The seven tenants who had lived at 1426 F Street died with a variety of drugs in their bodies: anticonvulsants, antidepressants, antipsychotics, painkillers, tranquilizers. Im here until I die.. I leave through a different door and make my way out of the prison, stepping into the cool afternoon air. 4. I have listened to the lingering grief and anger of a man whose mother died mysteriously while in her care. I realize today will be our last conversation when Puente sits down at my table and makes a request. Dorothea often took in the elderly and homeless and placed them as her tenants. At age 16, she drifted off on her own to Olympia, Wash. Comely and flaxen-haired, with soft blue eyes and a beguiling smile, she worked as a prostitute to earn money and caught the attention of Fred McFaul. Sacramento landlady Dorothea Montalvo Puente was found guilty Thursday of murdering three of her tenants for their government benefit . When we discuss her health or the books she reads, when she makes a rare inquiry about my job or background, the conversation tracks as normal, even mundane. She sat there so totally motionless and emotionless, says Honey Hewlett, one of 12 jurors seated for the trial, who stopped buying Giorgio perfume after learning Puente also wore the scent. Back in Sacramento, police were digging up five more bodies, including Bert Montoyas. She was known as the "step house lady" after filing nine homicides. For the rest of her life, she maintained her innocence, insisting that all of her boarders had died of "natural causes". A couple who braved the stigma of the house's curse purchased the home, fully aware of the history. Hard living had stolen much of Dorotheas youthful beauty by the time she landed her third husband in 1968 and settled in Sacramento. She established herself as a genuine resource to the community to aid alcoholics, homeless people, and mentally ill people by holding Alcoholics Anonymous meetings and assisting individuals to sign up to receive Social Security benefits. Old bones sometimes turned up in downtown and midtown yards, vestiges of the early 20th century, when families unable to afford a cemetery plot interred loved ones on their property. This 'sweet little granny' was actually a psychotic serial killer To vary her diet, Puente sometimes cooks in her room, making tamales with tortillas, canned chili, cheese and other ingredients bought in the prisons canteen or mail-ordered through a food-delivery service. Dorothea Puente - Dorothea Helen Puente (January 9, 1929 - March 27, 2011) was an American convicted serial killer. The detective had yet to realize that, in the 59-year-old Puente, he had another serial killer on his hands. Dick Schmidt/Sacramento Bee/Tribune News Service via Getty ImagesDorothea Puente after her arrest in Los Angeles, en route back to Sacramento. The comments below have not been moderated. The Bone Garden: The Chilling True Story of a Female Serial Killer