Two people arrested in dismemberment death of Brooklyn woman

Brandy Odom was murdered and her remains were found in a Brooklyn park in 2018

Nov 6, 2020

This week investigators made two arrests in one of New York City’s most notorious unsolved murders in which a woman’s head, torso and limbs were all found in a Brooklyn park in 2018.

Wednesday, FBI agents arrested Cory Martin, 33, and Adelle Anderson, 32, in New Jersey. The Affidavit and Complaint in Support of Application for Arrest Warrants states that federal prosecutors in the U.S. District Court in the Eastern District of New York believe the duo conspired to kill and dismember Brandy Odom, 26, and then committed fraud by collecting $200,000 worth of life insurance policies they’d set up in her name.

Brandy Odom thegrio.com — (Credit: Brandy Odom)

As a result, Martin and Anderson have been charged with wire fraud and aggravated identity theft in connection to Odom’s death. They face up to 22 years in prison if convicted.

Authorities say Odom lived with the couple and from March 2017 through August 2018. They allegedly planned the gruesome murder meticulously, paying the premiums on fraudulent life insurance policies they started in Odom’s name. Martin allegedly killed the victim by strangling her and then cutting up her body with a saw. She died of homicidal asphyxia and after her death, her arms were severed at the elbows and both legs were severed at the hips.

Prosecutors allege in court documents that her remains were then scattered in Canarsie park and discovered by a woman walking her dog on April 9, 2018, who came upon Odom’s torso.

“As I went in the path and looked to the left, I saw something resembling a garbage bag,” Patricia Smith said at the time. “But as I went by and looked back and looked again, I realized it was a body that was dismembered and then I just took off running.”

In December 2017, Martin and Anderson allegedly exchanged text messages about the life insurance policies.

“Insurance place closed today,” Anderson allegedly texted Martin. “And that policy is no longer gone be active if j don’t try n do something with that bitch this week.”

Odom’s death was recently described as a “disregard” for human life according to an official.

“The murder of Brandy Odom and the subsequent dismemberment and disposal of her body reflects Martin’s utter disregard for human life,” Assistant U.S. Attorney for the Eastern District of New York Tanya Hajjar wrote in a Nov. 4 letter to the U.S. Magistrate Judge in the United States District Court in Brooklyn. “The crime was premeditated, gruesome, and motivated by greed.”

Martin is being held without bail and Anderson was released on a $200,000 bond with restrictions.

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