Daughter of Irish man beaten to death by American wife, her ex-FBI agent father rejects self-defense claims
Jason Corbett's American wife, Molly Martens, and her father, former FBI agent Thomas Martens, confessed to beating Corbett to death on Aug. 2, 2015, but they have maintained that they were acting in self-defense after Corbett apparently tried to choke his wife.
"There were times when I thought, 'I'm gonna die,'" Molly Martens says in the documentary.
The Martens were convicted in Corbett's death in 2017, but their convictions were overturned on appeal. In 2023, Thomas Martens pleaded guilty to beating Corbett to death with a bat and Molly Martens pleaded no contest, prompting their respective releases from prison in 2024.
Model, Ex-fbi Agent Who Claimed Self-defense Plead In Her Irish Businessman Husband's Killing
A Netflix documentary titled "A Deadly American Marriage," which premiered on May 9, follows the case and its many lingering questions, featuring interviews with both sides of the family, including Molly and Thomas Martens, as well as Corbett's two children, Jack and Sarah.
Read On The Fox News App
The filmmakers also spoke with Corbett's sister, who lives in Ireland and was eventually granted custody of her brother's two children with his first wife because she was listed as their legal guardian if anything ever happened to him.
Model, 33, And Her Ex-fbi Agent Father Get 20 Years In Prison For Killing Husband
Sarah told Fox News Digital she does not think her father got justice.
"I definitely don't think justice has been served. I don't think it could ever be served, but definitely not what the Martens were given," she said.
Now the author of a memoir titled, "A Time for Truth," Sarah says she felt the documentary accurately portrayed both her family and the Martens.
Follow The Fox True Crime Team On X
While the film leaves viewers with lingering questions, Sarah remains firm in her belief about what happened to her father.
"Everyone knows that I believe that Molly and Tom murdered my dad. That's my belief," she said. "But that's not what they were convicted of. There's a lot of evidence [in 'A Time for Truth'] that points to that that doesn't get shown anywhere else. So, I think the book has a lot more detail in it."
Ex-fbi Agent, Daughter Charged With Murdering Woman's Husband
She added that her book is "not just sad" and has happy anecdotes about her father, as well.
Fox News Digital reached out to Molly and Thomas Martens' respective attorneys.
Molly Martens alleged that her husband was choking her when her father walked into the room and the deadly confrontation began, per local outlet WXII.
A medical examiner determined that Corbett had injuries to his arms, legs and torso, as well as a fractured skull. The medical examiner said the man died of blunt force trauma and sustained at least 10 hits to the head.
Sign Up To Get The True Crime Newsletter
Corbett and Molly Martens met in 2008 following the death of Corbett's late wife, who suffered an asthma attack. Corbett then advertised for an au pair to help him care for his two children with his late wife and gave Molly the job. They were engaged in 2010 and married in 2011.
Idaho Murders Timeline: Bryan Kohberger Plea Caps Yearslong Quest For Justice
A former North Carolina FBI agent and prosecutor who knew of Thomas Martens said he was a talented agent who supervised a team of employees in Greensboro.
"He had a good reputation – a very good reputation," Chris Swecker, now an attorney, told Fox News Digital. "He was in the Greensboro office of the FBI for a good while. I believe he was the supervisory resident agent up in Greensboro, which meant he was in charge of maybe 15 or 20 agents in a pretty active office in the Bureau."
Swecker added that Thomas Martens would have had plenty of experience conducting interrogations, and that would have helped him as police interrogated him in Corbett's killing.
"Without a doubt," Swecker said when asked if Thomas Martens' professional experience would help him in an interrogation. "He knows where the interrogator is going when he asks a question and… the piece of evidence or point he's trying to extract from him. It's a chess game, if you're trying to protect yourself and your daughter, for example."
GET REAL-TIME UPDATES AT THE FOX NEWS True Crime Hub
The former FBI agent described Corbett's killing as "one of those cases where you wonder if you ever really get the answers, and there's only two people that will ever know, and it's Tom and his daughter."Original article source: Daughter of Irish man beaten to death by American wife, her ex-FBI agent father rejects self-defense claims
Hashtags
Try Our AI Features
Explore what Daily8 AI can do for you:
Comments
No comments yet...
Related Articles
Yahoo
31 minutes ago
- Yahoo
Attorney granted more time to review information in fatal Mt. Morris shooting
Jul. 6—OREGON — The attorney for a Mt. Morris man accused of shooting and killing his stepson after an argument in their Mt. Morris apartment in April told an Ogle County judge on Wednesday, July 2, that he needs more time to examine information given to him by prosecutors. "The state has provided a substantial amount of discovery," Assistant Public Defender Eric Morrow told Judge Anthony Peska. "It's going to take me awhile to go through it." Derek Swanlund, 45, is charged with first-degree murder in connection with the April 21 death of Cameron Pasley, 25, also of Mt. Morris, in what police described as a "domestic" incident. Swanlund is facing three counts of first-degree murder and a misdemeanor charge of using a Smith & Wesson 9 mm handgun without having a Firearm Owner's Identification card. During an April hearing, prosecutors said the Mt. Morris Police Department responded first to the scene after receiving a 911 call at 4:59 p.m. from Pasley's mother, in which she said her husband had shot her son. When a Mt. Morris police officer arrived at the scene, she saw Swanlund walking away from the apartment complex while carrying a black and silver handgun in his right hand, according to police. Assistant State's Attorney Melissa Voss said a verbal argument inside the apartment evolved to "shoulder bumping" with Pasley, after which Swanlund shot Pasley. When more officers arrived at the scene, they discovered Pasley inside the apartment, bleeding from multiple gunshot wounds, Voss said. Pasley was pronounced dead at OSF Saint Katharine Medical Center in Dixon after being transported from the scene by Mt. Morris EMS. Pasley's mother told police she had entered a different room after arguing with Swanlund and after he "belly bumped" her into her son. She then heard Pasley say 'He shot me'," Voss told the court. Morrow said Swanlund had no criminal history other than one misdemeanor charge for which he received and completed court supervision. He said Swanlund had purchased the gun legally when he lived in North Carolina. In arguing for Swanlund to be released, Morrow said Swanlund had lived in Mt. Morris for 10 years, had been consistently employed while residing there, and cooperated with police when they arrived at the scene. "He was not aggressive in any way," Morrow said during the April detention hearing as he argued for Swanlund's release while his case proceeds through the court system. Morrow said conditions could be set by the court to enable Swanlund to be released from custody, such as having no contact with the victim's family, electronic monitoring, home detention, and being ordered to stay out of Mt. Morris. Voss disagreed, arguing Swanlund "was walking away with blood on his shoes" when he was apprehended. Peska denied Morrow's request to release Swanlund from custody, saying an argument "escalated to shoulder bumping and then escalated to retrieving a gun and shooting his stepson" multiple times. On Wednesday, Peska set the next court hearing for 1 p.m. Aug. 27, and remanded Swanlund to the Ogle County Jail. Pasley was a 2018 graduate of Oregon High School and a full-time custodian, previously the night custodian at the Blackhawk Center, where the school's physical education classes and competition basketball and volleyball games are held, and had recently moved to days.
Yahoo
36 minutes ago
- Yahoo
One body found on boat, another in water of Lake Delavan on same day
In a southeastern Wisconsin town of about 5,100 residents, two people visiting from out of state were found dead on Saturday, July 5. The first man's body was found in a boat just off Delavan Lake, and the second man's body was found in the water, according to information released by the Town of Delavan Police Department. In the first incident, authorities responded around 11:36 a.m. to a report of a possible drowning at the 2300 block of South Shore Drive, which is just off the northeastern shore of the lake. Officers found a 57-year-old male from LaGrange Park, Illinois, unresponsive on a boat and pronounced him dead at the scene following lifesaving measures. Around three hours later, at 2:27 p.m., police received a report of a different man in Delavan Lake. Police found the body of a 26-year-old man from Texas following a full-scale search and recovery operation. The search included dive and sonar teams from the Walworth County Sheriff's Office Dive Team and the Wisconsin Department of Natural Resources. No foul play is expected in either case, according to the Delavan police department. Police say the cases are unrelated. Delavan is located in southeastern Wisconsin, just north of Lake Geneva, near the Illinois border. Cleo Krejci covers K-12 education and workforce development as a Report For America corps member based at the Milwaukee Journal Sentinel. Contact her at CKrejci@ or follow her on Twitter @_CleoKrejci. For more information about Report for America, visit This article originally appeared on Milwaukee Journal Sentinel: Small town of Delavan, Wis. sees two bodies recovered in same day on and near lake
Yahoo
41 minutes ago
- Yahoo
2-year-old hit by stray bullet Saturday night while watching fireworks
A two-year-old watching fireworks was shot by a stray bullet following a clash among juveniles in an eastside Detroit park on Saturday night, Detroit Police Chief Todd Bettison told members of the media in a livestreamed press conference. The toddler sustained minimal injuries and will survive, Bettison said. He said that during "some type of altercation" among juveniles a block away at a park July 5, shots were fired and struck the toddler. Saying he was "appalled" and "upset" by the incident, Bettison pledged to step up its enforcement of the city's curfew. The curfew prohibits children aged 15 and under to be out without an adult between 10 p.m. and 6 a.m., and prohibits teens ages 16 and 17 to be out unsupervised from 11 p.m. to 6 a.m. More: 2 suspects charged in fatal shooting at Detroit's Skinner Playfield "Just the fact that we have a lot of unsupervised juveniles at a park, and understand that it's the holiday weekend, understand that folks are watching fireworks, but at the same time parents still have the responsibility to know where their children are and that they are supervised," he said. Bettison said the department has detained two persons of interests in the incident, though details were still preliminary at the time of the news conference. Contact Lily Altavena: laltavena@ This article originally appeared on Detroit Free Press: 2-year-old hit by stray bullet Saturday night while watching fireworks
