Former American Airlines pilot Christian “Kit” Martin was arrested in May 2019 as he was about to fly a plane out of Louisville, Kentucky. It was the culmination of a four-year investigation.
A former commercial airline pilot is on trial for a gruesome triple murder of three neighbors in 2015.
Christian “Kit” Martin was arrested in May 2019 as he was about to fly a plane out of Kentucky. He was still wearing his American Airlines uniform when his jailhouse mugshot was taken.
Before he was an airline pilot, Martin was a combat hero pilot and member of the elite Army Rangers unit. His dramatic arrest was the culmination of a four-year investigation.
Martin is accused of killing the neighbors, including married couple Calvin and Pamela Phillips, allegedly to prevent Calvin from testifying against him in a court martial. The third victim, Ed Dansereau, was killed because he was in the wrong place at the wrong time, according to prosecutors.
Calvin Phillips was found shot dead in the basement of his home. The other two bodies were found charred beyond recognition in a car in a field.
Martin claims that his ex-wife is trying to frame him for the murders.
“That's the allegation from the defense — that Joan Harmon, this woman who was a jilted ex. The defense says that she, in the last interaction with her ex-husband, said that she would ruin his life and that she knew how to do it. But the jury is not going to hear from here because she has pled the fifth,” Court TV’s Julia Jenae told Inside Edition.
Matt Philips is the son of the slain couple.
“I’m very much looking forward to seeing this trial convey exactly who he is and have him defend his actions. I don’t think it’s going to go well for him,” Matt said.
The former pilot’s attorney says the bullets that killed the victims didn't come from his gun. If convicted, he could get the death penalty.
