Duo Allegedly Dismembered Brooklyn Sex Worker To Cash In On Life Insurance Policy

Two people have been charged in the unsolved murder of a sex worker, whose dismembered body was buried in a Brooklyn park in 2018.  

FBI agents arrested Cory Martin, 33, and Adelle Anderson, 32, in Trenton, New Jersey on Wednesday in the murder of Brandy Odom, officials confirmed, according to the Daily News.

The pair, who authorities said operated a prostitution ring, allegedly carried out the gruesome killing in an attempt to cash in on a life insurance policy they’d allegedly taken out in Odom’s name, the newspaper reported.

“These charges arise out of a scheme to fraudulently obtain several life insurance policies in the name of Brandy Odom, a 26-year-old woman, murder her, and then claim benefits under the life insurance policies,” Assistant U.S. Attorney Tanya Hajjar wrote in court papers, the Daily News reported.

Martin and Anderson allegedly took out two separate life insurance policies totaling $200,000 in Odom’s name from the Globe Life Insurance Company and the American National Insurance Company, QNS.com reported.

“The crime was premeditated, gruesome, and motivated by greed,” Hajjar added, according to the New York Post.

The sex worker’s dismembered body was found in Brooklyn’s Canarsie Park in April 2018. She’d been strangled to death, CBS News reported. Detectives later questioned Martin after video emerged of the suspected pimp placing plastic bags — believed to contain Odom’s butchered remains — into the trunk of his car, according to the Daily News. He was later released without charges.

However, a trove of text exchanges between Martin and Anderson, which authorities recovered, allegedly implicated him.

“Insurance place closed today,” Anderson texted Martin, court documents stated. “And that policy is no longer gone be active if I don’t try n do something with that b--ch this week."

Anderson allegedly waited 17 days before contacting the insurance companies about Odom’s death, according to the Daily News.

Both Odom and Anderson allegedly referred to Martin as “Daddy” in text messages investigators seized, court documents said. 

Martin may have also purchased a saw from Home Depot three days before Odom’s remains were discovered, the documents also alleged, the New York Post reported.

News of the arrests was welcomed by the woman’s relatives.

“Are you serious?” Odom’s cousin, Juwana Newman, told the Daily News after learning of the charges. “That is great! Oh my god! That is so great.”

Newman said she hopes that her family can now find some closure after wondering for more than two years what happened to her cousin.

“I’m full of joy right now,” she added. “Although we lost a family member in a crucial situation, my heart does feel a little bit at ease... Two years of emotional pain, not knowing why, why did you do this to her?”

In 2018, Odom’s family criticized detectives for not pinpointing a suspect sooner.

“If she was a little Caucasian girl, would the case move faster?” Nicole Odom said during an interview with the Amsterdam News. “You found a whole dismembered body in the park, and it’s the media who are coming to my door, but the Police Department isn’t telling me anything.”

A $20,000 reward had previously been offered by police for any information leading to the Brooklyn woman’s killers.

At the time, Odom’s mother said New York City police had a “few leads” but insisted that detectives had failed to routinely update her on the case’s developments.

“They are not even calling me to tell me how the case is going, or to check on us,” she claimed.

A spokesperson for the New York City Police Department declined to comment on the case on Friday.

“The investigation is active and ongoing," Detective Sophia Mason told Oxygen.com.

The FBI didn’t respond to multiple requests for comment regarding the case on Friday. 

Martin remains in custody without bail, according to the Post.

Anderson, who was expected to be released on a $200,000 bond this week, will be required to adhere to a curfew, submit to a drug test, and must wear a GPS monitor ahead of trial. The two could face up to 20 years in prison if convicted.