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Murder by Mail: The Deadly Scams of the Lonely Hearts Killers · 10 Minute Murder | Bingeable True Crime Stories

• 0:03
  Speaker 1: When you think of the Roaring twenties and thirties, you
• 0:06
  Speaker 1: probably picture jazz, flapper dresses and gats By level parties.
• 0:11
  Speaker 1: But beneath all the glitz, some stories don't end with
• 0:15
  Speaker 1: a champagne toast. Today we're diving into the twisted tale
• 0:18
  Speaker 1: of Martha Beck and Raymond Fernandez, a couple who turned
• 0:23
  Speaker 1: love into a deadly scam. From lonely hearts ads to
• 0:27
  Speaker 1: brutal murders. This is a story of deception, betrayal, and
• 0:32
  Speaker 1: a dark romance gone horribly wrong. So buckle up because
• 0:36
  Speaker 1: this love story you're not going to forget. Welcome to
• 0:39
  Speaker 1: ten minute murder. When it comes to the Roaring twenties
• 0:52
  Speaker 1: in America, we all get this mental picture. We usually
• 0:55
  Speaker 1: think of big parties, champagne glasses, and cars, those old
• 1:00
  Speaker 1: fancy cars. Rarely do we think about health care or
• 1:03
  Speaker 1: someone that could be struggling with obesity. But that was
• 1:07
  Speaker 1: the case for Martha Jules Seabrook. Doctors claimed that she
• 1:10
  Speaker 1: had a problem with her glands, which was the common
• 1:14
  Speaker 1: diagnosis to explain why someone would be struggling with their
• 1:17
  Speaker 1: weight at that time. But the truth is, we don't
• 1:20
  Speaker 1: know why Martha was bigger than the other girls her age.
• 1:23
  Speaker 1: What we do know is that her weight led her
• 1:25
  Speaker 1: to entering puberty prematurely, and that was quickly followed by
• 1:29
  Speaker 1: another traumatic event. Martha would later claim that her brother
• 1:34
  Speaker 1: had sexually abused her as a child, and when her
• 1:36
  Speaker 1: mother found out, instead of punishing her brother, she beat
• 1:40
  Speaker 1: Martha instead. That's why Martha ran away when she was
• 1:44
  Speaker 1: only a teenager. She was quickly found and brought back.
• 1:47
  Speaker 1: But now Martha knew that if she truly wanted to
• 1:50
  Speaker 1: wait out of her situation at home, she was going
• 1:52
  Speaker 1: to have to find one herself. She then went into nursing,
• 1:57
  Speaker 1: which was a good start, but she struggled to find
• 1:59
  Speaker 1: work even though she was qualified. Many hospitals and other
• 2:03
  Speaker 1: health care facilities turned Martha down because of her weight,
• 2:07
  Speaker 1: and she was forced to work as an undertaker's assistant instead.
• 2:11
  Speaker 1: That was until the Second World War turned everything around
• 2:15
  Speaker 1: and made qualifications more important than size. Martha was then
• 2:20
  Speaker 1: able to get a job as a nurse for the
• 2:22
  Speaker 1: United States Army in California. It was there that she
• 2:25
  Speaker 1: would meet a local man and fall pregnant. Confronted with
• 2:30
  Speaker 1: the woman carrying his child, he then refused to marry her,
• 2:34
  Speaker 1: and Martha had to leave town to avoid the stigma
• 2:36
  Speaker 1: of having a child out of wedlock. She returned home
• 2:39
  Speaker 1: to Florida, where she told everyone that her husband had
• 2:42
  Speaker 1: died in battle. Martha came back a hero and a
• 2:46
  Speaker 1: war widow, and her daughter was welcomed into the community
• 2:49
  Speaker 1: with open arms. It was a few months later, after
• 2:52
  Speaker 1: her daughter was born, that Martha would find herself pregnant again.
• 2:57
  Speaker 1: This time, the father was a local bus driver named
• 3:00
  Speaker 1: Alfred Beck, and Alfred agreed to marry her. Martha took
• 3:04
  Speaker 1: his name, but the marriage only lasted six months before
• 3:07
  Speaker 1: the couple divorced. She would give birth to Alfred's son
• 3:10
  Speaker 1: shortly after the paperwork for the divorce was finalized. Now
• 3:15
  Speaker 1: a single mother to not one, but two children, Martha
• 3:18
  Speaker 1: was out of work and had no one to help
• 3:20
  Speaker 1: support her and her little family. She then placed a
• 3:24
  Speaker 1: Lonely Hearts ad in a magazine and sat back to
• 3:27
  Speaker 1: eagerly wait for a response. It was nineteen forty seven
• 3:32
  Speaker 1: when Raymond Martinez Fernandez spotted Martha's Lonely heartsad, and he
• 3:37
  Speaker 1: quickly put pen to paper. By then, he was already
• 3:40
  Speaker 1: a serial responder to these kinds of advertisements, but Martha
• 3:44
  Speaker 1: would have no way of knowing that. At the time,
• 3:47
  Speaker 1: it had been some years since Raymond had starting responded
• 3:50
  Speaker 1: to women who were looking for companionship all over the country.
• 3:55
  Speaker 1: Born in nineteen fourteen in Hawaii, Raymond Fernandez was no
• 4:00
  Speaker 1: to putting in hard work in the hopes of getting
• 4:02
  Speaker 1: a reward in the end. As a teenager, he'd move
• 4:05
  Speaker 1: from America to Spain, where he worked on his uncle's farm,
• 4:09
  Speaker 1: got married, and had a family with a job, four children,
• 4:13
  Speaker 1: and a loving wife to build a home for him.
• 4:15
  Speaker 1: Raymond seemed to have it all, but he, like so
• 4:19
  Speaker 1: many other men during that period in history, would find
• 4:21
  Speaker 1: himself drafted to fight in World War II. He first
• 4:25
  Speaker 1: served in the Spanish Navy before moving across to the
• 4:28
  Speaker 1: British intelligence services. But when he was out on the
• 4:31
  Speaker 1: other side of combat, a workplace accident changed the course
• 4:35
  Speaker 1: of his life forever. Raymond experienced a head injury that
• 4:40
  Speaker 1: left permanent damage to his frontal lobe. It was shortly
• 4:43
  Speaker 1: after that that he began showing drastic changes in his personality.
• 4:48
  Speaker 1: Gone was the young farmer, the loyal soldier and intelligence officer.
• 4:53
  Speaker 1: Now Raymond was a burgeoning criminal. He abandoned his family
• 4:58
  Speaker 1: in Spain and moved back to America, where he began
• 5:00
  Speaker 1: robbing stores and homes. Shortly after his release from the hospital,
• 5:05
  Speaker 1: he was caught during an attempted robbery and sent to
• 5:08
  Speaker 1: prison for a year. It was during this incarceration that
• 5:11
  Speaker 1: Raymond changed yet again. He learned about black magic and
• 5:15
  Speaker 1: the power of voodoo from his cellmate, and after that,
• 5:19
  Speaker 1: Raymond believed that this black magic had given him irresistible
• 5:23
  Speaker 1: power over women. He used this newfound power to lure
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  Speaker 1: wealthy women in by responding to their lonely hearts ads,
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  Speaker 1: and once Raymond had them ensnared, he would take their
• 5:35
  Speaker 1: money and leave them hanging. One more of his victims
• 5:38
  Speaker 1: was unfortunate than others. Her name was Jane Thompson, and
• 5:42
  Speaker 1: she ended up following Raymond on a trip back to Spain. There,
• 5:46
  Speaker 1: he convinced her to change her will, leaving him as
• 5:50
  Speaker 1: the sole beneficiary in case something were to happen to her.
• 5:53
  Speaker 1: Jane Thompson then died, although her exact cause of death
• 5:57
  Speaker 1: remains a mystery. Raymond would tell Jane's mother that she'd
• 6:01
  Speaker 1: had a train accident. To others, he would say that
• 6:04
  Speaker 1: she died of a heart attack. It's unclear if Raymond
• 6:08
  Speaker 1: responded to Martha's ad with a similar intention of parting
• 6:12
  Speaker 1: her from her money, but this meeting didn't go quite
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  Speaker 1: like the others had. Raymond visited Martha down in Florida
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  Speaker 1: and stayed with her for a short while before moving
• 6:21
  Speaker 1: back to his home in New York. He left her
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  Speaker 1: life and her prospects intact. But by then it was
• 6:28
  Speaker 1: already too late. Martha had been baited hook line and Singer,
• 6:32
  Speaker 1: and she wasn't about to turn her back on true
• 6:35
  Speaker 1: love without informing him of her plans. Martha showed up
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  Speaker 1: at Raymond's doorstep in New York with her two children
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  Speaker 1: and made it clear that she was willing to do
• 6:45
  Speaker 1: anything it took to keep Raymond in her life. Raymond
• 6:50
  Speaker 1: considered her offer and then explained the details of his
• 6:52
  Speaker 1: lonely heart's scam. Instead of being put off when Raymond
• 6:56
  Speaker 1: revealed himself to be a criminal, Martha dove deeper. She
• 7:00
  Speaker 1: dropped her children off at the Salvation Army and completely
• 7:04
  Speaker 1: devoted herself to Raymond and his schemes. This voodoo black
• 7:08
  Speaker 1: magic stuff might actually be working. Raymond himself took this
• 7:12
  Speaker 1: to mean that Martha truly loved him, especially because she
• 7:15
  Speaker 1: had chosen him over her own children, and the scene
• 7:19
  Speaker 1: was set. After that, Martha became an integral part of
• 7:23
  Speaker 1: Raymond's scams. She only had one condition, and that was
• 7:26
  Speaker 1: that Raymond didn't sleep with any of the women he
• 7:29
  Speaker 1: would be conning. Raymond agreed, and the two fell into step,
• 7:34
  Speaker 1: with Martha frequently posing as Raymond's sister and chaperoning his
• 7:38
  Speaker 1: dates with wealthy, lonely women. But if Raymond had learned
• 7:42
  Speaker 1: anything from his time living with Martha, it was that
• 7:45
  Speaker 1: she would forgive him for pretty much anything. Martha came
• 7:49
  Speaker 1: home one evening to find Raymond in bed with one
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  Speaker 1: of his victims, sixty six year old Janet Faye. Instead
• 7:56
  Speaker 1: of being heartbroken that Raymond had violated the terms of
• 7:58
  Speaker 1: their agreement, Martha took out her frustrations on Janet. She
• 8:03
  Speaker 1: grabbed a hammer and hit Janet several times over the
• 8:06
  Speaker 1: head with it, but Janet survived the ordeal. It was
• 8:10
  Speaker 1: only when Raymond jumped in to help Martha that she
• 8:12
  Speaker 1: lost the fight. Raymond then strangled Janet to death, and
• 8:17
  Speaker 1: the two hid her body in the basement before fleeing
• 8:19
  Speaker 1: to Michigan, they were welcomed into the home of another
• 8:23
  Speaker 1: prospective victim. Her name was Delphine Downing, a twenty eight
• 8:27
  Speaker 1: year old widow with a two year old daughter. Delphine
• 8:30
  Speaker 1: believed that she was hosting a man who had responded
• 8:33
  Speaker 1: to her ad named Charles Martin and his sister, but
• 8:37
  Speaker 1: the truth was that she'd invited two snakes into her home.
• 8:42
  Speaker 1: When Charles began trying to persuade Delphine to change her will,
• 8:46
  Speaker 1: leaving everything she owned to him in case something unfortunate
• 8:50
  Speaker 1: were to happen to her, Delphine smelled the trap. She refused,
• 8:54
  Speaker 1: but at the same time she welcomed to helping hand
• 8:57
  Speaker 1: from Charles's sister. When she had trouble sleep, Martha gave
• 9:02
  Speaker 1: Delphine sleeping pills and knocked Delphine out. Confused and wanting
• 9:07
  Speaker 1: her mother, Delphine's daughter began crying for her, only to
• 9:11
  Speaker 1: be met with Martha instead. Enraged that the girl wouldn't
• 9:15
  Speaker 1: stop crying, Martha began strangling her. She didn't kill the girl,
• 9:19
  Speaker 1: but left visible bruises along her neck. Concerned that they
• 9:23
  Speaker 1: wouldn't be able to explain the bruises away, Raymond then
• 9:27
  Speaker 1: shot Delphine in the head and killed her. He and
• 9:30
  Speaker 1: Martha then made themselves at home in Delphine's house, but
• 9:33
  Speaker 1: when her daughter woke up and wouldn't stop crying for
• 9:35
  Speaker 1: her mother again, they had enough. Martha took the child
• 9:39
  Speaker 1: and drowned her in a bucket of water. Both she
• 9:42
  Speaker 1: and Raymond then buried the bodies of their victims in
• 9:44
  Speaker 1: the basement and thought they'd gotten away with everything, But
• 9:48
  Speaker 1: when the neighbors noticed that Delphine was missing, they reported
• 9:51
  Speaker 1: it to the police, who then showed up at the
• 9:53
  Speaker 1: downing household to find Raymond and Martha still there. Once
• 9:58
  Speaker 1: the bodies were recovered, Raymond confessed to everything. He claimed
• 10:02
  Speaker 1: that this was not the first time that he and
• 10:04
  Speaker 1: Martha had killed for money. In fact, he said that
• 10:08
  Speaker 1: they had done this over seventeen times. At trial, Raymond
• 10:12
  Speaker 1: took back his confession and claimed that it had all
• 10:14
  Speaker 1: been a lie. He knew that they were also to
• 10:17
  Speaker 1: face the charges of murder for Janet Fay, that the
• 10:20
  Speaker 1: state of New York still practiced the death penalty. He
• 10:23
  Speaker 1: claimed that he'd only confess to the other seventeen murders
• 10:26
  Speaker 1: in the hopes that he and Martha would be extradited
• 10:29
  Speaker 1: around different states to face their trials and avoid the
• 10:33
  Speaker 1: death penalty in New York a while longer. It did
• 10:37
  Speaker 1: not work. It turned out that the trial of Janet
• 10:40
  Speaker 1: Fay was the only one that he and Martha would
• 10:43
  Speaker 1: face in court. His worst fear then came true when
• 10:47
  Speaker 1: he and Martha were both sentenced to death for killing Janet,
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  Speaker 1: and they were executed in nineteen fifty one at Singh
• 10:54
  Speaker 1: Singh Prison. Because of their contradicting versions of events, their
• 10:58
  Speaker 1: exact victim count is known, but it's believed that together
• 11:02
  Speaker 1: they may have killed around twenty women. That is ten
• 11:17
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