's nice whatever but he's like i just had this like weird feeling like a gut trust And he was like, yeah, I don't want to go out after this, but like, you know, maybe we can make plans to go out. the next day or something like that.
So they did. They made plans to go out. Later that night, he turned on the news.
Oh, God. And he was with his friend, I guess.
They turn it on and they see Donna Johansson on there, but her name is Dorothea Puente.
Can you imagine? And they were like, What the fuck?
He was like, good thing I didn't go out with that lady.
And his friend was like, you would have been dead.
Like, she would have paralyzed you and stolen all your shit.
100%. Like, holy shit. 100%. Immediately calls the police.
And what's funny is he called the motel she said she was at first.
And was like, hey, are you like there? Are you like, are you staying in for the night?
Icon. She was like, yeah, totally. And he was like, cool.
All right, bye. Bye, Donna. See you tomorrow.
Miss Johansson. See ya. Sweet dreams, baby.
911. Hey, here she is. She's at the hotel right now.
She's not leaving. Go get her. Love her.
Literally was like yoga. Charles for the fucking wins.
Charles. And she was arrested in that motel room with no incident.
And she was charged with nine murders. Wow.
Even though she probably They did about six gazillion.
Definitely did more. Now there's pictures of her on this like tiny plane where they had to bring her back to Sacramento.
And she's in this like little old lady outfit with like shackles around her arms.
And she's like drinking this little black cup of coffee.
Like, and it's just, it's so weird. I really got that cup of coffee.
We got to post it because it's just a wild picture.
But on the way there, in the plane ride, she said to detectives at one point, I used to be a very good person at one time.
When? And I'm like, when? Can you point to that for me?
Like when you were a child, probably. Yeah.
Which is really sad. Which is sad. Like, I still feel very bad for child Dorothea. but it's like damn but you could have turned it around yeah because people do it's like honey you are not a good person no Now, throughout the trial, they definitely pushed that sweet grandma angle.
Like her defense. They were definitely pushing. pushing that.
She's in her sweet little grandma dresses.
Yeah, and of course the prosecution is pushing that she's this manipulative criminal mastermind and And then you look at her and you're like, what?
Well, it's like, okay, so is she this sweet grandma who's been through it and is just like getting... you know, caught up in trouble?
Or is she this master manipulator that just preys on like the most vulnerable people?
It's that one, everybody. It's that one.
It's not the cute grandma. But like, see, I guess the trial was like wild because it was like both sides.
I can imagine. Because imagine being on that jury as well.
Yeah. defense was saying she's a sweet grandma and they were like yeah but look at all these things she did and they're like oh no we're not saying she's not a thief like she's a thief and a liar.
But she's also a sweet grandma. And they're all like, she's not a murderer.
And they're like, cool, explain the bodies in her yard.
So in 1993, it took several days of deliberations.
And at one point, there was a deadlocked jury.
And they said most of that was probably due to the fact that she was this adorable old grandma. and they were pushing that so hard, they definitely got to some of the jury members.
I'm sure. She was convicted of three murders.
Wow, only three? Yeah. That's the only ones they could really tie her to.
First degree murder from Dorothy Miller. in Benjamin Fink's... Oh, excuse me.
It was First Degree Murder for Dorothy. Benjamin Fink, she got second degree murder and second degree murder for Leona Carpenter.
Do you know why second degree? I'm not really sure.
They just I guess they just those things are always weird.
They are them, especially when they're like older because you're like, why though?
Yeah. exactly. But there must have been some reason for it.
She was put... She was sentenced to two life sentences at the Central California Women's Facility in Chowchilla.
Is it Chowchilla or Chowchia? I have absolutely no idea.
I don't know. Ready? In Chowchilla. in Xiaoqia, one of those works.
So Puente continued to say she was completely innocent.
Lies. How did they end up in my backyard?
I don't know. Liar. Do you know everything that's in your backyard?
I don't. That's what she was saying. That makes me nervous.
Like, I know that I don't have bodies. Well, I'm fairly certain I don't have bodies in my backyard. i mean but then you're like if they're like i didn't put them there exactly Trying to make the same fucking argument as Dorothea.
But you know what? They were like, but Dorothea.
Dorothea, my girl, we have the time of deaths of these people and you were living in that house when they died. and they lived in the house with you.
So nobody's sneaking into your backyard in the middle of the night and burying bodies. in your backyard and then planting apricot trees on them.
It just doesn't happen, girl. So it's like, come on.
And she was basically like, I was good to these people.
No, you weren't. You weren't good to anybody.
You've never been good to a single fucking person in your life.
And she was quoted in prison as saying the only time those boarders were in good health was when they stayed in my home.
I made them change their clothes every day, take a bath every day and eat three meals a day.
When they came to me, they were so sick.
They weren't expected to live. I gave them three meals a day and I poisoned every single one of them is what you meant to say.
And it's like, you know what? I'm pretty sure they expected to live.
Like, I'm pretty sure that was a good expectation that they all had.
I don't think any of them expected to be murdered. ordered in a boarding house.
No probably not. I don't think that. Now in 1998 she began talking with a guy named Shane Bugbee.
Uh huh. He did a huge interview with her.
He was like a journalist. And this was like years of corresponding with her.
And she started sending him during the correspondence these recipes. because again she was a good cook so she would send him recipes like but like i don't want to eat anything she makes In 2004, a book was released cooking with a serial killer.
No, that's unacceptable. Who the fuck did that?
That's fucked. Who's making Dorothea Puente's recipes?
No, and like, I don't want to find out that I've accidentally made one of those.
I don't want to know that shit. What if that's just on Google and it comes up as the first four that they recommend and you look at it and it has five stars? and you don't even hit the title, you just hit jump to recipe.
And I guess there's like 50 recipes in there or some shit.
Why would you ever feel the need to cook something that literally may have killed somebody that may like...
Things in that cookbook may have been somebody's last meal.
That's what I can't stop thinking about.
That's fucked. That this isn't even like, you know, some dormant hobby. that she had that she's just like, oh, look, I cook now because I'm a grandma.
That's what we do. Here's some recipes. That alone would be like horrible. honey those are dorothea puente's recipes you don't need that from her we don't need anything from her except for her to shut the up and go away And stop hurting old people.
Right. Stop hurting anybody. But, like you said...
She was a cook. She cooked a lot. And she probably poisoned people with those fucking recipes.
What are you going to do? Serve them tears. family yeah and i'm like kids it's a dorothea puente special today dig in like like fucked Yeah, not cool.
Oh, actually. See, I was just going to say pun not even intended.
No, no, no, no. Holy shit. It's like that's the thing, though.
It's so gross. I can't get down with that.
And the thing is, I feel like they're like, it's again like, oh, like cute little grandma, like me, me, me. you wouldn't buy Charlie Manson's recipes you wouldn't buy Robert Pickton's recipes you definitely wouldn't buy Robert Pickton's but like he had a restaurant on the fucking grounds Yeah.
No. You just like stop. If you have that book, shred it.
Yeah, don't. Don't even throw it away. for somebody to find shred the shit out of it those are just bad vibes in those meals too I'm sure you don't need they're probably real bad vibes And well, like, I'm like, maybe you could like, like, I don't trust her ingredients.
No, I don't think that she would have a good flavor profile for anything.
No. I feel like it would be like meant to give me indigestion.
I was literally gonna to say it would be meant to give you some kind of food poisoning or some kind of like Like the flavor she uses would be meant to interact in a way that would make you feel like shit.
That is exactly what I was trying to say.
Like I don't trust her ingredients. So just don't do it.
Get rid of that. Get rid of it. Don't do it.
I just, this has been like a very. She's horrifying.
This has been a very sad episode. I love the elderly.
I love everybody. I'm such a fucking empath.
You are an empath. I'm going to go home and cry.
I want to go watch a Hallmark movie with your mother-in-law at this point in time.
See, I'm going to watch, I need to watch one of those commercials that are on this time of year with like the elderly people.
And like their neighbors decorate their home for them when they live alone or something or they leave them a present.
They like cook them like Thanksgiving dinner.
They treat them nice. I just need to see people treating older people nice.
I think after this episode, we should all do something nice for an older person in our life.
There you go. I think that's great. I think whatever you can do, whatever elderly person, you know, you fancy, just...
Do something nice for them. Just give them a hug.
Yeah. Just say love ya. Yeah. Make a meal for them that's not out of Dorothea's cookbook.
You know, do one of those commercial things.
Rake their leaves. Go rake a random person's leaves.
I don't know. Just do something nice. Yeah.
Put kindness into the world because it comes back and, you know, just be nice.
It really does. It does. It's easier, it's nicer, and it's more fun to be nice.
It is. I enjoy being nice. Let's keep doing it.
And you know what's nice? If you keep listening.
So we hope that you keep listening and we hope you keep it weird but not so weird that you don't do something nice for the elderly in this next coming week okay i love you Don't be as weird as Dorothea.
Don't do it. Thank you. If you like Morbid, you can listen early and ad free right now by joining Wondery Plus in the Wondery app or on Apple Podcasts.
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