Raymond Fernandez Raymond Martinez Fernandez was born in the
Territory of Hawaii to
Spanish parents on December 17, 1914. Shortly after, the family moved to
Bridgeport, Connecticut. As a teenager, Fernandez worked on his uncle's farm in Spain, married a young local woman named Encarnación Robles and had four children, all of whom he abandoned later in life. He served in the Spanish
merchant navy and with
British intelligence services during
World War II. Upon his release from a hospital, Fernandez stole some clothing and was imprisoned for a year, during which time his cellmate converted him to a belief in
voodoo and
black magic. Fernandez later claimed black magic gave him irresistible power and charm over women.
Martha Beck Martha Beck was born
Martha Jule Seabrook on May 6, 1920, in
Milton, Florida. Allegedly due to a
glandular problem, then a common explanation for obesity, Beck was
overweight and underwent
puberty prematurely. At her trial, she claimed to have been
raped by her brother and subsequently beaten by her mother. Anecdotal evidence suggests that, as a young teenager, Beck ran away to the home of an uncle in another town, taking
Truman Capote, then ten years old, with her, and that they were found and returned home after a day. However, this is not referenced in Capote's extensive biographies, his own letters, or credible archives, and so is attributed to being internet folklore. (This is in fact referenced in Capote's interview in The Paris Review [Truman Capote, The Art of Fiction No. 17, Issue 16, Spring-Summer 1957.) After finishing school, Beck studied nursing but had trouble finding a job due to her weight. She initially became an
undertaker's assistant and prepared female bodies for burial. She soon quit that job and moved to
California, where she worked in a
United States Army hospital as a nurse. While living in California she eventually became
pregnant, but the father of the baby refused to marry her. Single and pregnant, at a time when a social stigma existed concerning
out of wedlock childbirth, Beck returned to Florida. Unemployed and the single mother of two young children, Beck escaped into a
fantasy world, buying romance magazines and
novels, and watching romantic movies. In 1946, she found employment at the Pensacola Hospital for Children. She placed a lonely hearts ad in 1947, which Raymond Fernandez answered. ==Murders==