Christopher Beck was executed by the State of Virginia for a triple murder
According to court documents Christopher Beck was fired from his employer and decided to get revenge. Beck would break into the home of his employer and waited for people to come home. Florence Marie Marks would return to the home first and she was sexually assaulted and murdered. The employer William Miller would be fatally shot when he arrived at the house. David Kaplan would return to the home and would be stabbed and fatally shot.
Christopher Beck would be arrested, convicted and sentenced to death
Christopher Beck would be executed by lethal injection on October 18 2001
Christopher Beck Photos
Christopher Beck FAQ
When Was Christopher Beck Executed
Christopher Beck was executed on October 18 2001
Christopher Beck Case
It was the only triple murder in Arlington’s history. A government statistician, a county bookkeeper and a journalist were all shot to death by a man who lashed out at people who tried to help him.
Last night, Christopher J. Beck, 26, was executed for the 1995 killings. He was put to death by injection at 9:03 p.m. at the Greensville Correctional Center in Jarratt, Va.
The execution came about an hour after Gov. James S. Gilmore III (R) turned down Beck’s request for clemency. “I decline to intervene,” the governor said as part of a short statement.
The U.S. Supreme Court turned down Beck’s final appeal Tuesday by a 7 to 2 vote.
Beck’s lead attorney, Douglas Fredericks, said his client had been preparing for death. “For a number of months now, he’s made it very clear concerning his remorse and repentance for everything,” Fredericks said. Fredericks said Beck told him yesterday that “he understands what he did was wrong and you pay a price for that. But this isn’t the solution.”
Beck had been meeting regularly with Catholic priests, including a final visit yesterday, Fredericks said. “He was put as much at ease [as possible] under the circumstances,” the attorney said.
The execution was the second in Virginia this year, after eight last year and 14 the year before.
Beck pleaded guilty in 1996 to capital murder and 11 related charges in the deaths of his cousin Florence Marie Marks, her landlord, William Miller, and David Kaplan, who also rented a room in Miller’s South Arlington house.
Beck, who was shunted around by his extended family, was sexually assaulted as a 7-year-old. At 11, his face was permanently scarred by a broken bottle during a fight.
In 1994, he moved to Arlington from Tennessee to live with Marks, the bookkeeper, but they had a falling-out after she accused him of stealing jewelry, according to testimony at Beck’s sentencing hearing. Miller, 52, had given Beck a maintenance job but fired him after an argument about a damaged bike.
On June 5, 1995, Beck made plans to kill Miller and traveled to the Washington area from his mother’s home in Philadelphia. While he was lying in wait for Miller with a pistol, Marks, 54, walked in. Beck told police that he shot and stabbed Marks. When Miller came home an hour later, Beck shot him five times. Police believe that Kaplan, 34, walked in and found Miller’s body and Beck with a gun and blood on his hands. Beck shot him seven times and stabbed him as well.
When interviewed by police, Beck admitted his role in the killings. He pleaded guilty because his attorneys advised him that a judge might be more lenient than a jury, but Arlington Circuit Court Judge William T. Newman sentenced Beck to death on Aug. 16, 1996. Beck’s appeal attorneys argued that their client should have gotten a new sentencing hearing because he was under the influence of three psychiatric drugs when Newman heard the case.
Family members of the victims declined interview requests.
But Kaplan’s former co-workers at Congressional Quarterly said news of the execution brought back memories of a well-liked and respected colleague. Kaplan, a meticulous writer and editor, worked at the publication for 11 years, played on the company softball team and help start the paper’s legislation tracking feature, “Bill Watch.”
“Dave was one of the best people I’ve ever met. He was a great friend, a great colleague, and he’s still missed,” said politics editor Bob Benenson, who now supervises the internship program CQ established in Kaplan’s memory.