Netflix’s A Deadly American Marriage: Jack and Sarah Corbett’s full victim impact statements

Jack and Sarah Corbett, the children of Jason Corbett, a man who was killed in his home in 2015, have now faced a decade without their beloved father.

Jason died at his North Carolina home after he was bludgeoned by Molly and Tom Martens, his wife and father-in-law. His death has now been pushed back into the mind’s of the public through Netflix’s A Deadly American Marriage which follows the case.

In the documentary, Jack and Sarah Corbett are interviewed, explaining to viewers their relationship with Molly, their dad, and what actually happened during the investigation into Jason’s death.

After a lot of back and forth with previous hearings and trials, Molly and Tom were both sentenced in 2023 for killing Jason. They were originally convicted of second degree murder but had their convictions quashed. However, after a retrial, they pleaded guilty to voluntary manslaughter and were in turn subsequently jailed. They have since been released.

During the 2023 sentencing hearing, Sarah and Jack provided impact statements, which featured in part in the documentary.

Here are what the full statements said:

Sarah Corbett’s statement

Sarah Corbett via Netflix

“Your honour, you know my dad as the deceased, but he had a name. It was Jason.

“He had blue eyes, he worked really hard, he was a good golfer. He was my baseball coach. He was my soccer coach. He was my biggest supporter. He tucked me into bed at night. He made me laugh. He made me feel loved and secure. But most importantly he was just my dad.

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“Jason Corbett was my dad. All I ever wanted was to have a father daughter dance. I will never get that. He is never going to be there for me when I get my heart broken, or when I graduate. He didn’t even get to see me graduate primary school. He will never know I wrote a book in his honour.

“I will never get to tell him how much I admire him. Or how I wish I had his courage. He will never walk me down the aisle. He will never meet my children, his grandkids. That future was taken from us.

“Instead, my life is filled with anniversaries of death. I was 12 weeks old when my mother, Mags, died.

Mags and Jason via Netflix

“I was eight years old when my father was killed by Molly and Thomas Martens, the Martens made me an orphan. They took away my father, my only constant, the only loving parent I had.

“Your honour, I wish that you could have met my dad. He had this big, warm personality. He was so good to others and always tried to make other people’s lives better.

“When my mother died, to deal with his grief, dad did good things to help others. I try to help others to deal with MY grief.

“You see, my dad had a life to live. He had a really important job to do – being my dad – and he loved it. He loved me.

“My name is Sarah. My dad explained to me that my name means princess. He would call me ‘his little princess’. He would wrap me in his hugs, read to me, joke with me, and I remember the feeling of being so safe and content.

“What Molly and Tom Martens took from me; I can never get back. Sitting inside of this courtroom has been a traumatic experience. Listening to adults twist and manipulate the words I said out of fear as an eight-year-old child has been extremely difficult. Your honour, I would like to give you an example of how our truth is being twisted.

“When Ms Shannon Grubb testified about the park incident where I had no shoes going to school. There was no fight with my dad. My dad had already gone to work well before we got up for school. Molly had beaten Jack again and that is why I was hysterical. Molly had left Jack at home instead of bringing Jack to school too, she left in such anger she forgot my shoes. I didn’t want Molly to go home on her own as I was afraid of what she would do to Jack if I wasn’t there to stand up for him. This is an example of how the true situations of my life have been manipulated. You can take any story the defence have created and I can tell you the true horror of what actually happened.

‘All I have ever been was a piece on her chess board’

“Your honour, her betrayal and infliction of pain continued for years. I was used by her. All I have ever been was a piece on her chess board. When I got home to Ireland, Molly posted all my images over Facebook and went on the radio to tell people to find me.

“Molly Martens took notes I wrote for her when I was younger, and pictures of me as a child, and shared them all publicly on social media for everyone to see. She betrayed me again and again – and even shared a note I left with her, the last time I saw her. And she did all this to get publicity for her lies about my father. There was nothing I could do to stop her. I was eight years old.

“I was trying to start a new life in Ireland but she stalked me. She tried to hire a plane to fly a banner over my school in Limerick. The gardaí – the Irish police – were called to the school. Detectives watched over us and our home for a while until her passport was taken away but it didn’t stop her trying to contact me.

“Can you imagine being eight years old in your first days at a new school, in a new country, your father has been killed by your step-mother, and everyone is looking at you, the new girl? Can you imagine trying to make friends when you are the troubled girl?

“A friend of mine, a girl who sat next to me in school, was contacted by Molly Martens when I was in sixth class, I was nine years old. People avoided me in school – they still do. They whisper about me.

“She used words I said out of fear against my dad and my family to get out of jail, and now they are using them to get a reduced sentence. Can you try and understand the effects that can have on a girl growing up from the age of eight to 17?

“While my friends are out having fun and going to parties, I am in therapy learning how to live with the fact that I lied and helped their case. I WAS EIGHT YEARS OLD.

“Not once did I say I didn’t love Molly Martens but after her weaponising my love for her and being able to express the abuse I endured because of her, I can stand here today and say I do not love Molly and she is not my mother.

“I was hoping there would be a retrial so my truth and my brother’s truth could both be heard. Instead, all we have is this, a victim impact statement.

‘My brother’s words were coached and doctored when the Martens made us lie about our father’

“Who is the victim here? The Martens made my pain so much worse by trying to have the world think my dad was a bad person.

“The Martens used social media and television interviews to pretend Molly was the victim, not my dad. The Martens put little clips of recordings in the media.

“I remember those recordings and those events, your honour. I remember what happened before – I remember what my step-mother did. I remember my dad bringing her flowers, He was caring for her, trying to bring her to the bedroom out of our earshot when she had another meltdown. I know what Molly Martens is capable of – I remember. I remember I was encouraged to be disrespectful to him, to call him fat but I still felt comfortable enough to shout and express myself at my dad because I did not fear HIM.

“These recordings have been orchestrated and selective just like my words and my brother’s words were coached and doctored when the Martens made us lie about our father. I did it out of love and fear – I now understand how both can exist alongside each other.

Molly with the children via Netflix

“I was an orphan, eight years old and totally lost. I said what I was instructed to say. Now those words have helped the Martens escape a murder charge, and helped Molly pretend she’s the victim.

“I was used by her. All I have ever been is a piece on her chess board. She taught me how to shoplift, how to vomit, how to be the most convincing liar.

“I thought Molly loved me but I was just her entertainment, someone who would do anything she said, and be like a doll she could dress up.

“No member of the Martens family has ever shown me any remorse. I only got betrayed. Molly and Tom Martens have used me – and words I was forced to say as an eight-year-old child – to escape the just consequences of beating my dad to death.

“Molly took off her wedding ring almost immediately and told me to stop crying and “Get over it” in the days after he was killed.

“I loved her even after all the abuse she put me through. I had no idea what adoption was, only that she wanted to do it so badly. And worst of all, I trusted her. But she took everything I loved away from me, everything. She took my dad, the person I am supposed to go to when I need advice. He was supposed to teach me how to drive. He was supposed to watch me grow up. He was supposed to be there when I felt like nobody else was.

‘I’ve seen my father’s bloody handprint on the door of his bedroom. There was nothing voluntary about his death’

“The charge they now accept is voluntary manslaughter. I’ve seen my father’s bloody handprint on the door of his bedroom. There was nothing voluntary about his death. I know in my heart he tried to leave that bedroom. He didn’t choose to leave us; he was taken from us. HE was the victim.

“I will never get to flip Friday night burgers with him. I will never get to go on car rides singing The House That Built Me, or the Streets of New York, from the top of our lungs again.

“The trauma continues, every day in different ways: The sight of an ambulance brings me terror. I have panic attacks when I see them, I have to look away so I can try to breathe normally. I was with my friend and my mom at a concert of my favourite band, when an ambulance passed and I just broke down.

“The grief ruins even the special days. My experience shadows my life – every moment of it is changed.

“Please do not think I haven’t or do not try to heal – I do, your honour. I have done music, dance, and equine therapy and I volunteer to help humble me. I have been in talk therapy for eight years.

“In my job, a lady from NC came in and I had a panic attack in the toilet. The female American accent can catch me off guard and send me into a state of panic. She was a lovely lady but my experiences are hard to heal from.

Jack and Sarah via Netflix

“While my friends are out having fun and going to parties, I am 17 years old, and in therapy learning how to live with the fact that I lied and helped the Martens escape full justice for taking my father’s life. No one can tell me different – I am old enough now and read the judgements.

“Molly Martens tried to destroy me and my family. She turned me and my brother against each other, being nice to one of us one day and awful the next day, making us compete for her love.

“When I was five years old, Molly Martens began her mind games. What kind of mother tells a five-year-old girl that her father killed her birth mom?

“When I was six years old, Molly would sit in the bath for hours. She hit herself with a hair brush and had me take pictures.

“What kind of mother hides recording devices all over the house?

‘Molly told me I was allergic to gluten and dairy so all I could eat was veg’

“When I was seven, Molly told me I was allergic to gluten and dairy so all I could eat was veg. I’m not allergic to any food groups.

“Her way of punishment was starvation – she just wouldn’t feed us if we did something wrong like, for example, not swimming fast enough in our heat. She would stop speaking to us or turn to violence.

“There were many times where I had to drag Molly off Jack, she was hitting him so much. One time, she was hitting him so hard that I jumped on her back using all my body weight to pull her off him but she grabbed me and threw me to the floor and started screaming at us both. I am telling you this to demonstrate the power and control she had over my life.

“I treasured a framed photograph that my dad got me of him and my birth mom, Mags, on their wedding day. Molly threw it down the stairs and screamed at me that ‘SHE IS DEAD I’M YOUR MOTHER, THAT WOMAN IS DEAD’. I was seven years old. When my dad came home and saw the broken glass and me trying to clean it up, I told him that I tripped. He finished clearing it up and gave me a hug. That’s just how kind he was.

“She broke my family down piece by piece and then killed my dad with no remorse.

“I loved my step-mother even after all the abuse she put me through. I didn’t know anything else. I thought that was just how all families were back then.

“It was only when I went to live with Tracey and David in Ireland that I knew the true meaning of family. I now know what a loving mother is. I’ve always known a loving father and Dave is that now too.

“Molly took everything I loved away from me… everything

“My dad. The person that gave me my name, and my chubby fingers, the colour of my eyes, my loud laugh, my singing voice and even the shape of my head.

“She took away the person I am supposed to go to when I need advice.

“Dad was supposed to teach me how to drive. He was supposed to be there for my Holy Communion and my Confirmation. He was supposed to be there for my first day of secondary school, He was supposed to watch me grow up. He was supposed to be there when I felt like nobody else was.

“I was eight years old when that was taken from me.

“My dad used to tuck me in every night. He would do ‘as snug as a bug in a little tiny rug’. He’d leave my bedroom door cracked so I didn’t get scared at night and he was always there to take care of me when I had a nightmare. My dad was my hero. He always will be. When I woke in the mornings, he would greet me and my brother with the saying ‘boogawooga’ in his booming voice, and laugh his loud laugh. It made me laugh and I felt safe and loved. I will never feel that security again in this world.

“I am 17 and I need you to listen and believe me as I stand on front of you right here and now. Me, MY VOICE, unencumbered by fear. I am begging you to restore my faith in justice, in humanity, and give me time to heal without sharing the free world with my father’s killers.

“On 2nd August 2015 – I said ‘goodnight, daddy love you’ – and when I woke up the next morning he was gone forever.

Jason Corbett via Netflix

“Just like that I had to leave, house, home, community and country. I will never come to terms with that. I will never get to hug him one last time or hear my dad say ‘I love you, princess’ to me again. I will never jump into his arms off the stairs again or run into his room on the weekends and wake him up again.

“I am so lucky I have a loving family that will go to the ends of the earth for me and my brother. We are lucky and grateful for what Tracey, David, Adam, and Dean have done for us. Not only were we provided a home by them, they loved us like their own from the day we were reunited. They have supported me when I have completely broken down. And they have cheered me on when I have successes; especially Tracey, my mom, the only real mother figure I have ever known. She has let me be myself and learn about the world and form my own opinions. That is family and that is love. That is what my dad would want. He loved me unconditionally.

“Judge, I plead with you to give the maximum sentence for the people who killed my dad. I have to live with never seeing my dad again and there is nothing you can do about that, but you can control this, you can give me and my brother a chance to have a life worth living, not just existing.

‘I want to change the world for the better’

“Next year I am due to begin my BA in criminal justice, it will take four to six years. I want to change the world for the better. I want to do good in the world. I am asking you to let us adjust and get out from under this. Please, my dad’s life is worth more than a few years in prison.

“He didn’t want to die, I needed him and I will always live with a huge gash in my heart where my dad used to be, I will never stop fighting for justice for other families.

“I’m just asking you to choose justice for my dad who was taken from me when I was eight. I am 17 now and I have been waiting half of my life for justice for my dad.

“I believe in the justice system; I am innocent of any crime but I have lived under this crime for more than half of my life. I am pleading with you to give me my freedom by giving the maximum possible sentence to Molly and Thomas Martens.

“Judge, you didn’t have the pleasure of meeting my dad, Jason Corbett. Two weeks before he died, we pulled up in a Sheetz. There was a woman there and her three kids were crying. She had no money. My dad filled her car with gas and bought her groceries for her children. I think of my dad all the time and when I think of him, I remember his kindness.

“I am proud to be the daughter of such a kind and gentle man. I am proud to be Jason Corbett’s daughter.”

Jack Corbett’s statement

Jack Corbett via Netflix

“Your Honour, my name is Jack Corbett.

“I am a 19-year-old college student and I am here today to tell you how the loss of my dad has impacted my life.

“The first thing I want to state clearly is I was a liar. From the age of for to 10 years of age – I was taught how to lie and manipulate people by Molly Martens. During this time, I was abused by Molly Martens in every way you can imagine and then some.

‘I lost my biggest supporter, my teacher, my protector, my hero but most of all I lost my best friend’

“My dad was taken from me almost nine years ago in a way no human should have to suffer through.

“Everyone I speak to about my life always says “oh it must be so hard to lose a parent at such a young age”.

“I didn’t just lose a parent. I lost my biggest supporter, my teacher, my protector, my hero but most of all I lost my best friend.

“Every single day I wake up with the weight of guilt, loneliness and depression knowing I will never get to see my dad again. I used to pray at night when I was kid that I would wake up and it would all have just been a bad dream. I’ve had to experience childhood, adolescence, and the beginning of adulthood without my dad there to guide me.

“Luckily my dad picked two wonderful parents, David and Tracey, to guide me through life. It hasn’t been easy but having them, and the help of my two big brothers, Dean and Adam, and my sister Sarah, made it a lot easier than it could have been.

“I didn’t have my dad when I won my first rugby trophy, or when I got an A on a big test, or when I met my first girlfriend.

“I never got to see him proud of me and the feeling of not having him alongside me haunts me in every dream. Every moment I walk this planet and it is so hard.

“Everyone talks about trauma and that it takes time to heal. I will never heal. Trauma leaves scars that I will carry until the day I die.

“My dad was the most caring, funny and gentle man you could ever meet. He could light up a room with his smile. He brightened my world and since then my life has been dark. I’ll never hear his voice, feel his warmth or hear that perfect laugh ever again. He will never be there to comfort me on my hard days and will never get to see me on the days where I succeed.

Molly, Jason, and the children via Netflix

“I have felt lost for so long and not really ever knowing where I will end up. I have lost so much of myself. I lost my love for sport. I lost my trust in people and I have lost myself day by day year by year since the day he was taken from me. I constantly second guess myself – not sure if people really care about me. I can’t trust anyone because I can’t even trust myself because of how Molly taught me to lie for so many years. I have to work to see the best in people.

“The bright boy and happy kid everyone used to see was buried deep inside of me and I don’t know if he will ever come out again. The tragedy and trauma I have had to deal with growing up destroyed me. Every day I wake up I have the constant feeling of never being enough and punish myself in ways that I know I don’t deserve but I can’t stop myself. I never felt I could call someone my own since I lost my dad. I am drowning every day in pain. When I was a young teenager, I used to think sometimes it would be easier if I wasn’t here anymore and at least that way I could be with my dad and my mam and apologise and feel safe.

‘Don’t be fooled by this mask of civility of Molly Martens. There is a monster lurking underneath the exterior’

“Your honour don’t be fooled by this mask of civility of Molly Martens. There is a monster lurking underneath the exterior. She systematically broke me down and drip fed me untruths. I want to be clear: I had never witnessed my dad hit Molly Martens – EVER. I am not under duress now; I want you to look at me standing here today and know the truth.

“It is a travesty of justice that Molly Martens wasn’t charged with first degree murder as was considered by the DA.

“Molly Martens needs to be locked away for as long as possible so she cannot do this to another family, another child. It is my biggest fear and gives me nightmares. She WILL do it again if she finds the opportunity.

“Your honour, I hope you can see me here before you, the trauma that I have experienced and will have to live with until the day I die.

“The burden I have felt for most of my life has impacted me in a way that no one should go through. I have had to struggle with this for almost my entire life.

“I haven’t got the chance to grieve the loss of my dad. My dad didn’t deserve to be killed. I have sat here in this court over eight years since his killing and I have been made to relive it all. Hearing my words being used to try to mitigate the crime committed. My words were weaponised to help Molly and Tom Martens get away with killing my dad.

“My dad deserved the world. He deserved to grow old and feel love from his family and get to see his kids make him proud but that was taken from him.

“I was just a kid. I hope that the people who have done this to my dad will be held accountable and maybe then will I be able to start to heal and become the man my dad wants me to be.

“I thank you for listening to me today and allowing me to express my thoughts and emotions. Thank you for listening – Jack.”

Featured image via Netflix