Where Are Jason Corbett's Killers Now? Inside Molly and Thomas Martens' Lives After Confessing to the Businessman's Murder

On Aug. 2, 2015, Jason Corbett was killed by his wife, Molly Martens, and her father, Thomas Marten, following an alleged altercation between Jason and Molly.

Though Molly and Thomas confessed to fatally hitting the businessman with a bat and a brick, respectively, the circumstances surrounding the alleged fight have been heavily debated over the years.

Netflix’s A Deadly American Marriage, released on May 9, explores the questions that remain in the wake of their trials, including whether Molly and her father were acting in self-defense, as they claimed, or if Jason’s murder was premeditated.

“Are they the victims, or is he the victim?” Lieutenant Wanda Thompson, who initially responded to the crime scene, says in the documentary.

A few years after Jason’s death, his sister Tracey Lynch appeared in an episode of 48 Hours about the case. “The Martens didn’t just murder Jason,” she said. “They tried to destroy his character.”

So where are Molly and Thomas Martens now? Here’s everything to know about their lives after killing Jason Corbett.

Who was Jason Corbett?

Jason Corbett was an Irish businessman and a widower with two children.

His first wife, Margaret “Mags” Fitzpatrick, who had asthma, died in November 2006, likely due to an “acute cardiorespiratory arrest secondary to known bronchospasm,” according to her autopsy results mentioned in A Deadly American Marriage.

Jason and Margaret welcomed their son Jack and daughter Sarah. At the time of Margaret’s death, Jack was 2, and Sarah was only 12 weeks old.

About two years later, Jason, then 32, hired a 25-year-old American au pair named Molly Martens to help him with his kids in Limerick, Ireland. Their professional relationship eventually turned into a romantic one. Jason proposed to Molly on Valentine’s Day in 2010.

After Jason and Molly married the following year, they moved with the children to North Carolina, settling in Lexington. The family of four was not far from where Molly grew up in Knoxville, Tenn., where her dad, Thomas, and mom, Sharon, still lived.

Who killed Jason Corbett?

Jason was killed by his second wife, Molly, and her father, Thomas, a former FBI agent.

In the early hours of Aug. 2, 2015, Molly and Thomas called 9-1-1, claiming that an argument had gotten out of hand and Jason was hurt. They confessed to killing Jason in self-defense.

“My son-in-law got in a fight with my daughter. I intervened, and he’s in bad shape. We need help. He’s bleeding all over, and I may have killed him,” Thomas said in the call, shared by 48 Hours.

What was Jason Corbett’s cause of death?

According to an autopsy obtained by the Greensboro News and Record, Jason, who had multiple cuts and skull fractures, died of blunt force trauma to the head after being struck “numerous times with a bat and a landscape type rock.”

48 Hours reported that while an exact number of blows could not be determined, as they were repeatedly made in the same spot, Jason’s autopsy stated that he was struck at least 12 times.

The autopsy also stated that Jason had bleeding in several areas of his brain, as well as bruises under his right eye and at the back of his left hand, per the Greensboro News and Record.

Why did Molly and Thomas Martens kill Jason Corbett?

Thomas told investigators that he had had dinner with the family — where he claimed Jason was intoxicated — and stayed the night.

Thomas stated that he awoke in the middle of the night to a commotion and grabbed an aluminum bat he had brought as a gift to the kids before heading to Jason and Molly’s room. There, Thomas said he saw Jason attempting to strangle his daughter and verbally threatening to kill her.

“I was scared to death that he was going to kill her,” Thomas later told investigators, per WFMY News 2.

He doubled down on his claims to filmmakers in A Deadly American Marriage. “I was going to save [Molly’s] life or die trying, and I have no regrets,” Thomas said.

According to footage shared by 48 Hours, Molly told police that she hit Jason with a brick that was on her nightstand when he became engaged in a fight with her father. She also stated that her marriage to Jason was marred by domestic violence.

In A Deadly American Marriage, Molly says that she “did not commit a crime. I had one moment in this altercation where I protected my father,” she said. “If I hadn’t done that, I believe that he would be dead, and then I would also have been killed.”

Prosecutors and members of Jason’s family claim that Molly was motivated to kill Jason for both his life insurance policy and to keep him from moving back to Ireland with his two children amid a rocky marriage, per CBS News.

“Molly had always wanted to officially become Jack and Sarah’s mother, but Jason would not allow it,” Tracey told 48 Hours. “There isn’t a shadow of a doubt in my mind that Jason was beaten to death because he was going to leave with the kids.”

What were Molly and Thomas Martens charged with?

The Knoxville News Sentinel reported that Molly and Thomas were charged with second-degree murder and voluntary manslaughter in January 2016.

The following month, both pleaded not guilty to the charges, per The Irish Independent.

Molly and Thomas were tried in August 2017 and found guilty of second-degree murder following a four-hour deliberation by the jury, for which they were sentenced to 20 to 25 years in prison, according to CBS News.

A few years later, the North Carolina Supreme Court overturned the case in March 2021, per the Associated Press. The court found that Superior Court Judge David Lee didn’t allow for a fair trial when he ruled that videotaped statements made by Jack and Sarah could not be shown to the jury.

Jason’s kids initially said that their father was abusive to Molly, and he had been angry on the night of his murder, but later recanted their statements.

Molly and her father struck a plea deal to avoid a second trial in October 2023, as reported by AP. Molly pleaded no contest to reduced charges of voluntary manslaughter, while Thomas pleaded guilty to the same charges.

How long did Molly and Thomas Martens serve in prison?

Molly and Thomas Martens spent a total of 51 months in prison.

After their original case was overturned, a judge sentenced the pair to 51 to 74 months in November 2023, per the AP.

Their new sentence was reduced for good behavior earned during the 44 months they previously served for their prior second-degree murder charges, equating to seven months of remaining jail time.

The AP reported that Molly and Thomas were released from prison in June 2024.

Where is Molly Martens now?

After being released from prison, Molly reportedly moved back to Knoxville, Tenn., near her family, where she has kept a relatively low profile. She was recently spotted at Dollywood, according to The Irish Independent.

She participated in interviews for the Netflix documentary A Deadly American Marriage. Molly told filmmakers that she is under a court order not to contact Jack and Sarah.

Where is Thomas Martens now?

Thomas, who retired prior to Jason’s murder, returned home in June 2024.

He participated in interviews for A Deadly American Marriage, which airs on Netflix in May 2025.