A Deadly Marriage: How Molly Martens’ obsession with her stepchildren cost her husband, Jason, his life and legacy

A story that grips Ireland

When recently widowed Jason Corbett hired a wholesome young American, Molly Martens, to care for his two young children, there was nothing to suggest she was a fantasist - and that her obsession with his children would end in his death.

In 2011, Jason and Molly married and settled in her native North Carolina. Just four years later, Jason was found beaten to death on the floor of the marital bedroom. The only others in the house were Jason''s children, his wife and his parents-in-law. In a stunning twist, Molly and her father Tom, a former senior FBI agent, admitted to killing Jason but claimed self-defence, saying he had a record of domestic abuse.

A Deadly Marriage is the shattering story of how a wealthy and well-connected American family framed the victim of an horrific killing as the aggressor, destroyed his name and served minimal jail time. Full of fresh on-the-ground reporting by journalist Brian Carroll, who has spent months in North Carolina, it is the definitive account of an extraordinary case.

THE NO. 1 BESTSELLER‘Extraordinary and compelling’ Pat Kenny, Newstalk‘There is quite a twist in this’ Martin King, Ireland AMA story of betrayal and deceit that gripped the nation When Limerick widower Jason Corbett hired a wholesome young American, Molly Martens, to care for his eighteen-month-old daughter and three and-a-half-year-old son, he could not have known that she was a troubled woman whose obsession with his children would end in his death. Three years after meeting, Jason and Molly married and settled in North Carolina. Four years later, Jason was beaten to death in their marital bedroom. Molly and her father, Tom, a former FBI agent, admitted to killing Jason but claimed self-defence. A Deadly Marriage reveals new information about this shocking case including the strange text Molly sent to Jason’s brother less than two hours after his death, how Jason told a friend he was planning to return to Ireland for good just two weeks before he died and Tom Martens’ pattern of cleaning up Molly’s mess. This is the story of how a wealthy and well-connected American family framed the victim as the aggressor in a horrific killing, blackened his name and served minimal jail time. Journalist Brian Carroll reported on the Martens’ court hearings for the Irish Times and is a co-producer of the Netflix documentary A Deadly American Marriage. He has thoroughly investigated the case, including conducting fresh reporting in North Carolina, to write the definitive account of a shattering story. --- ‘Goes into the case in far more detail in a much more illuminating way’ Matt Cooper, Today FM‘Read this and you’ll get quite the education’ Elaine Crowley, Ireland AM

• | Author: Brian Carroll
• | Publisher: Penguin Books Ltd
• | Publication Date: Aug 21, 2025
• | Number of Pages:
• | Language:
• | Binding: Paperback / softback
• | ISBN-13: 9781844886845
• | ISBN-10: 1844886840