Last Updated on May 18, 2025 by libbyorc
I was looking for something to watch yesterday and saw Netflix’s A Deadly American Marriage, a true crime documentary, about Jason Corbett’s murder and decided to give it a try. I had never heard about this case before, so went in unaware of what the documentary was about. And I tell you, it left me with all kinds of feelings by the time I was done.
Anger, sadness, shock, everything. I watched this documentary with my husband and he also had to write his own take on it. This is one of the most frustrating and complex cases I’ve ever come across, but one thing stood out here, Molly Martens and Tom Martens (Molly’s father) killed Jason Corbett, self-defence or not.
A Deadly American Marriage backstory
39 year old Irishman Jason Corbett was a widower and father of two, who met Molly Martens after she applied as an au pair to take care of his two children, Jack and Sarah Corbett. Molly Martens, an American model moved over to Ireland for the job and apparently the two (Jason and Molly) hit it off and started a relationship. Everything seemed to be going great till they moved back to America, got married and Molly started pressing Jason Corbett to allow her adopt the two kids as her own.
Why??? That was the question I and my husband kept asking ourselves. Like yes, we appreciate that you came into this little children’s life, loved them and tried to be there for them, but why did she need to make it official? Jason Corbett, being a father, had every right to drag his feet on the adoption process, because at the end of the day, protecting his children from any manipulation should be his priority.
I think the first red flag, was she consulting a divorce consultant before they even got married, wanting to know what the process would be for her to get custody of the children, if she and Jason were to break up. Like what? The marriage had not even started, and you were already thinking of divorce, makes me wonder if she actually wanted to marry him, so she could get his children and not even because she loved him.
The murder night
On August 2, 2015, Jason Corbett was found beaten to death with a metal baseball bat and a garden stone in his home. Molly Martens and her father, Tom Martens, a former FBI agent, claimed they acted in self-defense, alleging that Jason had been attacking Molly.
According to Tom Martens, he and his wife Sharon Martens happened to be visiting Jason and Molly and that day and in the night he heard his daughter scream from upstairs. So rather than just go in to check, he took the baseball bat (mind you, he brought the baseball bat as a present that same day) and went up to check on his daughter. He claimed he saw Jason Corbett strangling his daughter and he had to attack him so he could free his daughter.
All well and good, any parent who sees that (if that’s what really happened) could react that way, however after the first strike, that should have taken Jason down, why did they continue hitting him? Why did Molly Martens get a paving stone to continue hitting his head when he wasn’t a threat anymore? Also they came out with little to no scratch on their body, how? What was a paving stone doing her room in the night?
The crime scene’s blood patterns, Jason’s scalp and hair splattered on the wall and the lack of wounds on the Martens just makes me question their whole story.
A Deadly American Marriage: Tom Martens & Molly Martens’ web of lies
Then the lies she told, when they moved to America, lying about giving birth to Sarah, and to some people, being Jack and Sarah’s godmother. Even lying that she was friends with his previous wife (rest her soul), Margaret ‘Mags’ Fitzpatrick. Mags died of an asthma attack in Ireland and definitely never came across Molly Martens once in her life, so to lie like that, was indicative of how deep Molly could go.
Lots of people tell lies, about different things, but there are some lies that you tell, which to me, is indicative of a deeper issue. The lies where people start believing their own delusions, and I think that’s what happened here. She believed her own lies about being godmother and even giving birth to Sarah Corbett, she started plotting and devising ways she could keep fight Jason for the kids, even if he didn’t go along with adoption. What an odd thing to do.
Then her father, Tom Martens, why did he lie that that Mags’ father spoke to him and said he believed Jason killed his daughter. Like there was no basis for that? When Mags family were asked, they denied ever saying something like that, and Mags father had to draft an affidavit denying it and letting people know that the Fitzpatrick family regarded Jason Corbett as a son.
What truly happened to Mags, Jason Corbett’s first wife?
At the start of the documentary, it was stated that Mags died of an ashtma attack, tell me why the Martens defence attorneys brought up her case as evidence that Jason Corbett was dangerous. They basically muddled the water, planting doubts that her death was natural and that she was strangled to death by Jason. They said a line around ‘if Tom Martens had not intevened, Molly Martens could have been his second victim’.
What an incredibly wicked thing to say, considering the children were going to hear that about their parents.
I appreciate that the defence team were actually doing what they were to do, i.e keeping their clients out of jail, and they did a fantastic job with it, but it still left a bitter taste in the mouth.
Molly Martens and her father Tom Martens, ex FBI (side eyes) are out of jail, they spent only 4 years in total for killing Jason Corbett, not to talk of all the subtle brainwashing Molly did with the kids, which they have testified to themselves.
Sarah Corbett, Jason’s daughter wrote a book about her dad and her truth, and I would definitely be getting a copy, to support her and learn more about the case, as the Netflix documentary left a lot of questions hanging. I still find it crazy how people can just take a person life just like that.
There is still so much I need to talk about, from taping house, the recordings shared, Molly Martens ex point of view. I will probably make that a second post
But let me know what you think and do watch A Deadly American Marriage on Netflix.
Libs of ORC
