In June of 1995, a triple murder in a South Arlington house took the life of David Kaplan, a 34-year-old male editor at Congressional Quarterly. The brutal events unfolded when Christopher J. Beck, 21 at the time, sought revenge against two people who had tried to help him, his distant cousin Florence Marie Marks, 54, and William Miller, 52, a Department of Labor statistician. Kaplan was a tenant in Miller's house, along with Marks.
Beck had previously lived with Marks in Arlington after moving from Tennessee in 1994, but she evicted him after accusing him of theft. Miller had also given Beck a job doing maintenance work but later fired him after a disagreement. Months of brooding over these perceived wrongs culminated in a deadly plan. A week before the murders, Beck traveled from his mother's home in Philadelphia to Arlington, where he staked out the house, waiting for an opportunity to confront Marks or Miller.
On the day of the attack, Beck's violent rampage began with the murder of Marks. When Miller returned home, he too was killed. David Kaplan was tragically an unintended victim who walked in on the horrific scene. To eliminate the witness, Beck shot Kaplan multiple times and stabbed him. The killings were Arlington's first-ever triple murder.
Christopher J. Beck was arrested for the murders, and in May 1996, he pleaded guilty to capital murder and 11 related charges. Prosecutors portrayed him as a calculating killer, and despite defense arguments about a troubled childhood, he was sentenced to death in August 1996. Circuit Court Judge William T. Newman Jr. cited Beck's 'latent and uncontrolled rage' and lack of genuine remorse as reasons for the death sentence. After his appeals were denied, Christopher J. Beck was executed by lethal injection in October 2001.
