GRUESOME

Pennsylvania Woman Charged in Chainsaw Murder of Elderly Parents

Verity Beck allegedly shot her mother and father in the head and then dismembered their corpses.

A Pennsylvania woman shot her elderly parents in the head and then used a chainsaw to carve up their bodies and toss parts of them in the trash, authorities announced on Wednesday.

Verity Beck, 43, was in the Jenkintown home when cops arrived on Tuesday night to check on her mother and father, Reid and Miriam Beck, who had not been seen or heard from since Jan. 7.

They were confronted with a scene of horror: the smell of decomposing remains, one body wrapped in a white sheet and comforter, body parts in garbage bags, and the saw.

“Both Reid and Miriam were found in different stages of dismemberment,” Montgomery County District Attorney Kevin Steele said at a press conference to announce Verity Beck’s arrest on murder charges.

He said it appears that Reid, 73, a retired steamfitter, and Miriam, 72, a retired school nurse, were shot once in the head through a pillow.

“We hope and pray that happened first,” he said.

According to a criminal complaint obtained by WPVI, police were summoned to the house by the victims’ son—who showed up to check on his parents and saw the wrapped-up body.

He told his sister that she needed to call police, and she allegedly told him she needed “more time.” He went home and dialed 911.

Cops who responded asked Verity Beck where her parents were and she responded, “They are dead,” according to the complaint.

Steele said that dismemberment “happened over a period of some time,” and according to the complaint, Verity sent text messages that appeared to be from her parents to her brother when he tried to reach them.

“We are looking for what motive could have been behind this,” Steele said. “We did find evidence in the house of a safe that had attempted to be broken into.”

Verity Beck, who lived with her parents, does not appear to have much social media presence. She worked as a beach tag inspector in Sea Isle City, where her parents had a second home, and records show she sought a fee waiver to file for bankruptcy in 2020.

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Tracy Connor

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