A brand new Netflix docuseries, "Worst Roommate Ever," reveals darkish tales from Dorothea Puente to an alleged con man.
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And also you thought your roommate was dangerous.
The brand new Netflix docuseries “Worst Roommate Ever,” out Tuesday, March 1, covers rather more than simply dangerous roomies who blast loud music at odd hours or neglect their share of the family chores. From a granny-type who is definitely a serial killer to a violent alleged con man who attacked his housemate and left her for lifeless wrapped in a tarp on a building web site, the present’s darkish, disturbing tales provides you with a better appreciation for roomies who commit no better crime than being sloppy. Take a look.
The serial-killer granny
In 1988, when Judy, a now-retired social employee, was serving to Alvaro “Bert” Gonzales Montoya, a person who was recognized with schizophrenia, discover a residence in Sacramento, California, she stumbled on a boarding home run by Dorothea Puente.
“She appeared so candy. She had a field of kittens, and she or he had little bottles of milk that she was feeding them,” Judy says within the documentary. “We have been impressed, we have been pondering, ‘She is good.’ ” Puente instructed Judy that she was independently rich and easily preferred serving to folks.
Puente’s boarding home got here well-recommended, and it appeared as if Bert can be in good palms. The owner had a status for taking in boarders with psychological disabilities or alcoholism and giving them a protected place to remain whereas they paid her lease out of Social Safety checks.
“Dorothea Puente was cherished by her group, and cherished by native politicians,” Detective John Cabrera of the Sacramento Police Division says within the documentary. “She would donate to native charities and provides them baggage of clothes. She was taking in all these folks, treating her neighbors effectively. She was giving free meals away to the group. “
Judy turned alarmed when she checked on Bert a couple of months later, and Puente instructed her an improbable-sounding story that he had traveled to Mexico. When Judy adopted up and checked in with John Sharp, one other boarder in the home, and requested if one thing was mistaken there, Judy recalled, “He stated, ‘Yeah, one thing is mistaken right here . . . she’s been digging a number of holes.’ ”
Puente, who died in 2011 at age 82, turned out to be a serial killer. After Judy contacted the police about Bert’s disappearance, they discovered disturbed soil on her property and uncovered seven our bodies. She was charged with 9 murders, together with Bert’s, and it was found that she drugged her victims. It additionally emerged that she had a previous report of prostitution, fraud, drugging and theft, and impersonating a physician, however within the Nineteen Eighties, data weren't what they're right now. “No one was maintaining a tally of her till 1988,” stated Cabrera.
“Once you first take a look at her, you assume, ‘This may very well be my grandmother.’ “
The obsessed assassin
When 36-year-old school pupil and armed forces vet Maribel Ramos was on the lookout for a roommate in Orange, California, she discovered Kwang Chol “Ok.C.” Pleasure, then 55, from a Craigslist advert. “I'm a Korean single skilled male,” he wrote in his response to her submit. “I've a ten lb canine. Yorkie… I prefer to preserve issues clear. I'm straightforward going and get together with most individuals.”
Regardless of their age distinction, Ramos and Pleasure struck up an amicable roommate relationship whereas Ramos studied legal justice at California State College, Fullerton.
“He appeared like a pleasant older man,” Ramos’ sister, Lucero “Lucy” Gonzalez, 30, stated within the documentary. “He instructed me that he doesn’t have any household, has by no means had a spouse, has by no means had youngsters . . . she will work and do her faculty, and never fear in regards to the issues that you just fear about when you have got a youthful roommate. It appeared like it will be match.”
After a couple of months glided by, Gonzalez began getting uneasy about her sister’s residing state of affairs when Pleasure referred to as her and confessed that he was in love with Ramos.
“He begins telling me, ‘I do know your sister needs to get married and have youngsters. I need to be the person that she’s on the lookout for.’ I used to be in shock,” she stated. “I instructed him, ‘You guys are usually not a match. You’re older, she’s younger. The kind of companion that she wants shouldn't be you. I’m sorry, however my sister won't ever such as you like that.’ ”
Gonzalez implored Ramos to rethink residing with him. “I stated, ‘If that is so, then he can’t reside with you anymore.’ He’s in her home, these issues can go terribly mistaken.”
Ramos assured Gonzalez to not fear about it, however after that, his habits turned erratic. For instance, when Ramos commented that he would look good with a tattoo, he got here residence with an enormous tiger inked onto his arm. He additionally spent greater than $10,000 on cosmetic surgery to look youthful, Orange County Police Division Detective Shawn Hayden says within the documentary. “This bizarre habits snowballed, and Ok.C.’s emotions in the direction of Maribel weren't reciprocated . . . I consider that put him over the sting. I feel he snapped,” Hayden stated.
On April 21, 2013, 12 days earlier than Ramos disappeared, she referred to as the police, alleging that when she talked to Pleasure about transferring out as a result of he stopped paying lease, she felt “threatened.”
“We had a dialog right now that type of freaked me out,” she stated throughout the name. “I’m not feeling snug round him anymore . . . He seemed like he would harm me. I’m calling to allow you to guys know that if one thing occurs, I did it as a result of I used to be making an attempt to defend myself.”
Ramos went lacking on Could 2, 2013. The next day, Pleasure despatched a message to Gonzalez that he was “fearful” about Ramos, and he referred to as the police as a result of she hadn’t come residence that night time.
Throughout their investigation, police spoke to Pleasure’s sister in Tennessee, who described him as a “monster” with a daunting mood and had a restraining order in opposition to him.
Pleasure was charged with the homicide on Could 17, 2013, after Ramos’ physique was present in a distant canyon that police discovered via monitoring his laptop exercise on the native library. He was sentenced to fifteen years to life in jail on July 29, 2014. He’s at present incarcerated at Correctional Coaching Facility in Soledad, California.
“I simply knew that he did one thing to her,” Gonzalez says within the docuseries. “I pointed the finger at him instantly.”
The charismatic “con man”
In April 2011, Texas-born Callie Quinn, then 23, was residing in Santiago, Chile, educating English and residing in a hostel-like home with a number of worldwide roommates. Amongst them was Youssef Khater, a Palestinian-Danish athlete who traveled around the globe operating in marathons.
“He was a lot older than all of us, we have been all in our mid 20s, and he was like, 32,” Quinn says within the documentary.
He preferred holding court docket and regaling his housemates with implausible-seeming tales of heroic deeds that he had carried out whereas he was within the Danish particular forces, stated Quinn. She was doubtful, and that’s when their relationship started to bitter.
“I believed he was a bulls – – tter and let him know . . . he picked up on me probably not liking him a lot. And that actually upset him, as a result of he’s used to folks liking him.”
Unbeknownst to Quinn, Khater was an alleged con man who swindled folks out of cash for varied endeavors, together with sponsoring his marathons. The documentary explains that he’d fled Denmark fairly than stand trial for fraud and arson, as a result of he had allegedly cheated folks out of cash in a rip-off for a visit to Dubai. He had promised to e book tickets with their cash, however his condominium burned down with the cash in it, in keeping with authorities.
In 2011, Quinn wasn’t an enormous fan of his, however she had no concept that something extra sinister was happening. Their shared home didn’t have ample warmth for the winter, and when Quinn complained about it along with her pal and fellow American housemate, Molly, Khater talked about that he’d bought condos with higher lodging and would lease them to the ladies. They gave him one month’s lease and a safety deposit round $1,000, however Khater saved pushing aside their transfer with excuses for why the flats weren’t prepared but.
On July 20, 2011, Quinn went out with Khater to get the important thing for the condominium she’d be renting from him, they usually received drinks to have fun. He drank lots, and it got here out that he owed cash to varied folks. Afterwards, he lured her to a building web site the place he hit her on the pinnacle, jumped on high of her, and strangled her.
“I can’t do something, it’s complete helplessness,” she recounts on-screen. “In my thoughts, I used to be like, ‘That is how I die.’ ”
She didn’t understand how lengthy she was unconscious for, however when she wakened, she was wrapped in tarp and coated in grime and ash that he had thrown on high of her. He’d buried her alive, however “not deep sufficient, I suppose,” she stated. “He wished to ensure no person may discover me. Had I died, no person would have identified the place I used to be. Had somebody discovered my physique, there can be no option to determine who I used to be,” she stated, since he additionally took her identification.
When she made her approach again to the home, coated in ash, disoriented from her head harm, with a hoarse voice from being strangled, he was the primary individual she noticed. He feigned concern and stated, “Thank God, you’re right here, we have been so fearful.”
When Quinn instructed her home mates what occurred, her pal Molly stated on-screen, “We seen he was extra upset that she was accusing him than that she was harm.”
Quinn was capable of finding a lawyer and, in keeping with Texas Month-to-month, Youssef was sentenced to 541 days for the homicide try and 61 days for fraud in 2012. Immediately, he’s a free man.
“It’s not over but,” Quinn stated. “It’s nonetheless occurring someplace, we simply don’t know the place.”
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