The Bone Garden by William P. Wood

A Sacramento True Crime Biography of Dorothea Puente, Boarding House Murders, and Financial Exploitation

In November 1988, Sacramento police investigating a missing elderly resident uncovered seven bodies buried in the backyard garden of a Victorian boarding house at 1426 F Street. The proprietor, sixty-nine-year-old Dorothea Puente, maintained an image of a charitable community grandmother while secretly drugging her elderly, disabled, and mentally ill tenants to steal their Social Security checks.

Written by Deputy District Attorney William P. Wood, who originally prosecuted Puente on earlier drugging charges, this account detail the forensic exhumation, police investigation, and trial strategy that convicted Puente of nine murders. Wood analyzes the systemic failures in social services and law enforcement that allowed Puente to operate her boarding house scheme undetected for years.

Why You’ll Love This Book

William P. Wood delivers a prosecution perspective on one of California's most unusual serial murder cases. Rich in trial strategy, police reports, and forensic detail, this true crime narrative is essential reading for fans of Ann Rule, Jack Olsen, and Carlton Smith.