A Deadly American Marriage is a true crime documentary available on Netflix. The film covers the heartbreaking case of Jason Corbett, who was killed in an altercation with his then-wife, Molly Martens, and her father, Thomas Martens. The clear fact is that Jason Corbett died at the hands of his loved ones that night. The question that has been at the forefront ever since, though, is under what conditions did the death take place? The documentary presents a balance of both sides’ perspectives and how one night can change the fate of two families forever.
A Deadly American Marriage Introduces Us To The Background
A Deadly American Marriage is a documentary that explores the complex true crime case of Jason Corbett. Jason Corbett was originally from Ireland, but eventually moved to the United States. He and his first wife, Margaret Fitzpatrick, had two children together, Jack and Sarah. Both of the children were interviewed throughout the course of the documentary. Fitzpatrick passed away in 2006, with the coroner’s report stating she died of an asthma attack.
After about a year, in 2008, Jason advertised for an open position of au pair for his family, meaning he was looking for someone to live in the house with his family and help take care of things with the kids and the house, not entirely unlike a “live-in” nanny. He hired Molly Martens for the role. It became clear that the two were hitting it off, and eventually Jason moved with Jack, Sarah, and Molly to Winston-Salem, North Carolina, in 2011. He and Molly got married soon after, and the four became an official family unit.
It did not take long for Jason’s family to be skeptical of Molly. Tracey Lynch, Jason’s sister, who was also interviewed throughout A Deadly American Marriage, revealed a strange detail that came up at the wedding. Molly’s maid of honor shared that Molly was telling guests that she was close childhood friends with Jason’s first wife, and had traveled to Ireland to be the children’s godmother, and during that time was when the two fell in love. Tracey says in the documentary, “Why would anyone create this fabricated story?” Molly never explained, but her father, Thomas, said lying does not make her guilty of anything. This was just the beginning of the deception, though.
A Deadly American Marriage Details What Happened To Jason
A 911 phone call was made by Thomas on the night of the murder, August 2, 2015. In that call, he states, “My son-in-law got in a fight with my daughter. I intervened and I hit him in the head.” When the operator asked with what, he replied, “A baseball bat.” This recording was played in the actual documentary. Lt. Wanda Thompson arrived on the scene around 3 AM, and shared in the documentary that “it’s pretty horrific. It’s one of the bloodiest crime scenes I’ve seen in a long time.”
Alan Martin, assistant district attorney, was also a part of A Deadly American Marriage and relayed the autopsy report. “Jason has abrasions on his forehead, under his eye, his shoulder blades, and then we get to his head…He had so many blows to his head that the pathologist couldn’t count them because they overlapped, and a chunk of Jason’s skull fell out onto the table. It takes an incredible amount of force to cause that kind of injury.”
Very quickly, it became apparent in A Deadly American Marriage that the entire question of the case was going to revolve around which party was the actual victim of the case, Jason or Molly. This is really the crux of the debate that fuels the entire documentary. This article is not meant to depict the entirety of this debate, as anyone who is intrigued by the case should watch on their own and not be spoiled.
Thoughts On A Deadly American Marriage
A Deadly American Murder did a fantastic job of balancing both perspectives and trying not to insert bias into the presentation. In the end, the prosecution, as well as the family of Jason, including his two children, alleged that Molly wanted Jason dead because he was going to take the children away from her back to Ireland, and she wanted to be their mother. The defense, and specifically Molly and Thomas, alleged not only that Jason was physically abusive throughout the relationship, but also that his previous marriage had ended with him murdering her in a very similar way to how he allegedly attacked Molly the night of his death.
What the documentary does so well is simply present the details exactly as they happened. They let both sides present their case, but also did not shy away from establishing discrepancy, without doing it through bias reporting. It allows the viewers to formulate their own conclusions about the case. The biggest question by the end was if justice was actually served. The documentary poses the question to its viewers, but never answers it on its own. That is the perfect way to deliver a documentary conclusion. In that way, A Deadly American Marriage is a fanastic film, and is deserving of its number two spot on the Netflix Top 10 right now.
