JASON’S FAMILY: MOLLY SENT US AMBULANCE BILL
Relatives ‘shocked and saddened’ to receive invoice for transport of battered father of two’s body to hospital on the night he died
THE ambulance bill for the night that slain Jason Corbett was taken to hospital has been sent to his family by lawyers for Molly Martens, the wife accused of murdering him.
Distraught relatives of the father, whose death left his two young children orphaned, are said to be ‘shocked and saddened’ by the arrival of the invoice.
They received the bill over the Easter weekend, a time when the family were sure to have been trying to buoy the spirits of Jason’s bereft children, Jack and Sarah. The letter was described as a ‘very blunt and cold’ reminder to the family of the father of two’s death.
It arrived just ahead of the murder coaccused Ms Martens, 31, and her father
Thomas, 65, appearing in court next Monday. As well as second-degree murder, they have also been charged with voluntary manslaughter of Mr Corbett, 39, who was found beaten to death at his North Carolina home on August 2.
Mr Corbett was repeatedly struck with a paving stone and a baseball bat, causing numerous fatal injuries. Ms Martens and her father are expected to claim they acted in selfdefence.
Now it has emerged that Tracey and David Lynch – Mr Corbett’s sister and brother- i n- l aw – have received the invoice for the ambulance that transported Mr Corbett’s battered body to hospital.
However, last night a lawyer for Ms Martens said the delivery of documents such as bills to the deceased’s estate is normal procedure.
The bill was initially sent to Ms Martens’s parents’ house in Tennessee, from where it was then sent to Bryan Thompson, one of Ms Martens’s estate lawyers.
Mr Thompson sent it, along with several other bills, to the Lynches’ estate attorney Edward Griggs. It is understood the bill arrived at the Lynches’ home over the weekend.
A source close to the family said they were deeply upset by receiving the bill. ‘It came as a devastating blow,’ said the source. ‘It was very
‘Heartless’ and ‘vindictive’
upsetting to read an invoice for an ambulance, very blunt and cold.’
It is understood Ms Martens has redirected all post from the Panther Creek home she shared with her husband to her parents’ home in Knoxville, Tennessee.
The invoice, dated December 2015, was addressed to Jason Corbett and is in respect of a callout from 160 Panther Creek Court to Lexington Medical Centre on August 2, 2015.
According to a post on the ‘Bring Justice For Jason’ Facebook page, the invoice was received by the family over the Easter break.
The post read: ‘The only thing Tracey & David Lynch got this Easter was an invoice for the ambulance that transported Jason’s battered body from his home after he was beaten to death. This invoice was passed on by Molly Martens. #justiceforjason #soulless.’
Messages of support on the page came from people voicing their outrage over the bill, claiming it was ‘heartless’ and ‘vindictive’.
Walter Holden, estate attorney for Ms Martens, first denied they had any involvement in the bill being sent to Mr Corbett’s family in Limerick. He confirmed the authenticity of the invoice, but said that neither Ms Martens nor her legal representatives had anything to do with send- ing the invoice to the Lynch family.
Mr Holden said: ‘That is absolutely 100% false. Absolutely nothing has been sent by Molly or her lawyers and if anybody is saying that they are fabricating the story.
‘I’m not saying the invoice is fabricated, I’m telling you, neither Molly nor her lawyers sent that invoice.’
However he later admitted in fact they had sent the bills to the Lynch estate attorney Edward Griggs.
Speaking to the Mail, Mr Holden added: ‘Apparently, about a month ago, Bryan Thompson on behalf of Molly [Martens], handed to Mr Griggs a number of bills and that’s been several weeks ago. So, Mr Griggs must’ve just mailed them to his client.’
When asked if the bills would have included the ambulance invoice, he said: ‘Yes. Sent in November or December to Edward Griggs [estate attorney for David Lynch].’
The invoice was billed to the home of Ms Martens’s parents Thomas and Sharon, where Molly is currently believed to be residing as she and her co-accused await trial.
When someone dies in North Carolina and there is a will, as is the case with Mr Corbett, the clerk’s office opens what’s called an estate. All of the property is then administered according to the will and any medical bill would be sent to the estate.
Mr Holden said: ‘Any medical bill would be sent to the estate, it’s up to the estate lawyers to notify the medical providers, like the ambulance, of their address and where the bills are to be sent. They have to send a notice to all creditors, which would include medical providers, of the address, where to send the bill.
‘David Lynch [Jason Corbett’s brother-in-law] is the executor of the estate, he is responsible for all bills of the estate. That’s the one that is legally responsible for any and all bills of the estate. Including medical bills.’
Efforts to contact the Lynches’ attorney, Edward Griggs, proved unsuccessful. Last month Ms Martens and her father entered pleas of not guilty to second-degree murder and involuntary manslaughter over the death of Mr Corbett, who fathered children Sarah and Jack first wife Mags, who died in 2006.
Greg Brown, the attorney representing the state of North Carolina in the case, said the crime was especially ‘heinous, atrocious and cruel’.
Mr Corbett, a 39-year-old father of two, suffered fatal head injuries at his luxury suburban home in Panther Creek Court. Ms Martens’s father, Thomas, made a 911 call from Mr Corbett’s family home at 3.05am on the night the Limerick man was killed and claimed to the operator t here had been an argument between Jason and Molly. ‘He was choking my daughter, he said he was going to kill her,’ Mr Martens alleged in the recorded call.
Mr Corbett died from blunt-force trauma to his head. His autopsy described the ‘means of death’ as a ‘ball bat and landscaping stone’.
The defence maintains the actions of the accused were ‘reasonable and necessary in self-defence’ of Ms Martens’s life and that of her father.
Both Ms Martens and her father are scheduled to appear in Davidson County Superior Court next Monday, April 4.
‘Ball bat and landscaping stone’