Oct. 3, 2024

Murder by Mail: The Deadly Scams of the Lonely Hearts Killers

Show Notes
Transcript

Murder by Mail: The Deadly Scams of the Lonely Hearts Killers

Get ready for a wild and twisted dive into the lives of Martha Beck and Raymond Fernandez, also known as the "Lonely Hearts Killers." In this episode, we unravel Martha's difficult childhood, her struggle to find love, and her fateful connection to Raymond—a conman with a dark history and dangerous charm. Together, they scammed and murdered vulnerable women they lured through lonely hearts ads. But how did these two seemingly ordinary people become cold-blooded killers? We’ll explore the trauma, manipulation, and crime spree that shook post-war America. You won’t believe how far they went in the name of "love."

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When you think of the Roaring twenties and thirties, you

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probably picture jazz, flapper dresses and gats By level parties.

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But beneath all the glitz, some stories don't end with

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a champagne toast. Today we're diving into the twisted tale

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of Martha Beck and Raymond Fernandez, a couple who turned

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love into a deadly scam. From lonely hearts ads to

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brutal murders. This is a story of deception, betrayal, and

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a dark romance gone horribly wrong. So buckle up because

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this love story you're not going to forget. Welcome to

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ten minute murder. When it comes to the Roaring twenties

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in America, we all get this mental picture. We usually

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think of big parties, champagne glasses, and cars, those old

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fancy cars. Rarely do we think about health care or

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someone that could be struggling with obesity. But that was

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the case for Martha Jules Seabrook. Doctors claimed that she

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had a problem with her glands, which was the common

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diagnosis to explain why someone would be struggling with their

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weight at that time. But the truth is, we don't

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know why Martha was bigger than the other girls her age.

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What we do know is that her weight led her

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to entering puberty prematurely, and that was quickly followed by

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another traumatic event. Martha would later claim that her brother

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had sexually abused her as a child, and when her

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mother found out, instead of punishing her brother, she beat

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Martha instead. That's why Martha ran away when she was

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only a teenager. She was quickly found and brought back.

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But now Martha knew that if she truly wanted to

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wait out of her situation at home, she was going

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to have to find one herself. She then went into nursing,

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which was a good start, but she struggled to find

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work even though she was qualified. Many hospitals and other

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health care facilities turned Martha down because of her weight,

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and she was forced to work as an undertaker's assistant instead.

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That was until the Second World War turned everything around

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and made qualifications more important than size. Martha was then

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able to get a job as a nurse for the

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United States Army in California. It was there that she

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would meet a local man and fall pregnant. Confronted with

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the woman carrying his child, he then refused to marry her,

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and Martha had to leave town to avoid the stigma

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of having a child out of wedlock. She returned home

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to Florida, where she told everyone that her husband had

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died in battle. Martha came back a hero and a

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war widow, and her daughter was welcomed into the community

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with open arms. It was a few months later, after

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her daughter was born, that Martha would find herself pregnant again.

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This time, the father was a local bus driver named

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Alfred Beck, and Alfred agreed to marry her. Martha took

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his name, but the marriage only lasted six months before

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the couple divorced. She would give birth to Alfred's son

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shortly after the paperwork for the divorce was finalized. Now

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a single mother to not one, but two children, Martha

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was out of work and had no one to help

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support her and her little family. She then placed a

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Lonely Hearts ad in a magazine and sat back to

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eagerly wait for a response. It was nineteen forty seven

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when Raymond Martinez Fernandez spotted Martha's Lonely heartsad, and he

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quickly put pen to paper. By then, he was already

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a serial responder to these kinds of advertisements, but Martha

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would have no way of knowing that. At the time,

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it had been some years since Raymond had starting responded

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to women who were looking for companionship all over the country.

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Born in nineteen fourteen in Hawaii, Raymond Fernandez was no

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to putting in hard work in the hopes of getting

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a reward in the end. As a teenager, he'd move

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from America to Spain, where he worked on his uncle's farm,

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got married, and had a family with a job, four children,

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and a loving wife to build a home for him.

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Raymond seemed to have it all, but he, like so

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many other men during that period in history, would find

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himself drafted to fight in World War II. He first

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served in the Spanish Navy before moving across to the

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British intelligence services. But when he was out on the

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other side of combat, a workplace accident changed the course

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of his life forever. Raymond experienced a head injury that

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left permanent damage to his frontal lobe. It was shortly

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after that that he began showing drastic changes in his personality.

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Gone was the young farmer, the loyal soldier and intelligence officer.

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Now Raymond was a burgeoning criminal. He abandoned his family

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in Spain and moved back to America, where he began

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robbing stores and homes. Shortly after his release from the hospital,

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he was caught during an attempted robbery and sent to

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prison for a year. It was during this incarceration that

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Raymond changed yet again. He learned about black magic and

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the power of voodoo from his cellmate, and after that,

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Raymond believed that this black magic had given him irresistible

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power over women. He used this newfound power to lure

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wealthy women in by responding to their lonely hearts ads,

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and once Raymond had them ensnared, he would take their

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money and leave them hanging. One more of his victims

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was unfortunate than others. Her name was Jane Thompson, and

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she ended up following Raymond on a trip back to Spain. There,

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he convinced her to change her will, leaving him as

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the sole beneficiary in case something were to happen to her.

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Jane Thompson then died, although her exact cause of death

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remains a mystery. Raymond would tell Jane's mother that she'd

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had a train accident. To others, he would say that

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she died of a heart attack. It's unclear if Raymond

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responded to Martha's ad with a similar intention of parting

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her from her money, but this meeting didn't go quite

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like the others had. Raymond visited Martha down in Florida

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and stayed with her for a short while before moving

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back to his home in New York. He left her

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life and her prospects intact. But by then it was

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already too late. Martha had been baited hook line and Singer,

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and she wasn't about to turn her back on true

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love without informing him of her plans. Martha showed up

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at Raymond's doorstep in New York with her two children

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and made it clear that she was willing to do

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anything it took to keep Raymond in her life. Raymond

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considered her offer and then explained the details of his

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lonely heart's scam. Instead of being put off when Raymond

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revealed himself to be a criminal, Martha dove deeper. She

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dropped her children off at the Salvation Army and completely

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devoted herself to Raymond and his schemes. This voodoo black

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magic stuff might actually be working. Raymond himself took this

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to mean that Martha truly loved him, especially because she

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had chosen him over her own children, and the scene

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was set. After that, Martha became an integral part of

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Raymond's scams. She only had one condition, and that was

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that Raymond didn't sleep with any of the women he

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would be conning. Raymond agreed, and the two fell into step,

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with Martha frequently posing as Raymond's sister and chaperoning his

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dates with wealthy, lonely women. But if Raymond had learned

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anything from his time living with Martha, it was that

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she would forgive him for pretty much anything. Martha came

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home one evening to find Raymond in bed with one

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of his victims, sixty six year old Janet Faye. Instead

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of being heartbroken that Raymond had violated the terms of

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their agreement, Martha took out her frustrations on Janet. She

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grabbed a hammer and hit Janet several times over the

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head with it, but Janet survived the ordeal. It was

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only when Raymond jumped in to help Martha that she

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lost the fight. Raymond then strangled Janet to death, and

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the two hid her body in the basement before fleeing

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to Michigan, they were welcomed into the home of another

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prospective victim. Her name was Delphine Downing, a twenty eight

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year old widow with a two year old daughter. Delphine

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believed that she was hosting a man who had responded

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to her ad named Charles Martin and his sister, but

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the truth was that she'd invited two snakes into her home.

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When Charles began trying to persuade Delphine to change her will,

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leaving everything she owned to him in case something unfortunate

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were to happen to her, Delphine smelled the trap. She refused,

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but at the same time she welcomed to helping hand

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from Charles's sister. When she had trouble sleep, Martha gave

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Delphine sleeping pills and knocked Delphine out. Confused and wanting

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her mother, Delphine's daughter began crying for her, only to

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be met with Martha instead. Enraged that the girl wouldn't

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stop crying, Martha began strangling her. She didn't kill the girl,

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but left visible bruises along her neck. Concerned that they

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wouldn't be able to explain the bruises away, Raymond then

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shot Delphine in the head and killed her. He and

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Martha then made themselves at home in Delphine's house, but

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when her daughter woke up and wouldn't stop crying for

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her mother again, they had enough. Martha took the child

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and drowned her in a bucket of water. Both she

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and Raymond then buried the bodies of their victims in

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the basement and thought they'd gotten away with everything, But

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when the neighbors noticed that Delphine was missing, they reported

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it to the police, who then showed up at the

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downing household to find Raymond and Martha still there. Once

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the bodies were recovered, Raymond confessed to everything. He claimed

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that this was not the first time that he and

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Martha had killed for money. In fact, he said that

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they had done this over seventeen times. At trial, Raymond

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took back his confession and claimed that it had all

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been a lie. He knew that they were also to

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face the charges of murder for Janet Fay, that the

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state of New York still practiced the death penalty. He

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claimed that he'd only confess to the other seventeen murders

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in the hopes that he and Martha would be extradited

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around different states to face their trials and avoid the

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death penalty in New York a while longer. It did

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not work. It turned out that the trial of Janet

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Fay was the only one that he and Martha would

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face in court. His worst fear then came true when

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he and Martha were both sentenced to death for killing Janet,

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and they were executed in nineteen fifty one at Singh

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Singh Prison. Because of their contradicting versions of events, their

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exact victim count is known, but it's believed that together

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they may have killed around twenty women. That is ten

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minute murder for Today Grief and binge Able True Crime.

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I'm Joe, I'm the host, and thank you for taking

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the time to listen. If you're a brand new listener, welcome.

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First of all, glad you're here, But make sure you

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hit subscribe wherever you'd like to listen to podcasts, all

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can move on to step two, which is following on

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social media. Follow there and you're going to see why

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you want to follow there. I'm not going to spoil

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it for you here, but just go there and look,

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there's a lot more on social media than you hear

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here on the podcast. The website is ten minute murder

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dot com. It's got a bunch of stuff there that

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you want to check out, and then email me Joe

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at ten minute murder dot com. Email me stories that

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you'd like for me to cover here on the podcast,

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and just random things whatever pops in your head, Like

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several of you have asked me if I at the

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end of podcast episodes will give some pieces of advice

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on random subjects, which is weird. I don't know why

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that's weird to me, but it's just like, I'm just

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a regular guy talking about these true crime stories. Why

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you would want advice for me, I don't know, but

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I'll do it this one time. And this is not

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my own advice. This is advice that my grandmother gave

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me years ago, years ago, decades. She said, there will

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be times in life when you crank that soldier boy,

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and other times when that soldier boy cranks you. I'm

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pretty sure she said that. All right, that's going to

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do it. That is your episode for today. Thank you

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so much for listening to ten Minute murder,

Murder by Mail: The Deadly Scams of the Lonely Hearts Killers

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