Illustrated in Cheerful 1980s greeting card illustration style
Grandma's Boarding House
A Story About Generous Hospitality and Deep Gardens
Dorothea was a grandmother who ran a cozy boarding house on F Street in Sacramento. She had white hair and wore nice dresses and baked things. 'Come in, dear,' she would say to elderly and disabled tenants. 'I'll take good care of you.' And she took care of them, all right. She took everything they had.
Dorothea Puente ran a board and care home for elderly and mentally disabled residents, collecting their Social Security checks.
Dorothea loved gardens. Her yard at 1426 F Street was always being improved. There was always digging happening. 'I'm putting in roses,' she'd tell the neighbors. 'I'm leveling out the beds.' The neighbors admired the garden's dedication. The garden was very dedicated. It was working very hard.
Seven bodies were eventually found buried in Puente's yard. Neighbors recalled frequent digging and a hired man paid to do yard work.
The tenants' checks kept coming, which was useful because the tenants themselves had stopped needing them. Dorothea cashed the checks carefully, bought herself fine clothes, and went to nice restaurants. She was very generous to her friends. When you have other people's pensions, generosity is easy.
Puente cashed her tenants' Social Security and disability checks after their deaths, forging endorsements.
A social worker came looking for a tenant named Alvaro Montoya who had gone missing. 'Oh, he moved away,' said Dorothea with a smile. The social worker wasn't satisfied. The police came and started digging in the garden. They found the first body. Then they turned to find Dorothea. She had, very politely, walked away while nobody was watching.
When police began excavating the yard, Puente asked to visit her nephew. She was allowed to leave on foot. She fled to Los Angeles.
A man in a Los Angeles bar recognized Dorothea from the news. She had made herself a cocktail and was chatting pleasantly with everyone. 'Aren't you that woman from Sacramento?' he asked. She said she wasn't. He called the police anyway. Grandma's garden grew no more. But the roses, at least, were lovely.
Puente was recognized in a Los Angeles bar and arrested. She was convicted of three murders and died in prison in 2011, maintaining her innocence.