Martha Beck And Raymond Fernandez, The ‘Lonely Hearts Killers’
Seymour Wally/NY Daily News Archive via Getty ImagesRaymond Fernandez (left), attorney Herbert Rosenberg, and Martha Beck hold hands after court adjourns on July 13, 1949.
Serial killer couple Martha Beck and Raymond Fernandez became known as the Lonely Hearts Killers because they targeted victims who placed and answered personal ads. What started out as a simple scam ended in bloodshed.
Fernandez was a con artist who suffered a horrible skull fracture during World War II and thought of himself as a master of voodoo who could entice any woman. He started his life of thievery in 1946 by writing letters to various women who placed personal ads.
Preying on their vulnerability, Fernandez would gain their trust, rob them blind, and then disappear without a trace. The victims were usually so embarrassed by the situation that they chose not to report him, so Fernandez’s spree continued.
His scam didn’t turn deadly until he met Martha Beck. Their relationship started after Fernandez responded to an ad that Beck had placed, but instead of robbing her, he fell in love with her.
Fernandez revealed his scamming business to Beck, but because she had craved love her whole life, she looked past his crimes. Indeed, she even joined in on the ruse.
Beck helped by posing as Fernandez’s sister, and they continued responding to ads, focusing their efforts on older women specifically. Despite the fraudulent nature of Fernandez’s relationships with the women, Beck couldn’t handle her jealousy — and things soon turned deadly.
Ed Jackson/NY Daily News Archive via Getty ImagesMartha Beck kisses Raymond Fernandez while in handcuffs. 1949.
Their first victim was Janet Fay, a 66-year-old woman Beck struck with a hammer after seeing her in bed with Fernandez in 1949. They were living in Long Island at the time, but after the murder, they fled to Michigan. There, they began living with a 28-year-old woman named Delphine Downing and her two-year-old daughter.
One night, Fernandez gave Downing sleeping pills, which frightened the child. Beck panicked and strangled the little girl, and although the toddler didn’t die, Fernandez shot Downing to prevent her from finding out. A few days later, Beck drowned the crying child in another fit of rage.
Neighbors grew suspicious that Downing and her daughter had vanished, and they reported their disappearance to the police. When investigators came to question Fernandez, he quickly confessed.
It’s unclear how many people the Lonely Hearts Killers actually murdered. There was only enough evidence to convict them in three cases, but they may have killed as many as 20 victims.
Both Fernandez and Beck were sentenced to death and were executed by electrocution on March 8, 1951. Beck’s eerie last words were: “What does it matter who is to blame? My story is a love story… but only those tortured with love can understand what I mean… In the history of the world, how many crimes have been attributed to love?”
After reading the disturbing stories of these serial killer couples, go inside the chilling crimes of these teenage serial killers. Then, learn about 11 of America’s most notorious serial killers.
