Martha Beck and Ray Fernandez

Martha Beck was born into poverty in 1920. Raped at the age of 13 by her brother, she continued to gain weight, appeared emotionally unstable, and suffered from low self-esteem. By the time she'd been married and divorced several times, she was declared an unfit mother, and authorities removed her two young children. One of the children was illegitimate. When Martha pressed for marriage, the father elected suicide rather than marrying her. She was able to complete high school and worked as a nurse at a city maternity hospital until she was fired in 1947. At some point, she began sending letters to the “Lonely Hearts Club” from an advertisement in the local newspaper, and in this way met her future murder accomplice.

Ray Fernandez was born in Spain in 1914. Considered a shy, introverted man, he was happily married until he received a head injury at age 31. His demeanor changed, as did his personality, and he began to believe that he possessed psychic powers that enabled him to make women fall in love with him. For the next few years, he was described as a “sleazy gigolo with a toupée and a gold tooth” and managed to swindle dozens of women out of their financial assets, but was caught in 1949.

When Fernandez was released from prison, Beck proposed that the two of them become partners and continue the confidence games together. She would pose as his sister. Although Fernandez found her unattractive, they became sexual partners as well, engaging in extremely “degenerate” practices. Martha eventually became jealous of the relationships Ray developed [Page 54]with their victims and began putting barbiturates into their food. Ray then murdered the unsuspecting victims. In one case, Martha “assisted” by drowning a dead woman's 2-year-old child in the bathtub. She initiated the killing and appeared to enjoy watching the child die. In another instance, she struck the victim repeatedly on the head. The two were linked to approximately 20 murders by the time they were apprehended and convicted, and they were executed on March 8th, 1951.