The Lonely Hearts Killers: A Match Made for Murder

Martha Beck and Raymond Martinez Fernandez are a couple better known as “The Lonely Hearts Killers.” Raymond had gotten a head start on his criminal career before meeting Martha. He mainly committed petty crimes such as theft until 1947 when it’s believed he committed his first murder. In 1947 when Raymond responded to Martha’s lonely hearts ad in the newspaper, she was to be his next victim. Instead the couple ended up falling in love. When Martha found out about Raymond’s criminal past she thought it was a brilliant scheme. She joined him and together they used the personal ads to search for their victims. Those unfortunate women who were only looking for love were instead conned, robbed, and murdered. The lonely hearts killers are known to have killed four people, but may have had has many as 20 victims.

Raymond Fernandez and Martha Beck, “The Lonely Hearts Killers.”