Molly Martens serves 4 years for killing husband Jason Corbett

Molly Martens has been released from jail after serving just four years for killing husband Jason Corbett – as an old classmate labelled the ex-beauty queen a ‘compulsive liar’.

The former nanny, 40, was released from North Carolina Correctional Institution for Women in Raleigh last week – after having her voluntary manslaughter sentence reduced for good behaviour.

In August 2015, father-of-two Jason Corbett – who was 39 and originally from Ireland – was beaten to death with a baseball bat and brick by his wife and father-in-law Tom Martens in the bedroom of his North Carolina home. 

Initially, Molly and Tom – who claimed they acted in self-defence – were found guilty of second degree murder.

In October 2023, the father and daughter entered plea deals to voluntary manslaughter: Molly pleaded no contest and Tom pleaded guilty to the charge. 

Following their pleas, Davidson Superior Court Judge David Hall sentenced Molly Corbett and Thomas Martens to spend between 51 and 74 months in prison. 

According to the Irish Independent, Tom Martens – who has been suffering with ill health in recent years and was also released this week – will move back into his family’s home in Knoxville, Tennessee.

Meanwhile, Molly is said to be staying with a family member in the same state as she is prohibited from living in the same property as her father.

Molly’s former college classmate at Clemson University in South Carolina told the publication that the ex-nanny was a ‘very convincing liar’ and pretended to ‘ace exams she had flunked’.

The anonymous source said: ‘She told us she was a state champion swimmer, which was a lie. The one thing that we did think was a lie, but actually turned out to be true, was the fact that her dad was an FBI agent.’ 

What’s more, an old acquaintance of the Martens family said they will be keeping a ‘close eye’ on Molly following her release.

They said: ‘Maybe she has changed, I don’t know, but knowing her past and all the drama that comes with Molly, I doubt any of the Martens family will be taking any chances.’ 

Ahead of their release from prison, North Carolina’s former sheriff David Grice said Molly and Tom ‘got off with a slap’ for the ‘gruesome’ crime. 

The father-of-two – who met Molly when he hired her as his children’s nanny – sustained so many injuries during the attack that a coroner was unable to count them all. 

The former sheriff wrote on social media: ‘They got off with a slap.

‘I have had to bite my tongue for years for fear of saying something which could have affected the appeals. 

‘It was a gruesome crime scene. I believe they (Tom and Molly) just spent enough money on appeals until the courts got worn down and accepted their last appeal.’ 

According to the Irish Independent, Molly spent almost $200,000 from the sale of the house she shared with her late husband and his children on her legal bills.

The publication also claims Molly’s parents Tom and Sharon spent their life savings on lawyers fighting for the pair’s freedom.

In 2008, Jason Corbett hired then 24-year-old Molly Martens, who was a former beauty queen from Tennessee, to be the children’s nanny and the pair quickly fell in love. 

Two years earlier, the late father-of-two’s first wife Margaret had died following an asthma attack.

In an interview with ABC’s 20/20 in 2017, Molly – who was awaiting trial at the time -said: ‘It was wonderful for me. It gave me a sense of responsibility and it filled a void I had that made me feel like I was worth something.’

One month before their June 2011 wedding, the family moved into a four-bedroom home in the picturesque suburb of Winston-Salem in North Carolina.

Molly added: ‘Jason loved the United States and he thought the opportunities for the children were significantly better.’ 

However, the couple’s relationship soon began to deteriorate and Molly’s brother Connor told CBS in 2020 that he noticed more ‘verbal altercations’ between his sister and Jason. 

At the time of Jason’s death, Molly says the pair were in conflict over whether he was going to let her legally adopt Sarah and Jack – making her their mother in the eyes of the law. 

In the lead-up to his death, Jocelyn said her brother had started talking about moving back to Ireland and was clearly unhappy. Meanwhile, Molly claims her husband became increasingly ‘controlling’ and ‘paranoid’ she would cheat on him.

The year before Jason’s death, it is believed that his relationship with his father-in-law had worsened and Thomas reportedly encouraged Molly to divorce him. 

On 2 August 2015, Jason was bludgeoned to death in his bedroom by Molly and her father Thomas – who claims he only intervened because his son-in-law was strangling his daughter. 

Molly claims she was woken up in the middle of the night by Jason’s daughter Sarah – who had had a nightmare.

The children’s step-mother says Jack and Sarah would whisper at the bedroom door to get Molly’s attention as they knew they weren’t supposed to wake up Jason.

After getting Sarah back to sleep in her room, Molly claims she returned to bed and accidentally disturbed Jason – who was furious that she had ‘coddled’ the eight-year-old. 

Downstairs, Molly’s father – who had made an impromptu overnight visit with wife Sharon – said he heard ‘thumping’ and instantly felt something ‘wasn’t right’.

Molly claims Jason wanted to make her be quiet so he covered her mouth and started choking her.

‘At some point, when he stopped, I screamed, and he started again, and the next thing I remember is my dad standing in the doorway,’ she told ABC.

Thomas claims he walked into the couple’s bedroom to find Jason with Molly in a chokehold. He says his son-in-law told him he was going to kill Molly as he dragged her towards their bathroom. 

At this point, Thomas claims he hit Jason in the back of the head with a metal baseball bat – but alleges the Irish father was strong enough to grab it off of him. 

The pair claim a struggle ensued as Molly feared Jason would then hit Thomas with the bat.

She told the interviewer: ‘I’m trying’ to hit him with the bat, and hit him with this end of the bat, and hit him with my elbow, and hit him with my fist, or anything else… but I’m going to hang onto that bat.

‘And he goes down, and I’ve got the bat… and I back off.’

In his 911 call, Thomas told emergency services: ‘My son-in-law got in a fight with my daughter, I intervened and he’s in bad shape. We need help.’ 

When asked for specifics, Thomas added: ‘He’s bleeding all over and I may have killed him.’ 

Molly claims her husband was strangling her and yelling ‘I’m going to kill you’ when her father intervened. 

During the 2017 ABC interview, Thomas said: ‘I’m going to do everything that I have to do to save her life. 

‘And if I die trying, well… she’s my daughter. I’m not going to live with not trying. I’ll tell you that.’ 

In February 2016, the father and daughter went on trial at Davidson Superior Court.

Greg Brown, the attorney representing the state of North Carolina in the case, said the crime was especially ‘heinous, atrocious and cruel’. 

Both applied for bail, which was not opposed, and was granted on the condition that $200,000 was lodged with the court for each defendant, that they surrender their passports and agree to cease all contact with Mr Corbett’s immediate family, specifically his children Jack and Sarah. 

Jason’s autopsy showed he died from blunt force trauma to his head. The description of the ‘means of death’ is a ‘ball bat and landscaping stone’.

During the trial, forensic experts argued that the physical evidence – including blood splatter patterns – proved that Jason sustained severe head injuries while on his bedroom floor. 

The prosecution also disputed Thomas and Molly’s timeline as paramedics arrived on the scene to find Jason’s body cold to the touch. 

In 2020, an appeal court supported Molly and Thomas’ appeal – citing that not all of the evidence, including Sarah and Jack’s initial statements and Molly’s secret recording, was presented to the jury. 

In 2023, Molly Martens pleaded no contest to voluntary manslaughter while Thomas pleaded guilty to the same charge.

As such, their second-degree murder charges were dropped. Although voluntary manslaughter carries a maximum sentence of 25 years, this is only if there are multiple aggravating factors.

During the retrial, jurors heard an audio clip Molly had recorded in February 2015 where Jason yelled at his wife for not preparing a meal that he wanted to eat with Jack and Sarah. 

Instead, Molly had fed the children early and taken them to play in the snow before Jason returned home from work. 

Jason is heard saying: ‘I’m talking to you! Is this how you treat… you just ignore me? I said I’d like to have dinner with my family. I’m talking to you. I shouldn’t have to say it over and over.’

The short clip ends with Sarah screaming at Molly and Jason to try and put an end to the argument. 

In a pre-trial interview with ABC from 2017, Molly said she had consulted a solicitor who had told her to record any altercations which she could use as evidence in divorce proceedings. 

District Attorney Alan Martin told the court in November 2023: ‘You have now heard one singular, secretive recording when there were other recordings made and not submitted.’ 

During the sentencing hearing, Molly Martens’ attorney Douglas Kingsbery argued that Jack and Sarah’s 2021 recantations contained language similar to several interviews his aunt has given.

The defence also argued that it would have been challenging to ‘coach’ the children for their first interview within 24 hours of their father’s murder – with them later offering to recant their statements after months in their aunt’s care.

In his statement, Jack claimed that he never saw his father hit Molly but he did remember them having verbal arguments.

The teenager also claims his stepmother told him that he would never see her again if she did not tell social workers that her father assaulted her.