NYC man sentenced to life in prison for killing, dismembering a woman in life insurance fraud scheme

NEW YORK — A New York man was sentenced Wednesday to life in prison for a scheme that involved killing and dismembering a woman after fraudulently taking out a life insurance policy in her name to collect the benefits, federal prosecutors said.

Cory Martin, 37, was also sentenced by a federal judge in Brooklyn to a concurrent sentence of 20 years in prison for wire fraud conspiracy and a consecutive term of two years for aggravated identity theft.

U.S. Attorney Breon Peace, whose office prosecuted the case, called it a “ghastly, cold-blooded crime” motivated by greed and executed with extensive planning.

Brandy Odom, 26, had been a sex worker Martin managed and lived with in an apartment in Queens.

“Martin preyed on Brandy Odom. He saw the victim as a way to make money," Peace said in a statement. “He trafficked her for commercial sex, then killed her with his bare hands so he could profit from her death.”

Prosecutors said Martin and a co-conspirator fraudulently obtained two life insurance policies in Odom’s name the year before Martin strangled her in her bedroom.

The two purchased cleaning supplies and dismembered Odom’s body in 2018 and dumped the parts in a Brooklyn park. They then made several unsuccessful attempts to claim benefits under Odom’s life insurance policies before being apprehended in 2020.

A federal jury found Martin guilty in March following a two-week trial in which prosecutors argued Martin had watched crime shows, including “Dexter” and “The First 48,” for tips on how to get away with the killing.

“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,” Peace said Wednesday.

Lawyers for Martin didn’t immediately respond to an email seeking comment.