Midtown Murderess Dorothea Puente Dead at 82

Posted on March 27, 2011 – 10:11 PM | by OldManFoster
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Sacramento serial killer Dorothea Puente has died.

I lived just down the street from Puente’s infamous boarding house at 1426 F Street in 1988 when police began digging for bodies in the front yard of the old victorian home. Like many, I gathered on the street to watch the earth moving equipment at work after the first body was discovered; I never saw anything gruesome myself, but a total of seven bodies were found on the property. High drama ensued when Puente, who, incredibly, was not initially held by the police, disappeared. She was soon caught in southern California and was brought back for trial. She was eventually convicted of three murders and was sentenced to life in prison.

Living in the relatively tightknit community that Midtown was back then, it wasn’t unusual to meet people with Puente stories. Around 1990 I dated a woman who lived in the house next door. Her kitchen window looked directly into the yard, and it was weird to see the kids of the tenants playing there. One of my wife Liv’s old roomates had made off with a string of Puente’s Christmas lights after she was arrested – he dutifully decorated their apartment with them each year.

Anyone else out there remember Sacramento’s most infamous landlady?

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  1. 7 Responses to “Midtown Murderess Dorothea Puente Dead at 82”

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    By Kara on Mar 27, 2011 | Reply

    Do I remember? My mom had to go testify in the trial because she was one of the deputy coroners. I think five of the cases were hers. In fact, she made the front covers of both Newsweek and U.S. News and World Report in her Coroner jumpsuit. And then, in an odd turn of events, the woman who became my best friend is the daughter of the pharmacist who filled most of Puente’s prescriptions.

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    By Sarah on Mar 27, 2011 | Reply

    I work with seniors for a govt-social service agency and back in the day, Dorothea used to live at the old mansion on F and 21st–the pretty white one. She used to have the older social-worker ladies over for tea a few times a year to entice them to recommend her boarding house to our clients. To our knowledge, no bodies were ever dug up there.

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    By OldManFoster on Mar 27, 2011 | Reply

    In the interests of media accuracy I should say that DP wasn’t quite a Midtown murderess- the house was a block and a half the wrong side of 16th to qualify as Midtown.

    Don’t want to piss off any Alkali Flat boosters who rightfully claim her as their own.

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    By PhxSafado on Mar 28, 2011 | Reply

    I lived down the street at 17th and F shortly after she was arrested. I still have the tasteless t-shirt somewhere of her standing with a shovel with the phrase “Sacramento — I dig it”.

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    By MtlResearcher on Jul 13, 2012 | Reply

    Hello Midtowners(or almost)!

    I am working as a researcher for a documentary series airing on Investigation Discovery, and I am looking for local people to interview who may have had contact with Dorothea Puentes over the years. I was particularly looking at tracking people such as taxi driver Patty Casey that apparently helped transport cement, fertilizers, etc., to the house. Anyone who may have unknowingly had the evidence before their eyes. It’s an incredible story – how does a neighborhood recover form such an event?

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    By Santa on Jun 27, 2015 | Reply

    Hey, bring back those christmas lights!

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    By LELAND LEE on Jul 31, 2015 | Reply

    KARA WHAT IS YOUR MOTHERS NAME BECAUSE I WAS ONE OF THE CORONER TRANSPORT WORKING FOR “FIRST CALL” UNDER MY BOSS JACK BLAYLOCK…OUR COMPANY WAS OWNED BY SOMEONE NAMED PAT..WHO WAS A MEDICAL EXAMINER AT THE SACRAMENTO COUNTY CORONERS OFFICE…YEP IT WAS EXCITING YET SAD TO SEE BUT WHILE WORKING FOR THE YOLO COUNTY CORONER I’VE SEEN A LOT WORSE…THE SMELL WAS HARDER THAN TOUCHING THE BODIES AND HAVING TO TRANSPORT THEM TO THE CORONERS OFFICE BACK IN THE DAY….

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