SACRAMENTO, March 27 (UPI) -- Dorothea Puente, a Sacramento landlady convicted of killing her tenants and burying them in her back yard, died Sunday, state prison officials said. She was 82.
The Sacramento Bee reported Puente had been ill for months. She had been treated at an outside hospital since being transferred from the Central California Women's Facility near Chowchilla in September.
Puente, who had previously served time for drugging tenants and stealing their money, became a suspect in nine slayings in 1988. She fled but eventually was taken into custody and convicted in three of the deaths. She was sentenced to life in prison.
Authorities said evidence showed she drugged her tenants and had cashed at least 60 government assistance checks belonging to them.
