Real Crime/Paranormal/Conspiracy Theories Book III

The "Lonely Hearts" Killers: Raymond Fernandez and Martha Beck

Raymond Martinez Fernandez(December 17, 1914 – March 8, 1951) and Martha Jule Beck(May 6, 1920 – March 8, 1951) were an American serial killercouple. They were convicted of one murder, are known to havecommitted two more, and were suspected of having killed up to 20victims during a spree between 1947 and 1949.

After their arrest and trial for serialmurder in 1949, they became known as "The Lonely HeartsKillers" for meeting their unsuspecting victims throughlonely hearts ads. A number of films and television shows are basedon this case.

Before the murders

Raymond Fernandez

Raymond Martinez Fernandez was born onDecember 17, 1914 in Hawaii to Spanish parents. Shortly thereafter,they moved to Bridgeport, Connecticut. As a teenager, he went to workon his uncle's farm in Spain, married a local woman in Spain, namedEncarnación Robles, at the age of 20, and had four children, all ofwhom he abandoned later in life.

After serving in Spain's MerchantMarine and then British Intelligence during World War II, Fernandezdecided to seek work. Shortly after boarding a ship bound for theUnited States, a steel hatch fell on him, fracturing his skull andinjuring his frontal lobe. The damage caused by this injury may wellhave affected his social and sexual behavior. Upon his release froma hospital, Fernandez stole some clothing and was subsequentlyimprisoned for a year, during which time his cellmate converted himto a belief in voodoo and black magic. He later claimed black magicgave him irresistible power and charm over women.

Martha Beck

Martha Beck was born Martha JuleSeabrook on May 6, 1920 in Milton, Florida. Allegedly due to aglandular problem (then a common explanation for obesity), she wasoverweight and underwent puberty prematurely. At her trial, sheclaimed to have been raped by her brother. She went on to claim that,when she had told her mother what happened, her mother had beatenher, claiming that Martha was responsible. As a teen, Beck ran awayfrom home to join a traveling circus. In 1978 writer Truman Capotesaid that he had also joined her for a short time when he was 10.

After Martha finished school, shestudied nursing but had trouble finding a job due to her weight. Sheinitially became an undertaker's assistant and prepared female bodiesfor burial. She then quit that job and moved to California, where sheworked in an Army hospital as a nurse. While living in California asa hospital nurse, she eventually became pregnant. She tried toconvince the father to marry her, but he refused. Single andpregnant, she returned to Florida.

Martha told people the father was aserviceman she had married, later claiming he had been killed in thePacific Campaign. The town mourned her loss, and the story waspublished in the local newspaper. Shortly after her daughter wasborn, she became pregnant again by a Pensacola bus driver namedAlfred Beck. They married quickly and divorced six months thereafter,and she gave birth to a son.

Unemployed and the single mother of twoyoung children, Beck escaped into a fantasy world, buying romancemagazines and novels, and watching romantic movies. In 1946, shefound employment at the Pensacola Hospital for Children. She placed alonely hearts ad in 1947, which Raymond Fernandez answered.

Murders

Fernandez visited Beck and stayed for ashort time; she told everyone they were to be married. He returned toNew York City while she made preparations in Milton, Florida, whereshe lived. When she was abruptly fired from her job, she packed upand arrived on his doorstep in New York. Fernandez enjoyed the wayshe catered to his every whim, and when he learned she had left herchildren for him, he thought it was a sign of an unconditional love.He confessed his criminal enterprises to Beck, who quickly sent herchildren to the Salvation Army in order to assist Fernandez withouthindrances.

She posed as Fernandez's sister, givinghim an air of respectability. Their victims, feeling more secureknowing there was another woman in the house, often agreed to staywith the pair. Beck also convinced some victims that she lived aloneand that her "brother" was only a guest. Beck wasextremely jealous and went to great lengths to make sure Fernandezand his "intended" never consummated theirrelationship. When he did have sex with a woman, Beck subjected bothto her violent temper.

In 1949, the pair committed the threemurders for which they later were convicted. Janet Fay, 66, becameengaged to Fernandez and went to stay at his Long Island apartment.When Beck caught her in bed with Fernandez, she brutally attackedFay's head with a hammer in a murderous rage. Fernandez thenstrangled Fay. Fay's family became suspicious when she disappeared,and Fernandez and Beck fled.

Beck and Fernandez traveled to ByronCenter Road in Wyoming Township, Michigan, a suburb of Grand Rapids,where they met and stayed with Delphine Downing, a 28-year-old widowwith a two-year-old daughter. On February 28, Downing becameagitated, and Fernandez gave her sleeping pills to calm her. Thedaughter witnessed Downing's resulting stupor and began to cry, whichenraged Beck. Panicked, Beck choked the child but didn't kill her.Fernandez thought Downing would become suspicious if she saw herbruised daughter, so he shot the unconscious woman. The couple thenstayed for several days in Downing's house. Again enraged by thedaughter's crying, Beck drowned her in a basin of water. They buriedthe bodies in the basement, but suspicious neighbors reported theDownings' disappearances, leading the police to arrive at the door onMarch 1, 1949 and arrest Beck and Fernandez.

Trial and executions

Fernandez quickly confessed. The pairvehemently denied committing 17 murders that were attributed to them,and Fernandez tried to retract his confession, saying he made it onlyto protect Beck.

Their trial was sensationalized, withlurid tales of sexual perversity. Newspaper reporters describedBeck's appearance with derision, and she wrote protesting letters tothe editors. Fernandez and Beck were convicted of Janet Fay'smurder—the only one for which they were tried—and sentenced todeath. They were executed on March 8, 1951.

In media

"Lonely Hearts Killers",a 1960 episode of the American TV show Deadline, released on DVD in2019

The Honeymoon Killers, 1970American cult classic about the same events

Deep Crimson, 1996 Mexican filmabout the same events

Lonely Hearts, 2006 American filmabout the same events

Alleluia, 2014 Belgian-French filminspired by the same events

A 2006 episode of the TV seriesCold Case was called "Lonely Hearts", featuring apair of killers named Martha and Ramone.