JASON Corbett was killed by his wife Molly Martens and her father in a case which rocked both the USA and Ireland.
The mysteries around his death will be examined in the Netflix documentary A Deadly American Marriage.
A whirlwind relationship
Before meeting Martens, Jason lived in Limerick with his wife Margaret “Mags” and their two children, Jack and Sarah.
In 2006, Mags sadly died unexpectedly after suffering an asthma attack.
Two years later, Jason hired a then-31-year-old Molly Martens to be an au pair to his two children.
However, Jason and Martens quickly began a relationship and married just three years after meeting.
They decided to move to the United States and settled in Lexington, North Carolina, which neighboured Martens home state of Tennessee.
However, their relationship was rocked by a disagreement over Sarah and Jack’s citizenship.
While Jason had applied for his family to obtain green cards, Martens wanted to adopt the two children so they could acquire American citizenship.
Jason’s family became concerned about the relationship and alleged that Martens had a history of compulsive lying.
His sister, Tracey Lynch, discovered that Martens had been released from a psychiatric clinic in Georgia before travelling to Ireland in 2008.
She hadn’t told Jason about her stay in the facility until they were married.
Martens even told a local Bible study group that Sarah was her biological daughter.
Jason’s mysterious murder
On August 2, 2025, Thomas Martens – Molly Martens’ father – phoned the emergency services and said that Jason was badly injured.
Both Thomas and Molly Martens said that Jason had died during a “domestic disturbance”.
Shortly after being let go from police custody, Molly Martens hired a professional cleaning service for the house, complicating the police’s ability to thoroughly investigate Jason’s death.
Martens applied for custody of Jack and Sarah, despite Tracey Lynch being named as their guardian in Jason’s will.
Thomas Martens claimed that he saw Jason strangling Molly, prompting him to wrestle his son-in-law to the ground.
He alleged that Molly Martens then struck Jason with a paving stone, before he also hit Jason with a baseball bat.
Jack and Sarah shared with a social worker that their father dealt with anger management issues. However, Jack later withdrew his comments, alleging that Molly had influenced his statements.
Officials uncovered that Jason had intended to return to Ireland on August 21, 2015, and noted there were no signs of a struggle between him and Thomas Martens.
A tense court battle
Molly Martens and her father were arrested and charged with second-degree murder and voluntary manslaughter in relation to Jason’s death.
The pair were found guilty of the second-degree murder charge and were sentenced to a minimum of 20 years and a maximum of 25 years in prison.
On March 12, 2021, the Martens were granted a second trial due to Sarah and Jack’s statements being excluded from being used by defence lawyers.
Thomas and Molly Martens accepted plea bargains, which offered them the reduced charge of voluntary manslaughter.
They were sentenced in November 2023 to between 51 and 74 months in prison.
On June 6, 2024, they were released upon completing their sentences.
A Deadly American Marriage
The mysteries surrounding Jason’s death will be explored in the nailbiting documentary A Deadly American Marriage.
Featuring interviews with the police officers who brought the Martens to justice, as well as Jason’s family, the documentary is told from both perspectives on the case.
True crime fans can watch the documentary special when it lands on Netflix on May 9.
