In the 1980s, she ran a boarding house in Sacramento, California, and murdered various elderly and mentally disabled boarders before cashing their Social Security checks.

[4] Puente's first marriage at age 16, in 1945, was to a soldier named Fred McFaul, who had just returned from the Pacific theater of World War II.

She created a fake persona, calling herself "Teya Singoalla Neyaarda", a Muslim woman of Egyptian and Israeli descent.

They had a turbulent marriage; Puente took advantage of Johansson's frequent trips to sea by inviting men to their home and gambling away his money.

In 1961, Johansson had Puente briefly committed to DeWitt State Hospital after a binge of drinking, lying, criminal behavior and suicide attempts.

She changed her public image to that of a respectable older matron by putting on vintage clothing, wearing large glasses, and not dyeing her greying hair.

He later reported that Puente had drugged him by slipping something into his drink before she robbed him of a coin collection, watches and other jewelry, including a diamond ring belonging to his mother, which she removed from his finger while he was incapacitated.

[8][9][10] On April 28, 1982, Ruth Munroe, 61, who had visited Puente's home two weeks earlier, was found dead due to respiratory depression, caused by a massive overdose of codeine.

Munroe was reportedly in good health when she arrived at Puente's home; however, by April 25, she told a friend, "I am so sick I feel like I am going to die."

[8][11] On May 16, 1982, Dorothy Osborne, 49, found checks, credit cards, and other items missing eight hours after Puente visited her home and prepared her a drink.

On September 9, 1985, after serving only half her sentence, Puente was released from prison, whereupon she was picked up by Gillmouth and Ricardo Ordorica, a close friend who lived with his family in the downstairs flat at 1426 F Street.

A short time later, Puente hired a handyman, Ismael Carrasco Florez, to remodel, and asked him to build a 6-foot by 30-inch by 30-inch storage box.

On January 1, 1986, a fisherman discovered the suspicious box along the Sacramento River and notified authorities, who found a human body inside, determined on December 28, 1998, to be Gillmouth's.

His severely decomposed body was wrapped in numerous plastic bags and covered with a bed sheet held in place by electrical tape.

Toxicology reports of the body revealed the presence of Doxylamine, an over-the-counter antihistamine, as well as Haloperidol and flurazepam, both of which were previously prescribed to Palmer.

In November, Puente asked Donald Anthony, a former convict who had been working in her yard, to contact the social worker, pretending to be Montoya's brother-in-law.

On November 10, the social worker received a letter, purportedly from "Michel Obergone," wrapped in a paper towel to avoid finger prints.

In November, Fink's body was discovered in this area, wrapped in plastic knotted bedspread, secured with duct tape, and covered with blue absorbent pads.

On November 11, 1988, a detective returned to Puente's residence and, with her permission, began digging in areas that appeared to be recently disturbed.

[22][23] On November 16, 1988, Charles Willgues, along with Gene Silver of CBS, alerted police to Puente's whereabouts at a motel in Los Angeles.

[24][25] On November 17, 1988, Puente was flown from the Hollywood Burbank Airport to Sacramento, escorted by police, and booked in the county jail.

[26] On March 10, 1989, criminal charges against Ismael Florez were dismissed because the statute of limitations had expired three years after Gillmouth's body was discovered.

[29] On March 31, 1989, an amended complaint was filed, charging Puente with nine counts of murder, with special circumstance, qualifying it as a death penalty case.

According to investigators, most of her victims had been drugged until they overdosed; Puente had then wrapped them in bed-sheets and plastic lining before dragging them to open pits in the backyard for burial.

[31][32] After numerous delays, on October 19, 1992, a judge ruled that Puente would face all nine murder counts, and that all cases would be heard in Monterey County.

After deliberating for eleven days, the jury told Judge Michael J. Virga on August 2, 1993, that they were deadlocked on all nine counts of murder and asked for further instruction.

The jury, after deliberating for thirty five days, remained deadlocked on six cases: Ruth Munroe, Everson Theodore Gillmouth, Betty Mae Palmer, James Gallop, Vera Faye Martin, and Alvaro Gonzales Montoya.

[41][42][43] On August 28, 1997, an appellate court in San Jose affirmed Puente's murder convictions, but ordered an examination of juror misconduct allegations.

After a three-day hearing, on September 25, 1998, judge William D. Curtis rejected each allegation of jury misconduct in Puente's trial.

[52] The result was Cooking with a Serial Killer (2004),[53] which included a lengthy interview, almost fifty recipes, and various pieces of prison art sent to Bugbee by the convicted murderer.