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

Mar. 15, 2025

From left: Raymond Fernandez and Martha Beck.Photo:AP Photo/Jacob Harris

AP Photo/Jacob Harris

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 toTIME 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 theHistory Channel.

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.

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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.

Delphine Downing.AP Photo/Grand Rapids Press

AP Photo/Grand Rapids Press

source: people.com