Post by Sher on May 4, 2005 23:44:41 GMT -5
Martha Beck, a prodigiously fat person with a hatred of other women, and Raymond Fernandez, a con man who pried money and valuables from gullible single females, met in 1947 and formed a unique but deadly coupling. Ironically, Beck was to be just another of Fernandez' many victims when he answered her ad in a local "lonely hearts" column. The con artist fell in love with Beck and confessed his true intentions however, and she decided to use his talents as a tool to vent her pathological anger. Fernandez simply continued his quest for lonely single women, Smoothly wooing them and bilking them out of whatever he could get his hands on when he had gained their trust. The only difference is that with the more dominant Beck at the controls murder was soon an added end result.
For a time the two operated with discretion, but when Fernandez started a relationship with Delphine Dowling, much younger and more beautiful than his typical victim, Beck was overwhelmed with jealousy. Posing as her lovers sister, which she often did, she moved in with Fernandez, Dowling, and the young woman's 2-year-old daughter. It was inevitable that the two disappeared and police investigating soon found a fresh patch of cement in the basement of the house. Dowling and the girl were found underneath and the murderous "Lonely Hearts Killers" were arrested.
Both quickly and proudly confessed to the Dowling murders and many others, with Fernandez putting the number of killings at around 19. Beck had murdered Ms. Dowling in a jealous rage and drowned her little girl in the tub. Jane Thompson and her mother were swindled and killed by Fernandez in seperate incidents. They combined to murder Janet Fay, Beck crushing her skull with a hammer and Fernandez strangling her. The confessed murders went on and on.
The murderers recanted their confessions when they were charged with the Fay murder in New York, a death-penalty state, and not the Dowling killing in Michigan. It was too late however and both were easily sentenced to die in the electric chair at Sing Sing prison where they were both executed on March 8, 1951.
