The 78-year-old female victim, Betty Mae Palmer moved into Dorothea Puente's Sacramento boarding house in the fall of 1986. On August 19 of that year she left for a doctor's appointment and vanished; two months later Puente changed the mailing address on Palmer's Social Security benefits to the F Street residence and began cashing nearly $7,000 in checks using a forged California ID that bore Puente's photo but Palmer's name.
More than two years after the disappearance, police excavating Puente's yard in November 1988 uncovered the torso of the 78-year-old female in a shallow grave beneath a statue of St. Francis near the front sidewalk. The head, hands, and lower legs had been removed, and the body was still clad in a sleeveless white nightgown—details that complicated identification and suggested deliberate mutilation.
Toxicology tests on the remains revealed doxylamine along with the prescription sedatives haloperidol and flurazepam—drugs previously prescribed to the same 78-year-old woman. Investigators matched earlier medical X-rays to confirm the remains were Palmer's on January 24 1989. During the search, officers also recovered the doctored ID card Puente had been using, strengthening the financial-motive theory behind the homicide.
The primary suspect, boarding-house owner Dorothea Helen Puente, fled Sacramento as the dig progressed but was arrested four days later on November 17 1988 in Los Angeles after a bar patron recognized the 59-year-old woman from televised bulletins. She was returned to Sacramento and ultimately charged with nine murders, including that of the 78-year-old female victim.
Puente's trial was moved to Monterey County in 1992–93. After 35 days of jury deliberation she was convicted of three murders; jurors deadlocked on six counts, among them the slaying of Betty Mae Palmer, the 78-year-old female whose ethnicity remains unreported in public filings. Although not formally convicted in Palmer's case, Puente received life in prison without parole and died behind bars in 2011, leaving the precise circumstances and legal closure of Palmer's killing unresolved.
