The Lonely Hearts Killers: Martha Beck And Raymond Fernandez

She was lonely, not attractive and a hopeless romantic, and she was his new target, until he realized that she can be from much greater use. Martha Beck had no idea that she stepped in something way different than she could have ever imagined when she had posted her Lonely Heart ad. This paper shows how the serial killer couple Martha Beck and Raymond Fernandez, known as “The lonely Hearts Killers”, managed to make their own strange love story until their deaths. It will also provide an insight into their relationship and their attitudes towards each other and their victims.

The term “Lonely Hearts Killer” is a journalistic term to describe a murderer who first contacts his or her victim through “Lonely Hearts” advertisements. According to

Although he had an uneasy childhood with parents who have been disappointed in him, he developed into a handsome man with gentle manners and moved to Spain, where he married a local woman and had four children with her. Later, he served in the merchant marine during World War II. Aboard of a ship, a disastrous accident happened: “A steel hatch fell on top of him, fracturing his skull and injuring his frontal lobe. This may have affected his social and sexual behavior” (“Awesomely Interesting Facts, Images & Videos”), which let him go through a personality transformation. He stole cloth from a ship for no reason and got arrested. In prison, his cell mate taught him the practice of Voodoo rituals. Soon, Fernandez thought he had a secret power over women. When he got out of prison, he began to answer Lonely Hearts ads. He soon perfect his system: Once he had gained the trust of his female victims, he stole their personal things and “most of the women were too embarrassed” to contact the police (“Murderpedia”). He travelled to Spain with one of the ladies to introduce her to his real wife. Later, the girl was found dead in their hotel room, people reported, that they have seen Fernandez running out of the hotel late at night. He took possession over his victim’s apartment and lived from then on in New York, where he continued to write to “Lonely Hearts”. One of them was Martha

They answered all the questions, believing that they would not be executed, since Michigan had no death penalty. They were wrong, and soon were turned over to New York’s police. Although they were only convicted of Janet Fay’s murder, both of them were sentenced to death. On March 8, 1951, Fernandez and Beck were executed by the electric chair at Sing-Sing Prison in New York. Even when Fernandez always dominated Beck, in the end he expressed his feelings to her, "I wanna shout it out; I love Martha! What does the public know about love?" (“Murderpedia”). Beck’s last words were, "My story is a love story. But only those tortured by love can know what I mean [...] Imprisonment in the Death House has only strengthened my feeling for Raymond...."