Morbid - The Murder of Bessie Darling

Starting point is 00:00:00 Hey, weirdos, I'm Elena. I'm Ash. And this is morbid. It's morbid at night. It is crazy. We are crazy. We are crazy. We are talking over each other.

Starting point is 00:00:35 We are all the things. It's the holiday season. It's the holiday season. So everyone's dressed. And it's hard to hang lights. Yep, that's all I got. I don't want to get sued, but I don't think we would. But that's all right.

Starting point is 00:00:53 I feel like we're using a tune that's like a thousand years old, but that's fine. Whatever. Hey, hello. It's morbid at night and that's one we're weirdest. So today, accurate. That's when we are at our peak weird. Peak weird right now. Hang in with us.

Starting point is 00:01:09 Just hang in. It's been a long weekend. I actually, I wanted to like quickly just say hi to Ashlyn, who I ran into twice this weekend. Oh yeah. I was with you at one of those times. She was so sweet. So hi, Ashlyn. Hello. It was so nice running into you twice. She introduced herself and she said, I'm also Ash and I was like, I love to meet a fellow Ash. I was like, hell yeah. And she told us a crazy story and it was crazy. It was so cool. Hello. And thank you. Hey. And that was awesome. And I hope you had a

Starting point is 00:01:37 wonderful weekend. At first, I thought you were literally going to say, I just want to say hi to Ash. And I was like, I've been here for like an hour. Yeah, that's on Brent for nighttime. I was like, hi. Hi. Like, you know what? I'd just really like to say hi to Ash. I like your case. I just saw it. Thank you. I got a new phone case. Yay. It's got aliens and scouts on it. I really like it a lot.

Starting point is 00:01:58 And a moon. And a moon. So there is one thing. We're just going to like dive right into the case today because one, it is long. Two, it is nighttime. Three, that's just how I feel. Three just because. But there is one thing I really wanted to touch upon because I hate when I see missing, like,

Starting point is 00:02:16 especially missing children cases that I haven't heard even. one thing about. Yeah. Which is like, obviously there's many that we haven't heard about. Whenever it like comes to my attention and it's been like months, I'm like, why haven't I heard this? Like, we have to share this far and wide. So I just found out about this missing five-year-old boy named Michael Vaughn. He went missing from Fruitland, Idaho. He went missing on July 27th of this year. Yeah. And when you told me this, I was like, I haven't heard anything about that. I hadn't heard a thing about it and his mother, Brandy, Neil, is, you know, she's on Twitter. She's trying to share this story, get it out as much as possible. She shares stuff all the time. But she's like

Starting point is 00:03:01 begging for this just to be talked about because they have found nothing. They have searched extensively. And he went missing from his neighborhood at about 6.30 p.m. on July 27th, 2021. It was near southwest 9th Street, and this is in Fruitland, Idaho again. He was last seen in a light blue Minecraft t-shirt, sorry, black boxers and a pair of flip-flops. He has blonde hair, blue eyes, the sweetest little face you've ever seen. He's got like the little like chubby cheeks that are just so sweet. Little cheeks. It says police are asking for the public's help identifying a 2016 to 2020 white Honda pilot seen in the area shortly but after Michael went missing. And it says, please call Fruitland Police at 208-642-606.

Starting point is 00:03:55 Or you can email Find Michael at Fruitland.org with any information. And the fact that he went missing just like from his neighborhood. Yes, that's what is. That's so terrifying. destroyed me and they've done a ton of searching in the area. They have turned up nothing. And so they are really thinking this was an abduction, which makes it even scarier. Yeah. And he was like right outside of his house. I mean, he was right in his own neighborhood. His poor family should be celebrating the holidays with their little boy. Of course they should. And instead they are grieving and wondering where

Starting point is 00:04:30 he is. So if we can just like, I'm going to share all the information on my Twitter. We'll share it on morbid Twitter. We're going to put it wherever we can. If you happen to see it, if you're on social media, just share it as much as you can just to get the information out there. Like, let's try to get Michael home. It's been a baby home for Christmas. Just give some kind of information here. But yeah, I just wanted to share that one and like our hearts go out to Brandy Neal and Michael's family. And I hope we get good news soon. Me too. Put it out into the universe. But yeah, So we are going to go from that to another very distressing tale. I am covering today, part one, because it started out as a one-parter.

Starting point is 00:05:11 A two-parta. But who boy, 15 pages in, I was like, well, that's two parts. We're going to have to split this into two. We are covering, or I am covering Dorothea Puente. Oh, you are, huh? She's the boarding house grandma murderer. Oh, I know. I suppose we can call her.

Starting point is 00:05:28 I do know. You do know. This is a crazy case, and I found a few different books that were really good on this. The ones that I was using for this particular episode, one is called The Corpse Collector. Oh. Yeah. It's by Genova Ortiz. And then I found one called Buried Beneath the Boardinghouse, and it's by Ryan Green.

Starting point is 00:05:51 And another one, which I think might be my favorite out of the three, is called The Bone Garden. And it's by William P. Wood. Okay. All of them have amazing information. They go like super detailed into everything. So I highly suggest you go read them. Again, I will post them right in our show notes. But wow.

Starting point is 00:06:09 This is quite a tale. Yeah. Quite a tale. And here's the thing. Like I know the bare minimum about this, I would say. And like me, I've definitely listened to shows about it before like in the past. But it has, it's been a while since I've heard anything. It's been a while.

Starting point is 00:06:24 It's been a while since I heard about this. And I also feel like you're going to have a special nifty way. is like telling me all the gory details. So yeah, let's go, man. This one's really sad. It is. They all are. So Dorothea Helen Gray was born January 9th, 1929 in Redlands, San Bernardino County, California. That's what we should have known. It was the 20s. That was it. The Roar and 20s, right at the end of the Roar and 20s. Speaking of the Roar in 20s and Prohibition and all that, her parents were both raging alcoholics. They were not

Starting point is 00:07:00 nice. They were belligerent drunks. Their names were Trudy May Yates. She was from Oklahoma and Jesse James Gray, who was a veteran from Missouri. They had an unhappy marriage right from the jump. They were not

Starting point is 00:07:16 like, oh, we're so in love. I'm not real sure why they got together to be quite honest. Sometimes it just, you know, misery loves company. I suppose. And they definitely found misery with each other. And somehow they decided that having like a buttload of children would probably be just like a great idea. Oh, do they have a ton? Like this is going to help us out. She was the sixth of seven kids, many kids, which that's a lot of kids no matter what. But when you're very unhappy

Starting point is 00:07:42 together, that's even more kids. You might as well multiply it by like five. Yeah. It's like I feel like after the third one, I don't know because I stopped at three, but I feel like after the third, it's just all relative at that point. I feel like you might as well have a hundred. After that, it just doesn't matter. A lot of kids. Now, her father was a World War I veteran, and he survived a mustard gas attack. Holy shit. Yeah. But he was, he suffered the rest of his life with lung issues, PTSD, all kinds of horrifying

Starting point is 00:08:11 things. It eventually turned into like tuberculosis. It was just, yeah, he was, he suffered. Yeah, of course. Now, which you can understand why he probably turned to alcohol. Sure. Probably for a numbing effect. It happens a lot.

Starting point is 00:08:25 It sounds like they were both. pretty terrible and definitely terrible parents, but the mom was like a specific kind of terrible. So we'll get into that in a second. Now, the father, Jesse, he was once a very successful farmer, but obviously when he came home from the war, he had a lot of trouble and he just couldn't keep it up anymore. He was often very also, like suicidal in front of his children, like vocally. That's really sad. And would actively like threaten to kill himself in front of them. Yeah, no, that's not okay. And he would literally get to the point, I mean, his kids would get to the point of hysteria begging him not to, and that's when he would stop. Oh, that's really sad. Which is like a whole different

Starting point is 00:09:07 kind of abuse. Like you can't traumatize your children that way. And these are like young kids. He's like waving a gun around being like, I'm going to kill myself. It's so sad that therapy, like wasn't at where it is now because that's a time where it's like you turn to therapy, but back then, therapy was frowned upon. Exactly. And I mean, even now, it's like sometimes there's all these like, You know, these little, like, what am I trying to say? Stigmas on it, you know what I mean? And especially in like, you know, with sometimes with like little boys and men, it gets like, just be a man. Like it.

Starting point is 00:09:38 And it's like, no, everyone has a brain and a mind and emotions. We all need help. Like, we're all human. And the phrase, be a band is the dumbest phrase I have ever heard in my life. The only time it's awesome is during Milan. Because that song is, yeah, that song. That song. That slaps.

Starting point is 00:09:56 Let's go. Still stupid. Really bad messaging in that movie sometimes. I'm like, oh, my favorite movie. And then I'm like, okay, kids, take note that no. Oh, yeah, because every time we watch that, it's whenever that song comes on, I'm like, I know this song is catchy. I know it's awesome.

Starting point is 00:10:12 But it ain't it. But how stupid are these lyrics? And they're like, yeah, mom, we know. We're doing a good job over here. Yeah, exactly. We're doing great. We're doing a good job. Yeah.

Starting point is 00:10:22 I don't really know. So, yeah. So yeah, therapy would have been a great thing for Jesse. And it's really sad that he didn't probably have access to that at that point. And he probably didn't have access to any of the things he needed to get himself back together after the... I mean, World War I, they're coming home. Everybody could have used somebody to talk to. Absolutely. And his wife was definitely not going to be that like shoulder to cry on or lean on or anything like that. She actually just like never offered her shoulders up for anything. Yeah, no, she did not. Now, needless to say they were. not great to their kids. And by not great, I mean, like, horrifically abusive. Now, Trudy, her mother, was a mother only in name. Like, yeah. No motherly. And she herself said, I hate being a mother.

Starting point is 00:11:12 I don't like kids. So why'd you do it seven times then? That's the thing. It's like, hmm, I don't know how we got that far. But she herself said she had trouble developing maternal connections with any of her children. She really had no interest in the whole mothering biz. She didn't even want to treat them with indifference. She was just mean. From the start? Just from the start. Just mean. She was particularly mean to Dorothea. Is Dorothea close to the youngest or more older? I believe Dorothea is the youngest girl. Youngest girl. So I don't know what the story is with that, but she was mean to all of them. And she was very neglectful to all of them. Like she didn't give a shit if they ate. She didn't give shit if they

Starting point is 00:11:53 bathed. Jesus. And neither did Jesse. And then Jesse was in and out of the hospital most of the time. So it was really just no one around. It was like fend for yourself. And the mother would actually just leave for days at a time, no matter how old the kids were, and then show back up.

Starting point is 00:12:07 Sometimes she would lock Dorothea and her younger brother in a closet for days while she took off and went on benders. What? Yeah. Yeah, just lock them in a closet. For days? Literal days. Yeah.

Starting point is 00:12:20 So we're talking about somebody that was made to be who they were. Yeah. And then she would come back and in all, I think either two out of the three books or all three books, I found this one like story where she would lock them in a closet for days. Come home, open the closet door. She'd be like had been drinking for days and doing who knows what. She'd vomit all over the house and then make them clean it up. What? Yeah.

Starting point is 00:12:45 That's just so bleak. It's so reading these things. I was like, like that happens. That literally happens to people. Oh, and it horrified. me that I can't even think about it too much because it makes my brain one of explode. No child ever deserves to have to like kids. Kids, just like kids be kids. That's the thing. Like that is just like such a force into like the real world and a strange real world that it's like

Starting point is 00:13:07 you just don't even need to know exist right now. Like you're a child. Just yeah. Don't worry about anything. Like just don't worry. Watch move on and live life. Worry about who your favorite, you know, what you want to be when you grow up and what your favorite color is this week. Yeah. What color you want me to paint your room? What you want for lunch? Yeah, exactly. Worry about whether you like baloney this week or not.

Starting point is 00:13:31 That's what you should worry about. Yeah, as a child, not cleaning up your mother's vomit. After she locked you in a closet for days to go party. So you're like weak and you haven't eaten and then she's like, cool, clean up my vomit. It's just, it's horrifying to think about it really is. Now, they also just didn't feed their kids, like I said. They just didn't do anything for them, but really hurt them. So the kids would all wander the streets at night.

Starting point is 00:13:53 lot of times asking people for food. And this is when a lot of trauma outside of the home happened to Dorothea, because she was often sexually assaulted during these outings by- She's a little girl just walking the streets. And by disgusting pieces of shit who saw this helpless little girl on the street. And took advantage. Yeah. And so, but whatever they, whenever they did run into neighbors who helped them and, you know, fed them, whether it was like day, night, because they would, they had neighbors who were like, we just fed them. Like, we just didn't know what to do. like we would bathe them, we would feed them, we would try to do something. A lot of the times, this was a neighborhood with a lot of Mexican families.

Starting point is 00:14:30 And Dorothea, like to the end said the ones who took her in and fed her and treated her like their own was mostly Mexican families. Yeah. And so she always said like they were the ones that took care of me. And they were the ones who I felt like who was my family. Yeah. And as we'll see later, she carries that on because as we're going to see Dorothea, is a pathological liar.

Starting point is 00:14:54 And to the point where like, I mean, it's clear that she had to kind of go into a fantasy world just to get out of her own world. And I think she took that into like, oh, she lies about everything. Took it to the end of degree. She uses this, I think she did see those families as her own because later she says she grew up in Mexico. Yeah. She, you know, her parents were this, her parents were that. Like, she kind of did take them on as like her surrogate. family in her fantasy world, which is sad. But then you find out what she does later and you're

Starting point is 00:15:27 like, but you're a demon. Like it's so, these kind of cases just always make my brain go crazy. But Dorothea did learn conversational Spanish while eating with these families. They were kind to her. And she uses that later. So at one point, the family had to move to Los Angeles because Jesse was literally bedridden and unable to work. So they had to move to Los Angeles because they needed to be closer to the VA hospital there. Okay. So Trudy at this point was having to kind of be the breadwinner for the family a little bit. And she turned to sex work. And the kids were also being sent out to work with farmers and other odd jobs. So Dorothy was only like four or five years old. And she was working in like, you know, like picking vegetables for entire days in like California heat.

Starting point is 00:16:15 In the heat, right. And she's a baby. Now when she was six years old, she and her siblings were actually removed from her parents' care. I was wondering when that was going to happen. I had a feeling that was coming. Now, this was after an aunt actually reported the abuse, the neglect, the disgusting conditions they lived in. So they were all split up and put with different relatives. It's so sad when that happens.

Starting point is 00:16:36 Yeah. And it's like, I know it's hard because it's a big clan of kids, but it's like, oh, like you just want them to stay together. Because the other thing we see is that Dorothea's older siblings kind of raised her. Of course. The parents weren't raising anybody. And her older siblings, and she said it, like, they took care of me. Like, they were my parents.

Starting point is 00:16:54 Right. So for them to be kind of taken away, it's like, that's sad. Because then not only are, like, you get dealt these shitty parents and then, like, your surrogate parents are taken away from you. Yeah, exactly. It's like, the whole thing is just really tragic. And it's just teaching you that the world is just, like, constantly going to shit all over you.

Starting point is 00:17:11 Yeah. And it's just a constant shift in who you can feel safe with and who you can't. So then you just never feel safe. No. When she, when she was younger, She was, you know, they asked her who you, who do you want to live with if you could live with somebody? And she said she wanted to live with her dad. Okay.

Starting point is 00:17:27 So it seems to me like her mom was a much harsher figure in her life. And her dad, I think, was just. Well, and I'm sure he was bedwarded. Well, I think that. I don't think he could, like, actively participate in as much abuse as his wife did. But, you know, he was neglectful and shitty as well. But I think out of the two of them, I guess he was the lesser of the winners. But she said she wanted to.

Starting point is 00:17:50 to live with her dad or her sister, her older sister. And she specifically said at six years old, she didn't want to live with her mother. Yeah, that tells you everything you need to know. At six years old, this child says, I don't want to live with my mother. And she said, mom drinks. And when she drinks, she gets really mean. At six years old. At six years old. You shouldn't even know that. My kids are not even six yet. And like right at six years old. I can't imagine. They don't even know what drinking in. I was just going to say. I can't even fathom them having that kind of knowledge of just like darkness. No, they shouldn't. Now, she did end up getting eventually back into her father's custody, but he was, this is when he was diagnosed with tuberculosis. And she was eight years old at this point. And she spent

Starting point is 00:18:37 the entire time she was with him taking care of him. And he died only a month later. Oh, man. So she got him for a month and then that was it. So this is when she is starting to really retreat into that fantasy world. She started doing the really classic serial killer thing where they don't just fantasize. Like, you know, everyone has or does fantasize about situations and things, but these kinds of people become obsessed with their fantasies. And they basically just totally retreat into them. Like, that is their real world now, is that fantasy world. Everything else doesn't exist. And they start to lose grip on what's real and what is a figment of their now highly active imagination. Right. Which can be great for like artists.

Starting point is 00:19:22 You know, like if they turn it into that way and they turn it into this amazing like, I'm going to create things and like, you know, that's what's going to make me happy and bring me some kind of validation. But then when it goes the other way, it's used for bad. And it can get really bad. Now, teachers and friends of hers were the ones that said that she was such a liar. Oh, man. Pathologically. This was obviously just to keep herself from fully living the traumatic life.

Starting point is 00:19:49 that was around her at all times. But she used a story a lot where she told her parents, she said her parents were like amazing people and that she was raised in Mexico with 17 siblings. She was the 18th of 17. Okay. So that was the lie she used a lot in her life. Yeah.

Starting point is 00:20:06 I don't know why. I don't know why 17 siblings. I wonder if she like made up personalities for them in her head and like they really were her siblings in her mind. Yeah. And maybe she just, maybe she collected from all those families that took care of her, the different people. Sure. It equals that.

Starting point is 00:20:20 Maybe. Now again, in 1937, at only eight, her mother really ramped up her alcoholic ways and the abuse got way worse. So she ended up going back to her mom's house after her father died? After her father died, she was able to get custody again. Jesus. Teachers at

Starting point is 00:20:37 the kids' school reported her and the kids again, like that they were clearly being neglected and abused, and they were removed again. So they were all put into the Church of Christ's home in Ontario, California. after her children were removed, Trudy just was like, cool, and ran away with her boyfriend, who was in a motorcycle gang.

Starting point is 00:20:56 Cool. She died the following year in an accident. So that was that. Like, she's eight years old. And she's been taken out of her home twice, and now she's a full-blown orphan. And, you know, she was put into different foster homes with, like, and she admitted later, like, lovely families who tried to help her. Right.

Starting point is 00:21:18 But she just wasn't, she couldn't handle it. And so she would run away. She'd get put with a relative. She'd run away. Right. Well, and she's just getting uprooted so many times. Like she doesn't even know what home is. I'm sure she just doesn't trust anyone.

Starting point is 00:21:29 Yeah. I'm just not trusting that anyone has my best interest in mind. In 1944, she moved in with her brother Jim, her older brother Jim and his wife Louise in Napa, California. She could see, so she was in high school. She did okay for like a minute and a half. And like, she was super popular. in high school because she told all these tall tales that made people think she was something she wasn't,

Starting point is 00:21:52 but it didn't last long at all. And she eventually ran away from her brother and sister-in-law's house and went back to one of those foster homes where her sister, I think, was staying. So she wanted to be with her sister at this foster home. She's trying to like grab onto something. Yeah. This family took her in. They tried to get her on the straight and arrow, but she ran again, refused to attend high school regularly. And by 16, she was out on her own. Oh no. Dorothy. Yeah, it's just not a good story so far. So in 1945, she ended up in Washington. She met some friends on the street because she was living on the street and started working in sex work. She was very, everyone said she was very beautiful growing up, like a very beautiful woman.

Starting point is 00:22:34 So, you know, she was easily able to make some money doing that work. So World War II also was going on and it was bringing back soldiers who they were trying to attempt into, you know. been away for a while. A date with, you know. So they've been away for a while. So one soldier was a 22-year-old guy named Fred McFall. Now initially, you know, he was just a client, but after spending time with her, he fell in love with her. And he would come back. See, why couldn't have ended here? I know, why couldn't have ended here? Pretty woman story. I wish it had ended here. Now, he would come back again and again. He would pay her extra money just to talk. Fred. Like, he just want to sit and talk with her. Literally pretty woman.

Starting point is 00:23:18 He was literally smitten and she seemed to be too. Yeah. One night he just proposed to her out of the blue and they ran away to Reno Nevada and they got married in 1946. Why didn't it end here? I know. Why can't the episode just be over and it's a happy one? She was 16. Her marriage certificate said she was 30.

Starting point is 00:23:37 Wow. And she said her name was Sheriel A. R.A. R. That's not her name. It's not. And he just loved. like her crazy-ass stories. Like he said he just thought they were great. Did he know how old she was?

Starting point is 00:23:53 I think he was not totally. I think he was not aware. I think he was not totally aware of how old she was. I think a lot of the lies were confusing and I think he's like, so what year were you literally born in? Yeah, I don't think he was totally aware of what was going on here. He was too smitten.

Starting point is 00:24:10 But he was just like, wow, she's adorable. Like she's just, she lies about everything. It's so cute. Like, that's going to get wonky later. Because again, her stories, most of the time were just innocuous, weird stories that you were like, that's kind of funny that you're just telling me. As we'll find out later, like, she said she was a rockette at one point. Like, there's stories that you're like, that's adorable.

Starting point is 00:24:34 Yeah, and it's not like harming you. You were a rocket. Like, you're not saying like you're double 07 and like, you know. And it's sad. Like, you're just like, okay, that's sad. Like, I wish you were a rocket, you know, like, why not? I don't wish Dorothy it was because she's. an asshole. But I wish like little Dorothea got to be a rocket. Yeah, like sometimes people who tell

Starting point is 00:24:50 these stories, you're just like, what are you missing? You know? And so like you feel bad. So I think that's where he was. He was like, it's cute and like kind of endearing that she does this. And she's this and she's this beautiful girl and like she's sweet. She's been through a lot. He's been through a lot. And he actually was quoted as saying she could pass for anyone she wanted to be by the way she acted. I don't know where she would come up with this shit out of the clear blue sky. I don't know where she came up with this shit. And for a while, things were fine. Like, just fine. But that I'm sure those lies escalated. Not wonderful, not horrible. Just fine. Like, the marriage was fine. He worked at a bar, but he was starting to, like, kind of get over the bullshit at, like, he was working at a bar. He's bringing home

Starting point is 00:25:30 money. She's still just kind of like bullshitting about everything. And he's like, this was really cute in the beginning, but like, you got to start living real life. Yeah, like, can we stop this whole thing? And he was worried that, you know, he was like, maybe like, maybe she's like sick. Like something's wrong. Like, why is she lying so much? Well, and I'm sure like the lies about her life started changing into lies about just like day to day and he was, he was concerned. Exactly. And he was for, she was forgetting like what lies she told. So she would like lie about a lie. And he was like, okay, this is getting too much.

Starting point is 00:26:01 Yeah. So things were all great, but they certainly, I mean, they were not wonderful, but it was certainly not her parents' marriage. Right. That kind of horrible. But just like, It's not going great. So that same year in 1946, she actually gave birth to their first daughter. And then immediately another daughter the following year. So it sounds like, okay. Yeah. Love love.

Starting point is 00:26:22 She was her mother, unfortunately. Oh, so she started drinking. She hated being a mother immediately. Immediately said she wanted nothing to do with that child. To me, I'm also like, is this postpartum depression and she was never diagnosed? I was actually going to ask that when we were talking about. talking about her mother. I wonder if she was suffering postpartum. Thank you. Can that be generational? I'm not, I don't know about that.

Starting point is 00:26:46 I believe if like your mother suffered from it, you might be more prone to it. And I know it's like one of those things you just like have no idea. It's a toss up. This to me sounds like postpartum, but there are just people who don't like being mothers. But I feel like then don't become one. But well, and don't do it again. Yeah. If you don't like it the first time, you probably not going to like the second. You're probably not going to like the second time. But to me, I'm like, I wonder if because this is in the 40s and shit, they're not diagnosing postpartum depression back then, like willy-nilly.

Starting point is 00:27:18 So it's like, to me, this sounds like that. And it's really sad if that's the case. When they did diagnose postpartum depression, the shit they put you on was like meth. And it's like this was times when it was like you're just a hysterical woman and you don't know anything. You know, so it's like, this is one of those things when I'm like, shit. Like this didn't have a chance. Now, again, she hated being a mother immediately.

Starting point is 00:27:39 She started drinking just like her mother, and she got mean as fuck. And right away, she simply decided, I don't want these kids. So she just gave them away. What? Yep. She had one go live with a relative, and another one was just sent to foster care. Now, the second daughter, she literally went into labor while Fred was at work, didn't tell him, just went, had the baby, and then just came home and came home without a baby. And he was like, what now? And she was like, oh, I give it away.

Starting point is 00:28:11 And well, what about the, was he not concerned about the first one? Her husband had not agreed to this. And he was heartbroken. Like, Fred was like, I did not want to give up these children. And I especially did not agree to give up the second one. And he actually tried desperately to get his daughter back, but she had signed away rights. So he couldn't get her back. What? I believe later they connected the father, Fred and the child. But the marriage could not be repaired after this. You gave away his children. Yeah, after that was like, okay.

Starting point is 00:28:43 But Fred did try to make it work for a little while because he truly believed she was, like, sick. I mean, I think she was. And she would just leave for weeks after this and not contact him. And then the next year in 1948, she got pregnant again. No, stop that. Fred, don't try again. It's not Fred's baby. Oh, okay.

Starting point is 00:29:04 And unfortunately, you. she miscarried and Fred divorced her because he was like, that's not mine. So I think that's the final straw. He's like, I think my work here is done. I think you're getting pregnant by some other man is probably my final straw after you gave away our child. I'm really surprised it wasn't giving away the children that. Yeah. I think it was that and then it was like, whoop, okay, this is the cherry on top. Now, she just kept online. She kept going. She told stories about everything. And she was 19 at this point and now had lost everything and everyone. Like she didn't have any family. Emily, she lost Fred, she gave away the two children. I was surprised Fred didn't try to have her like put somewhere. Yeah, he didn't.

Starting point is 00:29:41 I know back then it was. And honestly, yeah, one of her husbands does. So she has many husbands. Now, she told people Fred was actually, when they asked, she would say he was a war hero and had died in battle. Okay. Fred was very much alive. Yeah.

Starting point is 00:29:56 But that's the kind of stuff she would do. Like, I'm just 19 and I'm a widow because my brave husband died in battle. And it's like, no, Fred's just always. over there. You just fenced right over to the point where you literally couldn't anymore. So she went back to California and she just worked like odd jobs and was trying to figure out ways to get ahead because now she's struggling. She's on her own again.

Starting point is 00:30:20 Now, her ways to do this were to steal and to con because those are the things she's good at. So she forged checks and stole money whenever she could. She would pickpocket. Eventually she was caught in the act of forging a check and was arrested. Yeah, not good. After being arrested at 19 years old, the first ever time she was seen by a doctor was when she was in custody. That's the only time she had ever gone to a doctor? 19 years was never seen by a doctor.

Starting point is 00:30:49 That is horrific. As a child, she was never seen in a doctor. That's horrible. Yeah. And a psychiatric evaluation showed that Dorothea, basically they were like she's a sad, neglected human who stole just to impress and fantasized about a better life. Like that's basically like she's stealing to be, you know, she's stealing to buy clothes so she looks like she's a fancy woman. She's just doing it because she wants people to think she's this person.

Starting point is 00:31:15 She's not. Right. Now, basically the doctor said she didn't like necessarily committing the crimes, but she did it because it was necessary to cultivate that life she wanted to portray. And to get by. Yeah. Now, she was sentenced to a year and only served four months. But while she was there, she learned to pickpocket and she would spend days,

Starting point is 00:31:34 practicing signatures to get better at forging. And nobody was like keeping tabs on that. Sounds like she might like it. Sounds like she digs it. Now, in 1952, she met a Swedish man named Axel Johansson. Yeah, she did. And she married him. Axel Johansson, of course you fucking marry him.

Starting point is 00:31:52 He was a dick. You don't marry him, okay. He was a merchant seaman. And to him, she said she was Taya Singawala. And now Johansson, she like hyphenated. But Tea was her name. That's a pretty name. She was, he said, she said that her father was Egyptian and her mother was from Israel.

Starting point is 00:32:12 That was not true. She was also a former rocket. That's where this comes in. Oops, there it is. But she didn't do that anymore in case you were wondering. She gave up, right rocket days. No, during a performance with said rockets, a girl next to her, rocketing, she snapped her heels. Her heels snapped.

Starting point is 00:32:31 And it sent them flying into the orchestra pit because she fell around. right on her. And Dorothy, you got a broken leg. She broke a leg. Oh, and she had been recruited into the Rockets by just being approached in a department store. And she took that job in the Rockets at the risk of abandoning her previous job, which do you want to know what that previous job was? Obviously. Being a world renowned chef in a world renowned restaurant. Nice to meet you. I am Julia Child. Yes. Now, she also shared. the lie about her husband being a war hero before this and dying in battle. Whoa.

Starting point is 00:33:09 So Axel got like an earful of just bullshit. Imagine that first date. Yeah, he was like, whoa. He's like, you've gone through it, lady. And she even went as far to say like the girl who like her heel snapped and shit, like she was like paralyzed or something in the fall. Like she went really far into it. Now Axel was away on business lot.

Starting point is 00:33:29 He's a merchant seaman. So and neighbors would like kind of like snitch and tell him that men. showed up all the time when he was gone. I mean, fair. Yeah, I mean, like, this isn't one of those, like, Snitches get Snitches thing. It's like, he has a right to know. Like, he has a right to know. Now, soon he noticed his money was being drained.

Starting point is 00:33:48 She was gambling. She was drinking a lot. And it was with his money. So she didn't love him. This was just a place to, like, live for a while to get by. She was also telling more stories about being friends, like, best friends with Rita Hayworth, spending time with JFK and Jackie O. Like, cool, go with them then.

Starting point is 00:34:06 Like, damn, like make it happen, girl. So. Jockio comes up so frequently in true crime. Like, why? Jackio is just like around. She is. It's around. So, unfortunately, Axel and her started fighting like cats and dogs.

Starting point is 00:34:18 And then he discovered that she was still involved in sex work and she lied about it. It's an issue. So he also became abusive after this. Like, once he found these things out, he was being abusive. So it was just an all-around terrible situation. This whole entire story is a shitstorm. It really is. Now, she also around this time claimed to be a holistic doctor.

Starting point is 00:34:43 No, you can't just say that. You can because apparently she just started treating neighbors and shit. Like neighbors were having her treat them. Now, she was saying that back growing up in Mexico, she was a traveling holistic healer and she would go from like village to village and treat people. That'd be great if it was true. And she didn't grow up in Mexico. That's just like that right there is false.

Starting point is 00:35:04 lies. And you are certainly not a holistic doctor. Survey says, no. But I guess she would spend a lot of time she loved, like, reading about medicine and medical stuff. You do too. Yeah, you're not a doctor. You might know some shit, but like that does not make you a doctor, my dude. I like reading about like old Hollywood starlets, but I am not an old Hollywood starlet. You're not? Did I make up that? Is Starlet a word? Starlet? Starlet. I think of it. But I like Starlet. I'm a starlet. It's like Violet. Yeah, live it. That's it.

Starting point is 00:35:35 Learn it. Love it. All right. So she secretly opened up a couple of brothels at this point. Actually did. Like literally. Okay. Sorry.

Starting point is 00:35:43 Yeah. I was like, no, she really did. But I was like, oh no, she lies a lot. Yeah. No, this is like reality. She really opened a couple of brothels behind her husband, Axel's back. Pretty baller, I think. Very baller.

Starting point is 00:35:58 And unfortunately was caught when a building manager suspected something crazy was happening in his building. Yeah, that's risky business. You had to be pretty careful about that. It's almost exactly risky business, but it wasn't easy, though. No, this wasn't easy, though, because she had it seem like it was a real business. She had a lot of things like buttoned up with this stuff. She made it look like it was an actual, just like storefront. Sure. They even had a secret number that you had to get invited to use to call. I love that. And when you called, they would tell you the special. And their special was a blowjob that was for. $7.50.

Starting point is 00:36:35 That's a pretty expensive blowjob for back then, huh? I guess. I don't know what they go for. I just, I found that in every source I read and I just had to share it. People love to talk about blowjobs, I guess. Who doesn't love that? So the police did an undercover sting at one of the brothels to catch her. And they caught her red-handed, but it was so strange.

Starting point is 00:36:53 Red-handed? Almost, actually. So it was strange. I read in a ton of places that these cops used this powder on their hands. And they actively touched Dorothea and the other workers to mark them to make their case. What? I literally, because I literally wrote, what next? What does that mean?

Starting point is 00:37:16 Like one woman led one of the undercover detectives back to like start because they had to pretend they were like clients. Sure. And like to start the whole shebang. And he touched her leg and ass to mark her. So that later they could be like see, like they would use a UV light and be like, look. what? Isn't that wild? That's like something you would see in an old movie and be like, what the fuck? Thank you. I mean, this is the 40s, so I get like, but still, what? I also love that they're like, we are not going to remember any of these women by eyesight, even though we are literal policemen.

Starting point is 00:37:49 So we have to literally touch their ass to make sure that we can be like, yep, that was the one. Also, I'm like, can't you just like grab her face just to like nicely? It's to like prove that they allowed them like the transaction took place, but still like, wild. Like, that's a wild way to do that. Just let them run a brothel. Okay, I don't know. Just fuck off. No, she tried to convince the judge that she had no idea she was in a brothel when the cops came. But that fell apart because when they had come undercover to the brothel, she had greeted them, explained the rules, introduced her to a girl that would service them, and also had allowed them to touch her boobs for free. So, like, they knew this was true also.

Starting point is 00:38:29 Because they used a UV light to see that the powder was marked on her boobs. This is not real. This is one of Dorothea's lives. I wish it was. Like, is this a recount from her? This is real. This is real. No, it's not.

Starting point is 00:38:46 She ended up getting 90 days, but only because they lessen the charge, because she was pretty charming. And she only got charged for being in a house of ill repute. Ill repute. So she only got 90 days for it. Okay. and felt up by a couple of cops. For that sting that, like, never happened. Yeah, I can't believe it.

Starting point is 00:39:04 It was a lot. I read it in one book and I was like, no, I think this author is wrong. And then I read, I started. You're like, you've pressed into incorrect key. I don't know about this. And I started reading another one. I get to that point in time. And I'm like, if they don't say this, then I know that other one was false.

Starting point is 00:39:20 And then I'm like, oh my God, it's in this one. Then I'm like, Google, go, go, go, go. And I found it. And it was in there. And I was like, holy shit, this is real. Like, this is what happened. Wow. No, she and Axel stayed married for three more years.

Starting point is 00:39:33 Oh, I even forgot about him. But it seemed, but again, it became abusive. So it was just like not a happy time. And it seemed a very weird pattern with her husbands that they would be like infatuated with her, be so amused by her crazy tall tales, and then get really angry and annoyed by her and her stories. Like, it was like this. Does that sound like a little bit familiar to you?

Starting point is 00:39:54 It's like a weird, like little, why? Who are we thinking of? I can't say, but like, that's a, I feel like that's a thing. Oh, I think I know what you're talking. Do you know what I mean, though? I was like, wait, what? Yeah, no, you do see that happen with a lot of people who like to lie. Like, I think I, because like you said, like in the beginning when she was married to the first guy, Fred, it was like, it's cute and it's endearing.

Starting point is 00:40:19 And like they have a way of, hurting anyone. Well, and they have a way of charming you too. And then it's kind of like those lies start to then affect your relationship and that's not cute anymore. That's the thing. It's like then those lies become things that are hurting you and things that, because then it's the lies are now affecting you. They're now being directed at you or about you or someone you care about. And like I hate to like armchair diagnose since I'm like not credible at all. But like she's clearly got a personality disorder of sorts. Oh yeah. I think it I would love to see her seen by a psychiatrist or a doctor. You know, I said a psychiatrist or a doctor. They were both doctors. Doctors. There I go. double talking. Now, I love to see her, like, seen by, like a professional today if she was around.

Starting point is 00:41:05 But I would love to see what they said about her. Well, even it would be interesting to see if somebody could, like, study her life. Like, a doctor could study her life and say, hey, she probably had this, this and this. Yeah, like, which I think it's, like, hard to do in retrospect, but it's, sure. If she, we could just, like, reanimate her real quickly and put her in front

Starting point is 00:41:21 of a doctor and be like, can you help? What's going on this? And then just get rid of her again. And then it's sad because she could have been, potentially, treated. Yeah, I think it was, yeah. Do you think that she believed her lies? I think there were times when she, it seems to me, like there were times when she believed some of her lies. I think other ones were just kind of to make herself feel more. Better. I wonder if the ones that she believed were the ones that she used to cope through childhood. Yeah. And then kind of just like trailed off from there. Yeah, I think that was where it got.

Starting point is 00:41:50 That's definitely obviously where it began was her coping mechanism just to get through her childhood, which is sad. And it's like a learned behavior over time. Now, in 1961, Axel did have committed to a psychiatric hospital. Yeah, good. Yeah, but she ran away and left him while he was away at sea. Bad. He divorced her in 1966.

Starting point is 00:42:12 Okay. And I guess like they separated before that, but the divorce didn't go through until 1966. So now she needs to make money again on her own. She's still attempting to make something of herself. So she's like, you know what? what do I know? What do I know? How do I know, like, what to do? Brothels. So, you know, brothels, unfortunately, did not work out. Too high risk. Yeah, they were too high, too weird, man.

Starting point is 00:42:35 The way that ended, I'd be like, yeah, that got weird. Never again. But she was like, you know what? I know alcoholics. Okay. So you're like, where, where do you go from there? So she could spot a person down on their luck from a mile away. She knew what they wanted. She knew how to get things from them. And so she decided she was going to open a boarding house. and she was going to take in alcoholics and other addicts or people down on their luck. And she said, you know, I'm going to try to, her whole thing, like, outwardly was like, I'm going to try to take care of them and have a place they can go where I can be like their house mother.

Starting point is 00:43:10 House mother. Yeah, like house mother. But in reality, she was like, oh, I can con the fuck out of them. Wow. Yeah. So this was her, she knew she had to do long cons if this was going to work because the forging and stealing had worked in the short term. before, but it's not going to work forever. So she's really, she's like, I got to work with this. I got to

Starting point is 00:43:32 open the house. I got to make it an actual place. I can't just like put it up like a facade. I have to actually gain these people's trust. I have to get them to give me over their financial shit. Like, I don't have to really work for this. Never give anyone your financial shit. Which this is where it gets like really scary with Dorothea because it's not like she was just forging checks and doing all this like other bad shit, she was playing these long cons where she would have to like really put in the work at the time, the effort to get to know these people, get them to trust her, like really become part of their lives and like get them to feel like they, she cared about them. And then she would either fuck them over or kill them. And it's like, how do you not, like you see people down

Starting point is 00:44:19 on their luck? You've been down on your luck before. Like you grew up like that. Yeah. Like your whole life you've been down on your luck. How do you then fuck over those people after forming relationships with them? Yeah. Like how do you have no empathy? And you know what? She knew a lot of these people were mainly were getting government assistance and that's what she was after. She was like, well, I'm just going to get them to sign those checks over to me. Right. Or I'm just going to forge those checks to myself. And this is just an easier way to steal money. It's going to be a long way to do it, but I think it'll give me the most money. It's also like, which like, damn. Yeah, I just, I can't. So this is when she opened up the Samaritans, she called it, which was a halfway house run by her.

Starting point is 00:45:01 She was going by Sharon Johansson at this point. She kept Axel's last name. Of course. This was a totally illegal and unlicensed operation. She at one point hired a guy named T.J. Hossley, I think it was, who was in his mid-20s and he was kind of her right-hand man, like working on the property. They always have one. You always have a right-hand man. At Jen Shaw.

Starting point is 00:45:24 At Hamilton. I need my right-hand man back. Yes. You're out there. I know there. I know there. I know there's people out there going, I need my right-hand man back.

Starting point is 00:45:32 I know it. I know it. They're out there. I know you're out there. I hear you. I hear you. That's a great song. But when she was away from the boarding home,

Starting point is 00:45:42 he would be the one to kind of run things. Yeah. Now, it opened in 1966, the same year that the divorce went through with Axel. That's a crazy year for her. Crazy year. It had two dozen rooms. in the house. How fuck did she buy that? She filled up quickly. She was,

Starting point is 00:45:57 you got a place with two dozen rooms. I don't know. I must have, I'm sure they were not all bedrooms either. Like, you know, there were random rooms that she would make into rooms. No, she hired, or excuse me, I was like, she hired this guy that I just told you about. She would take in, you know, addicts, people down on their luck, people that were vulnerable, needed some help, needed to be on the right path. And her only requirement was for the, them to hand over their government check and make her the payee on them. I would be like, but why do I need to do that though? Well, basically financial control.

Starting point is 00:46:33 And a lot of these places, these other places were not great to go to like the shelters and all that. Like they weren't great. So she knew that this was a better option for a lot of them so that they would do it. Because it was kind of like in desperation. Yeah. Now she was making sure she was known in the community now too. She's trying to, she wants to get a rep because remember her whole life.

Starting point is 00:46:53 has been I got to build this reputation for myself but she's never been able to do it. This is her time to do it. She's going to make up a life now. So she wanted to be known for being kind and charitable, trustworthy, and it worked. She was the kind grandmother who spent her time helping and homing those who needed it. And the same year she opened the Samaritans, she met a Mexican-American named Roberto Jose Puente. Does that last name sound familiar? He was 20 years younger than her.

Starting point is 00:47:26 Ooh, a cool guy. They got close very quickly and got married in Mexico City. Their marriage was immediately not awesome because he was a big old cheater and she was not psyched about it. Okay. However, you've cheated on your last two husbands. So, like, I'm not saying, like, you deserve it or something. You deserve that.

Starting point is 00:47:49 But it's like, you're not okay with it. like you're not okay with it being done to you but you're okay with doing it do as i say not as i do but like that's not fair that's how she's living her life do as i say not as i do that's just like the double standard of the century there's a lot of double standards here he had many affairs uh right when they got married like he was just like right out and about like is it sad yes but like did you do the same thing yes yeah and there was an incident in uh the book let me just bring it up it's in the book the corpse collector and this incident was just like wild to me where infidelity you know was found out it became a fight and Roberto had punched one of the homes handiemen

Starting point is 00:48:32 in response like I guess why did the handyman because I think the handyman was kind of blamed for telling dorothea okay saw something that Roberto was doing it got snishes coming back so there's all this like you know intrigue and mystery and so he's like I'm going to punch this handyman because he told on me, basically. Like, punch yourself, and then the problem will be solved. Well, and Dorothea literally knocked Roberto out with one punch in response. She sent him down a fucking flight of stairs, which is spousal abuse, and that's not okay. You can't be out here doing those things.

Starting point is 00:49:05 Like, sure, is it awesome that he's cheating on you and you found out? No, of course not. But he can't punch your significant other man, woman, you know, it's just not. You can't punch anyone. He can. No, stop. Yeah, don't be punching. Hands to yourself.

Starting point is 00:49:17 Use your words, you know. Words can cut deep. I'm telling you, they can't. They really can. Get a thesaurus and fuck him up. Yeah, and so, yeah, so she literally knocked him out down a flight of stairs with one punch, which is, whoa. She packed a punch rate. Yeah, he stole Dorothy's car and fled back to Mexico City.

Starting point is 00:49:38 So unfortunately, this whole incident became very messy for the boarding house because it was found out that she was having like domestic violence incident. in that house and it caused the city to shut down the Samaritan house, which wasn't even real in the first place. Which wasn't at real house anyway. The chaos in this story. So much chaos. Like I feel like sometimes I haven't heard this all. Yeah. Yep. That sentence made sense. Anyways. Yep. So the marriage was over obviously at this point. It was. There was really no coming back from that. And she lied about why, of course. She said that they met when, you know, he was 14 at one point. And I'm not sure why. That makes the story worse,

Starting point is 00:50:20 weird stories. Somehow she repaired her reputation after this, though. She was able to come back. She's always coming back. Yeah. People thought, you know, she was just a kind lady who got tangled up with some bad people. Yeah. They were like, let's give her another chance.

Starting point is 00:50:34 So in the 1970s, she opened up another boarding home. Another one. This was a 16-bedroom Victorian house. It was at 210F Street in Sacramento, California. Now, this becomes a place where even those who were turned down by every other boarding home, shelter, halfway house, they would be accepted here. Of course. Because she wants your money. Exactly.

Starting point is 00:50:58 She had a reputation for no judgment, specialized care. She changed her image completely. She had a full staff for this house, and she was, like, beloved. Wow. Yeah. That is so bizarre. Isn't it weird? There were holiday meals at this home.

Starting point is 00:51:12 We're social workers. She would invite all the social workers to come and have a big holiday. holiday meal at this house. And it's so fucking scary that she's, this is all a facade. This is hilarious that you just said that because with my next slide in here, it says, but this was a facade. I love that we are always on the same. We're just like, you're like, you know what this is? It's a facade.

Starting point is 00:51:35 I didn't even see a notes. And I'm like, yeah, it is. Like, we're sitting across from each other. Because sure, she treated those tenants well because she took, you know, she took care of them. Because she has to. She was treating them well. But they were the ones. Who she had, now the one she was treating well were the ones that she had convinced to give her their entire check and complete control of their finances to her. Yes.

Starting point is 00:51:54 Anyone else who wouldn't give complete control, but would maybe give like a check or something here and there, she would literally keep in the basement. Nice. With no privacy and no lights. Good. There was no lights down there, just dark. Lovely. That should have told everybody something right there. Well, no one knew that.

Starting point is 00:52:10 That's the thing she kept them hidden. When social workers and things would come over, she would just, whoop. I'd be like, no one lives down there. I live down here. I live down here. They all shared one toilet down there. Oh, no. One tenant later said that there were like little cubicles with curtains separating them,

Starting point is 00:52:26 and that's what their room floor down there. That's awful. She also wouldn't allow anyone to get the mail except for her in that whole house. Nobody could have mail. No one could send mail because she was taking all their checks. Normal. Now, she also pretended to be a doctor again and literally set up a medical office in a room in the house.

Starting point is 00:52:44 She had fake diplomas and shit on the wall. Stop. Which we've heard many times happening. She claimed she was a surgeon. She purchased medical tools. She gave people injections and called them vitamin shots. What were they? Not real sure.

Starting point is 00:53:01 Not real sure. In fact, she even convinced this is wild. She convinced an actual doctor who would come by to check on the tenants every once in a while. He invited her to be his assistant. and he didn't ask for any credentials to sir she was that charming and convincing sir yeah sir doctor what what the amount of times that i've heard like and then and then we realized he didn't even have any credentials i'm like i'm going to call my doctor and be like listen guy i really like you a lot but like do you have any credentials i could fucking look at yeah like it's always like and then i realized

Starting point is 00:53:41 he didn't even have any fingerprints. And it's like, what? And then I realized, he was a figment of my imagination. He was a pod person. It was crazy. Yeah, that's not good. He was a fever dream. Everyone just needs to stop just being like, wow, this person is charming and charismatic.

Starting point is 00:53:56 They're probably telling the truth. Not always. Not always, my friends. Now, the thing is, she was doing everything right, according to outside optics. Sure. This looks great. She was taking care of her tenants. She kept the home immaculate.

Starting point is 00:54:10 She was sweet, intelligent. She was ready to help anyone, according to everyone. But the only thing people kept finding off-putting and weird was her crazy-ass stories that she was still telling. She was habitually in fantasy land. And people were like, it's cute, kind of, like, kind of funny, but it's weird as fuck. Like, why is she telling all these weird stories? Like, people would be like, she's great. She's awesome.

Starting point is 00:54:34 Like, they're not even believable. But people are like, why does she lie so much? Like, it's weird. So the first possible victim that we haven't heard, the one that we know of, was an alcoholic man who found himself without a home. His name was Chief. That's what they called him. Puente stated that she was actually, she was like, I basically adopted him. Okay.

Starting point is 00:54:59 And made her, like basically made him like the handyman for the house and let him stay there. Uh-huh. Now, she also had him dig in the basement a lot. and the basement floor was then covered with a concrete slab. Uh-huh. He also was later tasked with taking down a garage in the backyard and putting another concrete slab over there. Okay.

Starting point is 00:55:22 Then he just disappeared. So he, like, don't know where he is. Yep. Question mark. Yeah. Don't know. So that was the first weird occurrence to happen that he just disappeared. And everyone in the house was like,

Starting point is 00:55:38 one day. We didn't know where he went. He just wasn't there one day and Dorothea wouldn't talk about it. Okay, wait, imagine if you were like living in that house when all of this came to light. Oh, my God. Because people were living in that house when it came to light. Oh, yeah. Can you imagine sitting there and being like, I could have been, like, she may have been plotting for me next.

Starting point is 00:55:56 Oh, there's many people that were like, oh, I literally just got away from that. Wow. And we'll see in part two is where it gets like real like, whoa, okay, she's going to ham. Now, she's also living with a new identity. at this point. Like, she's really trying to cultivate as many different identities she can. And this time she decided that she's going to be very passionate about the arts and music scene. Alrighty.

Starting point is 00:56:19 And the, you know, the community. So she was starting to donate to charities in the area. And she was actually, like, helping Latinx artists, like, get exposure. That was her thing. She really wanted to get them played on the local radios and stuff. Because, again, she was very. that's one thing she stayed true to is that these are the people who helped her

Starting point is 00:56:43 when she needed it the most as a child. So she did want to. To pay back. Do something. That's why she's such like a broken human because it's like there's pieces of her that are good. That want to be a good person.

Starting point is 00:56:57 But then there's pieces of her that are actual evil. And it's like, where? Never the two shall meet. Like it's just I don't know. She couldn't get a grasp on, I think, well, she obviously got a grasp on the evil part. She just could never get that grasp on the truly giving a shit about anyone else part. Yeah, I think it's one of those things where had she grown up in a different home,

Starting point is 00:57:19 this probably wouldn't have been what she did. Yeah, because I don't think she would have had to feel like she had to be what she wasn't, but I don't know. You know, because she does. You can't say. The shit she does is so evil that it's like, and it takes such long exposure to her victims. And it's like, that's where. Yeah, that's where.

Starting point is 00:57:37 crazy part. My brain just can't comprehend it. Now, she actually became known as the godmother of the artists for a while in the community. Wow. Because she would do so much for them. Now, the money she was using to donate to these charities was stolen money. Right. So it's like, this was all bullshit. It's all a facade. Now, Puente married for the fourth time on August 28th, 1976. This man's name was Pedro Montalvo. He worked on the grounds initially at the boarding home, actually. and he was also a tenant at one point. He was physically abusive and a pretty raging alcoholic. The marriage only lasted a few months and was an old.

Starting point is 00:58:18 But she kept that last name for a while. And she did this so she could just make up a new identity she needed to. Now she began donating to political campaigns at this point. She was like, no, I'm going to get in with them. And really, like, she John Wayne Gaseyed that. Like, she wanted to get, like, hip to hip with actual politicians to really, like, make herself seem very credible. Well, and she might have needed them at some point. Exactly. And politicians loved her. She was at events dancing with governors and shit. Like, she started bringing in women

Starting point is 00:58:49 who were from abused homes to the boarding home. And they literally saw her as a mother or like a grandmother. They called her that. She was kind to them and actually mothered them, which is weird. Like they weren't her kids, but they said she was very motherly with them. Which is weird because she didn't want to be a mother. children, which is, which does make me wonder about the postpartum thing, for sure. Because they did that, that wasn't a factor here. Right. So, because there weren't all the hormones associated with that. It's interesting. She gave money to tenants' families when they were in need and shit. Like that's, that's, but this was all stolen money. But it's not her money.

Starting point is 00:59:23 Exactly. So it's like, you're like, oh, well, that's nice. No. But I mean, I guess in her money. In her mind, it is her money. It's just weird. Now, suddenly she told everyone she was sick with terminal cancer. And she drew up a will and left everything she owned. She was going to leave them to the charities and her adopted women of the boarding house. That's what she said. This was all bullshit. She did have like a cancerous lesion, like a pre-cancerous lesion removed from the tip of her nose.

Starting point is 00:59:49 Okay. But it was all fake. Everything else. So again, this is all stolen. It's like stolen checks, government assistance, social security, all stolen from her tenants. And if you can lie about having cancer. Yeah, that's where things get real hairy. What the fuck is wrong with you?

Starting point is 01:00:06 Who you are as a human being. That's when your soul is trashed. You're disgusting. It's officially trashed. Like, there's no. Yeah. No. And she's funding her reputation and societal standing on the people she was, quote,

Starting point is 01:00:20 taken care of. That's what she's doing. Now, in 1977, a former tenant took her shit down. Oh. Now, Robert Davis. Were they living in the basement? Well, Robert Davis was in prison actually at the time, and he was not receiving his social security checks, and he was a former tenant. Sure.

Starting point is 01:00:42 He called to check it out. He's like, why am I not receiving these? And he found out that they were being cashed. Of course. He immediately started thinking about Dorothea because she had access to them while he lived there. He reported her immediately, and an investigation found out that she forged her name to at least 34 other social security checks. Whoa. That's a lot of money. That's a lot. And she actually tried to claim that he had allowed her to do this and even said that he signed the check in front of prison guards.

Starting point is 01:01:11 But she was lying. She just lied. Did they believe her? And no, the prison guards were like, no, she didn't. Like, no, that didn't happen. Did she not think that they were going to be like, nah, that didn't happen. It's like when people lie like this, though, they don't think they don't think they'll get caught. They don't think anyone is smart enough to like catch up with them. Because they're also just thinking from one lie to the next. Yeah, exactly. They're not thinking like long game. Now they caught her, obviously, in the fly. She ended up with probation and a fine, but they also made her give up for like 30 security checks. She was able to talk herself out of a lot. Because she would come off to. Yeah, and she would come off too as like an elderly grandmother type. Right. Like that was her thing.

Starting point is 01:01:50 She would use that. She looks like it. She looks like a sweet grandma. Yeah. And it's like she would use that shit. I said in the beginning of this, like if I walked past her, I'd be like, oh, hi, how are you? Look at a sweet grandma. Oh, cutie.

Starting point is 01:02:00 She knew how to use it. It's scary. It scares me. When she was younger, she knew how to use her looks because she was really pretty. Then when that started to change a little bit and she was getting older, she saw that she was getting more when she was a little like matronly grandmother. Yeah. So she knows how to play it, man.

Starting point is 01:02:17 But they also forced her to give up the boarding house during this. So she had to get rid of it again and she had to go to extensive therapy. So she went to extensive therapy then? Well, she did. But like, she didn't go to extensive therapy. She went to like one psychiatrist for like a minute and a half. And she was like, that'll do it. And at that point, like, they're not like checking up on these things.

Starting point is 01:02:38 Why, though? Like, check up on that. Her doctor at the time was Dr. Thomas Moody. He diagnosed her with chronic undifferentiated schizophrenia. Yeah. I know. That's what I was like, I don't know what they came from. But okay.

Starting point is 01:02:54 Also, at this point, her reputation was done, obviously, because she got arrested again. Yeah. Because now there was access too to her whole background as a felon, a thief, a frauder, an owner of a brothel, all the crime she committed. They're like they're now all linked together. And right there in the open. Now she moved to Stockton and had to go back to working like, you know, odd jobs scrounging together money again. She's still trolling bars at night looking for older men to scam. She was still forging checks and got caught but somehow snaked out of it again.

Starting point is 01:03:29 So in 1979, she had got work as, are you ready? No. A nurse's aide for elderly patients. What? Mm-hmm. Why? Yep, she lied her way into it. Who signed off on that?

Starting point is 01:03:42 She has no credentials. Again, I'm going to, my head's going to explode. Remember, this is the time when, like, anyone would apparently believe you if you were kind of charismatic. Like, what? In that same year, she met a guy named Ricardo O'Darica at a bar called Joe's Corn. And she approached him because she said she heard that he had a second floor apartment for rent. He did, but it was unfinished. And he was like, do you really want it?

Starting point is 01:04:07 It's not done yet. And he had just purchased this home. It was a Victorian home on 1426F Street in Sacramento. Oh, same street. Hello. And he had bought it for his wife and his two daughters. He was like working on it. And she told him she wanted to rent that second floor apartment.

Starting point is 01:04:25 And she didn't care to see it first because she loved that neighborhood. She was like, I lived there once. I loved that place. Okay. Yeah. So she told him, you know, I'm in the medical fields. And she was like, I'll do the repairs myself to the apartment. You don't have to worry about it. I'm in the medical field. So I'll do the repairs. So I'll do the construction work. Those two correlate. Definitely. She also told them how she lived in castles before. She was a very wealthy woman. She had lived in castles.

Starting point is 01:04:50 I lived in a castle and now I'd like to rent your second floor apartment. Well, and he asked that. He was like, what? He was like, this is not exactly a castle. castle. Exactly. And she said, well, you know, I've fallen on hard times and I'm not above like doing this. And he was like, all right. Well, the family loved her. They loved her. She babysat the kids. Stop that. Can you fucking imagine. Dare I say again. If Dorothea aponte babysat your motherfucking children. No. What? But she babysat those kids and they loved her. What? She tutored Ricardo and his wife Veronica in English. Like, she was a lovely tenant.

Starting point is 01:05:28 I'm so confused. She is very scary with how she can like flip right into it. She has made it her whole life to fit into roles and damn she can do it. And she fit that. And it's weird that she wanted to be a grandmother. She's going to be a grandmother. So what's she gaining from them? Well, we'll see.

Starting point is 01:05:46 Now she had to leave, like she was living there. She had to leave for a period of time, but she kept the apartment because she told them I have to go take care of this elderly patient. I have to give her a lot of time. So I'm going to be out of the apartment for a while. Now this patient was in her 70s. She was terribly ill. This woman was Esther Busby. Esther was having this weird illness where she would be fine and then suddenly get super sick and have to be hospitalized.

Starting point is 01:06:11 When Dorothea was around. Reach the brink of death and then be fine again. It happened over and over like clockwork. And Dorothea was her caretaker. And weirdly this all started once she became working for her. Now, social workers were concerned. A lot of nurses at the hospital, too, thought Dorothea was great, actually. And they just loved, you know, they were all like, I think she just loves Esther.

Starting point is 01:06:37 Like, she just takes care of her. And also a lot of them were like, I'm a little suspicious. So it was like half and half. And thought, you know, maybe she's harming her somehow. But this doctor named Dr. Jerome Lackner, he was the doctor treating Esther. and he was especially concerned about what was going on here. And he brought it up to adult protective services. He was like something was wrong here.

Starting point is 01:07:03 Who agreed they were like, let's investigate. So Dorothea found out that this was going to happen, that they were investigating, and took Esther to another hospital the next time she had the same illness. So she was trying to take her away from, so the new doctors and nurses wouldn't see that evidence. Pattern. Right. But Dr. Latiner had blood tests orders, had ordered himself. and found phenobarbital, a medication that was not just prescribed to Esther in her blood.

Starting point is 01:07:31 And it also showed that there was digoxin. And digoxin was a heart medication that Esther was not prescribed. Ooh, a little edit here. It's actually pronounced dejoxin, not degoxin. Duh. Sorry about that. Carry on. But Dorothea was prescribed it.

Starting point is 01:07:52 She was also taking money from Esther's family. She would tell them Esther was dying of terminal cancer and they would just send money and she would pocket it. What? Esther fired Dorothea upon finding this out. This woman reached the brink of death. And found out that she was being poisoned on the regular. She was placed in a nursing home after this and Dorothea visited her once and brought her food and she got sick immediately after. And she actually ended up dying the next year.

Starting point is 01:08:21 I'm sure because of everything that her body went through. So she fired Dorothea and then Dorothea went back to her. To visit her to be like, you know I had nothing to do with this. Like, I made you this food. Like, I'm not eating your food. Well, and Dr. Lackner and the nurses tried to get the death labeled suspicious at the very least. Yeah.

Starting point is 01:08:39 But they said they didn't have any real evidence. How about all the weird things that you found in her blood? Well, like what? So she kept working and started doing it to another elderly woman at another hospital. And she was fired again when social workers stepped in again. And so she's just doing this because these people's family are sending them money? Yeah, and she thinks that if she can get close enough to them that she can start taking their checks, taking their money, maybe get them to sign something over to her.

Starting point is 01:09:06 Wow. In 1981, she was acting as a nurse and a cook to 84-year-old Dorothy Gosling. She had almost $4,000 worth of jewelry taken from her. Dorothy did. Oh, my goodness. She later said she would suddenly pass out and wake up to find tons of stolen things like checks, money, gone. It's so sad that this happens so often to elderly people. Exactly.

Starting point is 01:09:30 You live your whole life and then you get fucked over by some greedy asshole. That's what kills me. And she couldn't explain the time she was suddenly asleep and found out later that Dorothy was drugging her. Like she found that out later. That's really sad. And here she is just thinking like, what the fuck is going on with me? I'm just like passing out. losing periods of time. Now, in January, 1982, she met a man named Malcolm McKenzie at Joe's Corner.

Starting point is 01:09:55 Dorothea did. He was 74 years old and literally went to this bar every night just to chat with people. I love that. He would have two drinks and just chat with everyone. He likes to hang out. He's a social butterfly. So she saw him. She flirted with him, convinced him to be like, hey, come back to my place. Once inside, he keeled over on the couch and became paralyzed, he said. Uh-huh. And he said when they were walking in, he was like, I felt woozy, but I was like, oh, did those like two drinks really hit me? She dosed him. She fucking dosed him to the point where he keeled over on the couch with his eyes wide open, able to see everything and couldn't move or speak. What? And what did he see? So she had drugged his drink at the bar, obviously. She stole his rare penny collection, his checks and his cashed all in front of him while he lay paralyzed on the couch watching her do it. What the fuck? She watched her raid his home. And then he said he just watched her walk towards him and couldn't move, couldn't scream, nothing, stared right into his eyes, slipped the ring off his finger.

Starting point is 01:11:02 And when he couldn't get it off, she went to the kitchen, got lard and used it to slip it off his finger. Yeah. And then just left. This woman is the Grinch. Alone for hours like that. He was paralyzed on his couch alone for hours until he could. finally start moving. It started wearing off. And you just, you don't even think it's going to wear off. I'm sure. You're probably just sitting there like, I'm going to die like this. Like, this is how I die.

Starting point is 01:11:26 He contacted police immediately, and they found her immediately because she had weirdly used her own name this time. I'm glad. I don't know why. She was caught trying to cash two of Malcolm's checks. Did he get his penny collection back? I don't know if he did, actually. I need to know. She claimed he gave them to her. He did not. Duh. She had been pretending to be in her seven. to him. She was only in her 50s at the time. So one time, she's 16 and is 30 on paper. And now she's 50, but is 70 on paper. What does that tell you? I don't know. But a story. She was arrested again, but she got away with it because she convinced the police that Malcolm was just mad that she rejected him. I'd be like, hi, I was just paralyzed for hours. You want to test my blood? Well, then they were like, she also said she had a condition that made her just like forget when she did stuff. And they were like, oh, sure.

Starting point is 01:12:22 Bye. Also, I got to tell you this story, the police and this story, I'm like, are you, are you for real? Can you hear me? Like, are you all right? Are you all right in there? What's going on? And by the end of part two, you're going to be like, are what? No.

Starting point is 01:12:37 Like, no. They made lots of boo-boos. Now, one week after she, this whole shit went down with Malcolm. She becomes the character. taker to an 82-year-old woman named Irene Gregory. No, I hate that she's fucking over all these elderly people because it's really hurting my heart. She met her, introduced herself as Betty Peterson. That's not her name.

Starting point is 01:12:59 Her name is Dorothea Puente. I know. Or is it? And she took her, I know. She took her blood pressure, Irene's blood pressure, and immediately was like, ooh, like your blood pressure shows me that you're holding a lot of water. And so she was like, you need to take some water pills to regulate your system a little bit. Oh, no.

Starting point is 01:13:15 Here we go. So she drugs her. And when Irene gained consciousness again, she found that Dorothea had stolen her diamond ring. No. And medications from her. Most notably, some sedatives and sleeping pills. She kept doing this to several elderly women for months. She would steal medication and money from them.

Starting point is 01:13:34 To like build up a collection. And she would use the medication to drug other people to eventually kill them. And she would just steal all their shit. Claire Malaville and Loretta Chalmers were another couple of victims that had the same things happen to them. And they were too old and sick to even testify against her. That's horrific. They couldn't show up in court because they were too old.

Starting point is 01:13:53 I would haunt the shit out of her. Now, we are going to end part one there because when we pick up at part two, she starts murdering. Oh. Where part two is all about when she really ratchets this up a notch. Okay. Because we already have chief who went missing. Right.

Starting point is 01:14:11 But we don't know exactly what happened there. Uh-huh. Now we can kind of look back and say what happened. probably know what happened. But part two is going to get real gnarly. We're going to talk about a woman named Ruth Monroe, which is like such a sad story. This whole thing is horrific. This whole thing is really horrifying. Devastating. That's where I'm going to end part one, because we have sufficiently set Dorothea up to the point where she is now harming elderly people and not giving shit if they live or die just so she can steal all their stuff. I mean, she was clearly

Starting point is 01:14:43 trying to kill some of these women. Yeah, obviously. Like Esther Buzzbee, she was trying to kill all of them. Mm-hmm. Like, no doubt. She just failed, that's all. But she does eventually become successful at it, and it is horrifying. Oh.

Starting point is 01:14:59 So that is part one of Dorothy, Dorothea Puente. Yeah, this has been a lot. Yeah. I'd like to go drink some hot cocoa by a fire. So thank you for listening, and we hope you keep listening. And we hope you. Keep it weird. You're not so weird that you're harming the elderly because they're going to haunt you in the afterlife and you're an asshole and you're an asshole and I hate you thanks bye

Starting point is 01:15:17 Yeah, not so weird that you're just an asshole who lies and cons people don't do it Especially the elderly yeah, they're sweet. I love them The holiday commercials now with elderly people get out of town They're adorable Ruin me, I'll buy whatever you want me to if you put an elderly person living alone with some lights that need hanging I'll just never stop crying The end

Morbid - The Murder of Bessie Darling

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