Abington woman admits killing and dismembering her parents with chainsaw

NORRISTOWN — An Abington Township woman remained calm and showed no visible emotion as she accepted her fate of a life sentence for fatally shooting her elderly parents and then dismembering their bodies with a chainsaw.

Verity Ann Beck, 45, pleaded guilty but mentally ill Monday in Montgomery County Court to two counts of first-degree murder in connection with the Jan. 17, 2023, deaths of her parents, 73-year-old Reid Beck and his wife , Miriam, 72, in the apartment they shared in the 1100 block of Beverly Road in the Jenkintown section of Abington.

Judge William R. Carpenter accepted a plea agreement and immediately sentenced Beck, a former teacher at Saint Katherine School of Special Education in the Wynnewood section of Lower Merion, to two concurrent life sentences, mandatory sentences, for first-degree murder, a premeditated killing.

Specifically, Beck admitted that she had a specific intent to kill and that the double murder was premeditated, premeditated and premeditated.

“That happened?” Carpenter asked Beck.

“Yes,” Beck replied calmly.

By pleading guilty but mentally ill, Beck admitted that due to mental illness or defect she was unable to appreciate the wrongfulness of her conduct or to conform her conduct to the requirements of the law. The specific nature of Beck's mental illness was not disclosed in court.

The sentence ensures that Beck will spend the rest of her life without parole at the state correctional facility in Muncy and receive psychiatric treatment while serving her sentence.

Beck did not comment in court before the sentence was imposed, on the advice of her attorneys, and said nothing as sheriff's deputies escorted her from the courtroom to begin serving her sentence.

Several grieving relatives of the dearly loved victims, described by others as a devoted couple, sat in the front row of the courtroom to witness Beck's confession.

“My parents were two of the kindest, most loving people you could ever meet, and we will miss them dearly every day for the rest of our lives,” Justin Beck, the victim's son, said solemnly after the hearing, his voice shaking with emotion Hearing. “I will pray for my sister.”

Reid Beck was a steamfitter and member of Union Local 420 for 50 years and Miriam Beck was a former Lower Moreland High School nurse for 20 years.

Justin Beck and his wife, Mary Stephanie, thanked Assistant District Attorney Samantha Cauffman and Co-Prosecutor Gabriella Glenning, as well as county detectives, for their professionalism and compassion during the investigation.

“I want to thank the prosecution, especially Samantha Cauffman. I would like to thank all the detectives who worked on the case, especially Anthony Caso. They treated us incredibly humanely throughout the entire process,” said Justin Beck.

Cauffman said the plea agreement spared the Beck family from having to relive the tragedy during a trial and also held Beck accountable.

“The family doesn’t have to relive their loss or tragedy every day of the trial. And this defendant is a danger and she will be in prison for the rest of her life,” Cauffman explained the benefits of the plea agreement.

For the Beck family it was an “unimaginable tragedy,” said Cauffman.

“It’s an unimaginable tragedy that really can’t be put into words,” Cauffman said.

Prosecutors hinted at a motive for the murders, alleging that Beck was in financial trouble and when confronted by her elderly parents about stealing from them, she killed them.

“This case was all about greed and self-preservation. She stole money. She couldn't take care of herself. She lived off her parents, and when they started to tighten the reins a little too much, she didn't want to get in trouble for still using their money, and she certainly didn't want to go to jail for it. So she killed them. That's what this was about. It was a simple, proven motive, which was greed,” Cauffman said.

Defense attorney James P. Lyons said Beck accepted responsibility for the incident and was remorseful.

“She did not want to subject the family and herself to a trial with such facts and such pain for everyone. “The court found that she is mentally ill,” Lyons said after the hearing.

“The facts of this case are such that from the defense perspective it would have been a very difficult case and they knew that. Most of the time she felt great remorse and shame and is very sad about it. Those were her parents,” added Lyons, the lead homicide prosecutor in the district attorney’s office.

Glenning praised Abington County and Abington Township detectives for their “outstanding work” in investigating the deaths and establishing the timeline and suspected motive.

“Abington police had no idea what crime scene they were about to enter that night and as they began to clear the house it became clear what a tragedy this was. They did an outstanding job bringing justice to this family,” Glenning said.

By entering into a plea agreement, Verity Beck essentially abandoned her previous intention to seek a jury trial and obtain a verdict of not guilty by reason of insanity.

Defense attorneys previously filed an insanity claim against Beck, claiming she suffered from “such lack of reason, from mental illness, that she was ignorant of the nature and quality of the act she was doing or doing.” I “I don’t know that what she did was wrong.”

Under state law, a person diagnosed as mentally ill suffers from a mental defect that prevents them from knowing right from wrong or recognizing the nature and quality of their actions.

A person who is found not guilty by reason of insanity at trial is initially admitted to a psychiatric facility for treatment and receives periodic examinations. Once that person was deemed “cured” of their mental illness, they were released from supervision without having to serve any prison time.

Over the past year, Beck has undergone multiple mental health evaluations and was ultimately determined to be responsible for initiating legal proceedings regarding the allegations.

The investigation began on January 17, 2023, after the victims' son informed Abington police that he had gone to his parents' house to check on them because he had not spoken to them by telephone since January 7 had, which was unusual, and he observed a deceased lying on the floor covered with a bloody sheet and holding a chainsaw near the body, a criminal complaint states.

The son told police he had spoken to his sister and when he asked her if anything bad had happened to their parents, she replied, “Yes.” Beck is said to have told her brother that things had “gone badly” in the house.

At 12:10 a.m. on Jan. 18, Abington police entered the residence through a side door.

“Officers immediately noticed a strong odor of decomposition in the residence,” Caso and Abington Detective Robert Hill Jr. wrote in the affidavit.

When the police responded and asked Beck to disclose her whereabouts, she followed instructions and entered the kitchen. When police asked Beck about her parents, she replied, “They’re dead.”

Investigators found a deceased man wrapped in a cloth and determined he was decapitated.

“In close proximity to the man’s body, investigators found a 55-gallon trash container. “This container was filled with white trash bags and those trash bags were filled with various severed body parts,” Caso and Hill wrote in court papers.

“An electrically powered chainsaw with biological material in the chain portion indicated that this chainsaw was used to cut through at least some body parts,” investigators added.

Investigators found additional severed body parts in a trash can in an attached garage.

Autopsies revealed that Reid and Miriam each suffered a single gunshot wound to the head. Prosecutors alleged Beck then dismembered the bodies with a chainsaw.

Newspapers dated Jan. 7 were found outside the home, leading investigators to theorize that the victims were likely killed on Jan. 7, the last time the victim's son had contact with his mother, according to the criminal complaint.

In the master bedroom on the second floor, investigators found a wall-mounted safe and tools nearby, as well as drill marks on the safe that indicated someone had attempted to access the safe without a key or combination.

According to court documents, investigators found a pillow that had powder burns and a hole, indicating a firearm projectile had been fired through the pillow.

In Beck's bedroom, investigators found two Charter Arms .38-caliber handguns, one containing one spent cartridge and four live cartridges and the other containing two spent cartridges and three live cartridges, according to the affidavit. Both firearms were registered to Beck, investigators said.

Additionally, investigators recovered a third .38 caliber handgun, a Smith & Wesson, containing two spent cartridges and three live cartridges.

Originally published: September 30, 2024 at 3:45 p.m