The Untold Truth Of Dorothea Puente, The Death House Landlady

May 2024 ยท 2 minute read

Around this time, Dorothea Puente became business partners with Ruth Monroe, a 61-year-old woman. According to Female Serial Killers, Monroe didn't know a thing about Puente's legal troubles and had simply agreed to start a catering business with her, since Puente's cooking skills were well-regarded.

On April 11, 1982, Monroe also moved in with Punente, ostensibly to "save on expenses" since Monroe's husband had entered into hospice care. On April 28, Monroe was dead. After an autopsy was done, medical examiners found a large amount of codeine in her system, and although her death was labeled "undetermined cause," it was believed to be a suicide.

Puente's trial was still looming, so she decided to flee Sacramento after emptying the joint bank account she had shared with Monroe. After drugging and robbing a former patient, Puente bought an airplane ticket to Mexico. However, she was arrested before she could board the plane, and this time, her lawyer wasn't able to argue that she wasn't a flight risk.

Puente was sentenced to five years for "drugging elderly people and stealing their benefit checks" on August 19, 1982. Although Monroe's family told the district attorney of their suspicions, the DA decided that since the death looked like a suicide and Puente was already jailed, there was no point in pursuing a conviction.

Ultimately, Puente was never convicted in relation to Monroe's death.

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