Raymond Fernandez and Martha Beck

The Chilling Story of the couple who lured single woman with personal ads -- Then Brutally murdered them

In 1947, a single mother from Florida named Martha Beck placed a personal ad that got the attention of Raymond Fernandez, a Spanish-American con man who believed he held supernatural powers over women. Fernandez had never made an honest dime in his life and abandoned his wife and four children at a young age.

And when he took a boat from Spain to the United States in 1945, a piece of steel rigging fell and hit him on the head — and reportedly turned him into a sex-addicted predator.

Fernandez then spent a year in a Tallahassee prison for robbery in 1946, and was taught the ways of Voodoo and black magic by a cellmate, soon convincing him that he could control women's minds. ⁠

⁠

Once he was free, he relentlessly trawled so-called "lonely hearts" ads placed by single women in romance magazines and newspapers — with plans to bilk the women he wooed out of their life savings. However, when Fernandez met Beck, he found not only a willing accomplice in his schemes but an equally disturbed partner who joined him in upping the ante from theft to murder. By the time they were caught two years later, they'd already killed up to 17 women.

Learn the full story of the "Lonely Hearts Killers"

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

After their arrest and trial for serial murder in 1949, Fernandez and Beck became known as the Lonely Hearts Killers for meeting their unsuspecting victims through personal ads, posted in newspaper lonely hearts columns. A number of films and television shows are based on this case.

Fernandez visited Beck and stayed for a short time; she told everyone they were to be married. He returned to New York City while she made preparations in Florida. When she was abruptly fired from her job, Beck packed her belongings and arrived on Fernandez' doorstep in New York. Fernandez enjoyed the way she catered to his every whim, and when he learned she had left her children for him, he thought it was a sign of an unconditional love. He confessed his criminal enterprises to Beck, who quickly sent her children to the Salvation Army in order to devote herself to Fernandez without any distractions.

Beck posed as Fernandez's sister, giving him an air of respectability. Their victims, feeling more secure knowing there was another woman in the house, often agreed to stay with the pair. Beck also convinced some victims that she lived alone and that her "brother" was only a guest. She was extremely jealous and went to great lengths to make sure Fernandez and his "intended" never consummated their relationship. When he did have sex with a woman, Beck subjected both to her violent temper.

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

Beck and Fernandez traveled to Byron Center Road in Wyoming Township, Michigan, a suburb of Grand Rapids, where they met and stayed with Delphine Downing, a 28-year-old widow with a two-year-old daughter. On February 28, Downing became agitated and Fernandez gave her sleeping pills to calm her. The daughter witnessed Downing's resulting stupor and began to cry, which enraged Beck. Panicked, Beck choked the child but didn't kill her. Fernandez thought Downing would become suspicious if she saw her bruised daughter, so he shot the unconscious woman. The couple then stayed for several days in Downing's house. Again enraged by the daughter's crying, Beck drowned her in a basin of water. They buried the bodies in the basement, but suspicious neighbors reported the Downings' disappearances, leading the police to arrive at the door on March 1, 1949, and arrest Beck and Fernandez.

Fernandez quickly confessed. The pair vehemently denied committing seventeen murders that were attributed to them, and Fernandez tried to retract his confession, saying he made it only to protect Beck. They were extradited to New York, which still instituted the death penalty. Fay's murder was the only one for which the couple were tried, and they were both sentenced to death. They were executed at Sing Sing prison on March 8, 1951.

Undiluted Relationship and information bring you undiluted serial killer story, serial killers facts, murder, true crime, true crimecommunity, horror, truecrime addict, crime , tedbundy , homicide ,halloween, killer, rodneyalcala, murder on my mind, ,history ,netflixandchill ,deadlymen ,crimewatchdaily ,murderisthenewblack ,historic ,fearthyneighbor ,netflixandcrime ,crime memes ,dark ,murderer ,horrormovies ,insane ,history and many. Feel free to share and comment. Bringing you the best. Undiluted Relationship and Information

Comments

REASON WHY A MALE CHILD IS BETTER THAN A FEMALE CHILD

T his topic has been put into a debate topic. Click here to see the debate report by scholars on why a male child is better than a female child Many had argue on it some say a female child is better while others say it is male child that is better. both are important and have difference role to play in the society but among of the strong there is lazy and among of the best there is good. there is good, better, best and we also have important more important and most important. So grab a glass of wine while I will tell you some of the reason why a male child is superior to a female child. A male child let a family name in existence. A family without a male child is just like a sinking boat. Male child let a family name in existence without them a family will come to an end. Female child they are another man property after marriage they cultivate on another man’s land single male can reproduce a thousand of human kind but a single female can't do likewise. If the...

Victim’s daughter persuaded serial killer to admit slaying 5 other women

Victim’s daughter persuaded serial killer to admit slaying 5 other women Serial killer Richard Cottingham is talking. My grandma was a serial killer’s victim. Richard Cottingham claimed responsible for two more Rockland deaths, adding to his total close to 100 The 75-year-old, who claims he is responsible for close to 100 killings and became known as the "Torso Killer" and the "Times Square Killer" for mainly targeting prostitutes, is talking to victims' families and an author who specializes in serial killers about how he murdered additional women, including at least two in Rockland. Lorraine McGraw, a 26-year-old mother, was killed by Cottingham in 1970, prosecutors say. McGraw's granddaughter, Sonia Ruiz McGraw of Queens, said Cottingham had promised to detail her grandmother's death and how he knew her. But Rockland law enforcement officials say facts do not support his other claim. Goodarzi was found dead alongside another unidentified ...

A Very Victorian Two-Penny Hangover

During the Great Depreciation in London, people who couldn’t afford to sleep in a bad could pay twopence for a spot on a bench with a clothesline tied in front of them, so they could sleep while hanging over a rope . The term ‘hangover’ is universally understood to mean the disproportionate suffering that comes after a night of over-indulgence. But where does the term actually come from? One possible explanation is, somewhat strangely, Victorian England. During the Victorian era the practice of paying for a ‘two-penny hangover’ was incredibly popular among the country’s homeless population and the term ‘two penny hangover’ was so commonly used that it made its way into contemporary literature. A two-penny hangover is not the description of a very cheap night out, nor is it the amount it would cost you to get drunk in Victorian England. It is actually somewhere you could go to sleep if you were one of the thousands of homeless and destitute living in the country’s main cities at the tim...

Everest climber returns to mountain to bury woman he was forced to abandon 9 years ago

Everest climber returns to mountain to bury woman he was forced to abandon 9 years ago In 2007, Ian Woodall, a British climber, returned to Everest to bury the bodies of three climbers he passed on his way to the summit. One of the climbers, a woman named Francys Arsentiev, was still alive when Woodall reached her during his initial ascent. Her first words to him were"don't leave me behind." The grim reality, though, is that Woodall could not have done anything for her without jeopardizing his own life or the lives of his team members. He was forced to leave her to perish alone. Climbing Mount Everest has become much safer over the past decade thanks to advances in technology and climbing gear. Satellite phones allow a climber to stay in contact with base camp to get constant updates on weather systems in the area. A better understanding of exactly what kind and how much gear to take has also caused the death toll to drop dramatically. She was alone on a mountain shelf wh...

Ira Einhorn was A counterculture Icon of 1960s Philadelphia -- Then He Brutally Murdered His Girlfriend

Ira Einhorn was A counterculture Icon of 1960s Philadelphia -- Then He Brutally Murdered His Girlfriend Ira Einhorn was a celebrated environmental activist and a radical voice in the anti-establishment movements of the 1960s and 1970s. But his messages of peace and love clearly didn't extend to his girlfriend of five years, Holly Maddux. When Maddux broke up with him in 1977, Einhorn threatened to throw her belongings into the street if she didn't come to pick them up. After Maddux went to retrieve her items, she mysteriously vanished. ⁠ ⁠ Then, about 18 months later, Einhorn's downstairs neighbor complained of a foul-smelling liquid dripping from the ceiling. Police soon found Maddux's badly beaten and partially mummified body in a trunk in Einhorn's closet. Not long after the grisly discovery, Einhorn fled to Europe, where he got married, settled down in a converted windmill in France, and evaded capture for 17 years. When he was eventually extradited and finally...

Man found dead in Amanda Park motel in 2001 positively identified as California man

Man found dead in Amanda Park motel in 2001 positively identified as California man On September 16, 2001, a young man checked into a motel in Amanda Park, Washington under the name of Lyle Stevik. The following day, Stevik was found dead in his room. He had used his belt to hang himself in a closet and left a note that simply read “suicide.” Although after 17 long years the real identity of Lyle Stevik has been finally uncovered by Internet sleuths, the true horror and mystery are still hiding inside the Room 5. Lyle Stevik (c. 1976 – September 16, 2001) was the alias used by an American man who, in 2001, committed suicide in Amanda Park, Washington, on the Olympic Peninsula. Although his body was quickly discovered, and fingerprints, DNA, and dental information collected and recorded, there were no matches in any databases and his identity remained unknown until 2018. On May 8, 2018, the Grays Harbor County Sheriff's Office announced that "Stevik" was identified after a...

Miriam Rodríguez Dedicated Her Life To Finding Her Daughter’s Killers — And Then Was Murdered Herself

Miriam Rodríguez Dedicated Her Life To Finding Her Daughter’s Killers — And Then Was Murdered Herself Miriam Rodríguez spent years tracking down her daughter's killers, one by one, until she was murdered on Mother's Day in 2017 "I don't care if they kill me. I died the day they killed my daughter. I want to end this. I'm going to take out the people who hurt my daughter and they can do whatever they want to me." In January 2014, Miriam Rodríguez's 20-year-old daughter Karen was kidnapped and murdered by a Mexican cartel — and Rodríguez spent the rest of her life tracking down her daughter's kidnappers, one by one. Rodríguez changed her appearance, staked out cartel members' homes, befriended their relatives for information on them, and spent hours scrolling through social media for clues — and sometimes pursued her daughter's kidnappers on foot herself with a pistol, holding them until the police arrived. Go inside the story of Miriam Ro...

Inside The Mysterious Disappearance Of Brandon Lawson, Who Vanished From A Highway In Texas

Inside The Mysterious Disappearance Of Brandon Lawson, Who Vanished From A Highway In Texas "My truck ran out of gas. There's one car here. The guy's chasing [inaudible] to the woods. Please hurry!" When Brandon Lawson ran out of gas on rural Route 277 outside of Bronte, Texas just after midnight on August 9, 2013, nobody was worried at first. His brother set out to bring him a can of gas, and his girlfriend went to bed, assuming he would be back on the road soon. Instead, Lawson simply vanished into thin air. In a bizarre call with 911 just beforehand, he told the operator he was in the middle of the field and that he had "run into" someone or something. And when his brother arrived with the gas, Lawson was nowhere to be found, even though he told his brother over the phone that he could see him. But Brandon Lawson himself was never seen again. Find out more about his chilling disappearance: After Brandon Lawson ran out of gas in the dead of ni...

The Harrowing Story Of The Whaleship ‘Essex’ That Inspired ‘Moby Dick’

The Harrowing Story Of The Whaleship ‘Essex’ That Inspired ‘Moby Dick’ After the whaleship "Essex" was sunk by a vengeful sperm whale, its crew was left on the high seas for 90 days — causing them to resort to cannibalism. November 1820, a vengeful sperm whale barreled into the Nantucket whaleship "Essex," sending it to the bottom of the South Pacific. For the next 90 days, the crew of the "Essex" was left adrift in three rowboats on the high seas, where they quickly ran out of food and desperately resorted to cannibalism. When the men were finally rescued, the captain was found sucking on the bone marrow of a shipmate he had killed and eaten — his own cousin. See the illustrations and learn the harrowing story of survival that inspired the infamous “Moby Dick" In November 1820, a vengeful sperm whale barreled into the Nantucket whaleship "Essex," sending it to the bottom of the South Pacific. For the next 90 days, the crew of the "Es...

The Twisted Saga Of Michael Peterson, Kathleen Peterson, And The Real Story Behind ‘The Staircase’

The Twisted Saga Of Michael Peterson, Kathleen Peterson, And The Real Story Behind ‘The Staircase’ In 2003, Michael Peterson was convicted of killing his wife Kathleen by beating her with a fire poker and throwing her down their back staircase — despite the police never finding the murder weapon nor any evidence of a concrete motive. But investigators soon learned that the Petersons were deep in debt and that Michael was unhappy with the way his work as a writer had stalled while his wife's career as a business executive had soared. And when prosecutors learned that Michael had exchanged emails with a male sex worker, they argued that Kathleen must have discovered the messages and confronted him about it, causing him to fly into a fit of rage, beat her about the back of the head, and leave her to die at the bottom of the stairs. But six years after Michael's conviction, a shocking new analysis showed that Kathleen Peterson had traces of feathers, wood, and cedar needle...

Vwegba Blogging World

Search This Blog

Search on Wikipedia

SO Sad! Transgender Woman Pleads For Life Before Mob Beat Her To Death. click image to read story

Featured Post

10 Reasons Why Men Should Quit Watching Po*n