Background
After losing his wife to a sudden asthma attack in November 2006, Irish businessman Jason Corbett was left to raise their two young children alone. Determined to give them a stable home, he eventually found love again with an American woman named Molly Martens, whom he married before relocating to North Carolina.
It looked like a second chance at happiness for a father who had already experienced a heartbreaking loss. But on August 2, 2015, Jason's attempt to rebuild his family ended in tragedy.
Jason Corbett
Jason Corbett was born to John and Rita Corbett on February 12, 1976, in Limerick, Ireland. He grew up in a large, close-knit family and was the youngest of eight children, including his twin brother Wayne. Jason and Wayne grew up together, attended the same schools, and remained close throughout their lives.1
During his childhood, Jason played numerous sports, including rugby, football, and golf. Jason received his primary education at St. Ciaran's National School in Galvone, which he attended alongside Wayne. He later continued his education at St. Enda's Secondary School in Limerick. After finishing secondary school, he pursued business management courses.
Jason built his career at Multi Packaging Solutions, a company that manufactures packaging products. Jason worked at the company's Raheen, Limerick site for approximately fifteen years, eventually working his way up to management.
While building his career during the 1990s, Jason met Margaret Fitzpatrick, affectionately known as Mags. She was a young woman from Pallaskenry in County Limerick and, according to family accounts, they were introduced through mutual friends during a night out. The two began a relationship, and on June 28, 2003, the couple married at the Star of the Sea Church in Quilty, County Clare.
They welcomed their first child, a son named Jack, in 2004. Then, on September 2, 2006, their daughter Sarah was born. Tragically, their joy would be short-lived when, just two months later, in November 2006, Mags — who had lived with asthma much of her life — suffered a fatal attack and died on the way to hospital.
The sudden death of his wife completely changed Jason’s life. He suddenly found himself a widower raising two young children on his own. Though he received support from his and his wife’s families, Jason needed to find reliable childcare so he could keep working.
Meeting Molly Martens
In 2008, Jason placed an advertisement through an au pair agency, hoping to find a qualified person to help care for Jack and Sarah. Among those who responded was a young American woman named Molly Paige Martens, who was living in Knoxville, Tennessee.2 Molly was 24 years old at the time, and the opportunity to work in Ireland offered her a chance to experience life in another country.
Molly quickly became familiar with the children, and her presence began to extend beyond the practical responsibilities of her job. Sarah, who had been too young to remember her biological mother, reportedly began calling Molly "Mommy," and Jack eventually did the same. Although Molly had entered the household as an employee, she was gradually becoming an important figure in the children's lives.
Similarly, as Jason and Molly continued to live together, the lines between employer and employee became blurred. The two developed a romantic relationship, and on Valentine’s Day in 2010, Jason proposed to Molly at Freddy's Bistro in Limerick. In the spring of 2011, the family moved to Davidson County, near Lexington, North Carolina.
They were married in June 2011 in Molly’s home state of Tennessee. In addition to Molly’s friends and family, Jason's family traveled from Ireland to attend. During this time, Jason secured a transfer to a Multi Packaging Solutions facility in Lexington, North Carolina.
Moving to North Carolina was a major adjustment for the family, particularly the children. They had to adjust to a different country, school environment, and daily routine. While Jason concentrated on his career, Molly took on much of the children's daily care. She became involved in their activities, volunteered at their school, and helped coach a children's swim team.
Troubled Marriage
According to Corbett’s family, there were several areas of tension within the marriage. One of the most significant was Molly's desire to adopt Jack and Sarah so that they could obtain American citizenship. Jason, however, opposed this, opting instead to apply for Green Cards while the children kept their Irish passports.
Records from the children's later guardianship proceedings revealed that Molly had already sought legal advice about custody by June or July 2013. She had discussed the matter with Lynn Shanahan, Sarah's godmother, explaining that she wanted to understand what rights she might have if her marriage ended.
By the autumn of 2014, Molly had again consulted a lawyer about her legal position concerning the children. She had reportedly been told that North Carolina law offered certain possibilities for a stepparent seeking custody, but there were no guarantees. This uncertainty reportedly became a source of distress for her.
The disagreement placed both Jason and Molly in difficult positions. Molly had helped raise Jack and Sarah for years and feared that a divorce could separate her from children she considered her own. Jason, on the other hand, was their father, and their connection to Margaret's family remained an important part of their lives.
Shortly after Margaret's death, Jason had signed a will naming his sister, Tracey, and her husband, David Lynch, as the children's guardians if anything happened to him. That decision showed that he had already made arrangements for their future long before his relationship with Molly developed.
The couple also reportedly had several heated confrontations regarding expectations about household duties and responsibilities. These incidents would sometimes occur in front of the children, causing them to become visibly upset. Molly’s mother, Sharon, later told investigators that she suspected the arguments between Jason and Molly might have become physical.
Molly's father, Thomas Martens, had also developed a strong dislike for his son-in-law. Thomas was a retired FBI agent who lived with his wife in Knoxville, Tennessee. Although he and Jason continued seeing each other during family visits, their relationship was far from friendly.
Meanwhile, Jason’s family, including his brother John and his sister Tracey, claimed that Molly had a history of lying and dishonesty, and that she had failed to disclose information about her mental health, including being released from a psychiatric facility shortly before meeting Jason in 2008.
By 2015, Jason was reportedly becoming increasingly unhappy in his marriage and had considered returning to Ireland with Jack and Sarah.
Killing of Jason Corbett
On Saturday, August 1, 2015, Thomas and Sharon Martens traveled from Tennessee to visit their daughter and her family in North Carolina. At approximately 8:30 p.m., they arrived at the Corbett home. The visit had been arranged on short notice, as the couple had originally planned to have dinner with friends, but those arrangements were canceled to accommodate Molly's parents.
According to Thomas's testimony, Jason was outside drinking beer with his neighbor when they arrived. Despite their problems, Thomas acknowledged that his son-in-law had greeted them pleasantly and behaved in a friendly manner that evening.
Thomas had brought an aluminum Little League baseball bat and a tennis racket, which he later claimed were gifts for his grandson, Jack. At the time, Jack was attending a party at a friend's house, so he was not present when his grandparents arrived. The adults and Sarah spent part of the evening together, sharing pizza and talking. Jack eventually returned home at around 11:00 p.m., but because it was already late, Thomas decided to leave the gifts until the following morning.
Thomas and Sharon slept in the guest room on the lower level of the house, while Jason and Molly retired to their master bedroom on the floor above. Jack and Sarah slept in their respective bedrooms.
In a later interview with ABC News, Molly claimed to have awakened around 3 a.m. after hearing Sarah having a nightmare. When she returned to the couple’s bedroom, Jason was awake and angry. They then began an argument, which quickly turned physical. According to Molly, he placed his hands around her throat and began to choke her. She said she screamed for help and that Jason covered her mouth before continuing the alleged attack.
Meanwhile, Thomas later testified that he had been awakened by disturbing sounds coming from the floor above his guest bedroom. He described hearing heavy footsteps, loud voices, and a scream. He got out of bed, picked up the baseball bat lying near his luggage, and hurried upstairs, where he said he found Jason with his hands on Molly’s neck and heard Jason threaten to kill her.
According to his testimony, he immediately demanded that Jason release his daughter, but Jason refused and threatened to kill her. He said Jason then changed his position, placing Molly's neck in the bend of his arm and pulling her towards the bathroom.
Believing that his daughter was in immediate danger, Thomas raised the baseball bat and struck Jason in the back of the head. According to his testimony, the first blow did not bring Jason down or cause him to release Molly. Instead, Thomas claimed that Jason became even more aggressive, forcing him to continue striking his son-in-law in an attempt to stop the attack.
As the struggle continued, Thomas claimed that Jason eventually managed to seize control of the baseball bat. He testified that Jason was physically stronger and that, during their fight for control of the weapon, he was pushed across the bed and fell onto the floor.
In a written statement to investigators, Molly said she hit Jason with a concrete paving brick she kept on her bedside table because she believed he was about to harm her father.
By the time the confrontation ended, Jason had suffered repeated blows to his head from the baseball bat and the paving brick, leaving him with extensive injuries and bleeding heavily on the bedroom floor. According to Thomas, he told Molly that they needed to contact emergency services.
Molly was still attempting chest compressions when emergency responders arrived. The responders quickly realized that Jason's condition was extremely serious as they could not detect a pulse, and some of the blood on his body had already begun to dry. His body also felt cool to the touch, raising further concerns about how long he had been without effective circulation.
One of the first paramedics to examine Jason was Davidson County emergency medical worker Joseph Alphin. As he tried to prepare Jason for a breathing tube, he discovered that the back of Jason's skull had been severely damaged. The injury was so extensive that his fingers entered the fractured area when he attempted to position Jason's head.
Despite the attempts to revive Jason, his condition did not improve. At approximately 3:24 a.m., paramedic Joseph Alphin concluded that further attempts to save him would be unsuccessful, so they stopped advanced life-support efforts. Jason Corbett was then declared dead at just 39 years old.
Investigation
In the immediate aftermath of Jason’s death, sheriff's deputies began to process the scene and secure all of the home’s occupants. They found 10-year-old Jack and 8-year-old Sarah asleep in their beds. The officers woke them and brought them downstairs, placing them in the care of their grandmother, Sharon Martens.
The Davidson County Sheriff's Office treated the Corbetts’ bedroom as a possible homicide scene. Officers photographed Jason's body, the surrounding blood, and the objects lying nearby.
They documented the condition of the furniture, walls, floor, and other parts of the room where the confrontation had reportedly taken place. Among these objects were the aluminum baseball bat and the concrete paving brick. Blood and human hair were found on the baseball bat, and hair was also recovered from the paving brick.
Outside the house, Deputy David Dillard escorted Molly to his patrol car, where she remained for about an hour. He described her as visibly distressed and apparently in shock, and noted that she repeatedly rubbed her neck. Molly told paramedics that Jason had choked her, and two medical responders observed some redness around her throat. She declined an offer to be taken to hospital for further medical treatment.
Thomas was also examined following the incident. Despite describing a prolonged struggle with a much younger and stronger man, first responders reported no obvious physical injuries on him. Investigators then photographed both Thomas and Molly to document their condition after the confrontation.
