Who Killed Newlyweds on Their Florida Houseboat in 1971?

Six weeks after they were married, charismatic Revlon Cosmetics executive George Washington Beck, Jr., and his new—and fifth—wife, Ina Jo Beck, were found brutally murdered in the blood-spattered stateroom of his 57-foot-long houseboat while it was moored at the Cozy Cove Marina in Dania Beach, Fla.

The 51-year-old Manhattan socialite and the Alabama sharecropper’s daughter tied the knot on Christmas Day 1970—and were dead by Valentine’s Day 1971. The wealthy couple had been stabbed and beaten to death aboard the vessel, named the Bachaven, by a shadowy, cold-blooded killer who has never been identified by investigators.

More than 55 years later, the Becks’ savage slayings in Southern Florida remain under active investigation by Broward County authorities—but are no closer to being solved.

“At this time, Broward Sheriff’s Office Cold Case Homicide Unit detectives continue to investigate the [Becks’] murders,” a department spokesman told A&E Crime + Investigation in an exclusive statement. “This is one of BSO’s oldest cold case homicides. As this remains an active investigation, no further details can be released.”

The nude bodies of the Revlon vice president and Ina Jo—a national supervisor for the cosmetics giant who met George during a work function at Revlon’s Birmingham, Ala., offices—were found that February 5 by a marina carpenter Andrew Bell, who arrived that morning to install cabinetry. When Bell was unable to locate anyone on the main deck, he went below, into the stateroom, and found the couple dead in their bed.

Officials determined the couple had been massacred in a blitzkrieg-style attack that unfolded quickly and without warning. Responding police found no signs of a struggle. “This is definitely not a suicide, it was a murder,” Dania Police Chief Edward Baxter told The New York Times.

Autopsies determined Ina Jo—who went by “Jo Jo”—had been stabbed six times in the chest throat and had her throat slashed, per the Tallahassee Democrat. The killer also struck her multiple times in the head with either a lug wrench, a hatchet or a tire iron. The same weapon delivered four debilitating blows to George’s head. He also suffered multiple stab wounds.

The brute force of the thrusting knife forced pieces of Ina Jo’s flesh deep into the blood-soaked mattress. The killer finally smothered them to death with their own pillows before fleeing into the night. According to The Times, a marina mechanic, Bobby Laborde, reported seeing a dark-skinned man lurking around the houseboat on the night of the murders.

Both Bell and Laborde did not responded to A&E Crime + Investigation’s request for comment.

Two days after the bodies were found, a spokesperson for Ina Jo’s family called her “one of the sweetest girls I have ever known” while speaking to the Cullman Times Democrat. “She was the type of person who would do anything for you. I just can’t believe anyone would do anything like this to Ina Jo and her husband.”

An actual motive continues to elude the police. The autopsy on Ina Jo showed she wasn’t sexually assaulted. Meanwhile, the culprit fled without taking her two‐carat diamond wedding ring, her three-carat engagement ring, a $5,000 mink coat or George’s cash- and credit card-laden wallet, ruling out any apparent financial motive. The only item reported missing was a small curtain that had been removed from a porthole that investigators believe the killer used to clean blood from the murder weapon.

None of the dozens of other yachts and houseboats docked at the marina were targeted, police said at the time, and the intimate nature of the stabbings suggested there was a personal element to the crime.

Police couldn’t find any fingerprints at the crime scene, and divers sent into the water around the boat were unable to locate the murder weapon. But they soon learned that Ina Jo had been married. Investigators were told her divorce was finalized mere days before her wedding to George, who joined Revlon in 1959.

Cops tracked down Ina Jo’s ex-husband, Cleo Umphrey, who was living in Alabama. In addition to having an unimpeachable alibi for the night of the murders, investigators learned a judge signed off on the divorce several years earlier. After ruling out the former husband, the investigation hit a wall. Police even spoke to George’s four children from his four previous marriages; Ina Jo, according to cops, was childless.

But one month after the killings, the Dania Police Department received a letter sent from Pasadena, Calif., with its writer claiming to “know who made the hit on Georgie Beck.” The letter’s sender vowed that, “for a price, I’ll let you in on the secret.” The mysterious letter was signed “Ralph Leffler;” however, investigators were unable to find anyone with that name in Pasadena or in any of the surrounding municipalities. The writer only sent the one letter, police said.

The last solid lead followed only a few months later, when investigators were tipped to a possible blow-up argument Ina Jo was seen having with a bellboy inside a nearby hotel. Unfortunately, detectives were told the bellboy quit, and attempts to track him down went nowhere.

The Becks were last seen alive the night before their bodies were found at approximately 9 p.m.

The couple is said to have loved the Bachaven, a contraction of “Bachelor’s Haven,” spending their honeymoon aboard it. They would fly privately from New York to spend weekends on the vessel.

No one has ever been arrested or charged with the Becks' murders.