page_title: Louise Peete
section_title: Murders
hierarchical_section_title: Louise Peete / Murders
context_page_description: Louise Peete was a convicted American serial killer. Peete was first convicted of murdering wealthy mining engineer Jacob C. Denton in 1920 and was sentenced to life in prison. She was paroled in April 1939. In May 1945, Peete was convicted a second time for murdering her employer, Margaret Logan, and was sentenced to death. She was executed in April 1947, making her the second of only four women to be executed in the California gas chamber.
context_section_description: Peete later moved to Waco, Texas, where she became romantically involved with wealthy oil baron Joe Appel. One week after the two met, Appel was found shot to death and his diamond jewelry missing. Peete was arrested for his murder, but convinced a grand jury that she killed Appel in self-defense after he attempted to rape her. 
  In 1913, Peete moved to Dallas, Texas and quickly married Harry Faurote, a night clerk who worked at the St. George Hotel. Shortly after the two married, Peete stole $20,000 worth of jewels from the hotel's safe. Police questioned Faurote but cleared him of any involvement. Police suspected Peete of the theft and questioned her, but had no evidence linking her to the crime. Embarrassed over being accused of theft and despondent over his wife's infidelities, Faurote shot himself. However this seems unlikely and he is more likely to have been another of Peete's victims. 
  By 1915, Peete had relocated to Denver, Colorado, where she married salesman Richard Peete. They had a daughter, Frances Ann (known as Betty), in 1916. The couple fought constantly and finally separated in the summer of 1920. Shortly thereafter, Peete left her estranged husband and daughter and moved to Los Angeles, California. It was there that she met Jacob C. Denton, a recent widower with a teenage daughter who had made millions as a mining engineer before retiring.
  Denton met Peete when she inquired about renting his 14-room Tudor Revival mansion, located at 675 South Catalina Street near Wilshire Boulevard. Denton hoped to rent his home out for $350 a month while he went on a business trip in June. For unknown reasons, he agreed to allow Peete to rent the mansion for $75 a month. She moved in on May 26, a few days before Denton's planned departure. The true nature of Peete and Denton's relationship is unclear; she has been identified as Denton's live-in girlfriend, housekeeper and tenant despite the fact that she never signed a lease. Peete would later claim the two were romantically involved.
  On June 2, 1920, a little over a week after Peete moved into the mansion, Denton disappeared. Shortly thereafter, Peete hired a gardener to transport a load of dirt into the basement claiming she was planning to grow mushrooms. On June 5, Peete forged Denton's signature to withdraw $300 from his bank account and to gain access to his safe deposit box. When a bank official noticed Denton's signature looked unusual, Peete claimed that his right arm had been amputated after he was shot by an angry "mysterious Spanish looking woman" with whom he had gotten into an argument. 
  Peete claimed that the signature looked unusual because she had to help Denton write checks and sign his name with his left hand. She later expounded on this story (and told several different versions including one where the mysterious woman cut Denton's arm and leg off with a sword), claiming that Denton was in seclusion as he was "ashamed" by his amputated arm and would only see and speak to her.
  In the weeks that followed, Denton's friends, business associates and neighbors began asking Peete to reveal his whereabouts. Peete gave several stories to explain his absence, including a story that Denton was on an extended business trip in various locations and would return shortly. Meanwhile, Peete began posing as Denton's wife. She spent his money, began driving his Cadillac, pawned his jewelry and possessions, and rented rooms in his mansion and pocketed the rent money. 
  Peete also convinced tenants of Denton's rental properties in Phoenix, Arizona to make their rent checks out to her. In August, she charged two expensive dresses at Bullock's department store in Denton's name, still claiming to be his wife. Around this time, Denton's teenaged daughter hired an attorney in an effort to find her father. The attorney questioned Peete, who claimed she did not know where Denton was, but agreed to forward his financial and business documents as soon as possible. The following month, Peete rented the mansion out and returned to her estranged husband and daughter in Denver. 
  Wit
caption: Peete at her first murder trial in Los Angeles
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