Post by Sher on Feb 26, 2006 0:04:07 GMT -5
Dorothea Mantalvo Puenta seemed like an average old lady. Kind, exceptionally generous, meticulous in caring for her prized garden. It was considered just another act of kindness when she began opening her doors to homeless and the like, offering rooms to rent for an incredibly low price. The local welfare service even worked with her to find space for some of their clients. She continued this until November 1988, when a social worker's curiosity was raised while attempting to locate a missing person that had been lodged in Puenta's home. Rumors had recently begun to swirl because of the high turnover of borders and a persistently bad smell at Puenta's.
The police became involved and soon focused their attention on Puenta's garden and the driveway, which had recently been poured. When the digging was completed, seven bodies had been discovered buried and covered in lime. Puenta had intended for the lime to turn the corpse's to sludge, but instead it preserved the bodies, making it easier to pinpoint a cause of death, which proved to be Benzodiazepine poisoning. It was time to arrest Puenta for murder, but Suprise! She was nowhere to be found, having simply taken off from the hotel that police had put her in while her property was turned into a crime scene. She was turned in by an elderly gentleman in Los Angeles that recognized her when he met her in a bar and arrested.
Puenta went on trial in 1993 for nine murders, after two more dead tenants linked to her, but was somehow found guilty in only three. The jury could not agree on the other six counts and the charges were eventually dismissed. She is currently serving life without the possibility of parole in Chowchilla Prison and lost a hearing aimed at gaining her a re-trial in July 2000.
The police became involved and soon focused their attention on Puenta's garden and the driveway, which had recently been poured. When the digging was completed, seven bodies had been discovered buried and covered in lime. Puenta had intended for the lime to turn the corpse's to sludge, but instead it preserved the bodies, making it easier to pinpoint a cause of death, which proved to be Benzodiazepine poisoning. It was time to arrest Puenta for murder, but Suprise! She was nowhere to be found, having simply taken off from the hotel that police had put her in while her property was turned into a crime scene. She was turned in by an elderly gentleman in Los Angeles that recognized her when he met her in a bar and arrested.
Puenta went on trial in 1993 for nine murders, after two more dead tenants linked to her, but was somehow found guilty in only three. The jury could not agree on the other six counts and the charges were eventually dismissed. She is currently serving life without the possibility of parole in Chowchilla Prison and lost a hearing aimed at gaining her a re-trial in July 2000.
