Verity Beck: Former Philadelphia teacher fatally shoots parents, dismembers bodies with chainsaw over financial concerns
Warning: This article contains a recollection of crime and can be triggering to some, readers’ discretion advised.
ABINGTON, PHILADELPHIA: A 44-year-old woman, Verity Beck, shot her father in the forehead and her mother in the back of the head before dismembering their bodies with a chainsaw.
Beck has informed officials of her intention to use an insanity defense.
Prosecutors have decided not to pursue the death penalty, and Beck has pleaded not guilty to two counts each of first- and third-degree murder, abuse of a corpse, and possessing instruments of killing her parents, Reid Beck, 73, and Miriam Beck, 72 — specifically, a firearm and a chainsaw.
Additional details regarding the recent court filing shed light on how the crime unfolded at the Beck residence.
What happened in the recent court filing?
As reported by Mirror.com, defense attorneys asserted in a recent court filing that Verity Beck was operating under "such a defect of reason, from disease of the mind",which rendered her incapable of understanding the nature and quality of the act she committed.
They further stated, "she did not know that what she was doing was wrong." Originally set for next month, Beck's trial in Montgomery County Court has been rescheduled for April to accommodate prosecutors' plans to have their own psychiatrist assess the defendant.
Verity Beck's brother reported to police
In January 2023, the bodies of Reid Beck, 73, and Miriam Beck, 72, were discovered after their son alerted Abington police that he had visited his parents' home to check on them.
He reported seeing a body on the floor, covered with a bloody sheet, along with a chainsaw nearby.
According to the son, he spoke to his sister, who also resided in the home, and upon inquiring about their parents, she responded affirmatively, stating that something bad had happened.
Verity Beck, a former teacher at a special education school in Lower Merion Township, allegedly informed her brother that things at home had "been bad".
Prosecutors contend that Beck was grappling with financial difficulties and that her parents had accused her of theft.
Defense attorney James Lyons previously mentioned to The Philadelphia Inquirer that he would seek to prevent prosecutors from using text exchanges between the victims and the defendant regarding financial matters as evidence.
James Lyons claimed, "Verity used this chainsaw and put parts of her parents into trash bags and covered them up. They were actually in two different trash cans. This is somebody that is dismembering her mother and father and putting body parts in trash cans. So, clearly, she’s trying to get rid of the evidence."
