All smiles: Molly and her dad in restaurant a day after being charged with murder
MOLLY Martens and her father Thomas were all smiles as they enjoyed some Mexican food at a restaurant only a day after they were charged with the murder of Jason Corbett.
At around the same time they sat down to eat their lunch and smile for a photo in the bustling Knoxville food joint, Jason’s sister Tracey Lynch and her husband David made their way to what was Jason and Ms Martens’s family home in North Carolina.
Upon her arrival at the house in Panther Creek Court on Wednesday afternoon, the legal guardian of Jason’s two orphaned children found the children’s toys and belongings strewn on the driveway outside.
The items of sentimental value were to be returned to Sarah, nine, and Jack, 11, after a court order earlier this week instructed their stepmother Ms Martens to hand over the children’s belongings to their legal guardians.
And despite the emotional significance of the items, they had been haphazardly left in the driveway for collection, piled high and in full view of passersby.
The sad scenes were a far cry from the snug seats and tasty Mexican cuisine that Ms Martens, 31, and her 65-year-old father Thomas, enjoyed at the restaurant in their hometown of Knoxville.
Hours after being released on bail, the former nanny and her exFBI agent father, who sported a blue jumper and checked shirt at the diner, gave a brief pose for the photographer as they sat at their table.
The pair were back home after being bonded out of jail the day before when they were accused of killing man Jason, 39, in his North Carolina home on August 2.
Ms Martens, 31, and her 65-yearold father have been charged with second-degree murder and voluntary manslaughter in relation to the death of father-of-two Limerick man Jason Corbett.
They were bailed on individual payments of $200,000 (€183,000) and are due to appear again before the court in Davidson County, Tennessee on January 19.
Among the list of items were rings belonging to the children’s biological mother.
Other items included hand and foot casts Mags and Jason made of the children soon after they were born; home videos of Jack’s second birthday and Sarah’s birth; Mags’s engagement ring; and two eternity rings ‘gifted’ to Sarah as well as photos of the family together before Mags’s tragic death in 2006 after she suffered a devastating asthma attack.