Photos: Tour a serial killer's house
A former boardinghouse run by a California woman convicted of killing her elderly tenants and burying them in the yard became a tourist destination over the weekend. The Victorian duplex in Sacramento that had been operated by Dorothea Puente was one of five featured houses on the Sacramento Old City Association's home tour on Sunday. The house has been renovated since the 1980s, when authorities dug up seven bodies in its front and back yards. Still, visitors could see the room where Puente drained the body fluids from her victims. Authorities said Puente drugged and killed her victims and stole their Social Security checks. She was convicted in 1993 of three murders.
Serial Killers House
A plaque in the yard of the Victorian home of convicted killer Dorothea Puente makes reference to Puente's victims, who were buried in the home's yard in Sacramento, Calif., Monday, Sept. 16, 2013. The home, where the bodies of seven people were found in November 1988, was one of five featured on the Sacramento Old City Association's home tour on Sunday. Puente, who had run a boarding house for the elderly and disabled, had murdered her victims and cashed their Social Security checks. After police found the bodies of four women and three men on the property, Puente was convicted of three counts of murder in 1993 and spent the rest of her life in prison. She died in 2011 at the age of 82. (AP Photo/Rich Pedroncelli)
Serial Killers House
Tom Williams, one of the owners of the Sacramento, Calif., Victorian home of convicted killer Dorothea Puente, adjusts the wig on a mannequin dressed to portray the notorious land lady, Monday, Sept. 16, 2013. The home, where the bodies of seven people were found buried in the yard in November 1988, was one of five featured homes on the Sacramento Old City Association's home tour on Sunday. Puente, who had run a boarding house for the elderly and disabled, murdered her victims and cashed their Social Security checks. Puente was convicted of three counts of murder in 1993 and spent the rest of her life in prison. She died in 2011 at the age of 82. (AP Photo/Rich Pedroncelli)
Dorothea Puente
FILE -- In this Nov. 17, 1988 file photo, Dorothea Puente, center, is escorted by Sacramento police at the airport as she was brought to Sacramento from Los Angeles by a chartered jet. Puente is the landlady who fled after police began to find bodies buried in the yard of the Victorian rooming house she managed. She was captured in Los Angeles several days later and returned to Sacramento. The home where the Puente had buried the bodies of seven people was one of five featured on the Sacramento Old City Association's home tour on Sunday. She was convicted of three counts of murder in 1993 and spent the rest of her life in prison. She died in 2011 at the age of 82. In the background center, is Sacramento Police Detective John Cabrera, now retired, who was the lead detective on the case and took the tour of the home. (AP Photo/Walt Zeboski, File)
Serial Killer's House
In this Sept. 15, 2013 photo, volunteer Bob Guildner, left, explains that the room was the "death room" where Dorothea Montalvo Puente stored her victims, before dragging them down the back staircase for burial in her yard, during the Sacramento Old City Association's annual home tour in Sacramento, Calif. Puente was charged with nine murders but convicted of only three when she ran a former boardinghouse. The house has been renovated since the 1980s, when authorities dug up seven bodies in its front and back yards. (AP Photo/The Sacramento Bee, Renée C. Byer)
Serial Killer's House
In this Sept. 15, 2013 photo, lead detective, John Cabrera, in the Dorothea Montalvo Puente case said this room was the "death room" where he discovered body fluids in the carpet as he showed off old crime scene photos during the Sacramento Old City Association's annual home tour in Sacramento, Calif. Puente was charged with nine murders but convicted of only three when she ran a former boardinghouse. Authorities said Puente drugged and killed her victims and stole their Social Security checks. (AP Photo/The Sacramento Bee, Renée C. Byer)
Serial Killer's House
In this Sept. 15, 2013 photo, lead detective in the Dorothea Montalvo Puente case, John Cabrera, showed off pictures of Puente and the crime scene during the Sacramento Old City Association's annual home tour in Sacramento, Calif. Puente was charged with nine murders but convicted of only three when she ran a former boardinghouse. Authorities said Puente drugged and killed her victims and stole their Social Security checks. (AP Photo/The Sacramento Bee, Renée C. Byer)
Serial Killer's House
In this Sept. 15, 2013 photo, John Cabrera, right, the lead detective on the Dorothea Montalvo Puente case said he discovered one of the victims buried below his feet and several others in the yard as he gave a tour of the home Puente rented during the Sacramento Old City Association's annual home tour in Sacramento, Calif. Puente was charged with nine murders but convicted of only three when she ran a former boardinghouse. Authorities said Puente drugged and killed her victims and stole their Social Security checks. (AP Photo/The Sacramento Bee, Renée C. Byer)
Serial Killer's House
In this Sept. 15, 2013 photo, while on tour of the former Dorothea Montalvo Puente crime scene, people photograph a sign that states "Trespassers will be drugged and buried in the yard," during the Sacramento Old City Association's annual home tour in Sacramento, Calif. Puente was charged with nine murders but convicted of only three when she ran a former boardinghouse. Authorities said Puente drugged and killed her victims and stole their Social Security checks. (AP Photo/The Sacramento Bee, Renée C. Byer)
Serial Killers House
A sign in the yard of the Victorian home of convicted killer Dorothea Puente makes reference to Puente's victims, who were buried in the home's yard in Sacramento, Calif., Monday, Sept. 16, 2013. The home, where the bodies of seven people were found in November 1988, was one of five featured on the Sacramento Old City Association's home tour on Sunday. Puente, who had run a boarding house for the elderly and disabled, murdered her victims and cashed their Social Security checks. After police found the bodies of four women and three men on the property, Puente was convicted of three counts of murder in 1993 and spent the rest of her life in prison. She died in 2011 at the age of 82. (AP Photo/Rich Pedroncelli)
Serial Killers House
A sign in the yard of the Victorian home of convicted killer Dorothea Puente makes reference to Puente's victims, who were buried in the home's yard in Sacramento, Calif., Monday, Sept. 16, 2013. The home, where the bodies of seven people were found in November 1988, was one of five featured on the Sacramento Old City Association's home tour on Sunday. Puente, who had run a boarding house for the elderly and disabled, murdered her victims and cashed their Social Security checks. After police found the bodies of four women and three men on the property, Puente was convicted of three counts of murder in 1993 and spent the rest of her life in prison. She died in 2011 at the age of 82.(AP Photo/Rich Pedroncelli)
Serial Killers House
Tom Williams, one of the owners of Sacramento, Calif., Victorian home of convicted killer Dorothea Puente, stands in the home's master bedroom where Puente is said to have placed the bodies of her murder victims to drain them of fluids, Monday, Sept. 16, 2013. The home, where the bodies of seven people were found buried in the yard in November 1988, was one of five featured homes on the Sacramento Old City Association's home tour on Sunday. Puente, who had run a boarding house for the elderly and disabled, had murdered her victims and cashed their Social Security checks. Puente was convicted of three counts of murder in 1993 and spent the rest of her life in prison. She died in 2011 at the age of 82.(AP Photo/Rich Pedroncelli)
Serial Killers House
Barbara Holmes and Tom Williams, pose on the steps their Victorian home, where notorious landlord Dorothea Puente had murdered and buried the bodies of her victims, in Sacramento, Calif., Monday, Sept. 16, 2013. The home, where the bodies of seven people were found buried in the yard in November 1988, was one of five featured on the Sacramento Old City Association's home tour on Sunday. Puente, who had run a boarding house for the elderly and disabled, was convicted of three counts of murder and spent the rest of her life in prison. She died in 2011 at the age of 82. (AP Photo/Rich Pedroncelli)
Serial Killer's House
In this Sept. 15, 2013 photo, Laura Santos, who was the deputy coroner on the Dorothea Montalvo Puente case, hugs John Cabrera, the lead detective in the Puente case, during the Sacramento Old City Association's annual home tour in Sacramento, Calif. Puente was charged with nine murders but convicted of only three when she ran a former boardinghouse. (AP Photo/The Sacramento Bee, Renée C. Byer)
Serial Killer's House
In this Sept. 15, 2013 photo, a steady stream of people toured the boarding home that Dorothea Montalvo Puente's lived in, during the Sacramento Old City Association's annual home tour in Sacramento, Calif. Puente was charged with nine murders but convicted of only three when she ran a former boardinghouse. (AP Photo/The Sacramento Bee, Renée C. Byer)
Serial Killer's House
In this Sept. 15, 2013 photo, John Cabrera, lead detective in the Dorothea Montalvo Puente case answers questions about the case, in the yard where some of the victims bodies were buried, during the Sacramento Old City Association's annual home tour in Sacramento, Calif. Puente was charged with nine murders but convicted of only three when she ran a former boardinghouse. Authorities said Puente drugged and killed her victims and stole their Social Security checks. (AP Photo/The Sacramento Bee, Renée C. Byer)