Irish Daily Mail August 17th 2015
MY DAUGHTER WOULD WANT HER BELOVED BABIES HOME
THE mother of the late Mag's Corbett, whose orphaned children Jack and Sarah are at the centre of a transatlantic custody battle, has made a dramatic intervention in the row over their future.
Marian Fitzpatrick says her late daughter would have wanted the children to be brought home to Ireland following the death of their father, Jason Corbett, in the US. ‘They are all we have left of Mag's and we love them and will always love them.’ As their maternal grandmother, Mrs Fitzpatrick is among Jack, ten, and eight- year- old Sarah’s closest blood relatives – and insists that they should be raised by family, rather than by people to whom they have no biological ties.
‘Jason always kept contact with us,’ she said. ‘ They came home in August for two weeks and then he surprised us at Christmas and it was like winning the Lotto.
‘They just arrived at my door and it was the best Christmas present I could have got. The kids were delighted because they were going to two houses for Christmas and we had presents from both houses. It was fantastic.’
The distraught grandmother was moved to tears as she described the only phone call she has had with the children since their father died. ‘I only spoke to the children for a few seconds,’ Mrs Fitzpatrick added. ‘I told them I loved them and that’s ‘They’d be fantastic guardians." ‘It’s all on (Tracey Lynch’s husband) David and Tracey out there,’ Mrs Fitzpatrick told the Mail. ‘They are absolutely brilliant and I know they would be fantastic guardians to those children. Mag's was very close to Tracey. They did everything together.
Irish Central September 1st 2015
Suspect wife of murdered Jason Corbett vows to sue for custody of children
The widow of murdered Limerick man Jason Corbett has vowed to continue her fight for custody of his two young children. Martens’ uncle Mike Earnest has claimed, however, that Martens still believes her stepchildren will eventually be returned to her care. Earnest also gave his niece credit for raising the children following the death of their mother, Corbett’s first wife Mag's Corbett, in 2006.
“If Molly Martens had any real maternal feelings or love for those children, my nephew or niece, or any sensitivity, she would not be seeking to traumatise them further," said Jason's older brother, John Corbett.
“However, I can assure the public the kids are not even aware of any of this coverage, despite the fact that Ms Molly Martens is bombarding her Facebook account with pictures of my brother’s and Mags’ children - with not one mention of my beloved brother Jason Corbett.”
Irish daily Mail September 1st 2015
Baseball team recruited to contact Jack
IN her latest attempt to contact the children she lost custody of last month, Molly Martens has recruited stepson Jack Corbett’s baseball team to her cause.
The team of eight young boys and their three adult coaches have posed in front of a homemade banner inscribed with the words, ‘We Miss You Jackie Legs!’
Ms Martens tells ten-year-old Jack Corbett, who is now living with his aunt Tracey Lynch in Limerick, ‘Your baseball team is missing you!’ You’ve loved baseball from that moment on,’ she declares.
Ms Martens adds in her Facebook post: ‘I would give anything to re-live one of our many packed days; picking you up from school, grabbing a snack, doing some homework, going to swim practice and heading to the ball field after dinner.’
Irish Daily Mail September 8th 2015
Sorry that I don’t have my children’s DNA, writes Molly Martens
TUG- of- love stepmother Molly Martens has posted more photos and messages to the two stepchildren she lost custody of last month.
The 32-year-old, who US police regard as a ‘person of interest’ in the investigation into her husband Jason Corbett’s brutal death on August 2, was forced to surrender Jack, ten, and Sarah, eight, two weeks ago.
Now she has posted more messages to the children having previously written about them on Facebook. In one new post, she said: ‘I’m so sorry I wasn’t born with matching DNA to my children.’
The pair are in the guardianship of
‘Please let me say, “I love you”’ ‘Please let me say, “I love you,” to the children I tucked into bed every night, who called me “mom,” and said, “love you too.” You can have them call me whatever you want, but how could it harm them for me to remind them they are loved by the person who raised and nurtured them every day.’
And in another, she said: ‘ My babies – I could never forget the billion memories that strand together to make the life line we share. ‘There would be no way to fabricate the details of making you breakfasts and lunches and dinners, of buying the perfect band aids (and) making Christmas lists for Santa.’
She also mentioned ‘fixing your hair, helping you arrange your stuffed animals, teaching you how to read, playing memory games, singing Twinkle, Twinkle Little Star’.
Ms Martens also referred to ‘holding you when you had a nightmare, reading our favourite books, baking countless cakes and cookies together, painting, colouring, listening’. And she ended the message by saying: ‘No one can take those things away from us or say they never happened.’
Irish Daily Mail September 22nd
Molly Martens ‘wanted to fly birthday banner over Limerick’
MOLLY Martens wanted to have a birthday message for one of the Corbett children flown on a banner over Limerick but companies refused her request.
The American stepmother to Jack, 11, and nine-year-old Sarah, had hoped to hire a plane to bring a message to the little boy for his birthday, which was last Friday.
However, several aerial advertising companies backed out of taking on the request made by the Martens and extended family. Mr Earnest added: ‘A US firm also thought they would be able to do it, but the pilot they found in Ireland, at the eleventh hour, backed out. We were hoping to fly a message, “Jack and Sarah, Happy Birthday, Love Mommy”. ‘Unfortunately both efforts were not successful. I suppose it might be understandable putting oneself in Jason’s family’s shoes.’
Irish Mirror October 2nd 2015
Jason Corbett's parents hit out at social media campaign waged by son’s wife
The parents of murdered Irishman Jason Corbett have said a social media campaign waged by their son’s wife has “exacerbated” the trauma of their loss. A statement from John and Rita Corbett said: “We have struggled to comprehend and come to terms with the loss of our youngest born – a son who was a gentle, caring, ambitious child who grew into a generous, loving and kind man who loved greatly everyone special in his life.
“This trauma is exacerbated by a painful and hurtful social media campaign by the persons of interest in our son’s killing.”
Molly Martens said on one of the posts: “There are moments like now, when my pain is too great, my longing too intense, I cannot aptly put thoughts into words or words into sentences, I miss you.
Irish Daily Mail October 3rd 2015
THE LIFE OF HAPPINESS JASON HAD WITH FIRST WIFE MAGS
Mags Corbett was 31 when she died following an asthma attack. She was happily married to Jason Corbett and the couple had one son, Jack, who was two at the time, and a daughter Sarah, who was just weeks old.
Lynn had known Jason since their primary school days. In later years she met Mags and together they started a business. She introduced them to each other, attended their wedding and was godmother to Sarah.
Two months ago she flew to North Carolina to join Jason’s sister in her desperate bid to bring Mags’ children back to the place of their birth.
As she flicks through the dozens of pictures in the album, her hand rests on a shot of Jason, leaning in for a kiss from Mags. His back is to the camera and both are unaware that a moment in time is being captured on film.
‘They were just crazy about each other,’ says Lynn. ‘So, so in love.
‘At her funeral David [Jason’s brotherin-law] read one of the letters. It was about how he fell in love with her. He was mad about her.’
Children quickly followed. Their firstborn, Jack, was followed almost two years later by a daughter, Sarah.
‘From the minute they got married they wanted kids,’ says Lynn. ‘Being involved in childcare, Mags was super with kids. It was totally what they wanted. When Jack was born, Jason was so busy with work but he took weeks off work to be at home with them. He did everything with them. Then Sarah came along and they were just delighted. It was pretty perfect.
Almost a year and a half after Mags’ passing, Jason had returned to fulltime hours at work. Jack and Sarah were being cared for in the crèche, but he told Lynn that he needed more help and was considering hiring a nanny.
‘I told him that he needed a housekeeper, not a nanny,’ she says. ‘But he said that if he had to be in work for 8am he needed someone in the house with the kids. Likewise if he had to stay in the evenings.
‘Their full days were here in the creche but he needed someone for the times in between. One of my parents recommended a website and I passed it on to him.
‘He said that he was talking to a few different people to try and find someone suitable. That’s where he found Molly Martens.’
Irish Daily Mail October 3rd 2015
Jason and Molly: It was always doomed
Some time after her (Molly Martens) arrival in Ireland, a relationship developed between Molly and Jason. He eventually confided in Lynn that her role in his life had taken on a new meaning.
‘He was almost upset and embarrassed because it had been so soon, in his eyes, after Mags,’ she says. ‘He was definitely still grieving at that point. He said he was just so lonely and so sad and she offered comfort. He was upset about it as well, it was too overwhelming for him and he couldn’t straighten his feelings in his head. He was nearly afraid of it because he didn’t want to be disrespectful to Mags and of course his whole heart wasn’t in it. He wasn’t emotionally ready at all.
‘He said that he wished he could have seen what their true feelings were separately before she met the kids, but it was muddled because she was in the wife role. She was sitting at the kitchen table when they got home, she was caring for the children, she was minding them when they were sick. He kind of felt like the pace was way too fast but he went with it.’
He came after that and said they were engaged. We were all shocked. I said to him, “God Jason I wasn’t expecting this,” and he said, “Don’t talk to me about it now.”
‘Later he said that he felt really guilty about it for Mags and her family. He said that Molly said she wanted validation. She wanted to be seen as his partner and not the nanny.
According to Lynn, soon after the engagement Molly told Jason that she was homesick and wanted to return to the US. She also said problems with her visa meant she could no longer stay in Ireland. ‘Jason’s decision to leave Ireland with the kids was a huge thing,’ she says. ‘He felt that the choice was to move to America with her or never see her again. His huge fear was that he would split the family again and he didn’t want to do that to the kids.
‘He was devastated leaving here. Up to the point where he was leaving he had changed his mind so many times. He struggled with it a lot and then he said, “Look I’ll give it a shot, I can always come back.”
The Lexington Dispatch October 15th 2015
DCSO continues to probe Irish man’s death
The August death of an Irish man remains under investigation by the Davidson County Sheriff's Office, Sheriff David Grice said Thursday.
Grice has provided an update on the homicide investigation, saying detectives are still working on the case before it's presented to the Davidson County District Attorney's Office. The matter involves the death of 39-year-old Jason Paul Corbett, who was living in Wallburg.
Grice has said there are no suspects outside of the home. Davidson County District Attorney Garry Frank said Thursday that representatives from his office are assisting the DCSO with its investigation.
According to a report from an Irish Daily Mail journalist, Corbett's wife, 31-year-old Molly Martens Corbett, and her father, 65-year-old Thomas Michael Martens, a resident of Tennessee, are the two suspects in the case.
Irish Sun 23rd November 2015
Sister of Jason Corbett marks anniversary of his tragic first wife’s death
On Saturday, Tracey Lynch, Jason’s sister and who is now looking after his children Jack, 11, and Sarah, nine, with her husband David in Limerick, marked the anniversary of her late brother’s first wife Mags who died in 2006.
Following a protracted legal battle to keep Jason’s children in the US by Molly and her family, where they had lived for the last four years, the children returned to Ireland.
On the Bring Justice for Jason Facebook page, she emotionally posted: “Always missed. Never forgotten. I am sincerely grateful for all the people who are loving and kind to me and my family. I am grateful to the friends who bear with me and try to support me.
“Today though I feel a little disillusioned with the world. I am remembering our times with you Mags and J (Jason)…Mother’s Day with our Mam’s, weekends away, lazy Sunday lunch’s, birthdays and so many more cherished thoughts of laughter, fun, deep conversations on life ..and I have to ask how can life be so cruel? But maybe it’s just people who can make life cruel.
Ms Martens Corbett is continuing a social media campaign on Facebook seeking to speak with the children, by posting photographs of them when they lived in the US, and also sending them messages of love.
Irish Daily Mail November 24th 2015
Sheriff: Corbett killing probe now complete
THE US police investigation into the death of Irish fatherof-two Jason Corbett is complete and the sheriff in charge expects developments before Christmas.
Davidson County Sheriff David Grice told the Irish Daily Mail last night that ‘the matter is now in the hands of the District Attorney’.
‘Numerous interviews have been conducted and we have amassed lots of information,’ he said.
‘We are satisfied that we have conducted a thorough investigation. The matter is in the hands of the District Attorney for his consideration. I expect there will be some developments within the next two to three weeks.’
District Attorney Frank Garry told the Mail he is looking at the file and has three options – to charge immediately, to not charge at all, or to bring the case before a grand jury.
‘My office has a few things to do
‘I could apply to Superior Court’
in relation to the case before I decide what to do,’ he said. ‘The last scheduled meeting of a grand jury before the end of the year is November 30. However, I do have the power to apply to the Superior Court to convene another grand jury before the end of the year.’
The Corbett family, who have been in regular contact with the authorities in North Carolina, declined to comment on the latest developments.
District Attorney Frank Garry told the Mail he is looking at the file and has three options – to charge immediately, to not charge at all, or to bring the case before a grand jury.
‘My office has a few things to do
‘I could apply to Superior Court’
in relation to the case before I decide what to do,’ he said. ‘The last scheduled meeting of a grand jury before the end of the year is November 30. However, I do have the power to apply to the Superior Court to convene another grand jury before the end of the year.’
The Corbett family, who have been in regular contact with the authorities in North Carolina, declined to comment on the latest developments.
The Irish Sun December 4th 2015
Corbett family hell: Molly Martens ‘still after his kids’
THE sister of Irish dad Jason Corbett, killed in the US, has spoken of the “relentless” actions of his wife who wants his two kids returned to her.
Tracey Lynch — guardian to his children Jack, 11, and nine-year-old Sarah — told how the Limerick family’s loss and grief has been compounded by Molly Martens continuing to issue legal proceedings
But after fighting — and winning — an intense battle for custody of Jason’s children from his first marriage, Tracey said Martens is STILL persisting in her efforts to get Jack and Sarah back to the US. She told the Limerick Leader newspaper that “no explanation whatsoever” for Jason’s death “was ever communicated” by Martens. She added: “They were given no personal items, other than a few frivolous store-bought toys, nothing meaningful or of importance to the kids.
“What the children wanted most were a few personal items belonging to their late mother (Jason’s first wife) Mags and their daddy.
“We are still responding to various court actions instigated by Molly Martens. It is relentless.”
The Irish Daily Mail December 15th 2015
We’re just relieved for Jack and Sarah
Corbetts’ custody joy... but grief over Jason still hurts
THE sister of Jason Corbett has spoken of the family’s continued heartache in the wake of a failed attempt by his wife Molly Martens to gain custody of his two children.
Tracey Lynch has said that while she and husband David are relieved to have won custody of Jack and Sarah, ‘grief’ at the death of Jason stills follows her.
And the tug of love looks set to go on, with Ms Martens’s family vowing to continue to ‘send messages of love’ to the children.
Ms Martens, described by police as a ‘person of interest’ in the investigation into her husband’s death, was forced to surrender his children – Jack, 11, and nine-year-old Sarah – last August after a US judge ruled they should return to Ireland.
Ms Lynch said that the welfare of the children was her priority
‘It would be so much worse if we had not fought to carry out Jason’s wishes and ensure the safety and wellbeing of Jack and Sarah,’ she said. ‘Their welfare is our priority. I wish people who profess love would be honest instead of misleading the public, I wish they would act with love towards Jack and Sarah.’
After the lastest ruling, Ms Martens took to Facebook to express her sadness over the decision. ‘I am heartbroken and devastatingly sorry,’ she wrote.
‘Our lives together may not have mattered in the eyes of the law, but they are what matters most to me. Jack and Sarah – I love you and will always be your mommy.’
Irish Daily Mail Decmeber 18th 2015
Corbett kids all smiles at fundraiser
A STAR Wars fundraiser last night used ‘The Force’ to raise funds for the children and family of slain Irishman Jason Corbett.
Mr Corbett’s children, Jack and Sarah, and their cousins posed with Jedi knights and Stormtroopers at the Odeon in Limerick, at a special VIP screening of the new Star Wars movie, The Force Awakens.
Mr Corbett, 36, was found dead at his home in North Carolina, USA, last August after he sustained serious head injuries. All monies raised will go towards the Jason’s Journey charity set up by Mr Corbett’s family, after they were hit with massive legal bills from the custody battle in the US.
The family have incurred legal fees of over €130,000, in addition to other costs. Around €30,000 has been raised to date.
Irish Daily Mail December 22nd 2015
Corbett family thank the public in poignant message
THE family of Jason Corbett have thanked the public for their support and fundraising efforts in a poignant Christmas message.
Mr Corbett, 39, originally from Limerick, was found with fatal head injuries at the US home he shared with his second wife, Molly Martens in North Carolina on August 2.
His two children from his first marriage, Jack, 11, and nine-year-old Sarah are now back in Limerick living with their legal guardians, Jason’s sister Tracey Lynch and her husband David following a ‘tug-of-love’ court battle with Ms Martens.
And in a message posted on the Bring Justice For Jason Facebook page, the Corbett and Lynch families have thanked those who helped raise money for mounting legal costs. The post said: ‘There are times in your life when you need a helping hand. When our family needed this, the response was overwhelmingly kind. We want so much to thank everyone for pitching in, you really did a wonderful thing for our family.
‘Your combined donations at approximately €48,000 has helped give the financial support our family desperately needed in a time of crisis and unimaginable grief. It assisted in contributing to the significant legal costs that resulted in bringing Jack and Sarah home to their family in Limerick. We just wanted to say to you a heartfelt thank you. Simply put, if it wasn’t for our kind supporters we may not have Jack and Sarah home. So as we put a closure on fundraising; individually and as a family, we are committed to doing everything we can to pay forward the kindness shown to us.’