Vanessa Richardson

But if the handyman was suspicious, he kept his thoughts to himself.

He built the box.

Everson's body was placed inside.

Then they hauled it into the truck and drove onto the highway.

However, as they passed a river, Dorothea suddenly asked Ismail to pull over.

They dumped the box onto the embankment, and once again, Ismail didn't ask any questions.

When they got back to the house, she not only let Ismail drive away in the truck, but she also handed him a wad of cash.

Ismail understood that this was hush money.

Dorothea felt like a true criminal mastermind, and now that she'd perfected her methods, she'd use them again and again.

In late 1985, 56-year-old Dorothea Puente killed her lover, Everson Gilmeth, in order to steal his pension and life savings.

With the help of a local handyman, Dorothea disposed of Everson's body in a river.

Now, she believed she'd found the perfect method for getting away with murder.

But what Dorothea didn't know was that in early 1986, a fisherman discovered Everson's remains.

However, they weren't identifiable, so he was buried in a pauper's grave.

Meanwhile, Dorothea continued to bring in new tenants to her boarding house.

Just like she'd always done, she earned their trust by providing them with hot meals and a clean, warm, welcoming home.

Then she gained access to their pensions, social security checks, and disability benefits.

Whenever Dorothea went to the bank to deposit her tenants' checks for them, she siphoned some of the money into her own account.

At this point, her income was about $5,000 a month.

That's about $14,500 today.