Comfort Killers

            Comfort killers kill because they enjoy material gain and comfortable lifestyles. Most of the time, the victims are family members and close friends. Most comfort killers use some type of poison, mostly arsenic. Females are common as comfort killers, but there are many men as well. Most comfort killers have been convicted previously for fraud, theft, non payment of debts, and embezzlement.

            Dorothea Helen Puente was female comfort killer. Born January 9^th, 1929 in Redlands, California Puente ran a boarding house in Sacramento, California. There she would cash the social security checks of her elderly and mentally disabled guests. If anyone complained they were killed and buried in her yard. Most people who stayed there had mixed feelings about how she ran the place. Her motives for killing her victims were plain and simply for financial gain. She was making more than $5,000 a month from the victims she killed. When police began investing, seven bodies were discovered. Ultimately, Puente was charged with 9 murders. She was only convicted of 3; however, she was sentenced to two life sentences. On March 27^th, 2011 Puente died in prison of natural causes. She was 82 years old.

            Another comfort serial killer is Richard Leonard “The Iceman” Kulkinski. Born April 11^th, 1935 Kulkinski was a mobster and a contract killer. He was 6’5” and 300 lbs. He claimed to have killed over 250 men between 1948 and 1986. He also claims to have made his first kill when he was only 13.  His older brother was a convicted child rapist and murderer. On December 17, 1986 Kulkinski was arrested by a federal agent on a sting operation to sell Kulkinski cyanide for a planned murder. A gun was later found in his car. Kulkinski was charged with five counts of murder and six weapons violations. He was also charged with attempted murder, robbery and attempted robbery. In 1988, Kulkinski was convicted of five murders and he was sentenced to consecutive life sentences. He will be able for parole at the age of 110. In 2003, he pled guilty to a 1980 murder of an NYPD detective and had another 30 years added to his sentence. On March 5^th, 2006 Kulkinski died at the age of 70. His death was considered suspicious because he was supposed to testify against different crime bosses.

http://www.answers.com/topic/serial-killer#Comfort_.28profit.29

http://www.answers.com/topic/dorothea-puente

http://www.answers.com/topic/richard-kuklinski