Match Made in Hell: How the 'Lonely Hearts' Killers Seduced Their Prey with Newspaper Ads During Murderous Spree

Sometime in the 1940s, Raymond Fernandez met his match in Martha Beck.

While behind bars for petty crimes, Fernandez had convinced himself he could use voodoo to gain power over women. He began targeting vulnerable women through lonely hearts ads, responding to their pleas for companionship, before subsequently preying on them, according to TIME Magazine.

Beck was one such would-be victim, placing a lonely hearts ad in a magazine that Fernandez answered. His secret plan? To gain her trust, rob her, and then disappear, per the History Channel.

However, when they met, the two discovered they had more in common than Fernandez had anticipated. Beck and Fernandez fell in love, and after Fernandez shared his scheme, Beck decided to join him. She was so committed to his plan that she left her two children with the Salvation Army to dedicate herself completely to their twisted partnership, TIME reported.

The couple, who posed as brother and sister across the U.S., would seek their victims the same way they had met, with Fernandez seducing the women through the ads posted in magazines and newspapers. The victims often agreed to stay with the pair, but Beck didn’t want Fernandez to have sex with them — a rule that would later cause violent reactions from Beck when she felt jealous, per the History Channel.

Want to keep up with the latest crime coverage? Sign up for PEOPLE’s free True Crime newsletter for breaking crime news, ongoing trial coverage and details of intriguing unsolved cases.

One of those instances resulted in the death of 66-year-old Janet Fay, who was struck in the head by Beck after she caught Fay and Fernandez in bed together in the Long Island, N.Y., apartment they all shared, The Lineup reported. Fernandez then strangled Fay.

The pair’s 1949 arrest came after a 28-year-old widow, Delphine Downing, and her 2-year-old daughter, were reported missing in a suburb of Grand Rapids, Mich. According to The Lineup, Fernandez gave Downing sleeping pills, which rendered her unconscious, after she became upset at something. He eventually shot Downing and Beck drowned the crying child in a basin of water. They hid their bodies in the basement.

Following the couple’s arrest, Fernandez confessed, although both denied carrying out the 17 to 20 murders that investigators suspected they had committed, per The Lineup. They were extradited to New York, where they went on trial for Fay’s murder and soon became dubbed the “Lonely Hearts Killers.” 

Fernandez and Beck were only ever found guilty of Fay’s murder, and were sentenced to death. Both died by the electric chair at Sing Sing prison in Ossining, N.Y. in 1951, according to the The New York Times.