S14 Ep5: The Killer Landlady
Blood Ties Podcast
Peter Shevlin
4.4 • 668 Ratings
🗓️ 13 April 2026
⏱️ 32 minutes
🧾️ Download transcript
Summary
Dorothea Puente looked like the perfect landlady. Warm. Trustworthy. Harmless. But behind the doors of her Sacramento boarding house lurked something far darker.
Throughout the 1980s, she preyed on the elderly and mentally disabled, offering shelter before poisoning them, burying their bodies in her garden, and cashing their Social Security checks.
For years, she got away with it.
Until one disappearance exposed a chilling truth: this was not a home, it was a graveyard.
Even more disturbing, she was only convicted of three murders, leaving the full scale of her crimes unresolved.
This episode uncovers a story of manipulation, greed, and cold blooded calculation.
CREDITS:
Presenters: Geoffrey and Molly Wansell
Producer: Peter Shevlin https://pod60.com/
Artwork: George Leigh
Music: Dan Wansell
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Transcript
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| 0:00.0 | This week on Blood Ties. |
| 0:13.0 | After earning their trust, Puente murdered the vulnerable people who boarded with her, |
| 0:18.3 | feeding them cake poisoned with a heavy sedative. |
| 0:21.6 | As they lay incapacitated in their beds, she smothered her victims with pillows. |
| 0:33.6 | Then dismembered them and dumped their body parts into a mass grave in her verdant backyard. |
| 0:48.3 | Pouente hid her board as deaths so she could continue to collect their disability compensation checks, netting around $5,000 a month. |
| 1:02.0 | It was a prosperous business. Hi, I'm Molly Wonsall. |
| 1:18.6 | And I'm Geoffrey Wonsall. |
| 1:20.6 | We're a father and daughter, as those of you who listened to Blood Ties in the past will remember, |
| 1:24.6 | and we meet every week and often our conversation has turned to murder, |
| 1:29.0 | which is why we originally launched Blood Ties and why we've now decided to bring it back in its new, |
| 1:35.3 | fresher form. |
| 1:36.2 | We're really excited to be back, and we would love it if you could also check out our Patreon. |
| 1:41.2 | Just search Blood Ties on Patreon. |
| 1:43.2 | Thanks so much. |
| 1:44.0 | Thank you. Thank you. |
| 1:49.9 | Hi everyone. Welcome back to the Blood Ties podcast. I'm Molly Wansel and I'm here with my father, |
| 1:54.5 | Jeffrey Wansel. Hello everyone. Welcome back to Blood Ties 2.0. The return from a little break. |
| 2:02.7 | I hope it's been a good start of the year. |
| 2:05.5 | I think it has. |
| 2:07.6 | January was a bit gloomy, but never mind. |
| 2:11.6 | Yeah, we're ploughing on. |
... |
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