NEW YORK — Federal prosecutors say a man from New York was given a life sentence on Wednesday for a scheme in which he killed and dismembered a woman after falsely getting a life insurance policy in her name to get the money from it.
On top of that, a federal judge in Brooklyn gave Cory Martin, 37, a sentence of 20 years in prison for wire fraud plot and two years in prison for aggravated identity theft.
The case was handled by U.S. Attorney Breon Peace, who called it a “ghastly, cold-blooded crime” that was done with a lot of planning and was driven by greed.
Brandy Odom, who is 26 years old, was a sex worker that Martin hired and lived with in a Queens apartment.
“Martin took advantage of Brandy Odom.” “He thought of the victim as a way to make money,” Peace said. “He sold her for sex for money and then killed her with his bare hands to make money off of it.”
Prosecutors said Martin and a partner in crime got two fake life insurance plans in Odom’s name the year before Martin killed her in her bedroom.
In 2018, they bought cleaning materials, took Odom’s body apart, and dumped the pieces in a Brooklyn park. After that, they tried several times but failed to get money from Odom’s life insurance plans before they were caught in 2020.
After a two-week trial, a federal jury found Martin guilty in March. Prosecutors said Martin had watched crime shows like “Dexter” and “The First 48” to learn how to get away with the murder.
Speaking on Wednesday, Peace said, “The defendant thought he could get away with this horrible crime and hide it by watching murder-themed TV shows, but police investigations caught him.”
Martin’s lawyers didn’t answer right away when an email was sent asking for feedback.
