Molly Martens and Jason Corbett - Part 2 - Love Marry Kill

Episode Transcript
Available transcripts are automatically generated. Complete accuracy is not guaranteed.
Speaker 1 (00:00):
I am Rich and I'm Tina.

Speaker 2 (00:02):
If there's one thing we've learned in over twenty years
of marriage.

Speaker 1 (00:05):
It's it some days you'll feel like killing your husband, and.

Speaker 2 (00:08):
Some days you'll feel like killing your wife.

Speaker 1 (00:10):
Welcome to love, Mary kill.

Speaker 2 (00:28):
Hey you, Tina, Hey Rich? How are you?

Speaker 1 (00:30):
I'm good? How are you?

Speaker 2 (00:31):
I am doing pretty good. Happy Sunday, Happy Sunday, Last
day of August.

Speaker 1 (00:36):
Yeah, well, this won't be released till we're actually ahead
from once in our lives. This is shocking.

Speaker 2 (00:41):
I think this will be released like September fifteenth, maybe wow.
So yeah, we're a couple of two three weeks ahead.

Speaker 1 (00:47):
I want to give a shout out to mother Nature.
Mother nature has been spoiling us with like the most
beautiful weather.

Speaker 2 (00:54):
It's been so nice, so nice, and.

Speaker 1 (00:56):
It reminds me that humidity really does bring out the
worst in me.

Speaker 2 (01:02):
It's been so pleasant, beautiful, just perfect.

Speaker 1 (01:04):
Yeah.

Speaker 2 (01:05):
Do you want to hear something that is going to
outrage you?

Speaker 1 (01:09):
I sure do. I'd love to get fired up.

Speaker 2 (01:13):
Everyone loves to be outraged, don't they. Maybe you've heard
about this the tennis player and the hat Have you
seen this video at all? No?

Speaker 1 (01:21):
I heard about a guy in a sandwich this week.

Speaker 2 (01:23):
But a sandwich never mind, Now I want to know
about this guy and the sandwich.

Speaker 1 (01:29):
Well, I think the story is a fellow through a
sandwich at a National Guard person and indeed of that,
and they were trying to indict him. And you know,
they always say that you can indict a ham sandwich,
but in this case they were not able to indict
a man or the sandwich.

Speaker 2 (01:46):
Oh okay, well, this is maybe slightly similar. But this
is at the US Open. This will be old news
by the time people hear this. But this tennis player,
I'm gonna butcher's name, Camille My Shack. He went after
his He went to give his hat to a little
kid in the crowd and he put the hat up
and this guy, this adult, snatched it away and took it.

(02:10):
And the tennis player didn't see it. He was just
kind of moving on doing autographs and stuff like that,
and the video went viral. The good news is the
tennis player actually, when he's heard about this, he reached
out on social media and said, hey, can anybody help
me identify this kid. They found the kid and they
met up and he gave me what about the guy? Well,
so here here's the outrageous part. So the guy, it
turns out he was of course identified, and he is

(02:33):
the CEO of a Polish company.

Speaker 1 (02:35):
His name is CEOs are just.

Speaker 2 (02:39):
His name is Pyotr Sherrick, and he's an entrepreneur. No
I can't, but he's like a multimillionaire. And so people
identified him, and now like his company of course, is
getting like just butchered online. He's getting like terrible reviews.
And I'm not one hundred percent sure this is real
or not. But apparently he released a statement or maybe

(02:59):
an email to his employees and it said, yes, I
took it, Yes I did it quickly. But as I
have always said in life, the rule applies first come,
first served. He said, I understand something may not like this,
but please let's not turn this into a global scandal.

Speaker 1 (03:16):
I bet that's not real.

Speaker 2 (03:17):
I don't know.

Speaker 1 (03:18):
It's a hard time to be alive.

Speaker 2 (03:20):
It is. You don't know what's real.

Speaker 1 (03:21):
And it's going to get so much work.

Speaker 2 (03:23):
It really is.

Speaker 1 (03:24):
What is his company?

Speaker 2 (03:26):
His company is called what do they do? Oh, it's
like a paving company. They make paving and landscaping supplies things.

Speaker 1 (03:32):
It's kind of weird. That if that's true that he
doubled down.

Speaker 2 (03:35):
I know, I wonder. I've really tried hard to find
out whether it was true or not, and I couldn't
find it in any news reputable news site, so it
might not be.

Speaker 1 (03:45):
But even in real time, it's kind of shocking that
the crowd didn't, you know, yell at him.

Speaker 2 (03:51):
I think the crowd was dispersing. I think it was
alf was over, so it was only on video that
it got captured. But yeah, what a jerk, Like, who
who does that?

Speaker 1 (04:00):
So I could see you doing that, To be honest,
I did Detroit Tiger's game.

Speaker 2 (04:04):
Well what could you know? I could sort of excuse
like in the heat of the moment, like you're not
thinking and you just reach out and grab something or whatever.
But then if that happens, then you like realize that
that was a terrible thing I did, and then you
issue an apology. But I think I wouldn't even do
it in the heat of the moment.

Speaker 1 (04:21):
You would issue an apology for sure, and you might
meet it, but then you'd be like, but I really
am glad that I got this Miguel Cabrera four thousand
home running.

Speaker 2 (04:32):
No, no, no, I would never do that. All right, Well,
would you like a snack?

Speaker 1 (04:36):
You've been hype in the snack for days? Sure?

Speaker 2 (04:40):
Yeah, I think it is pretty pretty good, all right,
Larry David. Well, as you know, our case has a
strong connection to Ireland, and I found this treat that
apparently is popular in Ireland. It is called Irish chocolate
biscuit cake. Oh, is made with biscuits like digestive of
biscuits and rich tea biscuits and like a bunch of.

Speaker 1 (05:04):
Chocolate my rich tea biscuits I did. Okay, so long story,
but a listener told me like six months ago, maybe
even longer, like, oh, you should do these rich tea
biscuits because it kind of sounds like rich and Tina
Bottom completely forgot about them. Oh that's funny, and yeah,
they're in that basket up there.

Speaker 2 (05:22):
Oh well, now we have more rich tea biscuits.

Speaker 1 (05:25):
I think I saw some of the pantry and I
was like, oh, did I put this in the pantry?

Speaker 2 (05:28):
That's honestly, they're not that good on their own, they're not,
but in this that sounds really pretty Yeah. It's basically
like the chocolate in the middle is there's it's a
mix of dark chocolate, milk chocolate, and white chocolate, and
then the biscuits are like crumbled up and put inside,
and then there's a chocolate gnash on the top, and
then I put a malteeser on the top, also as
my own special touch.

Speaker 1 (05:49):
You you don't cut corners, do you? No?

Speaker 2 (05:52):
I sure don't.

Speaker 1 (05:53):
Would you like to have a package of mal teeser
somewhere in our house?

Speaker 2 (05:56):
There's a few left, Yeah, a few. Give it a try.
How did you like the chocolate biscuit cake?

Speaker 1 (06:09):
That was one of the best things you've ever made me?
Might be the best thing you've ever made me. I
would give it an eleven out of ten.

Speaker 2 (06:15):
Yeah, it's so good. It's very rich, like you can
only eat a little small amount to watch me watch more.

Speaker 1 (06:22):
What's the good cream stuff?

Speaker 2 (06:24):
The middle is basically chocolate melted and mixed together along
with butter, so there's butter in it. But it's really
pretty simple. It's like all this chocolate butter and then
these biscuits in the middle.

Speaker 1 (06:35):
Well, we have tons of biscuits, so we can make
it again.

Speaker 2 (06:38):
Yeah, we sure can be really good.

Speaker 1 (06:40):
Thank you.

Speaker 2 (06:40):
Before we get back to our story, I know that
you watched the Netflix documentary A Deadly American Marriage last
night after we recorded part one without giving any spoilers away,
What are your what are your thoughts on it?

Speaker 1 (06:51):
It was really well done. Yeah, it did seem like
it showed both sides to a certain extent. I thought
Jason is adorable. He looks a little bit like a hobbit.
Molly beautiful woman. The kids beautiful kids. Uh. They were
featured heavily in the documentary, which surprised me a lot.

(07:12):
I'm getting emotional talking about it. Just they've been through
so much. Tom oh gosh, just so unlikable.

Speaker 2 (07:20):
Yeah. He comes across Molly's father.

Speaker 1 (07:23):
Tom, Yeah, just seems like just to know it all,
not a good guy. Molly seemed sincere, but I know
that she has a history of untruths. My biggest takeaway
from the show was the crime scene was horrifically bloody,
shockingly bloody, like one of the bloodiest crime scenes I've
ever I've ever witnessed, and not witness but scene. And

(07:47):
do you agree?

Speaker 2 (07:47):
Yeah, that's ogod. I'm glad you brought that up because
we'll post some pictures. But it's hard.

Speaker 1 (07:52):
When I was when I was watching it. I was wondering,
and we would like to hear back from our listeners.
Is it okay when west bloody crime scene photos or
would you rather us? We don't because sometimes I air
on the side of you know, if the scenes are
too graphic, I don't you're some blood, But if it's
like an abundance of blood, I think that might be disturbing.

Speaker 2 (08:12):
Yeah, it can be disturbing.

Speaker 1 (08:14):
I'm curious how people feel about that. The brick you
had mentioned it too? Brick was it was shown and
it was very bloody?

Speaker 2 (08:23):
Yeah? Yeah, Well, do you want to give us a
recap of part one?

Speaker 1 (08:26):
Sure? In Part one, we traced Jason Corbett's life from
his happy childhood and Limerick, his great love story with
Mags Fitzpatrick and the heartbreak of her sudden death, to
his move to North Carolina with his new wife, Molly Martin's.
But beneath the surface of that fresh start, tension was building.
Molly spun a web of lies, sought legal advice about custody,

(08:49):
and even recorded Jason in an apparent effort to paint
him as abusive. By the summer of twenty fifteen, Jason
was making secret plans to return to Ireland with the children,
and before he could act, Tom and Mollie Martin's killed
him during a late night struggle. They claimed it with
self defense, but the bloody crime scene raised serious doubts

(09:10):
and left Jason's family demanding answers.

Speaker 2 (09:14):
Well, that was a great summary written by you. Is
there anything that I left out of that that you
think is worth mentioning?

Speaker 1 (09:20):
Well, we just talked about how bloody the crime scene was.
The thing that I keep thinking about is that Tom
and Mollie. You know, they say that it was self defense, right,
It didn't, you know, just from the crime scene, it
just didn't appear to be self defense.

Speaker 2 (09:34):
Yeah.

Speaker 1 (09:34):
And even if Jason was hurting Molly like you could
have hit him with the baseball bat twice, but killing
him till death didn't seem necessary, right.

Speaker 2 (09:45):
Yeah, No, I agree. Tom claims that he only hit
Jason until he was sure he was subdued and then
called nine one one, But obviously he was much more
than subdued, though his skull was essentially crushed.

Speaker 1 (09:58):
Yeah, I'm guessing you were going to talk about the
autop for sure.

Speaker 2 (10:01):
It didn't take long after Jason's death for the line
between the Martin's family and the Corbett family to Harden
into a brick wall. The first Corbett to be notified
of Jason's death was his twin brother Wayne. On Sunday,
the day after Jason's death, Sharon Martin's called him from
Molly's phone. Her explanation was brief. Jason and Molly had argued,
Molly pushed him, he fell, hid his head and died.

(10:24):
When Wayne asked to speak to Molly, Sharon flatly said
no and hung up. According to Wayne, the entire call
lasted about fifteen seconds. Wayne immediately rang Tracy, who began
alerting other family members. Several of them tried calling Molly
for answers, but no one from the Martin's family picked up.
Even without details, Tracy had a sickening feeling a certainty

(10:45):
deep down that Molly had murdered her brother. When she
finally got Sharon on the phone, she was met with coldness.
Sharon told her that Jason had been abusive, that Davidson
County Police had responded to his threats against Molly at
least six times. That was false. Sharon also claimed that
Jason had been drinking for twenty four hours straight before
the fight that too, was untrue. There was no empathy

(11:09):
in Sharon's voice, no sorrow. Tracy described her as sounding
almost annoyed even be on the call. When Tracy asked
if Molly had been arrested, Sharon snapped, of course not.
How dare you even ask that question? And then she
hung up. Tracy kept trying to reach Molly. When her
calls and texts went unanswered, she finally sent a message,
if you don't call me back, I'll start texting every

(11:31):
one of your neighbors for information. Minutes later, Molly phoned,
sobbing Tracy. Knowing Molly's flare for theatrics, cut straight to
the point, she demanded to know what had happened. Molly
said Jason had been drinking all day, that he tried
to strangle her, and that she hit him and pushed him.
He fell backwards and hit his head. She said he's dead.

(11:51):
Before ending the call, Molly allowed Tracy to speak briefly
with Jack, and then she hung up. For Tracy, the
conversations confirmed her worst fears. The Martins were already working
to smear Jason's name, and she knew exactly why Molly
wanted the children. Tracy realized she needed to get to
North Carolina as quickly as possible, and she would need
help from the Irish government. Because Jack and Sarah were

(12:14):
Irish citizens with Irish passports, She and her sister Marylyn
booked immediate travel. On the long journey, Tracy managed to
reach Detective Wanda Thompson. Tracy told her everything about Molly's behavior,
about Jason's plans to return to Ireland with the kids,
and about her belief that his death was anything but
self defense. When the call ended, Tracy felt heard. She

(12:37):
was reassured that investigators weren't simply taking Molly's story at
face value.

Speaker 1 (12:43):
During episode one, you talked about Detective Thompson, and I
believe that she told Molly clearly, this is self defense.
Don't worry about it. We have you covered.

Speaker 2 (12:53):
She did say more or less that that it seemed
like they were leaning toward self defense.

Speaker 1 (12:57):
Do you think that that changed the investmentstigation at all?

Speaker 2 (13:01):
It doesn't seem to, because I think that from what
I could gather, the police pretty quickly realized that there were,
you know, a lot of signs pointing in the other
direction from self defense. So I don't think it did
even in death, Molly tried to control access to Jason.
Tracy longed to see her brother's body, but Molly was
racing to have him cremated before she had the chance.

(13:23):
Within twenty four hours of Jason's death, Molly had engaged
a funeral home to carry out the cremation. Tracy discovered
which one and called, pleading with them to hold off
until she and Marylyn arrived, so Molly switched to another
funeral home. Tracy tracked that one down, too, once again
begging them not to proceed. When Tracy and Marilyn finally

(13:43):
made it to North Carolina, they went straight to the
funeral home, but the staff refused to let them view
Jason's remains. They said they had explicit instructions from his
legal next of kin Molly to deny access. Desperate, Tracy
and Marylyn called Sharon Martin's, hoping for compassion. Sharon's re
response was blunt, talk to your lawyers, so they did.

(14:03):
The sisters hired an attorney of their own, and after
five days a deal was reached. Malli would allow them
to see Jason and take his body home to Ireland,
but only if the Corbett family agreed to pay all
the funeral costs in both the US and Ireland. Reluctantly,
Tracy agreed. When she finally saw Jason's body, she was shaken.
His facial features looked altered. She didn't yet know the

(14:25):
full extent of his injuries or how much reconstructive work
the mortuary staff had been forced to do on his
skull just to make him viewable. Meanwhile, Molly arranged a
memorial service for Jason in North Carolina. The Corbetts were
told they were not welcome. The Martins even hired off
duty police officers to serve as security at the service.
Why you know, I think just that the lines were

(14:48):
drawn very clearly, very quickly. In this case. The two
families were not going to see eye to eye, and
they were basically going to be enemies from this point forward.

Speaker 1 (14:58):
Just four days after Jason's death, his children, Jack nearly eleven,
and Sarah nearly nine, were taken to the Dragonfly House,
a child advocacy center, to be interviewed by social workers.
In the days leading up to the interviews, they had
been in Molly's care. Both children told stories that closely
mirrored Molly's version of events. Jack said his father often

(15:19):
got angry with Molly over small things like bills or
leaving lights on, and that he had seen Jason hit
or push her once or twice. Quote he would physically
and verbally hurt my mom. Jack explained words that some
would later note sounded less like an eleven year old's
phrasing and more like an adult's. Jack had been asleep

(15:40):
during the struggle that killed his father, yet in his
interview he recited almost the exact same account that Molly
had given to police. Sarah had a nightmare, Jason became furious.
He screamed at Molly, Molly screamed back, and Tom rushed
upstairs with the bat. Jason grabbed the bat, swung at Tom,
and then Molly hit him with a brick. It hit

(16:01):
his temple right here, Jack said, pointing, and he died.
When asked how he knew Sarah had a nightmare, something
he couldn't have witnessed, Jack admitted, my mom told me.
He also explained the presence of the brick in Molly's bedroom.
Molly had bought pavers weeks earlier, he said, with plans
to paint them and use them as decorative edging for
flowers in the yard. She had asked Jack to bring

(16:23):
one inside so it wouldn't get wet in.

Speaker 2 (16:25):
The rain, although I did read later that it hadn't
rained at all that day, And I don't think anyone
really checked on that.

Speaker 1 (16:32):
To why would check the weather, why would she ask
him to bring one brick in?

Speaker 2 (16:36):
It's a great question. I don't know. I can't answer that.

Speaker 1 (16:40):
I think you might have mentioned this in part one,
but it doesn't explain why there was a brick on
her bedside table, No, it really doesn't.

Speaker 2 (16:48):
And normally the kids did arts and crafts projects in
the kitchen, on the island, in the kitchen, so it's
also strange that Molly would have told Jack to bring
the paper in and put it in their bedroom.

Speaker 1 (17:00):
Zara's account was strikingly similar to her brothers. She said
her dad got angry for ridiculous reasons and that she
had seen him hit Molly once. She described her nightmares
and how Jason would become angry if she woke him,
and the night of his death, she said she dreamed
that the fairies on her sheets turned into spiders and lizards.
She went to her parents' bedroom, Molly got up to

(17:20):
change the sheets, and Jason became furious, leading to the
fatal fight. Two children, Two stories, both consistent with Molly's,
both inconsistent with what investigators believed actually happened. The fire
for custody of Jason's children began almost immediately. Within thirty
hours of his death, Molly's lawyers had already filed for guardianship,

(17:43):
custody and even adoption. She secured an ex parte order
granting her temporary custody on the grounds that Tracy might
kidnap the children and take them back to Ireland. But
Tracy was determined. She had already reached out to Irish diplomats,
pressing for support at the highest levels. She even contacted
Ireland's Minister of Foreign Affairs, directly warning him quote, if

(18:06):
anything happens to Jason's children while in Molly's care, I
will hold you responsible. He reassured her that the full
resources of the Irish state would be behind her. After
arriving in North Carolina, Tracy learned of Molly's filings. She
quickly retained a lawyer who submitted Jason's will to the court.
The document made Jason's wishes clear if anything happened to him,

(18:30):
guardianship of Jack and Sarah would go to Tracy and
her husband, Dave. Molly was not mentioned. A custody hearing
was set for August fourteenth, just under two weeks after
Jason's death. It was contentious from the start. Tracy testified
for five hours under sharp cross examination, with Molly's attorneys
trying to paint her as a vindictive sister bent on revenge. Molly,

(18:53):
they argued, was the true victim. Molly's side brought in
friends who testified about what a wonderful parent she wants was.
They emphasized that Sarah had no memory of Mags and
that Molly was the only mother she had ever known.
Mollie herself minimized her mental health history, admitting that she
had once been diagnosed as bipolar at fifteen, but claiming
it was a misdiagnosis. Tracy's witnesses told a different story,

(19:18):
one of volatility, angry outbursts, and erratic behavior. The arguments
were fierce. Mollie's team's stress stability that she had been
the one taking the kids to their appointments, preparing their meals,
running their day to day lives. Tracy's team pointed to
Jason's will the children's Irish citizenship and the fact that
Mollie had never adopted them. It also weighed in Tracy

(19:40):
and Dave's favor that they were trained foster parents and
they had already raised two children of their own. After
deliberating over the weekend, the judge issued his order. Jack
and Sarah were to be removed from Molly's care. Temporary
custody would go to Tracy and Dave. The handover was wrenching.
Social services official and police officers arrived at the home

(20:02):
of Molly's uncle Bobby, where the family was staying. Molly screamed,
please don't take my babies. As Jack and Sarah cried,
clinging to her, They looked to her for comfort, but
she was collapsing onto the pavement, wailing and hyperventilating. The
children were taken instead to Tracy and Dave, who were
waiting at a nearby hotel. At first, Jack and Sarah
were wary. Molly had warned them that Tracy and Dave

(20:24):
would take them away forever, but gradually they warmed, sensing
the stability and love the couple offered. A day later,
a judge finalized the ruling the children could return to Ireland.
He explained his reasoning plainly. Jason and Maggs would have
won and their children raised in their homeland, surrounded by
Irish culture, religion, and tradition. For the Corbett family, it

(20:46):
was the first step toward justice and the first step
in bringing Jason's children home.

Speaker 2 (20:52):
Such a tough, tough situation for those kids. Her heart
just goes out to him, you know, they were so
used to they were living with Jason and Molly, Jason's
ow gone, and Molly really was the only mother that
they had known. Or Jack probably had some vague memories
of Mags, but probably not much.

Speaker 1 (21:09):
Yeah, definitely a heart wrenching scene. And Molly probably could
have made it easier on the children. I can understand
how she was heartbroken too, but she wasn't going to win,
so she could have, you know, said, these are nice people.
You can go with them. They're going to take good
care of you. I'll call you, I'll be there for you.
But you know, she chose trauma instead. We'll be back

(21:32):
after a break.

Speaker 2 (21:40):
For Tracy and Dave, winning custody was only half the battle.
Getting the children safely out of the United States might
not be so simple. There was still the risk that
Molly's legal team could file a challenge to delay their departure,
but to be effective, the paperwork would have to be
served directly to Tracy and Dave. That meant if they
could stay a step ahead, they could get the children home.

(22:01):
What followed played out like something from a spy novel.
Word reached them that members of Molly's family and legal
team had been spotted at Charlotte Douglas International Airport asking
airline staff about passenger lists for flights to Dublin. Irish
diplomats working with Tracy and Dave quickly shifted plans. Instead
of flying out of Charlotte, they were told to drive

(22:23):
to Greensboro, catch a flight to Washington, DC, and then
regroup there. In Washington, they checked into a hotel under
assumed names. The next day, Irish officials advised them to
re route again, this time to New York. With two
major international airports, it would be harder for anyone to
track them. The Irish consulate booked train tickets to Newark,

(22:43):
and from there the family finally boarded a flight to Dublin.
Wow I Know. Tracy and her book wrote about the
palpable relief when the wheels of the plane finally lifted
off the ground from New York to Dublin, because I
think up until then it was just pure stress. US
Irish Embassy staff traveled with them every step of the way,

(23:04):
fulfilling the Foreign Minister's promised that the full resources of
the Irish state would stand behind them. When Jack and
Sarah landed in Dublin, they were met with an extraordinary sight.
The case had dominated headlines, and hundreds of people turned
out at the airport holding signs welcoming the children home.
For Sarah, the joy was immediate. She ran into the

(23:24):
arms of her granddad, John Corbett. Jack, though, was devastated.
Deep down, he had been clinging to a child's hope
that their father might somehow be waiting for them in Ireland.
When he realized Jason wasn't there, the full weight of
his loss finally broke over him. Days later, Jason's family
held a memorial service in Limerick. Tracy gave the eulogy.

(23:45):
She closed with one of Jason's favorite sayings, how lucky
am I to have had something that makes saying goodbye
so hard? Jason Corbett was laid to rest beside the
great love of his life, his soulmate, Mags.

Speaker 1 (23:58):
So the custody case really strained relations between Ireland and
the United States for a time.

Speaker 2 (24:04):
Yeah, it really did. People were definitely taking sides depending
on which country you live in. Back in Limerick, Tracy
and Dave leaned on their training as foster parents to
help two deeply traumatized children. They arranged counseling immediately, but
trust didn't come easily. Both Jack and Sarah had already
lost so much. One night, Sarah asked Tracy quietly, how

(24:25):
is it possible that I've now lost three parents? Jack
struggled most in those first months, At nearly eleven, He
felt uprooted, He missed his friends in America, his school,
his sports, and painfully, he even missed Mollie. Tracy and
Dave believed it was best to cut off contact. In
their view, Molly had killed Jason and continued communication would

(24:47):
only confuse and harm the children. Molly, however, was determined
to maintain a presence in their lives. Just over a
month after Jason's death, Tracy received an unusual call from
a small aviation advertising company at Shannon Airport. Someone in
the US had requested a plane fly a banner over
Jack and Sarah's school. The banner was to read Jack

(25:09):
and Sarah, Happy Birthday, Love Mommy. Suspicious, the company reached
out to Tracy. Once they learned the background, they refused
the contract. Words spread quickly and other companies in the
region turned Molly down as well. The Martin's family even
contacted the Limerick Leader newspaper, hoping to buy a half
page ad. The newspaper declined, but Molly found ways to

(25:31):
reach out publicly. She began posting messages on social media.
It has been three weeks since you were taken from me.
I wish I could hold you. Oh babies, I love
you so much. It hurts so much thinking of you
and wondering what you are doing. Meanwhile, Tracy, Dave and
other relatives were inundated with friend requests from people in
the US. They soon realized that they were acquaintances of

(25:54):
Molly's trying to gather information about the children. Molly even
sent friend requests directly to some of Jack and Sarah's classmates.
The Irish police took the situation seriously. They placed Jack
and Sarah in their national Alert system, meaning that if
Tracy or Dave ever raised in alarm authorities could lock
down the entire area within minutes to prevent any attempted abduction.

(26:17):
Over time, the children began to settle. They adapted to
their new home and their new family. Slowly, they learned
to trust again and began to feel loved and secure
in Tracy and Dave's care.

Speaker 1 (26:28):
While Jack and Sarah were beginning to adjust to their
life in Ireland, the investigation into Jason's death pressed forward.
The autopsy cataloged an appalling list of injuries. Jason had
abrasions on his forehead and beneath his eye, bruising on
his shoulder, blades, injuries to his arms, legs, and torso.
His nose was broken, but the most devastating damage was

(26:50):
to his head. The medical examiner couldn't determine the exact
number of lows, at least twelve, some landing in the
same spot. The force had been so severe that during
the examination a piece of Jason's skull actually fell onto
the table. It would have taken extraordinary strength or sustained
repeated blows to cause that level of destruction. Toxicology results

(27:13):
raised further questions. Molly had claimed that Jason had been
drinking heavily for six hours straight that evening, and Tom
said he appeared obviously drunk when they arrived at the house.
Yet Jason's blood alcohol was just point zero two percent,
which is way below the legal limit. Correct Now, alcohol
metabolizes differently for everyone, but the numbers didn't add up.

(27:34):
If Jason had stopped drinking around ten pm and died
around three am, his BAC earlier in the evening would
likely have been around point one zero. Legally impaired, yes,
but nowhere near what you'd expect after six straight hours
of drinking, especially not for a man of Jason's size
around two hundred and sixty pounds. Then came something even

(27:55):
more puzzling. Toxicology revealed a small amount of trazodone in
Jason's system, zero point five milligrams per leader, below the
therapeutic range. Trazodone is an antidepressant sometimes prescribed to treat himsomnia,
but Jason had never been known to struggle with sleep.
In fact, he'd never been prescribed trasidone at all. Molly

(28:15):
had picked up a prescription for herself, though, just three
days earlier.

Speaker 2 (28:19):
Well, the question, of course, is why would Jason have
that in his system if it was a prescription that
Molly had, Right.

Speaker 1 (28:26):
But if Molly was going to drug him, would she
give him more than half a dose?

Speaker 2 (28:30):
Right? That was kind of contrary to that as well. Right,
it's a small door, less than a therapeutic dose.

Speaker 1 (28:35):
So yet, unless could it have worn off? Was that
just like the residual amount in his system.

Speaker 2 (28:41):
Yeah, I didn't find the math on that like I
did with the alcohol content. I'm not sure if it's
easy to know how fast that metabolized in your system.

Speaker 1 (28:50):
In December twenty fifteen, four months after Jason's death, a
special grand jury indicted both Tom and Molly Martin's on
charges of second degree murder. They were released on bond,
required to surrender their passports, and barred from contacting Jason's
children or any member of the Corbett family. But in
January twenty sixteen, Jack secretly tried to reach out to Molly.

(29:13):
Borrowing a friend's phone, he called her. When she didn't answer,
he left a voicemail, Hi mom, missus Jack, this cannot
go public. I miss you and I love you. Keep
fighting really hard. I want to know how you are.
I'd love you so much. Call me pretty please, So
five months on, Jack is still really having a hard time?

Speaker 2 (29:33):
Yeah, definitely.

Speaker 1 (29:34):
Jack's plea was private, not only for her, but Molly
released it to the press, a move she framed as
proof the children were still on her side. For Jacket
felt like a deep betrayal. If Mollie would use him
like this, maybe she hadn't been the person he thought
she was. He began reading news coverage about his father's death,
revisiting memories and questioning the stories he'd been told. Slowly

(29:57):
his perspective shifted. He came aim to believe Molly had
lied to him and that she and Tom had killed
his father intentionally. Nine months after Jason's death, Jack confided
in Tracy and Dave that he wanted to set the
record straight. He admitted that in those early days he
had lied at Molly's instruction. She had told him that

(30:17):
if he didn't say the right things, he'd be taken
away from her, never see her again, and worris that
he and Sarah would be separated. Tracy arranged a video
call with a North Carolina Assistant district attorney. On the call,
Jack recanted his earlier statement. He told prosecutors he had
never seen his father abuse Molly and that Molly had

(30:38):
coached him on what to say. A few months later,
Sarah also came forward. She explained everything I'd said had
been motivated by my wanting to keep Molly in share
and happy and to ensure that Jack and I stayed
in America. I had to go home with those people
after the interview, and I was convinced I'd live with
them for the rest of my life. I had been
in survival mode when I'd given that interview. She's so

(31:01):
young to be making such a grown up statement.

Speaker 2 (31:04):
Yeah, she is a really intelligent young lady. I would say.

Speaker 1 (31:09):
Sarah had already lost her mother and father, she didn't
want to lose Molly and Jack too. But with time
she admitted the truth. She had never once seen her
father lay a hand on Mollie.

Speaker 2 (31:18):
So you can kind of see where this is setting up,
where this is going to go for the rest of
the story. So Jack and Sarah made statements four days
after Jason's death with a trained social worker that supported
Molly's story, and then they went and stayed with Tracy
and Dave, and a few months later they changed their story.
And so it's a really challenging thing with kids right

(31:40):
they're nine and eleven years old to know side which
time were they telling the truth and which time they weren't.

Speaker 1 (31:47):
Absolutely both children began sharing painful stories. Mollie, they said,
demanded that Jack always call her mom and punished him
if he didn't. Sarah knew instinctively never to mention her
birth mother around Molly. Once, when Sarah forgot to hide
a treasured photo of Mags, Molly exploded, this woman is dead.
She is dead. To hear me, I am your mother.

(32:10):
Molly then hurled the framed photo down the stairs, shattering
the glass and breaking the frame. Later, Jason gently helped
Sarah glue the frame back together. She kept it hidden
for years and now proudly displays it by her bed.
Jack described another incident before Jason left on a business trip,
He told his father that he loved him, and Molly
flew into a rage. She stormed into Jack's room, scattering

(32:34):
his clothes, overturning his bed, dumping his dresser. Jack said
that Molly often beat him. Once, Sarah walked into the
kitchen to find her brother flailing on the floor as
Molly stood above him, punching him mercilessly. They never told Jason.
Jack would excuse his cuts and bruises with stories of
sports accidents. Sarah spoke about the swim team Molly coached.

(32:56):
What began is something she loved turned into a nightmare.
If Sarah didn't swim well, Molly wouldn't let her eat dinner.
Once after a poor race, Molly sneered, if you act
like a baby, you're going to swim with the babies,
and forced her to attend infants swim classes as punishment.
When Sarah begged to quit swimming and join the baseball
team that her dad coached, Molly lashed out, so you'd

(33:18):
prefer to be with your dad instead of me? How
could you hurt me like this after everything I've done
for you? Do you not love me? Terrified of losing her,
Sarah backtracked, assuring Molly that she loved her more than anyone.
In times, Sarah realized what Molly had done, isolating her
from her father, creating a US versus Dad mentality that

(33:39):
robbed her of a relationship with him. Both children also
revealed one of Molly's most chilling manipulations. From as young
as five, Sarah recalled Molly repeatedly told her that Jason
had killed her mother, suffocating Mags with a pillow. It
was a lie Molly used to poison the children's memories
of their father.

Speaker 2 (33:56):
So these stories that we went through are obviously all
coming from Jack and Sarah and Tracy of course, and
Molly's sides. Of Molly and her dad, Tom haven't written
any books or anything like that. I'm sure they would
argue that the kids' memories were poisoned by Tracy and
Dave or something like that. So that's partly why I
think it's really important to watch the documentary and kind

(34:18):
of hear directly from the kids in the documentary because
I believe them. I think they seem really sincere, and
their memories seem very vivid and accurate of this stuff.
But obviously there's another side to the story as well,
to Tracy and Dave. It quickly became clear that Tom
and Molly's defense strategy was not only self defense, it

(34:39):
was character assassination. Their plan was to smear Jason's name.
They leaned on stereotypes of Irish men as hard drinking brawlers.
Molly told police that Jason had ties to the Irish
Republican Army, that he had been violent since his teenage years,
even claiming bizarrely that he had been a mixed martial
arts fighter. Tracy spent the next year gathering counter evidence

(35:02):
statements from Jason's teachers, principles, senior police officers, and work colleagues.
Each one attested to Jason's good character, dismantling the rumors
that Molly and her family were pushing. Meanwhile, Molly recruited
friends to take her side publicly. One posted on social
media quote, you need to understand that everything that happened

(35:22):
that night was a result of Jason being a monster
to his wife and children. He was physically violent and
verbally and mentally abusive. None of this would be happening
now if he had been a good person. I support
Molly until the day I die. Another friend told forty
eight Hours anonymously that Molly had described Jason as controlling
and verbally abusive, and that his behavior escalated to quote

(35:46):
forced sex and stuff like that, But when pressed, the
friend admitted that Molly had never mentioned these claims before
Jason's death. Perhaps the ugliest tactic was an attempt to
cast suspicion on Jason over Mags's death. Tom Martin told
people that he had once spoken with Maggs's father, Michael Fitzpatrick,
who allegedly said I think he killed my daughter. Tom

(36:08):
added patronizingly that Michael was not a well educated man
and difficult to understand because of his accent.

Speaker 1 (36:15):
So that part of the documentary made me so angry.
It was so condescending and rude, the way he spoke
of Jason's.

Speaker 2 (36:23):
Yeah that I watched the documentary before I did any
other research, and that was the moment when my opinion
of Tom just took a nose dive. Why say that?
What is the point of saying?

Speaker 1 (36:34):
And Jason's father, his sins passed away from cancer, so
he's not here to defend himself, but his wife and
daughter did.

Speaker 2 (36:40):
Yeah. The Fitzpatrick family was outraged. Michael insisted that he
had only ever met Tom once and that the two
had never discussed Jason or Maggs at all. He put
his denial in writing with a solicitor quote, I wish
to state in no uncertain terms that the relationship between
Jason Corbett and Margaret Corbett and the relationship between Jason

(37:00):
Corbett and Molly Martin's was never discussed in any manner whatsoever.
I can also state categorically that we never discussed my
daughter Margaret or the circumstances of her death, nor did
I inform Thomas Martin's that Jason had killed my daughter Margaret.
Michael's anger was so strong that he made sure to
leave a written record before illness overtook him. He died

(37:21):
soon after, never able to testify in person. Maggs's sister
Catherine also spoke out, calling Molly a compulsive liar. She
revealed that only days after Jason's death, Molly had sent
adoption papers to the Fitzpatricks, asking them to sign so
that she could push through custody of Jack and Sarah.
They refused. Still, the Martin's family doubled down. They hired

(37:44):
a medical expert who combed through Maggs's autopsy report and
suggested that she may not have died from an asthma
attack at all, but from manual strangulation injuries. The expert
claimed that could have led to her death. Hours later,
for Tracy, your campaign was intolerable. She refused to let
her brother's name be dragged through the mud. Determined to

(38:06):
fight back, she reached out to Mally's former fiancee Keith McGinn,
the man who had written about their relationship in his memoir.
Keith empathized with the Corbett family and agreed to share
with investigators what he knew about Mally's history of mental
health struggles and instability. In July twenty seventeen, Molly and
Tom Martins went on trial together, charged with second degree

(38:28):
murder with a fallback option of voluntary manslaughter. At the
very same time, Tracy and Dave filed a wrongful death
lawsuit against them. The timing was coincidental. The statute of
limitations was about to expire, but the Corbetts were determined
that the Martin's family never profit from Jason's death. The
prosecution's case hinged on one thing. The brutality of the attack,

(38:50):
Jason's injuries, and the blood soaked crime scene told a
story of sustained, one sided violence. Molly and Tom, meanwhile,
walked away without a scratch. Had called it a Donnybrook,
a desperate brawl, but the evidence painted a different picture.
A sleeping man ambushed, roused into a fight for his life,
staggering around the bedroom and hallway before being beaten to death.

(39:13):
Prosecutors argued that Molly's motive was clear. Jason was preparing
to leave her and returned to Ireland with the children.
Molly couldn't bear the thought of losing them, so she
and her father killed him. They may also have been
a financial incentive. Jason carried a six hundred thousand dollars
life insurance policy. Originally, the children were listed as beneficiaries

(39:33):
alongside Molli, but in twenty fourteen the policy was changed
so that Molly was the sole beneficiary. No one could
say exactly who made the change, only that it was
done online. Combined with a mortgage free home worth hundreds
of thousands of dollars, Jason's death left Molly set to
gain well over a million dollars. A key pre trial
question was whether the jury would hear from Jack and Sarah.

(39:56):
Their original statements supported Molly's story, their later recantations accused
her of coaching them to lie. The judge ultimately excluded
both versions, ruling that they contradicted each other too directly
to be reliable. Still, the prosecution presented a mountain of evidence.
Autopsy results Jason suffered at least twelve blows to the head.

(40:18):
The medical examiner testified that at least one was delivered
after he was already dead. Toxicology, his blood alcohol content
was only point zero two percent, far lower than Molly's
claims of six straight hours of drinking. His blood also
contained trazodone, a drug that Molly had been prescribed three
days earlier, but that Jason had never needed. The blood

(40:39):
spatter found throughout the room, including stains only inches off
the floor, showing that Jason was struck while down. Blood
also marked the enseam of Tom's boxer shorts, proof that
he had delivered blows while standing directly over Jason. Timing.
Much of the blood was dried or congealed, and Jason's
body was already cool when pairs medics arrived, suggesting that

(41:01):
Tom had not called nine one one as quickly as
he had claimed the CPR doubts. The nine one one
dispatcher testified that Tom did not sound winded despite allegedly
performing hundreds of chest compressions. Neither Tom nor Molly had
blood on their hands, although Jason's chest was bloody, raising
doubts that they ever tried CPR at all. And then

(41:23):
a former colleague testified that Tom made no secret of
his dislike for Jason, and just four weeks before the killing,
said that son in law, I hate him. And then
there was the brick. Every surface of the paving stone
was coated in blood, consistent with multiple impacts. Piece by piece,
the prosecution dismantled Tom and Molly's story of a chaotic struggle.

(41:44):
What they described as self defense looked instead like a
deliberate and sustained killing.

Speaker 1 (41:50):
I have a question that you might not know the
answer to. But you said that Jason's body was cool,
and I know that the body cools pretty rapidly after
your dead. But you don't have any metrics there.

Speaker 2 (42:02):
No, I don't believe they took any measurements, and from
what I've read, there's not there's not a lot of
scientific consensus around exactly how fast the body.

Speaker 1 (42:11):
I really thought it was like a degree an hour
or something like that.

Speaker 2 (42:14):
Maybe that may be like a ballpark, but I don't
I could be wrong, but I've read that it's hard
to really make a determination based on the body temperature.
We'll be back after a break.

Speaker 1 (42:31):
The defensive star witness was Tom Martins, himself with three
decades and the FBI. His attorneys believed his credibility would
carry weight with a jury. Surely, they argued, this was
not the kind of man who would kill with malice.
On the stand, Tom was calm and measured as he
walked the jury through his version of events. I certainly.

Speaker 2 (42:53):
Well he would kill me.

Speaker 1 (42:55):
I thought both of our lives were in danger. I
did the best I could. I did not like some of.

Speaker 2 (43:02):
Jason's behave, particularly with regard to my daughter. That does
not mean that I demonized the man. Once I got
control of the bat, I hit him until I considered
the threat to be over.

Speaker 1 (43:14):
And when I considered the threat to be over, I
quit hitting it. But how did he come across credible
or arrogant? That was the question lingering in the courtroom.
Tom seemed to be able to recall the fight in
painstaking detail, each blow, each shift, and momentum. Yet somehow
he couldn't recall Molly ever striking Jason with the paving brick,
even though the evidence clearly showed that she had. Molly

(43:36):
did not testify on her own behalf. So Tom, with
his thirty years in the FBI, some in the criminal division, Yeah,
certainly knew how to be a slick witness, right.

Speaker 2 (43:46):
Yeah, he absolutely came across on the witness stand as
very calm and collected. But I also wonder if that
was heard by the jury as sort of arrogance as well,
But that could just be me reading into it.

Speaker 1 (44:00):
Closing arguments, the prosecution staged a powerful demonstration. The prosecutor
have to the very weapons used in Jason's killing, the
metal baseball bat and the paving brick.

Speaker 2 (44:11):
How much for does it take to split the flesh
out of the way to the skull? You know what
malice fields comes through.

Speaker 1 (44:20):
The brick that Molly had it Fields like, Hey, that's
what malice feels like.

Speaker 2 (44:30):
Always wonder how effective those type of theatrics are in
a courtroom.

Speaker 1 (44:34):
They attorneys loved them.

Speaker 2 (44:35):
Don't think absolutely.

Speaker 1 (44:37):
I think that's pretty effective. Yeah, this is what they
did to Jason, he said, displaying the gruesome post mortem photos.
Then holding up the photos of Tom and Molly, he added,
and this is what Jason did to them. Nothing. The
jury needed just three hours of deliberation. When they returned,
the verdict was unanimous guilty of second degree murder for

(44:59):
Tom and Molly Martin's. After a brief recess, the court
moved directly into sentencing, the district attorney read a letter
from Jack aloud. It closed with words that brought many
of the jurors to tears. Are you going to make
me read this? Yes? My dad will not be forgotten.
He will be remembered by his good life. How he
made everyone feel good about themselves, How he was there

(45:21):
for you if you needed him, how we always focused
on the positive. How he was the best dad ever
and the best friend, brother and son ever. Mollie Martin's
will not be forgotten as well. She will always be
remembered as the woman who killed her husband for no reason.
She will be remembered as a murderer. When the judge
handed down his sentence twenty to twenty five years for

(45:43):
both Molly and Tom, it marked the first measure of
justice for Jason Corbett. As deputies led her from the courtroom,
Molly turned to her mother and said, I'm so sorry.
I should have just let him kill me.

Speaker 2 (45:55):
I see your eyes rolling a little bit at Molly's comment.

Speaker 1 (45:58):
They sure did. You had to to delete my first
comment because it was inappropriate for air.

Speaker 2 (46:04):
Yeah.

Speaker 1 (46:05):
Outside the courthouse after the verdict, the jury foremen spoke
briefly to reporters, He explained the speed of their decision, quote,
we didn't discuss a verdict, but in having private conversations,
we could read that everybody was going in the same direction.
The Martin's lawyers immediately seized on that comment. Had the
jury been discussing the case before formal deliberations. If so,

(46:26):
that would be a violation of the judge's daily instructions
and grounds for appeal for Jason's family. Though the moment
was one of release. After two long, grueling years, Tracy, Dave, Jack,
and Sarah could finally breathe. Sarah said it was the
first time that she had truly felt free in years,
but the feeling didn't last. As Jack summed it up,

(46:48):
everything was going well, but then everything went wrong again.
The Martin's attorneys filed for appeal, first claiming jury misconduct.
That motion was denied, but they pressed on, arguing that
new Mara's errors had been made in the trial. In
January twenty nineteen, the North Carolina Court of Appeals made
the rare decision to hear oral arguments each side had

(47:10):
just thirty minutes. The defense's key point it had been
unfair to exclude the children's original statements given at the
Dragonfly House just days after Jason's death. Those statements back
to Tom and Molly's story. How could the trial have
been fair without them? The appellate court agreed. The interviews,
they ruled were conducted by trained professionals in a nationally

(47:32):
accredited child advocacy center. Precedents supported their admission. The state
appealed again, but the North Carolina Supreme Court ultimately upheld
their decision. The guilty verdicts were overturned. Tom and Molly
Martin's were free awaiting a new trial.

Speaker 2 (47:50):
I can't say that I disagree with the appeals court
decision because it does seem like the jury should get
They should be allowed to decide which was accurate their
the children's original statements or the statements they made later,
or the children should be allowed to testify themselves and
explain their own thoughts.

Speaker 1 (48:08):
Yeah. I agree. At the end of the day, everyone
deserves the most fair trial that they can get. As
prosecutors prepared for a second trial, Molly and Tom's defense
had reason to feel confident first the children's statements would
be admissible, that mentors would hear both versions the Dragonfly
House interviews given just days after Jason's death, and Jack's

(48:29):
later recantation months down the road. The defense believed the
credibility of the first interviews would outweigh the second, especially
since those early sessions were conducted by trained child advocates
in a professional setting, while Jack's recantation was done over Skype,
with the assistant DA asking the questions and Tracy sitting
next to Jack. Second, the defense was prepared to revisit

(48:52):
Maggs's death. They had experts ready to testify that our
autopsy did not point to asthma as the cause, but
rather to poss strangulation. The state's own experts conceded that
Maggs likely had not died directly from asthma, but argued
there were numerous medical explanations consistent with her history as
an asthmatic. To conclude strangulation, they said, would be reckless

(49:15):
and unsupported by evidence. Still, the mere suggestion that Jason
may have killed his first wife had the potential to
sway a jury. Third, several of Molly's close friends were
now willing to testify that they had witnessed Jason's fits
of anger. The prosecution, however, had a powerful new advantage
this time, Jack and Sarah wanted to testify. Both children

(49:38):
had been too young and beyond the court's jurisdiction during
the first trial, but now, as teenagers, they were determined
to take the stand. They wanted to speak for their
father directly. They were confident a jury would believe them,
but prosecutors were wary. The stakes were high and the
risk of acquittal loomed large. Rather than gamble everything at
a retrial, State pursued plea negotiations. In the end, a

(50:02):
deal was struck. Mall would plead no contest to voluntary manslaughter,
while Tom would plead guilty to the same charge. A
no contest plea allows a defendant to accept punishment without
formally admitting guilt. It carries the same criminal penalties as
a guilt deeply, but cannot be used against them in
a related civil case. For Jack and Sarah, the news

(50:24):
was crushing. Sarah and Ireland wept through the night. She
had been waiting years to speak in court for her father.
Now the chance was gone to her. A plea deal
didn't feel like justice at all. It felt like her
voice was being silenced once again.

Speaker 2 (50:39):
Sentencing took place in November twenty twenty three. By then
Jack was nineteen and Sarah seventeen. Together with Tracy and Dave,
they flew from Ireland to North Carolina, the family's twenty
fifth trip to the US in the eight years they
had spent battling the Martins through the courts. The Netflix
documentary captures a poignant moment as they arrived at the
courthouse in their rental van. Tracy turned to her family.

(51:02):
We are the strongest, most united together, Sarah added, and
we're going to do this together. Dave closed with a
pep talk. All will be okay. Time for crying is over.
Now it's time to get angry in their head up,
shoulders back. Fuck these people. They're nothing to us. This
wasn't a routine sentencing hearing. Instead of lasting an hour

(51:23):
or two, it stretched across ten days. This really shocked
me when I read that, because sentencing hearings are usually
kind of a formality, like you just have a few
victim statements and that's it. But this was almost like
another trial. The defense filled that time with testimony that
smeared Jason Corbett's character. Witnesses suggested that Jason's first wife, Mags,

(51:44):
may have been murdered friends repeated Molly's claims of abuse.
The defense played video of the Dragonfly House interviews from
the days after Jason's death, in which Jack and Sarah
supported Molly's story, as well as the secret Pancake Tuesday
recording my Molly had made of an argument. We played
that in part one. The prosecution, constrained by the plea agreement,

(52:06):
was limited in what they could present. Their most powerful
moment came from a psychologist who had interviewed Molly in
twenty twenty two. He concluded that Molly's plan from the
beginning of her time as Jason's nanny was to claim
Jack and Sarah as her own, with Jason as an
obstacle in her way. As the judge from the custody
hearing had once put it, Molly seemed to feel a

(52:28):
quote deranged entitlement to the kids. For the Corbett family,
the hearing felt like reliving the smear campaign all over again.
They sat quietly through it, biting their tongues until it
was finally their turn to speak. In the victim impact
portion of the hearing, Jack's voice carried the weight of
years of silence. The first thing I want to state
clearly is I was a liar From the age of

(52:51):
four to ten. I was taught how to lie and
manipulate people by Molly Martin's. During this time, I was
abused by Molly Martin's in every way you can imagine,
and then some your honor. Don't be fooled by this
mask of civility of Molly Martin's. There is a monster
lurking underneath the exterior. She systematically broke me down and
drip fed me on truths. I want to be clear,

(53:13):
I have never witnessed my dad hit Molly Martin's ever. Luckily,
my dad picked two wonderful parents to guide me through life.
It hasn't been easy, but having them made it a
lot easier. Sarah followed, who is the victim here? The
Martins made my pain so much worse by trying to
have the world think my dad was a bad person.
What Molly and Tom Martin's took from me I can

(53:35):
never get back. I've seen my father's bloody handprint on
the door of his bedroom. There was nothing voluntary about
his death. He did not choose to leave us. He
was taken from us. He was the victim. It was
only when I went to live with Tracy and David
in Ireland, that I knew the true meaning of family.
The judge listened, but said the victim impact statements had

(53:55):
not influenced his decision, which kind of made me wonder,
what is the purpose of victims impact statements.

Speaker 1 (54:01):
I think the purpose of a victim impact statement is
for the victims to speak their truth, whether or not
it changes the judge's decision.

Speaker 2 (54:08):
Yeah, no, I agree, but it just seems like the
judge should at least take it into account and not
say this didn't influence my decision at all. The judge
said it was difficult to know the full truth in
this case. Still, he raised questions of his own. Why
hadn't Tom, a veteran FBI agent, called nine to one
one before running upstairs with a bat. Someone with his

(54:28):
training would know that the first thing you do is
call for backup. Why hadn't Sharon called for help when
she heard screams instead of rolling over and going back
to sleep. In the end, he acknowledged the imperfections of
the justice system and sentenced Tom and Molly each to
between fifty one and seventy four months in prison, or
around four to six years with credit for time already

(54:50):
served that most likely meant an additional year behind bars
at most. For Tracy, Dave, Jack, and Sarah, the sentence
was crushing. It didn't feel like justice. Still, they held
on to one small consolation. At least Molly and Tom
would be led back to prison in handcuffs. Let's talk
about what's happened since sentencing. The wrongful death lawsuit that

(55:11):
Tracy and Dave filed back in July twenty seventeen was
eventually settled. A trust fund was created for Jack and Sarah.
The Martins contributed one hundred and eighty thousand dollars, an
insurance company and other twenty thousand dollars and Jason's six
hundred thousand dollars life insurance policy went into the fund
as well. Under North Carolina law, Mally wasn't eligible to

(55:33):
receive the policy given her conviction in Jason's death. Jason's
North Carolina house was sold in twenty eighteen for three
hundred and forty six thousand dollars, about fifty thousand dollars
less than what he had paid for. Even so, half
of the proceeds from the sale the house went to
Molli Despite her being behind bars for his murder at
this time. That was because of North Carolina law.

Speaker 1 (55:55):
That looked like a beautiful house, too, oh.

Speaker 2 (55:58):
Very nice house. Most of the money in Jack and
Sarah's trust went towards years of legal fees and travel
at their own request, on top of the hundreds of
thousands Tracy and Dave had already spent fighting for custody
and justice. In June twenty twenty four, both Tom and
Molly were released from prison, having served just seven months
since their plea deal and just over four years in total.

(56:20):
Their probation ended a year later. Today, a court order
prevents Molly from ever contacting Jack or Sarah again. In
the Netflix documentary, Molly claims she never wanted a plea deal.
She had been ready to fight another trial, but she
admitted she took the deal because she couldn't face the
possibility of her father spending the rest of his life
in prison. For Jack and Sarah, the plea bargain and

(56:43):
light sentence felt like a punch to the gut. They
said it seemed like their father had been the one
on trial. Justice in their eyes, had not been served.
Both carried guilt, feeling as though they had somehow let
their dad down. That's one reason they chose to participate
in the Netflix documentary, to share their truth and to
honor Jason's memory. Sarah also channeled her grief into writing.

(57:05):
At thirteen, she published a children's book called Noodle Loses Dad,
the story of two bear cubs who lose their father
but are taken in by a loving new family. At eighteen,
she published A Time for Truth, reflecting on her father,
her painful childhood with Molly, and her long road toward healing.
She credits Tracy and Day for giving her and Jack

(57:25):
the kind of stable, supportive home their dad had wanted
for them. Jack, quieter and more private, chooses not to
dwell on Molly. He says he doesn't hate her because
hate would give her power over him. Instead, both he
and Sarah focus on the pride they feel in being
Jason Corbett's children. In Limerick, Jason's memory lives on. Former

(57:46):
colleagues hosts an annual football tournament and a golf outing
in his honor at the Lexington, North Carolina plant where
he once worked. His team dedicated a tree and a
plaque to him, turning his office into the Jason Corbett
conference room. When the plant later closed due to a merger,
that plaque was shipped back to Ireland to the plant
where Jason first began his career. Rest in peace, Jason,

(58:09):
and rest in peace, Mags. Before we have a little
bit of discussion, I did want to mention my sources. Again.
Of course, I watched the Netflix documentary we've mentioned a
few times, a Deadly American Marriage. Again, I highly recommend
watching it because they did interview nearly everyone involved, Molly,
Tom Jack, Sarah Tracy. CBS's forty eight Hours also did

(58:30):
a really good job with their episode called In Jason's Name,
which aired in twenty nineteen. And then I mentioned that
I read three books. So when I found out that
Molly's ex fiance, Keith McGinn had written a book about
his relationship with Molly, I thought that that will provide
a really fascinating glimpse into Molly's psyche, and it really did.
The memoir is called Turning This Thing Around, and it's

(58:52):
really about Keith's own mental health struggles, but it provides
a really fascinating window into Molly's personality, the patterns from
before she met Jason. Like I mentioned before, the book
was published three years before Jason's death, so it wasn't
like Keith McGinn was trying to cash in on Mally's notoriety,
so that's why I found it really interesting. I also

(59:15):
read Tracy Corbett's book My Brother Jason. Naturally, it's told
from her perspective, but it's really valuable in understanding kind
of what Jason's family went through, not only through his
death but the years of legal battles afterwards, and it
helped fill in a lot of the details that the
documentary didn't cover. And then finally I read A Time
for Truth, My Father Jason and My Search for Justice

(59:38):
and Healing by Sarah Corbett Lynch, which was published just
recently in May twenty twenty five, when Sarah was just eighteen.
It's a really remarkable book, not just because of her age,
but because Sarah actually grew up undiagnosed with dyslexia when
she lived with Molly. Most of her homework was done
for her by Mally, because Sarah says that Mally cared

(59:59):
more about appearances than Sarah's actual education, and so Sarah
was really far behind in reading and writing when she
first moved to Ireland. Since then she's turned writing into
both the strength and an outlet, and the book captures
her memories of her dad, her perspective on Molly, and
her experience sitting through the ten day sentencing hearing is

(01:00:19):
really powerful, really heartfelt, and really well written. So I
would definitely recommend that as well.

Speaker 1 (01:00:25):
Very interesting.

Speaker 2 (01:00:27):
I have a couple of questions for you. What do
you think about the plea deal? Do you think the
prosecutors were right to pursue a plea deal or do
you think they should have taken it to trial again?

Speaker 1 (01:00:36):
You know, it's hard. I don't really know all of
the evidence. I mean, you did a great job outlining
the evidence. I'm not really sure. To me, it seems
like there might have been enough evidence to go for
murder one, really because like the prescription that she had
secured and you know, having the brick by her bedside,
and I don't know, maybe there wasn't enough evidence to

(01:00:56):
point to.

Speaker 2 (01:00:57):
That for Malli. I think there could have been. Not
for Tom, for sure. I think Tom wouldn't have been
premeditated for him, but potentially I think Molly could have
gone down for murder one. But I think would have
been hard. It would have been hard to prove.

Speaker 1 (01:01:09):
Yeah, the plea deal is definitely hard to swallow, especially
because you know, on the tail end there wasn't much
more time to serve.

Speaker 2 (01:01:17):
Yeah, but how much harder would it be to swallow
if if they went back to trial and were acquitted,
that that would be really hard to swallow. So yeah,
I can empathize with the prosecution there.

Speaker 1 (01:01:25):
Yeah, absolutely. To me though, it's a win because Jack
and Sarah got to go back to Ireland and it
sounds like the rest of their childhood years were you know,
pretty good. A lot of credit goes to Dave and
Tracy feel raising them. Well.

Speaker 2 (01:01:41):
So that's a great point. I'm glad you brought that up,
because in so many of these cases, you know, the
kids are victimized again after their father or mother is killed.
And in this case, I think at least that turned
out pretty good as good as could be expected.

Speaker 1 (01:01:56):
I mean, assuming that that Molly is guilty, you know,
come out us if you think that we're wrong. But
to me, it seems pretty clear that Molly had everything
to do with Jason's death.

Speaker 2 (01:02:05):
Yeah. Do you think that there is any possibility that
Jason was abusive toward Molly because I will admit, after
watching the Netflix documentary, I first thought, you know, yeah,
it's possible that there was some abuse going on there.
I think as I did more research, I decided that
I didn't think it was likely. But again, I read

(01:02:26):
books by his family, so I'm probably a little bit
biased on that point.

Speaker 1 (01:02:30):
You would have mentioned that when you were doing your
research that you were afraid that you were coming up
one sided, but I don't know. To me, it all
makes sense that everything points in that direction.

Speaker 2 (01:02:41):
For me, yeah, I think the biggest evidence against him
being abusive is just as I read more and more
about Molly and her propensity for lies and exaggeration, it
just really seemed to add up that she really did
want the kids for herself, and that was her primary motive.

Speaker 1 (01:02:58):
It is interesting to me that she one of the
kids so badly, Like, why did she want them so badly?
I'm sure she, assuming that she's capable of love, you know,
loved them, but was it more about winning or was it,
you know, did she think she was the better home
for the children.

Speaker 2 (01:03:11):
It's hard to know, it really is. I think you'd
have to be a have a few degrees in psychology
to really to figure that out.

Speaker 1 (01:03:19):
So the Netflix movie made me question the circumstances surrounding
Maggs's death a little bit. Yeah, what do you where
do you land on that?

Speaker 2 (01:03:27):
Yeah? No, I agree. I also it brought up questions
for me as well. And the interesting thing was that,
I think in the documentary they mentioned this that the
prosecution the state also agreed that asthma was not her
cause of death. But I think the difference is that
the state said, yeah, asthma wouldn't cause your death like that,
it could be related, but there could be tons of

(01:03:48):
other causes that it could be, and there was nothing
specifically to point to her being strangled and the fact
that her st I.

Speaker 1 (01:03:56):
Don believe that she was strangled necessarily, just that I
was curious what could have caused her death?

Speaker 2 (01:04:01):
Yeah?

Speaker 1 (01:04:01):
Or was there negligence on Jason's side for not, you know,
getting her medical treatment earlier?

Speaker 2 (01:04:07):
Yeah, it doesn't seem like it. I mean, so Mags's
sister Catherine was staying with Jason and Mags at the time,
and it seems like he did everything possible to get
her to the hospital, even meeting the ambulance halfway because
he didn't want to wait for the ambulance to get
all the way out to their house. So it really
doesn't seem like he did anything wrong in that situation
to me, but again definitely open for you know, other opinions.

Speaker 1 (01:04:31):
Yeah. The one recording that we had of Molly, you know,
secretly recording Jason in an argument, that seemed like maybe
she might have been provoking him a little bit. Yeah,
because she knew, like the whole pancake Day was important
part of his heritage and tradition they wanted to pass
on to his kids. The fact that the kids were
still there was a little telling to me that they

(01:04:54):
didn't know that, Oh, we should get out of here
because something bad is going to happen.

Speaker 2 (01:04:58):
That's a good point too. Sarah's book, she actually said
on that recording she you could actually hear her yelling
at her dad, like saying dad. I can't remember what
she said exactly, but in her book she said, look,
that's proof I wasn't scared of my dad.

Speaker 1 (01:05:11):
Right, Yeah, when I was a kid, Like, if there
was something going on like that, you got out of
the room because you kind of were afraid of what
was going to happen.

Speaker 2 (01:05:18):
Yeah, that's a really good point. One final thing I
wanted to mention both Jack and Sarah have found release
in music. Singing, Sarah says isn't about perfection or applause,
it's about healing. And Jack, at age fifteen, posted a
video to YouTube singing a song called Dancing in the
Sky by Danny and Lizzie. He dedicated it to both

(01:05:39):
his mom Mags and his dad Jason. I wanted to
close our case discussion with a little bit of Jack's voice,
honoring the parents that he lost.

Speaker 1 (01:05:54):
Tell me, why doesn't guy in heaven?

Speaker 2 (01:06:01):
Is it peaceful? Me?

Speaker 1 (01:06:03):
Is itvery? They say?

Speaker 2 (01:06:08):
Does the sun shot right? For?

Speaker 1 (01:06:12):
Even? Have your fears and you're paying on away because
you on earth? Diffuse like everything goodness, missy. Since you

(01:06:33):
love me and you're on earth, everything's different. There's an ending.
You're not going to be happy until you make us
all try, are you? Oh my gosh, that was beautiful.

Speaker 2 (01:06:50):
I know he's a really beautiful voice.

Speaker 1 (01:06:51):
Yeah.

Speaker 2 (01:06:52):
I've seen videos of Sarah singing as well, and she
also has a really beautiful voice.

Speaker 1 (01:06:56):
I wish them both just the very best in life.

Speaker 2 (01:06:58):
Yeah. Through it they just seem like too, Yeah, just lovely,
lovely people. Long ago you did a case that was
set in Australia, and you educated us all several Australian
sayings and terminology and words and things like that. So
I thought it would be good to do the same
thing for Ireland because Ireland Irish people are known for

(01:07:20):
having a good turn of the foot.

Speaker 1 (01:07:22):
We both have Irish in our backgrounds. Yes, like you
could be from our you know, I feel like they're
my people. I feel like maybe I'll finally feel like
I fit in.

Speaker 2 (01:07:33):
Really we really should, we really should go. So I've
got some sayings and some words for you that I
want to educate you on. Before I do that, I
just want to give apologies to our Irish listeners if
I have any of these wrongs. I did the best
research I could, but I know sometimes the internet, you know,
it can be a little questionable. And I'm not going
to do any accents. But if I accidentally slip into

(01:07:54):
an accent.

Speaker 1 (01:07:55):
You used to apology to a lot of accents.

Speaker 2 (01:07:58):
All right, So here's some phrases I found. I think
this first one, and I think you'll know. But that's
a fine thing. You know what that means. That's a
fine thing.

Speaker 1 (01:08:05):
I mean, I don't it's a good thing.

Speaker 2 (01:08:08):
It's usually sarcastic. It means sort of like, that's typical,
or okay, it figures I'm away with the fairies something
really run. That means you're daydreaming, not paying attention. Oh
I'm sorry, I'm away with the fairies right now.

Speaker 1 (01:08:21):
Okay. I can't wait to tell that one to our
daughter because she really loves that girls a little spacey
just like her mom.

Speaker 2 (01:08:29):
Yes, and this one is interesting. Acting the maggot means
messing around, goofing around, being silly, So quit acting the maggot.
We can say that to our kids as well. Chancing
your arm I thought that was an interesting one. Chancing
your arm means taking a risk or pushing your luck,
and it originates It's thought to originate from an incident

(01:08:51):
in fourteen ninety two at Saint Patrick's Patrick's Cathedral in Dublin,
where there was a feud and the feud was resolved
when a member of the Fitzgerald family cut a hole
in a door and extended their arm to offer a handshake.
But obviously they were risking serious injury if the other
family was not willing to.

Speaker 1 (01:09:11):
Why did they have to put their hand through the door.
I don't know, that's sorry, I dropped my smoothing stuff there.

Speaker 2 (01:09:18):
Great, thank thank goodness. That is a good question, though.
What's the crack or where is the crack? We talked
about crack a long time ago on another episode. But
that means just sort of like, how, what's going on?
What's happening? Where's what's where's the crack? Where's the crack?
Stall the ball? That means basically what we would say,
hold the phone, like if you said something to me

(01:09:40):
like that was shocking, and I would take install the
ball to you know, what are you talking about? On
me Todd means on my own, So basically you might
say I'm going out alone like I'm on me Todd today.
And that phrase originates from an American jockey named Todd
Sloan who was always so far ahead of all the
other horses. Best kind of on its own. There's another

(01:10:02):
one I like, and that is to lob the gob.
So I'm gonna lob the gob at you later, which
basically means I'm gonna kiss someone.

Speaker 1 (01:10:12):
Okay, I thought you were gonna go a little further there, but.

Speaker 2 (01:10:14):
Okay, all right, And then I don't know if this
is a common Irish phrase, or if just somebody came
up with this on Reddit that I thought it was funny.
But you might say someone is all fart and no shite,
kind of like we would say someone is all talk
and no action or all hat and no great.

Speaker 1 (01:10:32):
But I bet they sound a lot better with an
Irish accent.

Speaker 2 (01:10:36):
Oh, they totally do. Just I've got one or two
that are more just like words but banjaxed if you
if something is broken or ruined, like you might say
the ice maker is completely banjaxed, which is very true
of our ice maker Egypt, which is basically idiot but
a total fool. Or yeah, this one surprised me. The

(01:10:59):
term cute horror. Cute horror does not mean what you
might think it means. Cute means like someone that is
crafty and cunning, like someone who is kind of a
scoundrel in business. But you would say they're a cute horror.

Speaker 1 (01:11:13):
Interesting. I hope we get to go to Ireland soon
and test those out.

Speaker 2 (01:11:16):
I really do as well.

Speaker 1 (01:11:17):
Those are probably are those all like outdated terms or
do you think those are like embedded into the culture.

Speaker 2 (01:11:22):
From my research, my extensive research that I did those
are all except the all fart and no shite on
our common terminology. But let us know if you are
Irish or listening from Ireland.

Speaker 1 (01:11:35):
I have had some people from Ireland reach out to
us and they are lovely and they all have encouraged
us to come visit them.

Speaker 2 (01:11:41):
Yeah. Well, in this case, just to maybe close the circle.
This case was originally recommended by Marion from Dublin. So again,
thank you Marian for the recommendation. And yeah, let us
know if we if we got any of those phrases wrong.

Speaker 1 (01:11:55):
I've been meaning to mention this for a while. We
have a lot of case recommendations and we're overwhelmed currently.
I think we could go probably a few years and sure.
Guess what I want to say is I'm sorry because
I know a lot of people recommend cases because they're
passionate about them. They mean something to them, they might
have a connection to them. So if you have a
case that means something to you that you might have

(01:12:15):
a personal connection to, you think would be really great
for our podcast. If you want to resubmit that it
might be a good idea.

Speaker 2 (01:12:23):
Yeah, send us an email lovemarykill at gmail dot com
and give us a little more of that context around
it too, because that can help us to prioritize which
cases are going to be Y's interesting to do. Yeah,
what was.

Speaker 1 (01:12:35):
The treat that you made?

Speaker 2 (01:12:36):
Called again Irish chocolate biscuit cake. And the recipe that
I used, I'll post it, but it was from a
website called Stalina Sweets. There's a lot of different recipes
out there.

Speaker 1 (01:12:46):
Well, I've been staring at this piece for the last
couple of hours here and I can't help but think
if you put like some little caramel bits in it,
it might be really good.

Speaker 2 (01:12:55):
Yeah. I think it's very I think you could do
a lot of different variations on it and it would Yeah,
it would be good.

Speaker 1 (01:13:00):
Yeah, excellent, Thank you so much. It was really good. Well,
one last thing before we go. I was thinking this
morning about how hard you work on our podcast. We
both work on it really hard. But you, obviously everyone knows,
have a demanding full time job that you also excel at.
And there's a lot of podcasts like the husband wife
podcasts the wife does most of the work and the

(01:13:21):
husband just has to show up. And you know, I
have a few quips, right, How do you feel about that?

Speaker 2 (01:13:26):
Yeah, I think those guys are all late, you know.

Speaker 1 (01:13:29):
I mean I just met, Like, are you Like, huh,
maybe I should just show up pull you know, just
pull up on recording day. And I love it.

Speaker 2 (01:13:37):
That's really to do it, because I really do love it.
I love doing the research. I get totally engrossed, like
this is a case was a great example, Like I
really loved reading all the books about it. Yeah.

Speaker 1 (01:13:48):
I just wanted to check in with you because you
do work a lot, and you sit in your little
office in your little chair, you know, for a lot
of hours every day, and sometimes they just worry about you.

Speaker 2 (01:13:58):
So I'm going to take a day or so long. Now.

Speaker 1 (01:14:00):
Yeah, you should absolutely worked really hard.

Speaker 2 (01:14:02):
Let's go see the naked gun.

Speaker 1 (01:14:04):
Good idea. Let's go have some fun and have some
laughs and some popcorn. Could have popcorn. Yeah. Well, we
hope that you are having a wonderful day wherever you are.
We appreciate your support so much. We sure do please rate, review, follow,
and subscribe, and if you haven't before, if you would
consider leaving us a five star review on Apple or Spotify,

(01:14:27):
it means so much to us. You can find us
on social media or send us an email at lovemarykillat
gmail dot com.

Speaker 2 (01:14:34):
Until next time, don't cure a husband and don't kill
your wife. The bank to the

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Molly Martens and Jason Corbett - Part 2

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.css-14f5ked{margin:0;word-break:break-word;display:-webkit-box;-webkit-box-orient:vertical;box-orient:vertical;-webkit-line-clamp:2;overflow:hidden;}Molly Martens and Jason Corbett - Part 2