How to Build a Grandma Serial Killer: Dorothea Puente (Part 1)

Welcome back to Hot Mess Murder Club! This week, Kat and Holly are bypassing the pleasantries and diving straight into the deeply toxic, unhinged life of Dorothea Puente. You might know her as the infamous "Death House Landlady" who treated a Sacramento Victorian duplex like her own personal, privately-funded cemetery, but how exactly do you build a cardigan-wearing apex predator?In Part One of this two-part series, we are unpacking her absolute garbage-fire of an origin story. We trace Dorothea's path from a soul-crushing childhood filled with severe trauma to her adulthood, where she speed-ran through four wildly volatile marriages. We're talking illegal brothel side-hustles disguised as "bookkeeping," rampant check forgery, and one husband whose survival instincts kicked in so hard he fled for the hills after exactly one week.Listen in as we break down how a diagnosed pathological liar managed to completely rebrand herself into the ultimate "Benevolent Matron." Armed with massive vintage glasses, a fake nephew, and absolutely zero human empathy, she flawlessly manipulated the local social services system into funneling the city's most vulnerable "shadow people" directly into her trap. The most wild plot twist of all? She didn’t even own the murder house—she was just renting it!We are giving you all the diabolical build-up today, outlining the chilling architecture of control she established before the first body even hit the dirt.Make sure you hit subscribe so you don't miss Part Two next week, where the trap finally snaps shut, the shovels come out, and we count the bodies!#TrueCrime #TrueCrimePodcast #HotMessMurderClub #DorotheaPuente #DeathHouseLandlady #TrueCrimeCommunity #SerialKillerDocumentary #UnsolvedMysteries #CrimeStorytime #SacramentoHistory #Psychopath #TrueCrimeStories #comedy #fyp #fyp;) #storytime