Vanessa Richardson

At the same time, she knew she couldn't keep hiring people to help her move bodies.

Ismael had seemed to know something nefarious was going on, so if she continued to enlist others, it would only be a matter of time before someone notified the authorities.

So,

Dorothea worked alone.

When the other tenants weren't around or they were sleeping, she dragged her victims' bodies out into the backyard and buried them in the garden.

Then she covered their shallow graves with flower pots or even planted new trees.

Her home looked immaculate and well cared for.

She didn't think anyone would suspect a thing.

Dorothea's role as caregiver was her greatest disguise, so great that she not only duped everyone, but she also came to believe it herself.

She monitored tenants closely to make sure they were taking their medications, prepared home-cooked meals, and made sure everyone's laundry was pressed and their rooms were tidy.

By 1987, when Dorothea was 58 years old, no one had any idea that she'd killed about six people.

Everything was going smoothly for her until one of her tenants, 77-year-old Betty Palmer, started to give her trouble.

Betty started openly questioning why Dorothea was cashing everyone's checks for them.

She even told her bank not to let anyone else cash her checks, which meant Dorothea no longer had access to Betty's money.

And without her money, Dorothea had no use for Betty.

So she used her usual methods to take Betty's life.

However, Dorothea took extra measures when it came to burying her.

Dorothea contacted a man who went by the name Chief, who she occasionally hired for odd jobs.

He was big and strong, the perfect person for the manual labor she needed done.

And he was also an unhoused ex-convict who likely wouldn't go to the police.