Key Takeaways
- Watching Dexter inspired a criminal named Corey Martin to commit murder and dismember a woman.
- Martin’s unsuccessful attempts at covering up the crime show he didn’t follow Dexter’s method effectively.
- Martin’s failure to replicate Dexter’s careful methodology led to his arrest, trial, and eventual conviction with heavy sentencing.
Dexter: Original Sin is set to premiere on Paramount+ with Showtime on December 13, 2024, and looks set to introduce a whole new generation of fans into the macabre world of serial killer, Dexter Morgan. Unfortunately, the success of the Dexter-verse has also led to real life copycat killers, and the latest case of this was a man called Corey Martin who, after watching an episode of Dexter, killed and disposed of a woman using methods he picked up from the show.
Movies don’t necessarily create psychopaths, but they can provide them with inspiration, and this appears to be the case with Corey Martin. Dexter is the ultimate fictional representation of a murderer who gets away with it, so it’s no surprise that eagle-eyed killers are watching Dexter and seeing how he operates. Fortunately, this is such a small minority of people, and the majority enjoy the show for what it is, an escape from reality.
Related
Dexter: Original Sin – Michael C. Hall Should Make A Cameo
Michael C. Hall will narrate Dexter: Original Sin, but he should also make an actual appearance, and it might explain how Dexter survived.
Corey Martin Killed A Sex Worker And Dismembered Her After Picking Up Tips From Dexter
Back in 2018 in an apartment in Queens, New York, a man called Corey Martin killed a sex worker he was living with called Brandy Odom. Martin strangled Odom one year after he and a co-conspirator fraudulently obtained two life insurance policies in the victim’s name. Martin and his accomplice dismembered Odom’s body and dumped the remains in a Brooklyn park. The next step of their plan didn’t go so well, as they were unsuccessful in making a claim under Odom’s life insurance policies. Law enforcement were onto Martin’s own dark passenger, and their suspicions were confirmed when a cadaver dog picked up the scent of a dead woman in one of their cars.
The pair were arrested on suspicion of murder in 2020, and it has taken four long years to reach the trial stage. During the trial, prosecutors claimed that Martin had watched an episode of Dexter, to give him tips on how to successfully cover up a murder. Corey Martin was found guilty in March 2024, and he was given a life sentence, and also an additional 20 years for wire fraud and two years for identity theft. After the conviction, prosecutor, Breon Peace, said this:
The defendant believed he could thwart law enforcement and cover up this heinous crime by relying on television shows about murder, but the investigatory efforts of law enforcement brought him to justice. Martin preyed on Brandy Odom. He saw the victim as a way to make money. He trafficked her for commercial sex, then killed her with his bare hands so he could profit from her death.
Martin Clearly Didn’t Follow Dexter’s Particular Modus Operandi As He Failed To Cover Up The Murder
The details of how Martin and his accomplice dismembered Odom are pretty horrific, and it all came out in court during the trial. Martin might’ve picked up on tips on how to get away with murder from watching Dexter, but he failed in one key area: he searched online for a Dewalt 12-Amp Corded Reciprocating Saw on Home Depot’s website, and also watched a YouTube video on how to use it. In the show, Dexter Morgan doesn’t need to search for tools to use when dismembering a body, because he’s been doing it for years, and has followed Harry’s code on how to avoid detection, due to his background in law enforcement. Martin’s accomplice testified against Martin, and revealed that he used the saw to cut up Odom’s body in a bathtub (sounds very Trinity Killer esque, minus the electric saw). Martin also allegedly used heavy-duty garbage bags to cover the surface of the kill area in the bathroom. Not exactly a kill room Dexter would be proud of, and Martin definitely isn’t a neat monster, that’s for sure.
More
Dexter: Original Sin – Patrick Dempsey Has Confirmed One Franchise Element Will Return
Patrick Dempsey has opened up in a recent interview about his role in Dexter: Original Sin, and teased the return of a key franchise component.