The State - News from May 18, 1989

When investigators unearthed seven bodies at a Sacramento boardinghouse last November, they caused $9,000 damage, and the city should pay for it, according to a claim filed against the city. Owner Ricardo Ordorica said police dug up the yard, pulled up the carpeting in several bedrooms, tracked mud into the house, removed trees, grass and rosebushes, broke the cement driveway, tore down a shed, ruined appliances and furniture and damaged a gate. City Atty. James P. Jackson denied that the city had been negligent in the investigation that led to the arrest of Dorothea Montalvo Puente, 60. The former landlady is accused of killing seven people whose remains were found in the yard and two other former tenants. She has pleaded innocent.