Jason Corbett, intending to return to his hometown with his two children, couldn’t have imagined that it would lead to his painful demise, and the perpetrators would be those he trusted the most.
The Seductive Model
Molly Martens was born and raised in Knoxville, Tennessee (USA), as the second of four children and the only daughter. Described by relatives as intelligent, outgoing, and somewhat rebellious, she had interests in singing, and dancing, and was an avid reader from a young age.
Growing up, with her attractive face and appealing figure, Molly became a model. She also attended Clemson University but only for a short while before having to drop out due to health reasons.
In 2007, Molly started dating Keith Maginn. Within the next year, she became pregnant but suffered a miscarriage and got engaged to Keith.
In March 2008, despite Keith’s disagreement, Molly decided to end their relationship and moved to Ireland after seeing a nanny job advertisement online. A man in Limerick, Ireland, was looking for a nanny to take care of his two children after his wife passed away.
The nanny job came at a critical time for Molly. She had been struggling with feelings of “not knowing what she wanted or who she was” after dropping out of school. Molly felt fulfilled being able to find purpose in caring for the two children who needed her.
The Romantic Affair
At 24, Molly Martens moved to Limerick, Ireland. Her employer was Jason Corbett, 32, with two children, Jack (3.5 years old) and Sarah (1.5 years old). His wife had suddenly passed away when Sarah was just a few months old.
Growing up in a working-class family with eight siblings, Jason had shown ambition from a young age. He worked hard and was continuously promoted, from a machine operator to the plant manager of an international packaging company.
Molly had always enjoyed caring for those around her. She loved her brothers, babysat neighborhood children, and looked after her cousins. In Limerick, Molly found herself with a new role, as soon after she arrived, Sarah started calling her “Mom”, and Jack followed suit.
A romantic relationship developed between Jason and Molly almost immediately. “I truly hope that you are as happy as I am, having met and fallen in love with you,” Jason wrote in an email to Molly a few weeks after she stepped off the plane.
Jason and Molly got engaged on Valentine’s Day 2010 and had a wedding ceremony in her hometown in June 2011. They moved to North Carolina (USA) that summer when Jason transferred for work, taking on the task of developing an underperforming plant.
They lived in a large house with four bedrooms, on spacious, quiet land in the suburbs of Davidson County. Molly cared for her stepchildren, volunteered at their school, and coached a youth swim team. Molly’s parents weren’t too far away, so she could visit them often.
In the eyes of those around them, Jason and Molly were the perfect couple with a happy family. But then, tragedy struck on the night of August 2, 2015, when Thomas Martens – Molly’s father – called the police to report an incident. When the police arrived at the scene at midnight, they found Jason dead with multiple head injuries.
Murder at Midnight
Thomas Martens is a former FBI agent. Thomas stated that on the night of August 2, 2015, while sleeping at his daughter’s house, he was awakened by noises, including “screams and loud voices” coming from above his bedroom.
Thomas immediately got out of bed, took the baseball bat he had just bought for his grandson and went upstairs.
Hearing noises coming from his daughter and son-in-law’s room, Thomas quickly opened the door and witnessed Jason with his arms around Molly’s neck. Thomas demanded that his son-in-law release his daughter, but Jason continued to tighten his grip.
When Jason refused to let go and kept saying he would kill Molly, Thomas used the baseball bat to repeatedly strike his son-in-law. Seeing Jason lying motionless, he called the police.
A Deadly brawl
Molly told the investigative team that on the night the murder occurred, Sarah – Jason’s biological daughter – had a nightmare, so she woke her husband in the middle of the night to comfort their daughter. Awoken from sleep, Jason appeared irritated. The two then argued, and Jason became enraged, initiating a physical altercation. Sarah confirmed her stepmother’s statement.
Thomas stated that the first blow with the bat seemed to have little effect and only further angered Jason. Jason wrestled the bat from him and threw Thomas to the ground. Molly then picked up a brick from the bedroom floor and struck her husband on the head. Thomas then grabbed the bat again and continued to strike Jason “until he felt the threat had ended.”
The police asked Molly why there were bricks on the bedroom floor. Molly replied that she and the children had picked up some bricks to draw on them.
Thomas’s testimony mirrored Molly’s story. Thomas couldn’t remember how many times he struck with the bat. Both Molly and Thomas asserted that Jason appeared intoxicated at the time of the incident.
The autopsy results revealed that Jason died from 12 blows to the head, causing multiple fractures to the skull. However, the victim’s blood alcohol concentration was only at 0.02% – not enough to induce intoxication. Nevertheless, scientists assert that alcohol levels can drop rapidly after death.
Working with the police, Molly accused Jason of verbal, emotional, and physical abuse. She had been to the hospital several times to treat injuries inflicted by her husband but was too afraid to disclose the reasons to the doctors.
At this point, the police have yet to clarify whether Thomas struck Jason in self-defense or intentionally killed him, and what role Molly played in this attack.
Unstable Marriage
After the death of Jason Corbett, his two children, Jack and Sarah, then aged 10 and 8, were interviewed twice. The children described their father’s serious issues with anger management as well as troubles in the relationship between their father and stepmother, Molly Martens.
Molly continuously asserted that she was increasingly subjected to abuse by her husband. However, Molly stated that her love for her husband’s two biological children was so great that she couldn’t leave him. Molly once asked her husband to let her adopt Jack and Sarah but was refused.
Molly disclosed that she had never reported the abuse by her husband to the police because “the children are not biologically mine, so he could take them away.” According to Molly, Jason used her non-biological motherhood of Jack and Sarah as leverage to maintain power over her.
Both Molly and Jason had sought legal advice regarding custody rights during their marriage. Jason was adamant about not allowing his wife any legal grounds for custody if they were to divorce.
At this point, the police have yet to clarify whether Thomas Martens struck his son-in-law in self-defense or with intent to kill, and what role Molly played in this attack.
The investigative team noticed blood splatter on Molly’s face, but her hands and nightwear were not stained with blood. Thomas’s shirt and trousers also had no bloodstains. Signs of external force impact were absent on Molly’s neck, but both the father and son claimed Jason had choked her.
According to forensic pathologists, Jason suffered at least 12 blows to the head resulting in “skull fractures consistent with trauma from falls from significant heights or in car collisions.”
Furthermore, after examination, bloodstain pattern analysts determined that Jason fell to the floor and was unable to defend himself but continued to be beaten. Therefore, the investigative team suspects that the actions of Molly and Thomas were not justifiable self-defense.
Further investigation revealed that the victim’s body appeared significantly colder than expected for a recently deceased person. Authorities accused Thomas and Molly of delaying the 911 call and spending time concocting a story they planned to tell the police.
Fatal Love
In court, Thomas claimed to have seen bruises on his daughter’s body but later admitted uncertainty about their cause, while also acknowledging never witnessing Jason physically abuse Molly until the night of his death.
The only evidence corroborating Molly’s claim of being choked by her husband was what she told medical personnel at the scene. At the time, Molly complained of neck pain.
Initially, Jack admitted to the investigative team that his father frequently hit his stepmother. However, upon returning to Ireland with relatives, Jack stated otherwise. He mentioned that his stepmother instructed him to tell the police such things.
Throughout the investigation, Molly consistently emphasized her love for her deceased husband’s two biological children. Jason’s relatives also told the investigative team that he intended to return to Ireland and bring his two children. The investigative team believes that the motive for the murder was Molly and Thomas’s excessive love for the two children, causing them to not want Jason to take them away.
After Jason’s death, Molly even took a bold step to file for custody of the children and claimed to have greater rights in nurturing them compared to Tracey Lynch – Jason’s sister.
A few weeks after the murder, Tracey and her husband won custody. Despite losing the lawsuit, Molly took to social media to express her love for her stepchildren.
In January 2016, both Molly’s father and Molly were convicted of second-degree murder with sentences ranging from 20 to 25 years in prison. The verdict was delivered after a four-week trial.
However, Molly and Thomas have always insisted they did not intend to kill Jason. To this day, nobody truly knows what happened that night except the three involved, one of whom is deceased.
