Episode 8: Death House Landlady
Death House Landlady
Dorothea Puente
An orphan at 8 years old, Dorothea Helen Gray bounced from home to home for years. Then, at 16, she married a 22-year-old man she met while hooking out of her hotel room in Olympia, Washington. And this was just the beginning for the woman later known to the world as Dorothea Puente, a serial killer. Dorothea took advantage of those who would board in her home, stealing their Social Security checks, then killing them.
On this episode, we start from her rocky beginnings to explore how she turned into a killer then explore the many crimes she committed. Then, we dive deep into her family tree where we discovered a shocking pattern in her family.
Dorothea Puente prison photo
Private Fred E. McFaul was Dorothea’s first husband.
Source: The Sacramento Bee, 30 Mar 1943
Sergeant Jesse James Gray
Source: Find a Grave
Trudie May Yates Gray, Jesse James Gray, Alice Adelle “Peggy” Yates Sharp, and Jack Sharp
Source: Find a Grave
Trudie May Yates Gray and son James Gloe Gray, ca. 1919
Source: Find a Grave
Jessie Wilma Gray, ca 1939
Source: Find a Grave
The death of Jessie Wilma occurred just a year after her mother’s death.
Source: The Pomona Progress Bulletin, 12 Jan 1940
The five oldest Gray children, Dorothea’s siblings.
From left to right: Jessie Wilma, Jesse Everett, Sylvia Geraldine, Audrey, and James Gloe.
Source: Find a Grave
Another advertisement encouraging people to move to Oklahoma found in a local paper in Stoddard County, Missouri.
Source: The Bloomfield Vindicator, 27 Dec 1901
Sarah Tennessee Mason who married Joseph J. Yates, ca 1920
Source: Find a Grave
Montie Ray Mount, son of Sylvia Gray and Rex D. Mount
Source: Pomona High School yearbook, 1968
Source: The Taos News, 20 Mar 2008
Source: Tucson Citizen, 26 Aug 1989
Source: The Miami Herald, 28 Apr 2017
What remains of the Alton Military Prison where Joseph J. Yates likely spent some time in 1863. It was originally a state prison built in 1833. It was torn down soon after the Civil War ended. The remains are on the National Register of Historic Places.
Source: Wikipedia
Additional Information:
Want to see Dorothea’s actual boarding house? You can find it here.