A handsome, charming man, Beck never lacked for girlfriends in his native town of Rehme, West Germany, but there was viciousness behind that winning smile. For sport, he preyed on women less attractive than his usual dates, the sort who yearned for more than average male attention and affection. During 1961, he raped and strangled Ingrid Kanike, repeating the performance with Ursula Fritz in 1965, and with Anneliese Herschel in 1968. At Beck's trial, in June 1969, a string of girlfriends testified on his behalf, as character witnesses, but under cross-examination several suddenly remembered how he liked to slip his hands around their throats while having intercourse. Convicted on three counts of murder, Beck was consigned to prison for life.