A woman in the US was strangled to death in a two-story home by a pimp after year-long research by watching "Dexter", a television drama about a serial killer, federal prosecutors told a US court. The accused, they said, also took out $200,000 of life insurance in the victim's name after her murder in 2018.
The sad demise of Brandy Odom played out during the trial Cory Martin in Federal District Court in Brooklyn. Martin, 37, was sentenced to life in prison, the mandatory term under the law. Earlier, in a ruling in March, the court had found him guilty of offenses including wire fraud conspiracy and murder-for-hire.
The charges were placed following testimony from Adelle Anderson, a prostitute, who was roomate of Odom and Martin in the two-story home in Queens.
In her testimony, Anderson shared harrowing details about Cory Martin, who, as per New York Times report, raged at the women and once stuck a gun barrel gun inside the mouth of Anderson’s 8-year-old son.
Martin, Anderson told the jury, mused about killing for money, and chose 26-year-old Odom as the perfect victim, saying nobody would miss her.
He along with Anderson conducted research by watching "Dexter", and took out $200,000 of life insurance in Odom's name, the court was told. In addition to watching "Dexter", Martin watched episodes of "The First 48", a documentary series about homicide detectives, to learn to "conceal forensic evidence and other evidence," prosecutors told the court.
After a year of preparation, Martin strangled Odom inside their home in the Rosedale neighborhood in 2018. He then used a power saw to cut apart her corpse in the bathtub.
Judge Ann Donnelly, who sentenced Martin, said that he was guilty of "utter depravity" in his treatment of Ms. Odom.
"After you murdered her, you brutalized her body and discarded her as if she was just garbage," Judge Donnelly told the defendant, according to The New York Times. "You are a remorseless predator who is a danger to the community."
Martin declined to speak before being sentenced.
Odom family described her as a young woman working toward a job as a school security guard and hoped to get her own apartment.
Her mother, Nicole Odom, was present at the court on Wednesday for Martin's sentensing.
"I cry every minute every hour. I can’t see her or touch her or hear her voice," she told the court, describing the pain of losing her daughter.
She also addressed Martin before he was sentenced, saying: "May God have mercy on your soul, because I will not."
Meanwhile, Anderson, who pleaded guilty in 2021 in obtaining the insurance policies, has not yet been sentenced. According to the report, Martin forced Anderson to take out a $50,000 life insurance policy in Odom's name with herself as the beneficiary. That was followed by a second policy worth $150,000.
She appeared as a government witness during Martin's trial, saying that she had introduced Odom to Martin in 2016 and describing how the murder plot had unfolded.
Martin Did Not Allow Women To Wear Clothes Inside The Home
Both Anderson and Odom were engaged in "commercial sex work" and used Martin’s home in Queens to meet customers. Within a year, the two women moved in with Martin and he became their pimp, according to the prosecutors.
Anderson told prosecutors that Martin exercised absolute control over the two women. He would not allow the women to wear clothing inside the home and demanded they call him "daddy". Before showering, eating or buying anything, the two women had to seek his permission.
Anderson testified that Martin was violent and once punched her in the eye and fractured her shin by slamming her into a refrigerator. She told jurors that he raped her with objects including "brooms, hammers, liquor bottles".
Anderson further revealed that Martin even beat and threatened her two children – 8-year-old son and his 2-year-old brother, and discussed the idea of murdering them and their father after taking out life insurance policies in their names.