#13 | Murders of the 90s: Part One
‘It was that awful, awful woman that did it, don’t blame me!’ – The House
This week, Up To 90 sees our favourite comedy duo dip into the murky waters of true crime, as we look at infamous murders of the 90s: The Menandez brothers of Beverly Hills who shot and killed their parents and The Black Widow of Sacramento, Dorothea Puente.
To all intents and purposes the Menandez brothers epitomised the American dream: a fancy house, impressive vacations, nice cars and professional excess. Against the backdrop of a seemingly successful, well-to-do family, the violence of the murders rocked not only Hollywood but the world, especially as the brothers accused their parents of years of sexual and psychological abuse. It was the way in which the televised trial garnered so much media attention, specifically the wall-to-wall coverage that paved the way for other televised trials (most notably that of OJ Simpson).
Dorothea Puente was your typical boarding-house granny, except for one small thing- she liked to kill people. Yes, Dorothea loved killing people but also loved money and quickly found out she could kill two birds with one stone – literally, by murdering friends and tenants and picking up some extra disposable income in the process. The duplicitous Dorothea distracted from her deathly deeds by cooking big dinners and dusting, you can see how the community was duped for so long: who can say no to a second helping?
If you would like to see the Up to 90 team don their special detective hats and trawl through the endless tabs of Wikipedia true crime, please let us know at Twitter and Insta @upto90podcast and of course the Dark Web.
