A former Pennsylvania special education teacher admitted to killing her parents and dismembering them with a chainsaw.
Verity Beck, 45, murdered her parents Reid and Miriam, 73 and 72, in January 2023 after an argument over money she had stolen from them.
Beck shot her parents in the head and disposed their body parts in trash cans after cutting them up. She was handed a life sentence without parole on Monday for the gruesome killings.
Verity pleaded guilty and was deemed mentally ill during her stoic courtroom appearance. In January, her lawyers argued that she was legally insane when she killed Reid and Miriam, but judge William R. Carpenter rejected that notion.
‘This is a person who is dangerous,’ Montgomery County Assistant District Attorney Samantha Cauffman told The Philadelphia Inquirer.
Verity Beck, 45, admitted to murdering and dismembering her parents in court on Monday
‘She was sane when she killed them, she knew what she did was wrong, and she’s going to pay for it for the rest of her life.’
Carpenter agreed that Verity was mentally ill after the criminal psychiatrist evaluated the killer.
Even though Verity refused to comment on her murder motives while leaving the courtroom, text exchanges between her and her parents, alongside other evidence, revealed that her rocky financial situation caused her to lash out.
She told police that she was $100,000 in debt. Her parents accused her of stealing a $600 rent check from a property they owned, along with buying items on Amazon using Reid’s money – including a more than $1,000 necklace.
Verity was escorted to her court hearing as she avoided answering any questions about the killings
Verity’s brother, Justin, knew something was wrong when he hadn’t seen or spoken to his parents for several days.
He had only received text messages, which he discovered Verity had sent pretending to be them.
When Justin finally went to their house to check up on them, it was too late.
He drove past the house earlier in the day and saw all the lights were off. Justin then drove back to his own house to get soup for Verity, who complained to him about being sick.
When he later arrived at the house, he found Verity and a dead body covered by a bloody sheet.
Verity murdered her parents in their home in January 2023
Verity told Justin that things at home had ‘been bad’, according to the 2023 criminal complaint. Investigators said that she told Justin she needed ‘more time’ when he said he had to call the police.
Justin left the home after talking with Verity and called the police. He knew his sister had a handgun.
Police came shortly after and found both Reid and Miriam’s bodies badly decomposed.
They found a chainsaw and the house smelt horribly. A trash can inside a bedroom was filled with dismembered body parts.
Reid’s body was decapitated and wrapped in a comforter.
Verity pleaded guilty but mentally ill on Monday, so she will receive mental health care in prison
When police entered the home, they asked Verity where her parents were. She allegedly responded, ‘They are dead.’
Investigators said they found three guns with spent rounds – two registered and one unregistered – in Verity’s bedroom.
Verity’s lawyer, James Lyons, told NBC10: ‘While everyone in the family realized that she had mental health issues, no one recognized the seriousness of it or how serious it had become.’
Lyons also told the outlet on Monday that Verity feels ‘remorseful’ and is ‘much more clear now.’
Verity will receive mental health care while she is in prison. She will be held in the therapeutic wing instead of the maximum-security area.
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