"I don't know," Tom Martens told the 911 dispatcher when asked if Jason Corbett was still breathing. Later, he and his daughter, Molly, Jason's wife, are heard attempting or pretending to attempt CPR on Corbett's lifeless body. Checking for signs of breathing precedes CPR. "I don't know" implies that he either didn't care to check if Corbett was still breathing or he already knew he was dead.
In true crime documentaries, we rarely see a balanced representation of both sides of the story. No one involved declined to comment, and the feeling was very similar to watching a live trial, where the defense and prosecution arguments are presented while the audience watches as jurors. In that sense, this documentary allows the viewer to form their own opinion about the truth surrounding Jason Corbett's death: was he the victim or the assailant who died in self-defense?
Directors: Jessica Burgess, Jenny Popplewell
Stars: Jones Byrd, Jason Corbett, Molly Martens Corbett
A few things stood out to me. Tom's coldness and detachment when talking about his son-in-law's death, and his mocking smile, captured at the police station. Molly's unwavering focus on herself and her image as Jack and Sarah's mother, speaking of them as if she were their biological mother, as well as her complete lack of remorse or horror at her husband's death, despite the fact that, according to her, he was abusive. After all, she admitted to hitting him in the head with a brick.
Jack and Sarah were more reliable narrators, especially when they expressed sadness and guilt over their initial statements to authorities, at ages 9 and 7 respectively, which portrayed their father as irascible and abusive toward Molly; these statements were later retracted when they concluded that Molly had manipulated them. Defense attorneys focused on medical records indicating that Jason reported "getting angry for no reason," ignoring the bigger picture: Jason had hypothyroidism and had not taken his medication for seven months. Symptoms of hypothyroidism include weight gain, fatigue, depression, and irritability.
DARVO stands for "Denial, Attack, Victim, and Aggressor Reverse"; Molly gave a masterclass in this here. A true victim of coercive control wouldn't dare risk their abuser finding a tape recorder, let alone placing several in different locations around the house and car. Molly, in saying, "I was the mother of Jack and Sarah who existed in another life," also informed me that she never truly cared for the children. She only saw them as extensions of herself, while taking pride in the title of Mother and loving them so she could continue her charade. But Jason wouldn't let her be their adoptive mother and wanted to return to Ireland with Jack and Sarah. That was her motive.
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