Beauty queen Molly Martens who killed her husband alongside FBI agent father planned to buy 'black market sperm' and get pregnant without him knowing a year before bludgeoning him
Molly, 41, from Knoxville in Tennessee, and her father Tom Martens, beat her husband Jason Corbett, 39, from Limerick, to death in 2015. Father-of-two Jason had been beaten with a baseball bat and concrete brick, sustaining so many injuries a coroner was unable to count them all.
Tom and Molly, who always claimed she acted in self-defence, were convicted of second-degree murder at their first trial in 2017 but this was overturned on appeal. In October 2023, they accepted a plea deal for voluntary manslaughter on the theory of imperfect self-defence or defence of another. Molly Martens pleaded no contest and Tom Martens pleaded guilty to the charge - they were released in June 2024.
Jason and Molly wed in June 2011. She was his second wife: his first wife Margaret 'Mags' Fitzpatrick Corbett died tragically in 2006 following an asthma attack. The couple, who got married in 2003, had been living in Limerick, Ireland. They shared children Jack and Sarah. When Mags died, Jason was left widowed at 30 with a 12-week-old baby daughter and two-year-old son.
Two years after the death of his first wife, Jason hired then 24-year-old Molly Martens, who was a former beauty queen, to be the children's nanny and the pair quickly fell in love, which would eventually lead to the couple marrying, and the family moving to Meadowlands, North Carolina.
Speaking to CBS News' 48 Hours in 2019, Jason's sister Jocelyn said the family 'began to see glimpses of the old Jason coming back' when he became involved with Molly. She added: 'He wasn't so sad all the time.' According to the Irish Times, Molly was welcomed into the family by the children she once looked after - and was even lovingly referred to as their 'mom'.
However, according to reports, the pair were in conflict over whether Jason was going to let her legally adopt Sarah and Jack - making her their mother in the eyes of the law. Meanwhile, Jason was said to be unhappy, and considering a move back to Ireland - which would have meant Molly would have lost the children.
The Irish Times reports how neighbours said she had another way to have children, claiming that one year before killing Jason, Molly told them she was planning to buy sperm from from Craigslist, and get pregnant by another man, behind his back.
According to Brian Carroll, the author of A Deadly Marriage - which is based on his four-year investigation into the case - police records show that Molly also told neighbours - including Jerusha Maddock - in their exclusive Meadowlands golf community that her parents had given her $10,000 (£7,400) to buy fertility drugs, and that she was planning to use them in conjunction with sperm that had 'superior DNA' compared to her husband's.
He cites summary notes of Molly's conversations with Jerusha Maddock, written by assistant district attorneys Greg Brown and Ina Stanton, which say: 'Molly called Jerusha needing a favour. She first asked Jerusha if Jerusha had space in her fridge, then asked to come in the house.
'Molly had a mini-cooler. Inside were fertility drugs. Molly wanted Jerusha to store them in Jerusha's fridge so Jason would not find them. Molly said her parents had paid for the drugs and that Jason did not know about them. Jerusha took a photo of the drugs so Jerusha could not be accused of anything later.'
Molly came up with the plan after Jason had already spent $25,000 (£18,500) on unsuccessful fertility treatments for his wife.
Writing in the Irish Times, Brian said that neighbours were asked by Molly to hold onto the fertility drugs so Jason didn't find them. The author adds that she revealed her plans to at least two of her neighbours.
She is also said to have told neighbours that she was planning to buy 'upper crust' sperm from a friend of her brother.
Around this time, it is believed that Jason's relationship with his father-in-law had worsened and Tom, who had been an FBI agent for some 30 years, reportedly encouraged Molly to divorce him.
A year after making these claims, Jason was killed by Molly and Tom Martens, with Tom claiming he only intervened because his son-in-law was strangling his daughter. Molly would go on to claim she had been a victim of domestic abuse at Jason's hands - something his family has strongly denied.
Molly claims she was woken up in the middle of the night by Jason's daughter Sarah - who had had a nightmare.
The children's step-mother says Jack and Sarah would whisper at the bedroom door to get Molly's attention as they knew they weren't supposed to wake up Jason.
After getting Sarah back to sleep in her room, Molly claims she returned to bed and accidentally disturbed Jason - who was furious that she had 'coddled' the eight-year-old.
Downstairs, Molly's father - who had made an impromptu overnight visit with wife Sharon - said he heard 'thumping' and instantly felt something 'wasn't right'.
Molly claims Jason wanted to make her be quiet so he covered her mouth and started choking her.
'At some point, when he stopped, I screamed, and he started again, and the next thing I remember is my dad standing in the doorway,' she told ABC.
Thomas claims he walked into the couple's bedroom to find Jason with Molly in a chokehold. He says his son-in-law told him he was going to kill Molly as he dragged her towards their bathroom.
At this point, Thomas claims he hit Jason in the back of the head with a metal baseball bat - but then alleges the Irish father was strong enough to grab it off of him.
The pair claim a struggle ensued as Molly feared Jason would then hit Thomas with the bat.
She added: 'I'm trying' to hit him with the bat, and hit him with this end of the bat, and hit him with my elbow, and hit him with my fist, or anything else... but I'm going to hang onto that bat. And he goes down, and I've got the bat... and I back off.'
Thomas was the one to call 911 and a recording of the conversation reveals how he calmly told emergency services: 'My son-in-law got in a fight with my daughter, I intervened and he's in bad shape. We need help.'
He added: 'He's bleeding all over and I may have killed him.'
Molly claims her husband was strangling her and yelling 'I'm going to kill you' when her father intervened.
Emails between Molly and Jason, which were released in response to a public records request, show fractures in the relationship before the couple married.
One sent from Jason to Molly read: 'I won't be able to make a go of it in the States under this emotional pressure you are placing on me... you just accuse me of things off the cuff when you have no valid reason for doing so. Please think about what I actually said in conversation and point out what I did wrong. You bang the phone down, you sound like an emotional wreck. I'm moving to your country to be with you, I need YOU to be strong for us and not constantly crying, accusing me of things, banging down phones. You are supposedly getting what you want and yet you sound more sad now than ever.'
Another email he sent to her before the wedding said: 'Is there anything I can do to make you happy. I've done everything. And still you hate yourself, hit yourself, cry in the shower, vomit, curse, shout at me. I feel so inadequate Molls. I've given you everything in my life including my and my kids hearts and I know you love us so so much but you still in the last three days only have done all the above things. I don't know what to do.'
Meanwhile, emails sent from Molly to Jason show how she would chastise him over his 'loser sperm'. And Jason sent himself email records which catalogued things she had said to him, which include the 'loser sperm' jibe, as well as criticisms she made about his weight.
One of his emails to himself (which he sent in March 2014, some four months before Molly purchased the infertility drugs) said: 'Molly says I'm so sick in the head. B**** I wished dead. I need more of the bed because I'm so fat. My boobs are bigger than hers. Loser sperm, loser sperm. Kids probably aren't even mine because of my loser sperm.'
Following Jason's killing, in February 2016, the father and daughter pled not guilty to murder during Davidson Superior Court during a hearing. Greg Brown, the attorney representing the state of North Carolina in the case, said the crime was especially 'heinous, atrocious and cruel'.
Both applied for bail, which was granted on the condition that $200,000 was lodged with the court for each defendant, that they surrender their passports and agree to cease all contact with Jason's immediate family, specifically his children Jack and Sarah.
After their father's death, the two children were interviewed by officers who upheld Molly's claims that Jason 'physically and verbally hurt' their step-mother.
Eight-year-old Sarah said at the time: 'He would scream at my mom every day, or sometimes twice a day. He would fight with her. One time I saw him step on her foot. He called her bad names.'
In a separate interview, Jack said: 'He would physically and verbally hurt my mom. She would cry and try to plug her ears. Sometimes she would just curl herself up in a ball. It made me very sad and angry.'
The children both also recalled being coached by Molly's mother Sharon to call her and use the code-words 'peacock' and 'galaxy' if their father turned violent. However, Sarah said she never actually had to put the plan into action - and simply practised a lot.
Following their return to Ireland, Jack and Sarah recanted their statements - a move which Molly and Thomas' legal team have claimed was influenced by Jason's family.
As a result, the judge deemed Sarah and Jack Corbett's initial statements inadmissible when the case went to trial.
While the father and daughter never denied killing Jason, they always claimed they had acted in self-defence, with Thomas telling 20/20 in 2017: 'I'm going to do everything that I have to do to save her life. And if I die trying, well… she's my daughter. I'm not going to live with not trying. I'll tell you that.'
He also said while giving evidence that he believed Jason was going to kill him, and that he continued to hit the father-of-two with a baseball bat until he felt Jason was no longer a threat.
However, during the 2017 trial, prosecutors disputed claims that Molly and Tom Martens acted in self-defence, arguing that they started attacking Jason when he was asleep in bed. They said blood spatter on Tom's shorts indication that Jason had been hit while he was lying down.
In addition, paramedics who had attended the scene said that Jason was cool to the touch - suggesting that the Martens had delaying contacting emergency services, to ensure that the father-of-two could not be saved.
The prosecution team also argued that Jason and Molly had been in disagreement over whether she could adopt his two children in the lead-up to his death - something she wanted to do.
In their closing statements, the prosecution claimed that Molly Martens 'bashed Jason's skull' after learning that he wanted to take the children back to Ireland.
Jason's autopsy showed he died from blunt force trauma to his head. The description of the 'means of death' is a 'ball bat and landscaping stone'.
During the trial, forensic experts argued that the physical evidence - including blood splatter patterns - proved that Jason sustained severe head injuries while on his bedroom floor. It has also been suggested that Jason sustained wounds post-mortem - meaning he was beaten after he died.
After just hours of deliberation, the jury returned a guilty verdict for both Tom and Molly. They were sentenced to 20-25 years in prison.
After finding the father and daughter guilty, juror Miriam Figueroa said they did not believe the choking incident took place as Molly never had any reported injuries from the hospital at the time.
'The evidence to me did not suggest that the story that was fabricated ever occurred,' she said. 'There was no doubt in my mind that I made and my fellow jurors made the right choice.'
'Once you hit a certain point and you do not stop, manslaughter or self-defence goes off the table. Once that point was matched where you could have stopped then and there, once the person was no longer an aggressor, if that were the case, and you continue, it's no longer self-defence.'
Figueroa claimed the duo allowed some time to pass before contacting 911, suggesting that, if they were victim in the event, the call would have been their top priority.
'I think at some point dad came to help out and cover it up. There was blood on the pillow and on the comforter. That may have been the first blow, and then it progressed from that point where he got out of bed and she might have struck him more than one time in bed,' Figueroa speculated.
Nancy Perez - who was another juror - said she struggled with Molly and Thomas' self-defence argument due to the graphic photos from the crime scene.nThe juror said she threw up in the courtroom after being shown a photo of Jason Corbett's body.
After the guilty verdict was read in court, Molly Corbett said: 'I'm really sorry to my mom, he should have just killed me' according to ABC News.
In 2020, the pair appealed and a new trial was ordered on the basis that some evidence was left out of their first trial that should have been shown to the jury. The North Carolina Supreme Court upheld that decision in 2021.
This included evidence the defence said could have explained Tom Martens' state of mind on the night of the killing. They also argued that the children's statements should have been admissible.
Towards the end of 2023, the judge accepted plea deals for involuntary manslaughter, in exchange for dropping the second degree murder charges. Instead of a whole new trial, the father-daughter pair had a sentencing hearing. At the hearing, the court was played a recording Molly had made of Jason in which he could be heard shouting at his wife for not preparing a meal that he wanted to eat with Jack and Sarah.
Instead, Molly had fed the children early and taken them to play in the snow before Jason returned home from work. Jason is heard saying: 'I'm talking to you! Is this how you treat... you just ignore me? I said I'd like to have dinner with my family. I'm talking to you. I shouldn't have to say it over and over.'
The short clip ends with Sarah screaming at Molly and Jason to try and put an end to the argument.
It was argued by the prosecutor that this was manufactured evidence, and Molly had created the scenario to obtain the recording.
However, it was used as a mitigating factor when it came to resentencing, and the pair were told they would have to serve just 51 and 74 months behind bars, according to reports. But each will served just seven months more in prison due to the good behaviour sentencing reduction earned during the 44 months they'd already served, their attorneys said
Each will serve only seven months behind bars, thanks to good behaviour sentencing reduction earned during the 44 months they've already served, their attorneys said.
Ahead of their release from prison the following June, North Carolina's former sheriff David Grice said Molly and Tom 'got off with a slap' for the 'gruesome' crime.
The former sheriff wrote on social media: 'They got off with a slap. I have had to bite my tongue for years for fear of saying something which could have affected the appeals. It was a gruesome crime scene. I believe they (Tom and Molly) just spent enough money on appeals until the courts got worn down and accepted their last appeal.'
According to the Irish Independent, Molly spent almost $200,000 from the sale of the house she shared with her late husband and his children on her legal bills. The publication also claims Molly's parents Tom and Sharon spent their life savings on lawyers fighting for the pair's freedom.
In February this year, Jason and Mags' daughter Sarah Corbett Lynch, who moved back to Limerick, Ireland, with her brother following their father's death in 2015, to live with their aunt, published a memoir.
In addition, Sarah claims that her stepmother had been controlling. For a start, she says that Molly, now 41, would tell people she was the children's birth mother. When they were in elementary school, she allegedly dyed their hair blond to look more like her but told Jason they were going through a 'phase'.
And the alleged abuse didn't end there. Sarah claims that Molly would punch and slap the children when they 'misbehaved' - and says she once had to 'drag' her stepmom off a battered Jack when he was curled up on the ground in pain. But Molly's biggest flashpoint, Sarah says, was their birth mother, Margaret. 'Molly hated Jack or me talking about her,' Sarah recalls.
Molly allegedly taunted them with claims that Margaret, who had died of an asthma attack in 2006, had been murdered by their father. 'Molly didn't have to warn us not to tell our dad,' Sarah recalls. 'We knew that, if we told him what she'd said, we'd get punished.'
In the days after their father's death, Sarah and Jack had made statements to police and social workers which upheld Molly's claims that Jason had been abusive.
However, following their return to Ireland in 2015 - where they were adopted by Jason's sister, Tracey Lynch, and her husband, David - they recanted the statements, which were then deemed inadmissible in court.
Sarah says she is now haunted by those statements, which she says she was 'coached' into making. She alleges that Molly told her and her brother that if they didn't lie, they would be separated. Sarah said: 'We loved [Molly] and thought she was telling the truth. It was a combination of manipulation, gaslighting and coercive control. We were abused, didn't know it was abuse and were let down by a system that didn't recognize it as abuse.'
Molly has denied the allegations. A statement from her lawyer cited the 2023 retrial, saying: 'The court found that it was Jack and Sarah's original statements about their abusive father that was 'the truth,' not the later claims made after they came under the influence of Tracey Lynch. The two forensic interviewers of the children, trained to spot lying and coaching, both said that the children had not been coached and told the truth.'
They added: 'The children's original statements were corroborated by five brave women who came forward to testify about Jason's physical and emotional abuse of Molly and by a tape recording of Jason's abuse. The court further found that Molly acted that night in response to Jason's threat, duress, coercion and provocation.'
As Sarah never got the opportunity to appear in court, she has said she hopes her book will help clear her father's name. She said: 'I wrote A Time For Truth as a tribute to our dad. He was a victim of abuse, but Jack and I survived it. Despite what happened, we're living our lives as fully as possible - in a way that would make Dad proud.'
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