The Murders of Jennifer Corbin and Dolly Hearn, Part 2 | Morbid | Podcast | Forensic Files

guys July 25th the paperback of the butcher in the Wren is coming at you and this is
a huge deal because paperbacks rule first of all and second of all paperbacks are awesome
they're easy around you can shove them in your bag and you can bring them everywhere she's motioning back I am I
don't know why but that you know I think it's it's pretty small so like you can put it in your bag I think you know you
got a big back pocket shove it right in there uh you put it wherever you want I don't care just read it uh but read it
first preferably but do what you want because I support all of you but the cool thing about this one besides being
able to put it wherever you want there's a sneak peek of this equal whoa the second book the second butcher
in the ren book there is a sneak peek chapter in the paperback edition which comes out July 25th so go get it and
then you can read a sneak peek chapter of the second one and you could be like I read that chapter none of you did and
then everybody who else who got the paperback can be like I did too and then you guys can talk about it but everyone
else will be like I don't know what that chapter is and you'll be cooler and right now I'm one of the only people
that can say I read that chapter and nobody else did now you can too get on my level get on Ash's level July 25th
the paperback book edition of The Butcher and the rent go get it everywhere I love you guys
books and literacy hey weirdos I'm Ash and I'm Elena and this is morbid [Music] this is morbid this is morbid and this
case is very morbid it truly is and it's only about to get a whole lot more bitter it's very upsetting
guys July 25th the paperback of the butcher in the Wren is coming at you and this is a huge deal
because paperbacks rule first of all and second of all paperbacks are awesome you can really
show them they're easy to you could really turn around you can shove them in your bag and you can bring them
everywhere she's motioning back I am I don't know why but that you know I think it's it's pretty small so like you can
put it in your bag I think you know you got a big back pocket shove it right in there uh you put it wherever you want I
don't care just read it uh but read it first preferably but do what you want because I support all of you but the
cool thing about this one besides being able to put it wherever you want the second and book the second butcher
in the ren book there is a sneak peek chapter in the paperback edition which comes out July 25th so go get it and
then you can read a sneak peek chapter of the second one and you could be like I read that chapter none of you did and
then everybody who else who got the paperback can be like I did too and then you guys can talk about it but everyone
else will be like I don't know what that chapter is and you'll be cooler and right now I'm one of the only people
that can say I read that chapter and nobody else did and now you can too get on my level get on Ash's level July 25th
the paperback book edition of The Butcher and the rent go get it everywhere I love you guys
books and literacy hey weirdos I'm Ash and I'm Elena and this is morbid [Music] this is morbid this is morbid and this
case is very morbid it truly is and it's only about to get a whole lot more bitter it's very upsetting deeply
upsetting like it yeah I'm gonna put the same trigger warning at the top of this
episode that I did in the last episode both of the cases that we're going to talk about today that we talked about in
part one are like really really sad domestic violence cases that involve like fan like a whole family yeah if
that's not something that you want to listen to right now by all means just wait for the next episode I will not
hold it against you there you go yeah so in part two we went over the main people involved in the game part one
yep I was like wait so in part one we went over the main people involved in the case Jennifer and Bart Corbin and
they're very very tumultuous marriage but there's a lot more so definitely make sure that you go listen to part one
before you start this episode now when we left off investigators were not getting the best impression from Bart
regarding what they were starting to suspect was the murder of his wife and since he had lawyered up and refused
to speak with them all they could really do at that point was dig into his past now they knew from talking to Jennifer's
friends and family that there was a History of Violence but they were stunned when they kept digging and found
out Jennifer wasn't the first person close to Bart Corbin to die under suspicious circumstances oh [ __ ] yeah
didn't see that coming oh I did not see that coming well that leads us to Dorothy Dolly Hearn she was a 27 year
old Dental student at the Medical College of Georgia when she met fellow student Bart Corbin in early 1989.
they'd gone to dental school together and this was like right before he met Jennifer
scary so according to Dolly's family and friends she was immediately drawn to Bart they had a lot of similar interests
and she found him to be very very handsome like they were they just really like yeah they're in dental school
together it feels like you know Kismet you know probably felt like that way so they fell in love pretty quickly another
one of their classmates said she was crazy about him for a while and I think he really liked her a lot as well which
that statement tells you yeah so once they started dating dolly was really excited to introduce her friends
to Bart she was like you know I love this guy he's a great catch and she she figured that they would all really like
him just as much as she did that was not the case when she did introduce her friends to Bart her friend Dennis
remembered hanging out with Dolly and Bart together a lot and said I didn't feel comfortable around him he was one
of those people that did not make eye contact with you he was kind of standoffish to me
and that just didn't leave them with a good yeah and most of Dolly's friends weren't
exactly sure what they didn't like about bart they just got the feeling like something was off with them for them
trust your gut yeah and and the other thing was he seemed to be very very possessive over Dolly that's not
shocking no and a lot of them were concerned about that yeah now they were even more concerned when just a few
months after they started dating Bart actually proposed to Dolly he seems to move very fast he does I
think it's like the love bomb like oh my God I love you let's get married now you're [ __ ] stuck I hate you and I'm
gonna hit you yeah and that's her thing it's like he he wants the control right away and so he makes sure he locks that
down to get the control exactly so he caught Dolly entirely off guard with this proposal and he just kept
insisting that they get married as soon as he was done with dental school which like hi she was also in Dental so yeah
so what about her like oh yeah I love it like we just won't consider her in this
question no of course not now Dolly again like I said she was really caught off guard by this and she wasn't ready
to commit to somebody like that and now she was a little bit concerned that she wasn't as invested in this relationship
as Bart was because now she's like what the [ __ ] yeah so she declined to the proposal but she didn't want to end
things all together like she still liked Bart she just and you know maybe was beginning to love him but not enough to
marry him yeah she wanted to wait yeah so they kept dating for a few more months because again they had only been
together months so after a while though there was just too much weirdness too much tension between them I I always
wanted to get past that yeah I always wonder like it's nobody's fault it's just like if somebody says no to a
proposal I always wonder when they continue I'm like how do you get past that I I do people think I could
personally I don't think I could that would be tough yeah that would be really tough it just puts a lot of pressure a
lot on it and it really has no attention that she that she like got that amount of pressure put onto her it's such a she
didn't ask to be in that he kind of he kind of made the relationship crumble before it could even yeah you move too
fast yeah so because there was like the weird tension between them it made Bart irritated and it made Dolly pull away
which of course if we know Bart Corbin at this point made him become even more jealous and even more possessive I hate
this guy so much he's the worst have you looked up a picture of him yes I have he's just a little [ __ ] fart yeah he
is a fart I looked at his face and I was like [ __ ] you fart yeah he's an [ __ ]
he's like even rhymes with his name yeah oh my god I didn't even mean to do that
so [ __ ] you fart yeah fart bart so after about a year of dealing with this dolly
was just like you know what I can't do this like clearly we are not meant to be together she couldn't take the
possessiveness anymore or the tension and at that point he had become like very obsessive and everything was just
getting super toxic and she needed out yeah so she did the right thing and she ended things with him [ __ ] for her was
ready to get out of there so Bart's friend Eric reader said he was really taking it hard and Eric also said in the
weeks after the breakup Bart was just consumed with what he referred to as the dolly situation
oh I don't like that like situ I never want to be referred to a situation and he wouldn't talk about anything else
he was fixated on this dolly situation that would scare me and Eric felt like what seemed to upset fart bart the most
was that quote she did not appear to be taking the breakup as badly as he was and that pissed him off
now a lot of terrible things happened like back to back in Dolly's life not too long after she ended things with
Bart it was like a series of strange and very unfortunate events first somebody tore the sliding door to her apartment
off of its track and left her screen door open then her car was vandalized someone had
slashed her tires and poured paint into her gas tank and broke all of the lights
on her car and then worst of all and this like ruined me her cat Tabitha who she really really loved just simply
disappeared went missing I have a hunch me too so that's awful yeah it really all of it
so at first and this a friend said quote At first she thought that she was just unlucky but after a while she realized
luck had nothing to do with it she was being targeted of course and when she thought about who in the world would
ever want to Target her only one name came to mind yep Bart Corbin and now she was convinced that he was retaliating as
a result of the breakup so she was smart with how she started kind of talking to
him at this point anytime they would talk she tried to record the conversation to get a confession out of
him about what he'd been doing but ever aware of his reputation and his career goals Bart was suspicious that
dolly was doing exactly what she was so he actually backed off and left her alone for a little bit oh wow so it
worked out for a little bit Yeah but still Dolly had already been scared of Bart from their relationship and now
that she suspected he was the one terrorizing her after their breakup she just wanted to stay on his good side she
was really freaked out by this whole entire I don't blame her so just hoping that you know eventually they would both
move on he would graduate and they would just do their best to forget each other
she was like I'm just gonna stay focused on staying on his good side until I can
get rid of him now because of that she declined to press charges or tell the police that she suspected him because
she was afraid he would retaliate further oh that's awful and really at that time there wouldn't be a lot that
they could do yeah like that unfortunately back then there wasn't a lot of laws about this so for a time
things seemed calm but they were about to escalate to a point that nobody could have imagined
Dolly's roommate Angela came home on the night of June 6 1990 and found Dolly dead
she was sitting cross-legged on the couch and her face was covered in blood and there was a 38 caliber revolver
sitting in her lap God it was a brutal scene to come home to so Angela ran to the apartment of
their neighbor who happened to be a doctor Dr steinhaus and he went running back with her to their to her apartment
to see if he could help but as soon as he got there it was very clear that he wasn't going to be able to do anything
to save Dolly she was dead and he immediately called the police so as far as the police could tell
Dolly's death had all the Hallmarks of a suicide the doors and windows to the apartment were all locked there was no
sign of a struggle whatsoever and Dolly's body was sitting in a relaxed position on the couch with a bullet hole
in the right side of her head just above the temple but it wasn't that simple something about the position of Dolly's
body struck Dr steinhaus at least as wrong he wasn't involved in the case though like as an investigator or like
somebody they really like talked to about it too much but in his experience people who do
commit suicide don't usually sit cross-legged in such a like relaxed manner yeah it just seemed off to him so
he gave his opinion about this to investigators but they initially treated the death as a suicide which meant the
scene was never processed as a crime scene really because it seems like more of a taken by
surprise kind of thing right that you weren't you were sitting like that because you were in a comfortable
position and you weren't thinking something like that was going to happen maybe or think about what had happened to
Jennifer maybe stage position staged but the medical examiner easily signed off on the death as a suicide
now later that day though after they spoke with Angela the roommate there they wondered if that was really the
case the police so Angela filled them in on everything that Dolly had gone through in the months earlier and
explained that Dolly had suspected her ex-boyfriend Bart Corbin but was too afraid to take things to the police she
told them all about the everything that had gone on now as they started talking to more of Dolly's friends and started
chatting with her family too police were worried that Bart actually did have something to do with Dolly's death they
had a bad feeling about him and they were also starting to think back to the scene and realize that
certain things about the scene were off just like Jennifer there was no signs of
gunpowder on Dolly's hands which should have been there if she really shot herself absolutely and they found it
bizarre that she had started preparing food but never finished making the meal that it seemed she was making for
herself that's weird like it wasn't even like the like the bowl or the plate was
prepared yeah she was in prepping stages almost like with teracita basa yeah like
why did no one take this into account the first time I don't know it's a strange crime scene situation it is so
after months and months of Investigations in August uh detectives did label Bart a person of interest in
Dolly's death and they put together a picture of what they believed had happened on the afternoon that she died
from talking to Bart's friends and acquaintances they learned that his bitterness and anger towards Dolly had
gotten to a very alarming level one friend admitted to detectives that Bart had quote boasted how he was
planning the perfect murder and you didn't go tell anyone [ __ ] face I am I that will never be something that
doesn't Shock Me we say it every time but I can't not say it I don't understand like anyone who tells me that
they're gonna murder somebody like legit is like I have the I know how to get away with the perfect murder 9-1-1
what's my emergency that's the thing that's my emergency I don't get it I don't get it I've never had anyone in my
life tell me that they are planning a murder and never and if it just doesn't it would shock me if someone said that
no I'd be like what like that's not even a joke I really don't say that to me I've never even heard somebody joke
about that like it's just not a thing no and these people are hearing these people be like no seriously I have all
the plans I will get away with it I'm going to do it and they're like I don't know I thought he was joking and it's
like a little kid why are you hanging around with like this is just like not shocking and not only that he said like
I know how to get away with the perfect murder but the fact that he was so obsessed with talking about his
ex-girlfriend you weren't scared about what was going to happen to her it doesn't make sense so the police like I
said put together a theory and that was that Bart had put a plan into motion on June 6 and he went to Dolly's apartment
she was not expecting him and his car had actually been spotted by the apartment manager
um like that managed the apartment complex and after being led inside detectives figured some kind of argument
had started between the two of them that escalated to the point where Bart quote
unquote lost it and grabbed the 38 Rossi revolver that Dolly had actually been given by a friend because she was so
worried about what was going on her friend had given her this gun for protection wow Bart grabbed it and then
used it to shoot dolly in the head they figured the bullet would have would have
killed her instantly and then she fell back onto the couch they assumed and then detectives believe believed that
Bart went about the apartment staging the scene reposition the body place the gun in Dolly's lap and then left through
the sliding glass door able to lock it behind him as he went so this guy murdered his ex-girlfriend
and then just went on to get married and have two kids and went about his day-to-day life yeah as a [ __ ]
dentist like can you imagine if this finding out he was your dentist was your dentist and you were like you had
murdered someone not only did you murder someone later but you had murdered someone when you were my dentist yeah
damn insane damn so creepy yeah like creepy is not even the right word but he's just I can't
believe he was able to just damn and just like why not can you imagine he [ __ ] coached your child's
little young team imagine that that's even worse than being your dentist yeah he was around your child that's scary
but unfortunately even though there was a lot of circumstantial evidence and hearsay that led them to this conclusion
there wasn't any physical evidence linking him to the scene so they weren't going to be able to get an arrest
warrant unfortunately and you know Dolly's death seemed suspicious for sure but the medical examiner had labeled it
a suicide now Dolly's Family actually ended up hiring their own private pathologist to review everything but
that doctor also wasn't able to rule out suicide as a possible death or cause of
death excuse me so there wasn't a lot they could do wow and because of that the case just ended up going cold damn
so Bart went on to graduate from dental school Mary Jennifer start a family and relocate to the suburbs outside of
Atlanta just leaving the investigation and all that gossip over there behind him wow still lived in the same state
that's what's shocking I mean opened up a dental practice and like no one yeah that guy was thought to have murdered
his ex-girlfriend you didn't at least move to another state yeah that's pretty wild truly
so the day after now we're going back to Jennifer's investigation the day after Jennifer's Body was discovered in the
Corbin house Bart was served with a warrant that allowed authorities to test him for gunshot gunshot residue but by
that point enough time had passed that he probably washed his hands 650 000 times and like washed his clothes as
well so there was nothing they didn't find anything and Beyond the residue test he continued to refuse to
cooperate in any way with the police or give any kind of formal statement but luckily the police were undeterred and
the Gwinnett Police Corporal Dan Huggins told reporters we will continue investigating this case with or without
him good they were steadfast which is awesome so on December 8 2004 the news broke that investigators were now
investigating Jennifer's death as a homicide and while they had an officially labeled Bart a suspect they
were very interested in speaking to him about the murder now at the same time the Press had learned a little bit about
Bart's past when it was uncovered that he had quite the connection to Dolly hearn's suspicious death yeah and
everybody was putting the pieces together so the Press was starting to ask questions now about Dolly too and
when asked about Dolly's death Sergeant Scott Peebles told reporters that case is still open and we are talking to
Gwinnett Police and we'll let them do their thing first before we reinvestigate whoa so now now we have
two police forces working together at this point now in the meantime Jennifer's friends
and family did whatever they could to spread the word that this death was a homicide
um Jennifer's divorce lawyer Judy King told reporters the family was highly suspicious then when they heard about
the circumstances in Augusta where dolly was killed they became even more suspicious yeah Jennifer's sister and
her husband also spoke out and told reporters about how she and Jennifer had gone Christmas shopping just days before
Jennifer was killed which pointed to evidence that Jennifer was future oriented she was already planning stuff her
sister said she was not depressed she was buying presents for her boys she would not commit suicide
now while Bart continued to drag on the investigation Dodge investigators an emergency hearing was held to determine
custody of the two boys which was temporarily granted to Jennifer's sister and brother-in-law Heather and Doug
now worth noting here that Bart was well aware this hearing was going on and he was given an opportunity to show up and
he knew that if he didn't show up his in-laws were definitely going to get custody he refused to go to the hearing
and never even checked in with his kids yeah because he doesn't give a [ __ ] like
he literally just abandoned those kids as soon as he killed their mother yeah which is
insane he severed the connection wild to me that you could do that he's a monster
like I can't even move to another state like sometimes I talk about it and then I'm like no way I would miss my nieces
too much it's like your niece like those are my nieces I can't imagine leaving my
children yeah and just being like [ __ ] that also leaving them with that kind of
trauma too well he's just going about your life like with their mother who had just been killed and also they're like
baby babies they're like children like they shouldn't have been left alone even under the most wonderful of
circumstances like and you just killed their mother and then leave them alone in a house and left them for themselves
like what a [ __ ] monster left them to find their mother like that that's the last image
of their mother truly a monster truly but luckily the police were moving quickly and efficiently good just one
week after Jennifer's murder the D.A Danny Porter officially designated Bart Corman as the primary focus and the main
suspect in the investigation into the murder good [ __ ] this guy and as investigators in Gwinnett County where
Jennifer had been killed search the Corbin house for a second and then a third time detectives in Richmond County
where dolly was killed had reopened their investigation into her death oh wow and they those investigators made a
statement asking anyone who might have information to please come forward with it Sergeant Peebles told reporters the
Gwinnett case caused us to bring it back to active status because of new information that needed to be followed
up on now the new information that Peebles was referring to came about after detectives decided to do a
thorough re-evaluation of Dolly's case in Augusta now after going over the case File Peebles immediately immediately
recognized this pathology in Bart's Behavior same kind of thing yeah in the months leading up to Dolly's death he
said he was a sociopath he was a stalker at the time of Dali's death in 1990 law
enforcement didn't have the best understanding of stalking I mean the laws surrounding it had like barely been
put into place yet and they didn't know to look for the kinds of behavior patterns that Bart was displaying like
the escalating kind of thing yeah becoming more and more menacing and even if they had understood those things like
I said earlier there weren't laws there weren't many laws in general but especially not in Georgia that would
have protected Dolly from what BART would have or could have done to her that's so [ __ ] up yeah the law
couldn't do much until she'd actually been hurt which is insane in and of itself and at that point as we know was
already way too [ __ ] exactly which is why stalking laws exist now like punish these weirdos but in 2004 Bart's
Behavior was easily recognizable to these Detectives and they were like clearly he was intent
on controlling and terrorizing Dolly just like he was intent on controlling and terrorizing Jennifer exactly so
given that Peebles Revisited every aspect of the case with subject matter experts and that's when he hit a big
break in this case in 1990 in Richmond County where Dolly's death had taken place there was no blood spatter expert
at that point and they didn't typically call one in if they thought the case was
a suicide yeah but in 2004 Scott Peebles sat down with a forensic analyst Dwayne
Piper and he looked over the photos and told peoples if she committed suicide then somebody moved her body after yeah
now his confirmation that the body had been moved meant that after 14 years of inactivity Dolly's case could finally be
labeled a homicide finally because she didn't move after killing herself oh of course not and now investigators main
suspect obviously was Bart Corbin so on December 14th Bart's attorneys broke their silence for the first time
and held a press conference of their own they told reporters we've learned some things that point pretty strongly to
Corbin's innocence oh yeah then they declined to elaborate on what those things might be because they don't exist
but when asked why he remained uncooperative with the investigation Bart himself finally spoke up and said
I've been persecuted in the media in the last 10 days I'm anxious to speak but have not because of legal advice the
truth will come out in the end it sure will it's like yeah Bart I think we all know that but do you do you really know
that do you know that the truth is the real version of the truth or the thing you think your version of the truth is
going to come out exactly no no no so a week later on the morning of December 23rd a grand jury in Richmond
County considered the evidence against Bart in the murder of Dolly Hearn and they returned an indictment where he was
formally charged with one count of federal murder and one count of malice murder hell yeah after almost 15 years
Dolly's family and friends finally got the chance to see some kind of Justice knowing this man was just walking around
living his life for 15 years I can't imagine becoming a dentist and they all knew like her friends and family all
knew what had happened but there was been torturous maddening because there's no way to prove it but now there was
so a warrant for his arrest was facts to Gwinnett County authorities this is [ __ ] awesome just this will give you
so much life it gave me life so they they fax the warrant for his arrest to Gwinnett County authorities where he
lives and they were more than prepared they had been monitoring Bart around the clock so they knew that he was at his
office with his secretary oh my God shut up so with an arrest warrant in hand they headed straight to the office and
waited outside for the go-ahead to arrest him a little past noon he left his office and the company of his
mistress Jennifer oh my God shut up classic they got into his car and they started driving out of the parking lot
now little did they know at first but police were close behind and a news helicopter that had been tipped off was
also flying overhead shut the [ __ ] up so just minutes after they left the parking
lot officers got the the okay to arrest him so as he and his mistress pulled up to a
stoplight at a red light three Cruisers surrounded the car officers got out with
their guns drawn and demanded that Bart exit the vehicle with his hands in the [ __ ] area oh I would have paid
to see this oh my God I know he looked completely stunned to which I say yeah but he did as he was told
he was handcuffed he got put into an unmarked police vehicle and the entire scene was captured on camera from
beginning to end and was aired on all the news stations in Georgia later that night Bart's worst nightmare obsessed
reputation gone it's like oh reputation tainted yeah way worse yeah worst thing we were never could have imagined we
were smarter than a divorce would have tainted it just get [ __ ] divorced dude but at that point don't even do
that because you're already a murderer yeah so Bart's arrest was encouraging for both families the Hearn and the
barber family but not everybody was eager to get too far ahead of themselves they were very worried about getting
their hopes up of course Dolly's brother Carlton told reporters we still understand that it's a long road ahead
of us and Jennifer's sister Heather was also cautious she told the Press we do not feel Victorious and I suspect it's
not a victorious day for the Hearns either now I can definitely understand why both
of them were apprehensive in the wake of Bart's arrest again for Dolly's family it had been 14 almost 15 years since
they lost her and Bart had gotten away with it for that long yeah of course and in Jennifer's case the evidence against
him wasn't necessarily going to make for a slam dunk case yeah it's not like airtight case here right so on January
5th 2005 they may have felt slightly better about the situation when a grand jury indicted
Bart on three counts regarding Jennifer's murder because at that point he hadn't even been arrested for that
but a bench warrant was issued for his arrest in that case whoa so he got like arrested in prison I guess we're in jail
now while he sat in Augusta because he was in Augusta jail he got he had to be like transferred over there because
Dolly's murder happened in that county yeah he was sitting in that jail without bond and while that was happening his
lawyers went to work juggling pre-trial motions in the two murder cases and this
is where things kind of get a little bit complicated okay but I did my best so I
did my best the defense was hoping to keep the two cases completely separate when it came to the evidence obviously
because it would yeah for an easier way to defend him of course but the prosecution was already ahead of them
trying to get approval to introduce evidence in each case that's called similar transaction evidence essentially
it's a legal term that refers to evidence that is used in a different case that can demonstrate a pattern of
behavior okay so like a robbery case where evidence from a separate burglary case in the past is used okay that makes
sense right yeah I could see that okay so the D.A Danny Porter he felt like it would be specifically implied in these
two cases and said this is a classic case for similar transaction evidence it's going to be really important to
both cases but I think it's kind of hard to to get that entered yeah like to get
the judge to sign off on yeah so it's like this would be great but like we're really making it happen but we don't
know yeah so under Georgia law a defendant's past criminal history can only be introduced under certain
circumstances including quote if the evidence of an alleged separate offense can help prove a defendant's identity
intent motive plan scheme event of mind or course of conduct all right so Dolly and Jennifer were both killed after
indicating their intent to end relationships with Mark Corbin which was Then followed by a period in which he
terrorized each of them and eventually killed them in very similar manners so kind of seems like this is a special
circumstance yeah so allowing the evidence and testimony from the dolly Hearn murder case and Jennifer's case or
vice versa would 100 demonstrate a pattern of behavior and an indication of guilty and both the prosecution and the
defense knew that and that's why they were solely focused on this matter of similar transaction evidence okay so the
defense and prosecution spent months on pre-trial motions a judge and there was like a judge's recusal which is where
they get rid of them because like they have some kind of bias or conflict yeah they talked about a change of venue they
talked about preventing this similar transaction evidence in they talked about dropping the charges even so
they're really trying to get this case like airtight so that there's no slip UPS like he doesn't Slither his way out
of this exactly the prosecution is trying to do that while the defense is trying to dismantle all of it exactly
but finally on March 30th 2006 now wow a judge in Gwinnett County ordered that evidence related to to the death of
Dolly Hearn could indeed be introduced into the Jennifer Corbin case thank goodness and that struck a major blow to
Bart's defense of course it did so his lawyers were hoping to actually appeal that decision before they even went to
trial so they took it to the Supreme Court but the Supreme Court was like yeah we're not interested in that no
like the lower Court's decision stands so while both lawyers while lawyers on both sides continued to battle over
these pre-trial motions in the courtroom detectives in Richmond and in Gwinnett counties continued their investigations
just trying to gather even more evidence that could be used at trial no among the most important evidence was
the origin of the gun used in Jennifer's death they didn't know where it had come
from oh yeah and as far as they knew the corbins actually didn't own any guns so
determining where it had come from was extremely important yeah now in the course of their investigation they
learned that just days before Jennifer's murder Bart had traveled to Troy Alabama
to visit his old friend Richard Wilson now the visit seemed very suspicious to detectives and they figured that the
murder and the timing of the visit were two likely connected events so they paid
a visit to Mr Richard Wilson and his wife in Alabama to ask a couple of questions about Bart's visit uh-oh now
Richard Wilson and his wife told the investigators actually as far as they knew the corbins did own a shotgun and
they said we never gave a gun to Bart or anyone in the Corbin family for that matter
so just to be sure the detectives are like I don't know like this doesn't sound right so they stopped at the Troy
police department on their way back to Georgia and they learned that Richard Wilson's wife Janice owned a 38 caliber
gun special a 38 a 38 special that's what it's called exactly like the one used in Jennifer's world what the [ __ ]
so you're a couple of [ __ ] Liars how dare you so in the weeks that followed detectives in Georgia started learning
more and more about Richard Wilson and who he was and how he was connected to Bart it turned out that he and Bart had
met almost 20 years earlier when Richard was working for Bart's father oh as a Salesman for a chemical company
now in the 15 years that passed since then Richard and Bart had become really good friends and Richard had this really
weird sense of loyalty that ended up playing a very significant role in this case ew yeah it's very late don't be
loyal to those people these hoes ain't loyal don't do that and Bart is a hoe yeah so among them at fart yeah I
thought you were just like Bart yeah that was Bart indeed so among the things investigators
Learned was that Bart and Jennifer had paid a surprise visit to Richard and Janice's home in Troy the summer before
Jennifer had been killed and that was followed by another visit from Bart alone on November 30th 2004 after
Thanksgiving yeah now in the months between then Bart and Richard had a ton of conversations where Bart was telling
Richard all about his crumbling marriage how his wife was having an affair with quote unquote someone on the internet oh
boohoo and he had plans to divorce Jennifer but was nervous about it because you know she really flew off the
handle all the time oh shut the [ __ ] up no the investigator excuse me the information investigators learned about
Richard Wilson and Bart Corbin's relationship was collected over a pretty long period of time and it took a lot of
diligence to get in fact since they interviewed him in the days after Jennifer's death Richard Wilson had
maintained that he knew nothing about the murder and maintained that he still maintained he never provided Bart with
any kind of gun mm-hmm luckily it turned out that Richard Wilson's loyalty to Bart did have limits good when he was
threatened with a subpoena to testify under oath he was like um actually I have to talk to you yeah he became a bit
more forthcoming crazy how that happened yeah suddenly he's chatty wow now on September 13 2006 as jury selection was
underway in Gwinnett County the district attorney Danny Porter made an emergency
trip to Troy Alabama to record what would become a critical interview with Richard Wilson according to Wilson Bart
returned to Troy alone for that November 30th visit and told him that the divorce
was imminent but he was confirmed for concerned excuse me for his safety and quote wanted to have a little extra
protection for himself come on he said just in case Jennifer or one of her family members became
threatening oh shut up now it turned out that Richard Wilson had just gotten a 38
special as a payment for some mechanic work that he'd done and after checking with the police that the gun wasn't
stolen they registered it in his wife's name but after that they didn't really do anything with it it was just kind of
sitting around the house so Richard Wilson gave his friend Bart the revolver that evening and then Bart returned to
Buford with it and four days later Jennifer Corbin was shot with Richard Wilson's gun wow
so the prosecution's case against Bart Corbin in Gwinnett County before that was strong but there were definitely
holes that could have been poked in the case and one of the biggest issues that could have been poked was the fact that
before they spoke to Richard Wilson they had no idea where that gun had come from
yeah now they knew and now this interview was on tape so now they could prove that Bart had procured the weapon
used in his wife's death just days before she was killed he sure did and of all of the evidence collected during
investigation it turned out that nothing was more damning than that interview damn if they hadn't looked into his past
and found this Richard Wilson character that would have been a huge hole yeah it
would have been a really big hole so the next day district attorney there Danny Porter gave a copy of Richard Wilson's
recorded interview to Bart's lawyers who had until then been eager to go to trial
but hours later the DA's office got a call from Bart's defense team saying that Bart now wanted to discuss a plea
deal he was [ __ ] oh yeah where is he gonna go like there's no way out of this one because between the similar
transaction evidence connecting both of the murders and now Richard Wilson's interview connecting the gun directly to
Bart he and his defense knew that there was pretty much no chance he was going to be acquitted so instead of proceeding
with the trial which again was already currently underway with jury selection Danny Porter the D.A offered a deal
bar excuse me would plead guilty to both murders and make a full confession before a judge in exchange for two life
sentences with the possibility of parole after 15 years damn with no better options Bart accepted the deal and on
September 15th he appeared before a judge in a Lawrenceville courtroom and confessed to the murders of Dolly Hearn
and Jennifer Corbett I can't believe that they were like this is actually like such an impressive case it's such a
gotcha case that's the thing and I love that nobody gave up nobody gave it and everybody was like not only are we not
going to give up for Jennifer's case but like we're gonna get dolly in there we're gonna get it we're not letting
Dolly's case go by the wayside here okay I love that they just [ __ ] him into a
corner oh in two and we're like what are you gonna do now Bart and there was nothing there's literally nowhere you
can go you [ __ ] yourself we got ya and all of [ __ ] Georgia knows exactly who
the [ __ ] you are how's your reputation doing buddy big reputation yeah is that
that's Swift right oh is it yeah I have no idea I think she says big reputation she says that song no she just like she
says it oh yeah I didn't want to let them know that like we were like hanging out yeah like sometimes when you hang
out with Taylor she'll just be like big reputation you know and you're like yeah
Taylor sometimes they fall into very strange bits we do yeah yeah I like that about it part of the charm I think
so after Bart's confession judge Michael Clark allowed two family members to make
a statement so Jennifer's father Max Barber spoke first and told his former son-in-law God May forgive you I never
will I just virtually hope you burn in hell oh good for him like [ __ ] that guy's kiss yeah like that was a really
great way to say it and Dolly's brother Carlton shared a similar sentiment until
the Court 16 years of Silence because by that point yeah 16 years he said 16 years of pain Bart Corbin has disgraced
his profession dentistry and stolen from mankind my family is complete in complete agreement with the sentence
yeah and it's like this [ __ ] for 16 years got to live a life where he had a dental practice he had children he got
to get married he got to [ __ ] up two children's lives yup like that's that that's what kills me I'm like you got to
[ __ ] up these two kids and traumatize them for however many years he is a before you got caught like that sucks
he's a monster and then you got to take this woman out of the who didn't want to
be with you no who would have lived a totally happy and probably fulfilling as [ __ ] life yeah you could have outside of
your [ __ ] well it just makes me so angry and all it really came down to I'm sure
was money and greed of course and it's like okay then you should have gotten a [ __ ] prenup he wanted to keep his
dental practice he didn't want people to be you know chit-chatting about the divorce and about Affairs and all that
and he didn't want anyone to think that he actually hit her even though so it's like okay so you you hit her but you
don't want to I don't want to admit that I hit her I don't want anyone to know I
hit her no like you're a piece of [ __ ] he's disgusting and but you lost the part where he was like she can't prove
it yeah I love I hate when that's like their first offense when you you just hit someone and you know very well that
you have hit them and you say you can't prove it you can't prove it like you're a [ __ ] animal like [ __ ] you that's
exactly you're an animal and you got exactly what you deserved so when Court was adjourned reporters asked to the
district attorney Danny Porter about the deal that he had made with Corbin and he
told them he won't have a realistic chance meaning at parole until 28 years and as far as
things went with Richard I kept reading that like it was a quote but it was my writing so he will have a realistic
chance at parole until 28 years and then as far as things went with Richard Wilson Porter said he had no intention
of actually charging Wilson with a crime he said once Jennifer was found dead he
figured it out I think he figured if he kept his mouth shut and his head down it
would blow over which is really [ __ ] up yeah but overall Danny Porter believed that Richard Wilson was just
too scared to come forward and didn't want to betray his friend which like you can betray your friend if it means that
you were not involved in a murder that's the thing it's like betray your friend betray your friend yeah all the live
long day but luckily he eventually decided Richard there to do the right thing even if it was at the final hour
and it really is because of that that they were able to hold the right person responsible for the murders of Dolly and
Jennifer and I think that's probably why they didn't go any further yeah with charging him with like obstruction of
Justice or anything like that yeah that makes sense as of today Bart Corbin remains incarcerated at the Central
State Prison in I think it's Macon Georgia but I'm not positive I think you're right I think so and he will be
eligible for parole in 2030. so he's got him got a little while but it's not that
funny still don't give him parole I hope he wouldn't go wrong I mean I I would think on that uh Board of parole
officers like he got away with this for 16 years he clearly didn't feel any shred of guilt and he tried to make both
of them look like they had like killed themselves like that's some nefarious [ __ ] like he's a nefarious [ __ ] he is
keep him where he is but it makes me it makes me so sad that everything happened
the way that it did and that like most of these women's lives I mean yeah dolly was 27 when she met him like she still
had some of the best years ahead of her and so did Jennifer like who knows what would have happened maybe she would have
ended up with Anita yeah two little boys and now they who deserve to have her yeah and she she seemed to
be the one that was like the only one that was giving them the love and support that they deserved exactly other
than like her family um and luckily the boys in case anybody is wondering they did end up uh
Jennifer's sister Heather got permanent custody good so that's good because she seems like a really good person yeah and
it's like that's I'm glad and it's like a piece of their mom is still with them yeah exactly yeah oh but what a [ __ ]
tragic case over

The more Gwinnett County detectives dug into Bart Corbin’s life and history, the more convinced they were that the forty-year-old dentist wasn’t just responsible for the death of his wife, but also for the death of his girlfriend nearly a decade and a half earlier. For two years Corbin denied any involvement in the deaths, insisting both women had killed themselves. Then, just days before his trial was to begin, he shocked everyone by pleading guilty to both murders in exchange for two life sentences with the possibility of parole after fifteen years.

Thank you so much to David White for research assistance 🙂

References Atlanta Journal Constitution. 2006. "Timeline of events in Barton Corbin's case." The Atlanta Journal Constitution, September 17.

Bentley, Rosalind. 2004. "Corbin arrest is 'hard'." The Atlanta Journal-Constituion , December 23.

Bentley, Rosalind, and Lateef Mungin. 2006. "Barton Corbin case: How they nailed him." The Atlanta Journal-Constitution, September 17.

Bentley, Rosalind, Lateef Mungin, and Beth Warren. 2006. "Guilty guilty: Corbin pleads." The Atlanta Journal-Constitution, September 16.

Bruner, Tasgola Karla. 2004. "The Corbin case: Med-school girlfriend was fearful." Atlanta Journal-Constitution, December 16.

—. 2004. "Parallels revive case of Augusta tragedy." The Atlanta Journal-Constitution, December 13.

—. 2004. "Similarities in 'suicides' are haunting ." The Atlanta Journal-Constitution, December 16.

Bruner, Tasgola Karla, and John Ghirardini. 2004. "Dentist main 'focus'." The Atlanta Journal-Constitution, December 13.

Glatt, John. 2007. The Doctor's Wife: A True Story of Marriage, Deception and Two Grusom Deaths.New York, NY: St. Martin's Press.

Hansen, Jane. 2006. "Dolly's truth: To her family, her death in 1990 was never a mystery." The Atlanta Journal-Constitution, October 15.

Mungin, Lateef. 2004. "Dacula man sought after wife's shooting." The Atlanta Journal-Constitution, December 8.

—. 2004. "Death called homicide, not suicide." The Atlanta Journal-Constitution, December 8.

—. 2004. "Dentist's kin to testify before grand jury today." The Atlanta Journal-Constitution, December 15.

Rankin, Bill, and Bill Topry. 2005. "Corbin faces double danger." The Atlanta Journal-Constitution, January 9.

Stafford, Rob. 2006. Death and the Dentist. October 18. Accessed June 25, 2023. https://www.nbcnews.com/id/wbna15253153

Connect with Wondery http://wondery.com/shows http://facebook.com/WonderyMedia http://twitter.com/WonderyMedia http://instagram.com/WonderyMedia

Brief Summary

Bart Corbin is arrested and confesses to murdering his ex-girlfriend Dolly Hearn and wife Jennifer Corbin after years of investigation.

Key points

The Butcher and the Wren Paperback Release. The paperback edition is coming out on July 25th, featuring a sneak peek of the sequel!
Dolly Hearn's Mysterious Death. Dolly was found dead in her apartment, raising suspicions about her ex-boyfriend Bart Corbin.
Bart Corbin's Dark Side. Investigators uncover Bart's troubling past and his obsession with Dolly after their breakup.
Bart's Shocking Return to Normalcy. After the murder, Bart opened a dental practice in the same state, raising eyebrows.
Investigation Turns Homicide. Authorities officially label Jennifer's death a homicide, focusing on Bart as a suspect.
Bart Indicted for Murder. After years of speculation, Bart is formally charged with the murder of Dolly Hearn.

Episode highlights

Episode quotes

I didn't see that coming!

Reacting to unexpected twists in the story.

5:42WatchAug 4, 2023

Tension

85/ 100High tension

More from Morbid | Podcast

Solve the Crime

Read a real case one clue at a time, then see how your call held up against the investigators.