Peete was first convicted of the 1920 murder of wealthy mining engineer Jacob C. Denton, and was sentenced to life in prison in 1921.

[3] In 1903, she married a traveling salesman, Henry Bosley, who committed suicide four years later after discovering Peete in bed with another man.

[4][5] After Bosley's death, Peete relocated to Shreveport and worked as a high-class prostitute, stealing money from her clients.

Peete then proceeded to charge items to the family at some of Boston's most expensive stores, and stole money from their friends and employees.

[6] Peete later moved to Waco, Texas, where she became romantically involved with wealthy oil baron Joe Appel.

Peete was arrested for his murder, but convinced a grand jury that she killed Appel in self-defense after he attempted to rape her.

[4] In 1913, Peete moved to Dallas, Texas and quickly married Harry Faurote, a night clerk who worked at the St. George Hotel.

It was there that she met Jacob C. Denton, a recent widower with a teenage daughter who had made millions as a mining engineer before retiring.

[6][7] Denton met Peete when she inquired about renting his 14-room Tudor Revival mansion, located at 675 South Catalina Street near Wilshire Boulevard.

[11] Shortly thereafter, Peete hired a gardener to transport a load of dirt into the basement claiming she was planning to grow mushrooms.

[7] On June 5, Peete forged Denton's signature to withdraw $300 from his bank account and to gain access to his safe deposit box.

[6] Peete claimed that the signature looked unusual because she had to help Denton write checks and sign his name with his left hand.

On September 23, a private detective hired by the attorney searched the home and found Denton's decomposing body buried in the basement, in a wooden cubicle under the stairs.

Peete claimed that the unidentified "mysterious Spanish woman" who has purportedly shot Denton causing his arm to be amputated was his killer.

[20] Throughout her trial and during the first two years of her sentence, Peete's husband Richard remained steadfastly loyal and continued to believe she was innocent.

[1] Peete was initially imprisoned at San Quentin State Prison before being transferred to the California Institution for Women in Tehachapi.

[24] Neither death was investigated at length as police were unaware that Peete was the subject of a previously publicized murder case or was on parole.

[25] After Latham's death, Peete moved in with Arthur C. Logan and his wife Margaret, an elderly couple who lived in Pacific Palisades.

[21] Peete worked for the couple as a live-in housekeeper and nurse to Arthur, who was suffering from age-related dementia and had been declared mentally incompetent.

When neighbors began asking about Margaret's whereabouts, Peete claimed that Arthur had attacked his wife in a frenzy and bitten her nose so severely that she was left disfigured.

[28] Shortly after Arthur's death, employees at the Logans' bank detected one of the forgeries Peete made and called police.

On December 20, 1944, six months after Margaret disappeared, police discovered her decomposing body buried in a shallow grave under an avocado tree in the backyard.

After several failed appeals, Peete was executed in the gas chamber at San Quentin State Prison on April 11, 1947.

[39] Peete's final murder spree was dramatized in the Dragnet radio episode "The Big Thank-You," originally aired March 9, 1950.

[40][41] Peete's story was also covered by YouTuber, Bailey Sarian, in an August 9, 2021 episode of her "Murder, Mystery, and Makeup" series.