Jason Corbett was an Irish man who was killed at his home in North Carolina in 2015. Investigations later revealed that his death was the result of a physical assault by his wife and his father-in-law.
The circumstances of Corbett's death were the subject of widespread media coverage in Ireland. His wife and father-in-law were found guilty of second-degree murder in 2017; however, their convictions were later reversed by the North Carolina Court of Appeals. After accepting a plea bargain to reduced charges, they were both released from prison in 2024.
Background Jason Corbett originally lived in Limerick, Ireland, with his first wife Margaret "Mags" Fitzpatrick and their two children, Jack and Sarah. In November 2006, a few months after their daughter was born, Mags died unexpectedly after suffering an asthma attack. Mags' sister Catherine, who was present at the Corbett's house on the night she fell ill, witnessed Mags urgently using her prescribed Salbutamol inhaler, and thereafter helped Jason to carry her to his car before he rushed off to seek medical attention at University Hospital Limerick. In April 2008, Corbett hired 24-year-old Knoxville, Tennessee, native Molly Martens to work as an au pair for the family.
After the family moved to Lexington, North Carolina, in April 2011, Corbett and Martens married. They moved into a house at Panther Creek Court in Wallburg, North Carolina. Jason paid US$390,000 for the house, which was bought with the proceeds from the sale of his home in Limerick combined with his life savings. He thereafter gave Molly US$80,000 to buy furnishings for it, as well as buying her a BMW SUV. Jason had also previously given his father-in-law Tom Martens US$49,000 as a contribution toward his wedding ceremony. Although Molly Martens had allegedly wanted to formally adopt Corbett's children so they could acquire American citizenship, Corbett instead applied for green cards while retaining his family's Irish passports. Corbett had also apparently planned to one day return to Ireland and open a pizza restaurant at Spanish Point, County Clare.
Corbett's older brother, John, later said the issue around Martens adopting the children had caused friction in their relationship in the run-up to his death. John Corbett also stated that Jason had specifically processed the children's legal resident status via his job, rather than through the Martens' family, due to concerns they would not be repatriated to Ireland in the event of his unexpected death. Court records later revealed Martens had, in the summer of 2013, sought legal advice on her custody rights regarding the children in the event of a divorce, and had also spoken with a lawyer in late 2014 about her rights to the children. Multiple witnesses would later confirm that Jason and Molly had tried to start a family of their own, with Jason even spending $25,000 on fertility treatments for Molly without success. Martens would later allege to her neighbor Billy June Jacobs that she had suffered six miscarriages in the seven years she and Jason had been trying for a baby.
Although Corbett's family had initially approved of Martens becoming romantically involved with Jason, they became increasingly concerned about Martens' deceitful and erratic behavior during their relationship. Corbett's sister Tracey Lynch later said that Martens had a long history of lying, describing her as a fantasist who claimed to have been an Olympic swimmer, a qualified Montessori teacher and to have previously fostered a young boy. Lynch also said Martens had informed her she had bipolar disorder and had allegedly experienced several miscarriages before she met Jason, and accused Martens of self-harming and drinking margaritas throughout the day before driving the children to appointments. Lynch also alleged that she discovered just before their wedding that Martens had told her friends that she had been pen pals with Jason's first wife Mags before she died from cancer. In fact, the two had not interacted before Mags died; and Mags did not die of cancer but as a result of an asthma attack.
Lynch later discovered that Martens had been released from a secure psychiatric unit at the Emory University Hospital in Georgia a few weeks before she traveled to meet Jason in 2008, and that she did not disclose her mental health history until a few weeks before they were married. Martens also allegedly lied to her new neighbors in Panther Creek Court, stating that Sarah was her biological daughter, even going so far as to give a lengthy description during a local Bible study meeting of how difficult her labor had been. Lynch also claimed that Martens had secretly told the two children that Jason had killed their mother, an accusation that was later corroborated by Sarah Corbett.
Other examples cited in an affidavit submitted by Lynch regarding Martens' alleged erratic behavior were her holding the face of then 7-year-old Jack under a running kitchen faucet as punishment for splashing her with water, and an incident where Jack was punished for not calling her "Mom". Corbett family friend Lynn Shanahan alleged that Molly had become angry for several days when Jack reminded her she was not his mother. Martens had also avoided telling her neighbors that Jack and Sarah were not her children, and became "enraged" when Jack informed them of the truth. Martens allegedly became highly agitated and screamed at several guests during their wedding banquet after one of her bridesmaids bought food from McDonald's for a young boy who was allergic to egg whites and thus could not eat the main meal. Another family friend asserted that a couple of days before he was killed, Corbett left a social function early after his wife started fat-shaming him in front of several friends, adding that he was self-conscious about his weight. Corbett's sister later identified this incident as the last straw that made up Jason's mind to return to Ireland without Martens.
Death of Jason Corbett On 2 August 2015, Thomas Martens called 911 at 3 am to inform them that his son-in-law Jason was badly injured. Martens told the dispatcher he had intervened in a fight between Corbett and his daughter, and may have killed him. Police responders who arrived at the house at Panther Creek Court found Corbett unresponsive with serious head injuries that later proved fatal. Both Thomas and Molly gave statements to the officers at the scene linking Jason's death to a "domestic disturbance".
A few hours after being released from police custody, Molly Martens allegedly spent US$5,500 on having her house industrially cleaned of all traces of blood. Authorities frustrated Martens' attempt to have Corbett cremated before his family arrived from Ireland, but she only permitted them access to his remains after they had first signed a legal agreement to pay the full costs of his funeral and the subsequent repatriation of his body to Ireland. Sarah Corbett later described the memorial service for her father as "absolutely bizarre", remarking that Martens family "acted like nothing had happened" while having barbecues and enjoying sunny weather in the swimming pool. Tracey Corbett Lynch claimed that the Martens had hired off-duty police officers to prevent members of the Corbett family from attending the memorial service.
Custody of Corbett's children In 2007, Jason Corbett created a will naming his sister Tracey Lynch and her husband as legal guardians of his children should he die, and he did not alter the will after he married Molly Martens. A few days after Corbett's death, Martens formally filed for custody of ten-year-old Jack and eight-year-old Sarah, whom she had raised as their sole mother figure for the previous eight years. When Corbett's family arrived in the United States, they filed a legal challenge, and on 20 August 2015 the authorities dismissed Martens' claim and handed Jack and Sarah into the custody of Tracey Lynch, who promptly flew the two children back to Ireland via commercial airline. Judge Brian Shipwash, who presided over the guardianship hearing, would later remark that Martens had a "deranged entitlement" to the children, that he was shocked the Department of Social Services had originally placed them in her custody after Jason's death, and he was fearful Martens might hurt them in some way, therefore his primary concern was to return the children to Ireland as soon as possible. On 26 August 2015, after a funeral service at Our Lady Queen of Peace Church in Limerick, Jason Corbett was laid to rest beside his first wife Margaret "Mags" Fitzpatrick at Castlemungret Cemetery.
At around midday on 31 August 2015, Molly Martens crashed her brother's car into a brick mailbox belonging to her parents' neighbours in Knoxville. Witness Stephen Eimers rushed to help her, and would later remark that she seemed impaired due to her "glassy eyes". Martens also spoke "about the children being taken away to Ireland", and when her parents arrived at the scene all three told Eimers not to call the police to attend the scene of the crash. Tom Martens later refunded the owner of the mailbox without contacting the authorities.
For several months after the children's repatriation, Martens posted photos of the children on Facebook, sometimes including a US phone number and email address, in the apparent hope they would get in touch with her. The Corbett family eventually sent a cease and desist letter to Martens asking her to refrain from posting images of the children on social media. In response to Martens' uncle claiming in a radio interview that Jason Corbett had been seeking dual Irish-American citizenship for the children, the Corbett family released a statement describing the claims as "deluded propaganda", adding their brother had never discussed such plans with them in the run up to his death.
Police investigation In police interviews a few hours after Corbett's death, Tom Martens claimed he had been staying at the Corbett house when he was awakened by the sound of a disturbance in the master bedroom. He grabbed a baseball bat and rushed to the bedroom, where he alleged he saw Corbett strangling Molly in their dark bedroom. After a struggle on the floor between the two men, Molly hit Corbett over the head with a paving stone, after which Tom hit Corbett with the baseball bat several times. Investigating officers noted how Tom Martens, who was a law graduate from Emory University in Georgia, repeatedly emphasized his "state of mind" during his interview, possibly due to his legal knowledge that a successful self-defense plea at any future trial would hinge on convincing the jury that he and Molly feared for lives during the incident. During a separate interview, Molly admitted to police that she had attempted to hit Corbett over the head with a brick during the same incident at their home. In addition, Molly stated that there was a history of domestic violence in their marriage that resulted in her seeking medical assistance several times, although she did not inform the police or tell the hospital staff how her injuries occurred. Molly also accused her husband of being a heavy drinker and said that he was drunk when the fatal incident occurred a few hours earlier.