Who Were the Lonely Hearts Killers?

Feb 11

Throughout history, people have always looked for companionship whether it’s for marriage, casual dating, or friendship, at one point or another we have the need to socialize and be around others. In the days before dating apps and the internet, those searching would place personal ads in magazines and newspapers.

These became so prominent in the mid-20th century, that many people joined together to form clubs they called Lonely Hearts Clubs. Here, members could fill out, what was called, lonely hearts ads that then appeared in multiple dedicated magazines which were sent to paying members hoping to find a match.

This is what Janet Fay did in 1948, she was a 66-year-old widow living in Albany, New York, looking for a companion to spend the rest of her life with. To her delight, she received a possible match and by the end of the year, she welcomed Charles Martin into her home.

Within a month, Janet Fay had been murdered and buried under cement in a basement.

Today we’re looking at a serial killing couple known as the Lonely Hearts Killers. Two monsters who took advantage of those looking for companionship, robbed them of all their possessions, and disposed of them by murder.

PART 1 - Woman Seeking

Martha Jule Seabrook was born in the town of Milton, Florida in 1919. From childhood, she was tormented and bullied for her weight said to be caused by a glandular issue in her thyroid. This caused her to become an outcast at school but home wasn’t much of a comfort for her either.

As a teen, Martha was sexually assaulted by her brother and when she sought help from her mother, she was beaten and told it was her own fault. Focusing on school, Martha achieved exceptional grades and in 1942, graduated first in her class from nursing school in Pensacola, Florida.

Unfortunately for Martha, she had difficulty getting a job as a nurse and ended up employed as a mortician’s assistant, preparing and embalming female bodies. Working with the dead was too much for Martha, who craved attention and companionship. She decided to quit and move to California, finding a job in an Army hospital in her preferred profession; a nurse.

But Martha still looked for someone to show they cared for her and during the nights she frequented local bars picking up soldiers and other men for one-night stands.

A Family

In 1943 Martha discovered she was pregnant by one of the men. She rushed to him, excited, and insisted they should be married to raise the child but he refused. Unwilling to be a part of a family with Martha, he attempted suicide but lived. He then cut all contact with Martha and was never heard from again.

Martha in turn left California and returned to Milton, Florida but surprisingly she returned wearing a wedding ring. She told everyone she had happily married a soldier who was forced to return to war and would be back to meet their child once she was born.

As the months went on Martha had to devise a plan for when her fictitious husband was supposed to return. She arranged for a telegram to be sent to her stating her husband had died in the war. The resulting sympathy and attention her tragic story received ended up in the local paper and many came to her in her time of need.

The Lonely Hearts Ad

In the spring of 1944, Martha gave birth to her daughter. Three months later she met bus driver Alfred Beck and by the end of the year, she was pregnant. For a moment when Alfred Beck agreed to marry Martha, she saw the story of her life with a happy ending, but just six months after marriage, they were divorced.

Now with two children, Martha poured all her focus into her career and received a job as a nurse at the Pensacola Hospital for Children. By 1946 she had been promoted, becoming the superintendent of nurses but she still felt unfulfilled and yearned for companionship.

In 1947 as a joke, a co-worker signed Martha up to receive lonely hearts club advertisements but instead of tearing up the ads, Martha took a chance and filled out a form. Several weeks later she received a response from Raymond Fernandez, a man who had no intention of finding love and at times went by the name, Charles Martin.

PART 2 - A Monster is Made

Born in Hawaii on December 17th, 1914, Raymond Fernandez was said to be a kind, intelligent, and extremely sociable man. By the age of 20, Raymond had moved to Spain and married a woman named Encarnacion Robles.

During World War II Raymond joined the war effort and was later a spy for the British government where it’s said he excelled and was the recipient of multiple awards.

After the war, Raymond decided to move back to the United States, find work, and eventually build up enough money to bring Encarnacion and his four children from Spain to America but an accident would change the trajectory of his life, forever.

The Accident

In December of 1945, while working on an oil tanker, a large steel hatch slammed down on his head fracturing his skull. For the next three months, Raymond was bedridden in a hospital. The injury left a large scar on his head and also, many believed, caused irreversible damage to the frontal lobe of his brain.

After he was released from the hospital many noted a personality change in Raymond, where he was once kind towards people, he was now distant and moody, often claiming to act without thought. One such occasion occurred on a ship on its way to Alabama where Raymond stole clothes, towels, and other items from the stockroom. When asked why he robbed the items, he simply said he didn’t think about it and couldn’t stop.

Learning a New Skill

Arriving in Alabama he was immediately arrested and sentenced to a year in a federal penitentiary in Tallahassee, Florida. But during his time in prison, Raymond Fernandez learned a new skill, voodoo.

His Haitian cellmate supposedly taught him voodoo rituals and spells but Raymond also read all the books he could find on the subject. Unfortunately at the time, many books perpetuated false myths that voodoo and associated religions were of the dark arts and evil.

By the end of his time at the penitentiary, Raymond believed he could make any woman fall in love with him by asking them for a personal object, a lock of their hair, and performing a voodoo ritual. He only needed a supply of victims and he would find them when he noticed an ad for a lonely hearts club.

The Con

In 1947 Raymond Fernandez was now living with his sister in Brooklyn, wore a toupee to cover his scar, and had chosen the name Charles Martin to use in letters he would write to women from various lonely hearts clubs.

Raymond would first gain the trust of his unsuspecting targets, and when he felt they were willing, he would ask them for a lock of their hair. He then used this for his love ritual believing the women would now do whatever he asked, unfortunately, many did.

Raymond conned them into giving him their money and jewelry. If he met the women he would give his false name and once he got them to empty their bank accounts and sign over their assets, he would disappear. Raymond Fernandez was now a conman.

Jane Thompson

In October of 1947, his latest target was Jane Thompson, a woman who was separated from her husband and living on the Upper West Side of New York City with her mother. Jane fell for the conman allowing him to move in with her and even bought cruise tickets for them to Spain as a sort of honeymoon.

Unbelievably Raymond brought her to meet his wife Encarnacion and his children. It’s unknown what exactly was said between the three but apparently, they were all seen around the town, dining out and being friendly.

But on November 7th, 1947 all that changed when an argument was heard between Raymond and Jane in their hotel room and Raymond was later seen storming off. The following day the maid found Jane Thompson dead in her hotel room. The local coroner determined her death was caused by a heart attack, she was then buried without an autopsy.

Meanwhile, Raymond Fernandez returned to Jane’s apartment in New York City holding her last will and testament giving everything to Raymond. But this wasn’t enough for him, he now needed more victims and he spotted a potential target in the latest lonely hearts catalog, Martha Seabrook Beck.

PART 3 - A Monstrous Match

“One is very crazy when in love.”

Sigmund Freud

Through letters, Raymond introduced himself to Martha as a businessman looking for a wife as he now lived in a large New York City apartment all alone. Martha fell for his con almost immediately.

Within a short time, she had sent him a lock of her hair and Raymond believed he could now get her to give him everything he wanted. By the end of December 1947, he was in Pensacola, Florida to meet Martha, her children, and to find out what he could steal from them.

After several days together, Martha was in love and requested he stay in Florida to marry her. Though he didn’t deny her, Raymond told her he had to return to New York immediately for business and would write to her. Days later she received the rejection letter from Raymond but Martha didn’t give up.

She wrote to him begging him to let her visit for two weeks and seeing this as an opportunity to take more of her money, Raymond agreed.

Devotion

By the time Martha returned to Florida, she had been fired from her job. Believing she had no other choice, on January 18th, 1948 she packed up her things and headed back to Raymond’s apartment in New York City with her children.

Raymond took a liking to Martha’s complete devotion to him and allowed her to stay but he didn’t want the children. Willing to give up everything to be with him, on January 25th, 1948, Martha dropped off her two children at the Salvation Army and abandoned them. When she returned to the apartment she was in for a surprise.

Raymond confessed his schemes to her. He told her about the lonely hearts letters, his victims, his wife in Spain, and his plans to continue robbing lonely women across the country. Martha agreed to help. She would accompany him to meet the women posing as his sister and help gain their trust.

Ester Henne / Myrtle Young

The couple's first victim was Esther Henne from Pennsylvania and by February 28, 1948, Raymond and Esther were married. Luckily Esther refused to sign over her insurance and pension to Raymond and eventually abandoned Raymond and Martha. Unfortunately, the pair’s next victim wasn’t so lucky.

In August of 1948 Myrtle Young from Green Forest, Arkansas married Raymond Fernandez in Cook County, Illinois. But just three days after their marriage, when Myrtle began to question why Martha was around so often, Raymond fed her a bunch of sleeping pills to quiet her down. Martha and Raymond then robbed her of her money and car, placed a half-conscious Myrtle on a bus to Little Rock, Arkansas, and left.

When the bus arrived in Little Rock, Myrtle, who had now been unconscious for over a day, was taken to a hospital where she died. The coroner attributed her death to cerebral hemorrhage and liver inflammation.

Over the next several months it’s not known how many more victims the couple had as it’s thought many women who did fall for the con never came forward but upon returning to New York City, the couple targeted 66-year-old widow, Janet Fay.

Janet Fay

On December 31st, 1948, after several letters back and forth, Raymond under the name Charles Martin appeared at Janet’s door. He eventually introduced Martha as his sister and asked Janet to let her stay in her apartment. Within days of meeting in person, Raymond asked Janet to marry him and she happily agreed.

The trio made plans to move to a rented-out apartment on Long Island but before they left, Janet took all her money out of the bank and gave it to Raymond to hold during the trip. On the night of January 4th, 1949 the three arrived at the apartment, had dinner, and then went to bed.

According to Martha Beck, at some point during the night after seeing Janet with Raymond, she blacked out in rage and jealousy. But during her blackout, she grabbed a hammer and struck Janet Fay on her head repeatedly. The next thing she remembered, Raymond was grabbing her by the shoulders asking what she had done.

Janet Fay was dead.

The two wrapped the now lifeless Janet in a blanket, cleaned up the blood, and went back to bed. The next day they bought a large trunk, placed Janet inside, and stored it at the home of Raymond’s sister.

On January 15th they then picked up the trunk and brought it to the basement of a rented-out house in Queens where Raymond buried it in cement. As part of the coverup, Raymond typed up multiple letters to Janet’s family pretending to be her and telling them she was moving to Florida.

Martha and Raymond then started a search for their next victim.

Rainelle and Delphine Downing

By the end of the month, the two arrived in Grand Rapids, Michigan to meet 41-year-old widow Delphine Downing and her 2-year-old daughter, Rainelle. After multiple letters, Delphine was happy to welcome Charles Martin and his sister for a visit.

Within a few days, the two were staying at her home, and at first, their plan appeared to be working but one morning Delphine walked in on Raymond and discovered him without his toupee. Angry at the deception, Delphine began accusing Raymond of lying about other things and possibly attempting to defraud her.

Martha was able to calm Delphine down and gave her several sleeping pills. As Delphine fell unconscious Rainelle began loudly crying at the sight. This caused Martha to lose her temper, she grabbed Rainelle and choked her unconscious.

Letting go of her neck revealed obvious marks and bruises causing Raymond to worry about what would happen when Delphine awoke to find her daughter’s neck bruised.

Too Far Gone

Instead of leaving and ending their con then and there, Raymond grabbed a gun, wrapped it in a blanket, and shot Delphine in the head, killing her instantly.

The two then dug a hole in the basement and buried Delphine. The next day they went around the home, gathering whatever they could sell, cashing whatever checks they could, and cleaning up their mess. All the while Rainelle cried for her mother. Whenever a neighbor asked for the missing Delphine, Raymond told them she left to visit a sick relative and would return shortly.

The following day the two debated on what to do with Rainelle and even considered taking her with them to New York but when Rainelle made it clear she would not go calmly, Raymond ordered Martha to get rid of her.

Martha brought Rainelle to the basement, filled a metal tub with water, and held the two-year-old child underwater until she no longer moved. Raymond dug a second grave and buried Rainelle next to her mother.

PART 4 - Consequences

After burying Rainelle, Martha and Raymond decided to take a break and went to the local movie theater believing they would get away with their actions. But unbeknownst to them, suspicions had grown in the neighborhood and many wondered where Delphine and Rainelle actually were.

Some neighbors were suspicious enough to call the police and when the killers returned to the home they found several officers with a search warrant. On February 28th, 1949, after finding the wet cement covering two graves in the basement, The Lonely Hearts Killers were arrested.

Amazingly, Raymond Fernandez and Martha Beck confessed to all their crimes as soon as they were questioned. Some reports say they confessed with an air of pride, others say they confessed knowing they had no choice, and yet other reports say they confessed only because they knew Michigan had no death penalty.

But within their 73-page confession, they admitted to killing Janet Fay in New York, this led police to investigate her disappearance and find her body. The people and the governor of New York demanded the killers be extradited to New York, where they had the death penalty.

Trial

On March 8th, 1949 Michigan prosecutors agreed on the extradition and Raymond Fernandez and Martha Beck were sent to New York for trial.

From June 28th to August 18th, 1949 the two were put on trial where it seemed the case would be a simple one. But, the two recanted their confessions and claimed temporary insanity.

Raymond claimed he was coerced into confessing by Michigan police and only did so to protect Martha. He also claimed he was told if he confessed he would only get six years and parole. But prosecutors and the jury didn’t buy it.

On August 19, 1949, the two were found guilty. Several days later they were sentenced to death via the electric chair.

For the next 2 years, the couple sat on death row, alternating between sending each other hate and love letters. It’s unknown whether Martha knew that until his final day, Raymond was still sending letters to and receiving letters from other women including his wife, Encarnacion.

On March 8th, 1951, both the Lonely Hearts Killers were executed, and both professed their love for each other before dying.