I WILL RUIN YOU-Emilio Corsetti - podcast episode cover

I WILL RUIN YOU-Emilio Corsetti

Apr 01, 20241 hr 9 minEp. 787
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Episode description

Moments before boarding a passenger flight on 11 May 2019 as the first officer, pilot Christian "Kit" Martin, a former army ranger, was arrested by a swarm of heavily armed officers for the murders of three of his neighbors. The arrest captured global attention as Martin's mugshot, clad in a pilot's uniform, spread across the internet, sparking a media firestorm with headlines such as "Monster in the Cockpit."
A combat helicopter pilot, Kit Martin had seen his life unravel after seeking a divorce. His wife's threatening words, "If you leave me, I will ruin your life …," overheard by his daughter, seemed to have become a grim reality, escalating to a court-martial and culminating in a high-stakes murder trial at which he was convicted.
I WILL RUIN YOU: The Twisted Truth Behind the Kit Martin Murder Trial delves into the complex circumstances behind Martin’s story. It looks beyond the sensational headlines and legal turmoil into the heart of this controversial case.
With an investigative journalist’s eye, author Emilio Corsetti III presents the facts of the crime that led to the arrest and the extraordinary lengths used to secure a conviction in this unforgettable true crime page-turner. I WILL RUIN YOU: The Twisted Truth Behind The Kit martin Murder Trial-Emilio Corsetti lll
Ritual.com/Murder Follow and comment on Facebook-TRUE MURDER: The Most Shocking Killers in True Crime History   https://www.facebook.com/profile.php?id=100064697978510Check out TRUE MURDER PODCAST @ truemurderpodcast.com

Transcript

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Speaker 7

Good evening moments before boarding a passenger flight. On May eleventh, twenty nineteen, as the first officer pilot, Christian kit Martin, a former Army ranger, was arrested by a swarm of heavily armed officers for the murders of three of his neighbors. The arrest captured global attention as Martin's mugshot clad in a pilot's uniform, spread across the Internet, sparking a media firestorm with headlines such as monster in the cockpit a

combat helicopter pilot. Kit Martin had seen his life unravel after seeking a divorce. His wife's threatening words if you leave me, I will ruin your life, overheard by his daughter, seemed to have become a grim reality, escalating to a court martial and culminating in a high stakes murder trial at which he was convicted. I Will Ruin You The Twisted Truth behind the Kit Martin Murder Trial delves into

the complex circumstances behind Martin's story. It looks beyond the sensational headlines and legal turmoil into the heart of this controversial case. With an investigative journalist's I author Emilio Corsetti the Third presents the facts of the crime that led to the arrest and the extraordinary links used to secure a conviction in this unforgettable true crime page turner. The book that we're featuring this evening is I Will Ruin You The Twisted Truth behind the Kit Martin Murder Trial

with my special guest author, Emilio Corsetti the Third. Good evening and welcome to the program. Emilio Corsetti the Third.

Speaker 4

Yes, yes, thanks you for having me.

Speaker 7

Thank you so much, and congratulations on this book.

Speaker 4

Thank you.

Speaker 7

Let's talk about right away the cast of characters that you introduce and the the location where all of this emanates from. Talk about in County Pembroke, Kentucky.

Speaker 4

Well, the book starts off with a specific date, and that date to September five, September fifth, twenty twelve, and the reason it starts off with that date is because everything that transpired for the next ten fifteen years, while ten years occurred on that date and at the time, Kitt was living in Pembroke in the house that's become known as the Yellow House. They were living in the Yellow House in Pembroke, which is a small rural town

in the southwestern corner of the state. Kit was his daughter, Mackenzie was living in the house, and then Joan, his wife, and her three kids, e j, Alma, and Essie were

all living together. But on this particular night, things and reached the point where there was an argument, and that argument led to it asking for a divorce, and that set everything in motion because Jones's response from that statement was that she was going to ruin his life and his military career by accusing him of abuse and adding that she knew how to do it, and she certainly did, you.

Speaker 7

Say, this story seems to evolve and she asks for information. She's in a particular situation if there is going to be a divorce, financial dire straits. So she's asking some questions while she's just beginning to make allegations and just beginning for her to be asked if she wants some assistance from police. Tell us about that.

Speaker 4

Well. So on that night of the September fifth, twenty twelve, when Joan makes her threat, drawing his military career in his life by accusing him of abuse, it makes the decision. He basically says, Okay, if you want to accuse me of abuse, I'll call the police and you can make your accusation right now. So that's what he did. He called the police, and then moments later Joan got on the phone and she called nine to one one accusing

it of domestic abuse. So that night the police three officers arrived at the scene and it was decided that Kit and his daughter Mackenzie would leave the residence. And

then Joan declined any medical help. She declined going to a abuse center for abused women, but later that evening she had a change of heart and she decided to go to this abuse center because it would make her claims more credible, and her and her three kids left the house in Pembroke and went to the shelter in Hopkinsville, Kentucky.

Speaker 7

Now tell us about Joan her history as far as hit Martin is concerned, and the circumstances in which he met her and the situation that he believed that she was in at the time that they did meet.

Speaker 4

So John came into the picture after his divorce from his first wife, Stacy. So Kit wasn't someone who did a lot of dating, and he put a personal ad. That's how he found is his second his fiancee also is the personal ad. But he put personal ad in the paper and Joan was one of the women who responded to that ad. When they met. Joan told this

elaborate story. How not on the night that they met, but within weeks of meeting, Joan came up with the story that she was being abused by her husband and that she felt threatened by him and that he was abusing her children. And so Getting made the decision to help her move out of what he thought was her apartment because her as Joan had told him that her

ex her husband was stalking her. So he helped to move Joan and their three kids into a rental property that he co owned with his wife, his ex wife, Stacy. So that's how that relationship went. And I at one point, at that point, actually the kid had decided that he wasn't going to have a relationship with this woman, but he was going to help her in her in those three kids, because he felt he believed that she was being abused and that her husband was stalking her, her

ex husband, as she explained it. But as it turns out, and he would learn this later on, not only was Carlo's her her ex husband, she was still married to him. In the apartment that Kit had helped her move out of, it was actually there combined their shared living space. So they did this while he was at work. So the whole thing was was a lie.

Speaker 7

You say that Kit realizes the combination of her stories and inconsistencies and just her overall seemed like her lying behavior, and wanted to break up with her. He but you say that she got him back by talking about that her brother had died in Iraq, So you know, and I.

Speaker 4

Still have not been able to verify the veracity of that story. But what happened was, I guess Joan had sensed that that Kit wasn't going to be in the picture, so she I don't know if it may very well be true. I had some information that indicates that it may be true that her brother died in Iraq, and Kit had decided to meet up with Joan to console her, and then that rekindled the relationship. Then the next thing that happened was that Kit was deciding he wanted to

get back into the mill. At that time when they met, he was just in the reserve full time military, but since he was divorced and free to do whatever he wanted to do, at that point, he made a decision he was in to go back into the military full time, but at that particular time period, if he did go back into the military full time, there was a real high probability that he would be sent overseas. And by this time Kid had come attached to Jones's children, especially

the two young girls. So he made a kind of a rass decision, and they went to the courthouse designed to get the paperwork for getting married, and they ended up signing the paperwork and finalizing the marriage right there at the clerk's office. And so he was shipped off to do some military work I think for six months to a year, and then they went to Germany, just as he did thought he was going to.

Speaker 7

Be you say. They came back to the US in twenty ten and they moved to Rhode Island and Kit pursues a master's degree in National Defense at the Navy War College. Right now they have a house in Pembroke, Kentucky. But what is the marriage characterized by, especially in terms of her behavior and who is she seemed to be spending a lot of time with.

Speaker 4

Well, they they haven't spent a lot of time before they got married. And then because of his full time military commitments and when they went overseas to Germany, Kit spent he had three tours of duty in Iraq. One was on it as a ground was on the ground, and then two tours were as an Apache attack helicopter pilot, so he was gone a lot of the time. And when he was home, he was only home for a few months before he was shipped off for another tour

of duty. So they hadn't spent that much time together. And then when he went to Rhode Island, he was going to school full time at the War College. So their time in Pembroke, which they would have started moved to Pembroke, I guess in twenty eleven. It was the first time that they actually spent some time together. And I actually mentioned that The Pembroke is a very short drive from Fort Campbell, Kentucky, where Kit was based with

the one hundred and first Airborne Division. So that was when things had started to sour long before that, but by now though, it was a constant attention in the relationship, and it was as witnessed by Kits daughter McKenzie.

Speaker 7

So you introduced a neighbor, Calvin Phillips, So tell us what the word is or the rumor is around So John, she was a homemaker.

Speaker 4

She she didn't work. That was a source of frustration and arguments, the fact that Kit was the sole provider. But I mean she was maintaining the household. But while Kit was at Fort Campbell, she would often spend time with the neighbor across the street, Calvin Phillips, and his wife, Pam Phillips, was someone who also spent the day working at a bank. She was a compliance officer at a bank in Hopkins of the Old Kentucky. So while Kit was at Fort Campbell and Pam was at the bank,

Calvin and Joan spent a lot of time together. And there were some suspicions that before this whole argument, that there was something really going On, But the truth of that relationship, some of the facts that relationship wouldn't come out till after this big argument on September twelve or September fifth, twenty twelve.

Speaker 7

Let's talk about what happens after that, again getting back to Joan, where she complains what information she finds out in terms of potential aid or her Now she's in dire financial straits, so what's the information that she learns? And then now what is the story that she is alleging happened?

Speaker 4

Okay, So when Joan issued her threat to ruin his life by accusing him of abuse, the evidence points to the fact that she had just been waiting for an opportunity to introduce these images that she had taken of her son, Elijah Harmon, who had some injuries to his back, to his neck, and to the side of his face, which she claimed was caused by a beating from Kit over an incident that happened when he was in Rhode Island.

So that was she had just been waiting. Actually, in the weeks before this this argument that led to Kit asking for a divorce, Joan had been showing these pictures all over the place. She would anybody that she came in contact. She was showing these pictures trying to show that her husband had abused her, her child, and she had the proof to show for it, right, She had these images. And so when everything got set in motion, when kid asked for a divorce, Joan was already she

had everything planned out. She knew exactly what she had to do. She had to contact the Child Protective Services on the civil side, and she had to contact the child obviously program with the military to get things rolling on that side. And she let everybody know about these images because that was really the only proof other than what the kids would actually say once they were questioned

by investigators. And at some point it was cleared by civilian investigators from any kind of abuse with the children, but there was there was multiple investigations actually that resulted from both these pictures that Joan had of alleged abuse and some computer a laptop computer and some CDs that were labeled with the top secret and Kit's name on him,

and that was handed over to the FBI. The FBI handed it over to the military, and then another investigation was started about Kit potentially being an international spy, so he had all these things he was you know, he spent all his time trying to put out all these fires that Joan was starting in her goal of trying to win his military career in his life, and things progressed from just a simple slap on the risk because he had this classified information on this computer which did

belong to him, and it did contain classified information. But there is a story behind that, and kid denied beating ej Elijah or the two girls, but when the investigators came to question the kids, they basically they basically said, yeah,

he's like the worst person in the world. And that that thing moved things further from just a slap on the wrist to eventually not only was he facing a court martial, but because of the way things developed in this particular case, with accusations building on top of accusations on top of accusations, he was facing up to fifty eight years in prison and military prison for sexual assault.

Because at one t point when Joan felt well, see when the news the news broke that Joan wasn't legally married to Kit because she was still legally married to her first husband, Carlos. That threw a wrench into Joan's plans of getting military assistants because now she was not the spouse, the legal spouse of a military member. So knowing that she couldn't get military assistants, she couldn't collect

on his retirement. She wasn't able to get any kind of got offense from the military over these child abuse claims because they were married. But what she could do without being married is accused him of sexual assault, which was another accusation that she brought on almost eighteen months later, after she had asked for a divorce, after investigators had already questioned her repeatedly multiple times, is there anything else do you want to tell us? Is there anything else

you want to tell us? But you know, so now she accused, accused Kit of sexual assault while they were married. And you know, I can't prove this, and I don't know if this was the motivation or not, but you can collect benefits military benefits in a sexual assault even if you weren't married to that person. It happens all the time.

Speaker 7

Now, who is questioning this narrative from Joan? And as a result, who do they want to question specifically?

Speaker 4

Well, okay, so John makes an accusation that Kit is responsible for child abuse. She has these images of EJ, but the b him is she has nothing to back it up other than what her three kids are saying and what she's saying, right, she never filed any kind of police reports. You would assume that if EJ had received this beating that left all these marks on his body, that she would have have had medical attention, she would have filed charges accused him of abuse at that time.

But she didn't do that. So investigators were going looking for collaboration of this abuse and they weren't finding it. They did everything. They questioned neighbors and co workers in Germany, and military members in Germany who worked with Kit and new Joan. They they questioned neighbors that lived with near Kit in Rhode Island. They questioned and you know about a year after the divorce that the kid had asked for a divorce from Joan. He met another woman online, Laura.

So you know, investigators came up with this this lie that they wanted to do a security search of the house and that the Kit knew about it. Well, not only did Kit not know about it, but he was being detained on base. Why they conducted this basically illegal search and The reason they were doing this search is because among the accusations between Joan and our kids was that kid had used a bamboos stick in a room

and whip and whenever he beat the kids. So they went there to question Laura under the guise of doing a security check, and in reality they had another ulterior motive, which was to find evidence of this bamboo stick or this woman whip, which they didn't find. And in addition to that, they interviewed Laura and her two kids, and they when they interviewed the Jones three kids, they interviewed

him as a group. Now, speaking of the book The Edge of Doubt, which involves child abuse, one of the things that you do is that you interview the children separately, right, right, But they interviewed him as a group, and they made statements that contradicted later statements. But when they interviewed Laura and her two kids, they denied that there was any abuse. There was no sexual misconduct between Kit and the ER's daughter. They also interviewed kids children, two kids, and of course

there was no abuse alleged there. So despite their efforts, they were unable to find any corroborating evidence of abuse. That's sort of where Calvin comes in and to play in this whole scheme. This whole story is because Calvin and Joan together brought the the laptop and the CDs to the FBI. They were interested in Calvin because of his his connection to the to that that classified information, and when they called to Joan had apparently had made

copies of these alleged abuse images. And when the investigators investigating the classified materials called Calvin to ask him more about this classified information and how he came about finding it, Calvin had made a statement that he had these pictures of alleged abuse of EJ. And then that elevated what was like I said, it was supposed to be a simple Article fifteen in the military, which is a slap on the risk for mishandling classified information into much more

serious charges of child abuse Calvin. As things progressed and they were unable to corroborate Jones's accusations, they started to rely more on Calvin as opposed to Joan because as the investigation progressed, they learned that Joan had learned and lied about the father of EJ, who she had claimed had died in a logging accident. And had been beheaded, and all that turned out to not be true. Then Joan had lied about being divorced from her husband Carlos.

Not only was that not true, but she had taken her two young girls and EJ and moved without modification of where she was going, and Carlos was unable to locate her and had not seen his two girls for over ten years. So Jones Jones' credibility had slowly been going down in the minds of the Jag prosecutors. Their decision was they were going to rely on Calvin to

be their star witness. The problem with their their plan, though, is that Kid had hired a private investigator, and the private investigator was the one who found out about the fact that Joan wasn't divorced. He hired another private investigator who learned that J's flather had not died in a logging accident. The private investigator he had there were two.

They went and interviewed Calvin, actually there was there was a very lengthy interview that Calvin agreed to do that that took place actually in Pmbroke in front of his house,

under the tree in his front yard. In that interview, Calvin made statements that he was not aware of Joan had never said anything to him about being sexually assaulted, Joan had never said anything about him abusing the girls in a sexual way, and his only corroboration of abuse was these pictures which was given to him by Joan.

So when and then there was also the That's affair, and when Calvin denied it once there was there was evidence that that pointed to the fact that there was an a fair at least there was some sexual at least two witnesses had caught them in the act, So

it's hard to deny that. But Calvin's statements that he wasn't he Joan had never said anything about a sexual assault or child abuse of the of the girls was it was very important to kids case in what turned out to be a court martial because Calvin could say that, you know, he can deny that Joan had ever said anything about abuse, even though they were so close together in a relationship. So that's how Calvin became a witness not only for the the jack prosecutors, but for its

defense in the court martial. And then as things progressed, the JAG prosecutors had set a plan in motion. Because Joan was such an unreliable witness and her accusation, specially of sexual assault, would not hold up under questioning. They decided that they were going to keep Joan on the rope, on one.

Speaker 8

Hand, letting her think believe that she was going to succeed in her goal of boining Kit's life by putting him in prison for fifty plus years for sexual assault, while on the other hand telling Kit that they were going ahead with these sexual assault chargers when they had been found discussing this case in another proceeding where they had claimed that they weren't going to call Joan Is a witness because she was not a credible witness.

Speaker 4

Even though everything, all the accusations against Kit had originated with Joan. Right, child abuse originated with Joan, the sexual assault originated with Joan. The laptop was in Joan's care, the CDs were in Joan's care. But so even though she was the originator of all of these these evidence, and she had the images of the alleged abuse, they weren't going to use her as a witness. They were

going to use Calvin as a witness. You had the Jack prosecutors wanting to use Calvin as a witness, and then you had Kit wanting to use Calvin as a witness because he can deny that Joan had ever said anything about abuse. So now we're getting into to November of twenty fifteen.

Speaker 7

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and then we have November eighteenth. But before that, in the book, you talk about something that happens and we'll just mention it because it's very I think it's very important. But something happens previous in the summer June twenty eight, two thy and fifteen, and there is a connection to Joan and this home invasion. Tell us about that home invasion before we talk about what happens November eighteenth.

Speaker 4

Yeah, So the incident you're talking about is a John was running a house from this couple, this minnon night couple, and there was an home invasion early in the morning at three or four am, and there was a husband and a wife, an elderly man and woman, and they were both beaten. The husband died from his injuries, and then the woman was so severely beaten that she suffered

brain damage. And now, like I said, Joan was running a house from that that couple, and within days of this incident, her co workers had noticed that she had been scourging on a new car, not an actual new car, but a new car for her and she had been boasting about buying new clothes and buying new furniture for her house. And it was her co workers who suspected that she had some involvement because she apparently was close

to this couple and they knew her children. And so that's that story, that connection area, and that murder was still unsolved right. But now in November, early November of twenty fifteen, that the court marshall is scheduled for December first, twenty fifteen, and so it's getting close. Everybody is the

Fort marshall has come and gone. The dates have been changed and postponed and put moved several times, but now it's scheduled for December first, and Kate receives a visit from an investigator that he's been working with on this for well over a couple of years and he was very familiar with the case, Michael Konzaki. So Michael ends up driving from California to deliver a car to his son who's returning from overseas deployment to Fort Campbell. I

think he was returning his truck. So and at that time Michael Kanzaki decided well offered to let him stay at his house, so he did. He stayed at his

house for like two weeks. But before he was getting ready to leave, they made a decision that they were going to go back and try to interview Calvin again to see if they can get because the statements about where they found, how they found the laptop and the discs and when they found it and who found it there were contradictory statements and they wanted to get it

on tape about that particular issue. So Michael Konzaki and Mary Martin's, a private investigator who had been working on the case for kit also for well over a year and a half, they decided that they're going to do like an ambush type interview with Calvin at his home. So they go to Calvin and you know, they question about the laptop, and by now it's getting everybody's on edge. I mean Calvin is on edge because he's he realizes what kid is up against and his way and everything.

So he's uptight about it and feeling pressure, and he makes statements to other people which are used later in a trial about being concerned about what Kit Martin might do as a result of this court martial and his testimony. But they also confronted him about the alleged affair between him and Joan. And when they confront him about it and they say that it's going to come out and trial at the court martial trial, Calvin doesn't deny that there was a relationship. His response was, so what, So

they have that on tape. Let's go to the date that you had mentioned, which is November eighteenth, twenty fifteen. So they they do the recorded interview on November second, twenty fifteen. There's this comfort alleged confrontation between Calvin and Joan. A day or two after that, and then on November

eighteenth November nineteenth, twenty fifteen. The first evidence that a crime had been committed was a neighbor had noticed smoke coming from a farm field from John Homick, John Homick's farm, and as he pulled closer to where he saw the smoke, he realized that it was a vehicle that was on fire. It had been on fire, I was still smoking. So

they called the fire department. The fire department comes and then they discovered that their skeletal remains of two people inside that vehicle in this farm field, and the license plate to the vehicle identifies the owner of the choir's, Pam Phillips. So they immediately go to the Phillips residence, which is right across the street from from Kitts Home Patty Corner, and eventually, after they get a TANNA search warrant, they discovered that Calvin was murdered and his body was

found in the basement of the house. So now there's there's three homicides, Calvin and Pam Phillips and neighbor at Dansroe. So that's that's the crime that takes place, and suspicion falls on Kit almost immediately because very conveniently, as investigators are going through the house, the the the Phillips's house. They get to the second floor and as they get to the landing right in front on a on a desk and the landing or to subpoenas for Calvin Phillips

to testify in a court mark. So they called the Fort Campbell and they talked to the JAG prosecutors and then the CID agents, criminal Investigation Division agents, everybody who's been working on this case for the past two years trying to get this court martial of Kit Martin. They come to the crime scene when everybody is pointing the finger to Kit. He's military training, he had Army ranger training. He has multiple weapons in his house, including the two

types of firearms that were used in the homicide. And then there's the fact that Calvin was going to testify

in his court martial. While the initial investigation was the investigators were open minded about who may have committed this crime, it wasn't long before they formed a tunnel vision on Kit Martin and they focused all of their efforts and energy on trying to prove that Kit Martin had committed these three murders, and they did so by discarding a sculpatory evidence and trying to explain away evidence that didn't fit their theory, which is basically what tunnel vision is.

Speaker 7

You're right about how complicated it gets in terms of he has alibi witnesses, and it comes down to you explain, according to witnesses, when this crime was to occur around two am, and then would it would take for the officials to say that and conclude that his wife Laura was absolutely lying on her husband's behalf in this case.

Speaker 4

Okay, so they were there were few crimes, well, let's make it three crimes committed at different times of the day, all right, So they they're pretty confident that Calvin was was murdered sometime between seven am and say nine to thirty AM. And the reason that there they narrowed that window the seven I believe that's close to the time seven to nine thirty because that's when Kit was around at home. The Jones two kids had gone to school, and Laura had left for work very early that morning.

So Kit was aroun at home right across the street from seven o'clock to like nine o'clock, nine fifteen whatever that he left to go to work before camp. The other part of this timeline is that that Fridays, So this was a Wednesday, and on Friday, Calvin and Pam were celebrating a wedding anniversary and their son Matt had bought them a washing machine for their wedding anniversary, and that washing machine was supposed to be delivered on November

eighteenth between ten am and noo. Now, when the delivery truck drivers or the driver of the delivery truck arrived at the Phillips' house at around ten forty am, there was no They couldn't get any contact with Calvin. And they also called Pam and at the work and said that they were unable to get Calvin on the phone. So they were going to have to reach schedule this

delivery of this Washington, Washington truck or washing machine. So that's the timeline when they believe that that Calvin was murdered, which it's in that level. It was definitely before it was after Pam left for work at six something, and it was before the delivery truck drivers left at or arrived at ten forty. Assuming that Calvin wasn't being held at gunpoint, let's say, all right, so we're assuming that

he had been murdered. Now, Pam is at work at Dangroll's in Bowling Green and he's driving home to Pembroke. At this time at Danswell, the neighbor who lives right across the street, not across the street, but right across from the Phillips's house gets home on three something three forty three forty five Pam. She's trying to get about Calvin to find out why he wasn't there when the

delivery truck driver showed up. So Pam was someone who was usually like the first to arrive at work in the last lead, but in this particular day, because she she was she wanted to find out what was going on with Calvin. She decided that she was going to leave early on work early, so she at five o'clock she decides she's going to leave work, and she's leaving for work. She gets in her car and there was a career arker was taking a picture of the sunset and Pam drove by and asked if she would take

her picture. That's the last picture of Pam Furdles in the car that would be found the next day a set of blaze. So Pam leaves for work a little l after five, she gets home and she's she calls the neighbor at Dan's roll if you seen Calvin, and you know Ed's been a retted to the fact that you know Pam is looking for Calvin, so he's he's kind of looking out for her for him. And she plays back a message on her answering machine and it's from a friend that would called, who had also been to

the house looking for cal with no success. And while she was on the phone with this this family friend, the family friend says that Pam said, hold on a second, I think I see something, And then after that she said she heard a scream, but she didn't. She said it wasn't really a scream. It was like she was started by something. And Pam never came back on the phone.

She never said anything about hearing gunshots. But what we do know is that at around five thirty pm November eighteen, twenty fifteen, Pam was shot and with a twenty two

caliber gun. What we also know is that at Dangero's, who was preparing dinner and whose kitchen window looked out right across to the back porch area in the back of the Phillips's house, saw or heard something that aligned him to the point where he grabbed his phone in a pistol and he ran out of his door, headed over to the Phillips house and as he rounded a wooden privacy fence that was between the two residences, he

was shot. We know that because his phone in s a blood was found in that area, and then he works his way along this privacy fence to the backyard of the Phillips' house where he was shot again in the head. And we know that because there was blood and his pistols found sixty yards from where the phone was charge it was found. So we know that this crime took place at around five point thirty pm. Now here's the interesting thing about this whole trying to fit

the evidence to your theory. Right. So, Kit Martin, for reasons for his own security, had installed security cameras around his house, so his movements in and out of the house we recorded that entire day and the entire next day. The only thing was that he didn't have a camera in the front of the house, which would have caught the front door, because they never used the front door.

The door had been warped because the house had gone unsold for two years without heat, and the front door that was not functioning properly, a doorstop that they used to put pressure on the door, that they added some extra bolt locks to keep the door in the frame, and he actually nail the top of the door into the frame, all in an effort to straighten this door out right, because the prosecution would turn this, all of this evidence around because they didn't fit their theory. Right.

But here's the thing. So the security footage shows that at five twenty three pm that day, November eighteen, twenty fifteen, More's two kids, Austin and Emma. They're going to a group dinner with some other kids at school. Right, they go to a religious school called the Christian and Academy.

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Let's get to the trial of Kit Martin.

Speaker 4

Okay, So what's important to know about the trial is before the trial, and even well before there was a trial, there was a grand jury hearing, all right, And that grand jury hearing was on May tenth, twenty nineteen. And at that hearing, the lead investigator testified that Pam Phillips's phone and kitchphone we're traveling well. First of all, he testified that the two phone that kitschphone was at the scene of We're on Rosetown Road where the car was burnt.

That was one thing he said. The next thing he said was that pans bone and the kitchbone were traveling together south to Fort Camp. All right, if you're in a grand jury and and you're you're hearing testimony from the lead detective who says that the victim's phone was traveling with the defendant, I mean, that's pretty much a slam dunk. But it turns out that all of that

testimony was false. It wasn't true, and so they had asked for a dismissal just based on that, because you know, they they basically got a murder indictment based on false testimony. Now there was another piece of evidence, and that was a shellcasing, which plays a point and ball in this whole, in this whole story, in this in this trial. So the green jury testimony was false. That led to the murder, the the indictment, and then it kids a rest at the Rue Roy airport the next day, on May eleventh.

This happened right just before you know, it's twenty nineteen, it's just before COVID hits. So now there's delaying the murder trial. He waits two years in jail, he can't get bond. He waited two years in jail for the murder trial. But so before, as we're getting closer to the trial, it's becoming evidence evident to the prosecution that they don't really have a case. All they have is it is this shellcasing that was covered on the back porch that two ballistic experts had testified did come from

Kits Block forty five. So that was the other piece of evidence that the grand jury had, other than the false testimony about the cell phones. But it even not evidence wasn't a slam dunk because while the shellcasing matched the forty five caliber gun, the bullets that were recovered from the body of Calvin Phillips couldn't be positively matched to his Block forty five. In fact, it was leaning

towards the fact. In fact, the defense ballistics expert his testimony was that it was unlikely that Kit's Block forty five fired the bullets that killed Galvin Phillips. So it

certainly wasn't a slam dunk. But before the trial even began, the prosecution offered Kit a plea deal all he had to do was plead complicity to murder and they would give him between I think it was five to fifteen years if he did that, right, Okay, so you're talking about killing three people and you're going to give the guy five to fifteen years for that crime, and of course Kit declined because he didn't have anything to do

with it. So now they go to the trial and the evidence that they have is contradicted by the alibi witnesses, which you'd already mentioned. Right, So remember we'd said that the murders of Pam Phillips and ed Dansrou had occurred at five point thirty pm. Well at five twenty three pm, like I said, Boston and Emma, Laura's children had left to go to this group dinner. Okay, it's five twenty three pm. Kit and Laura are home alone. They have the house to themselves, and they happen to be celebrating

an anniversary. And we know that because of testimony, but we also know that kid had brought roses home for Laura. Right, So it's five twenty three pm. Now, if you believe the prosecutors theory, the kids are out of the house. They're getting ready they have the home to themselves. They're going to celebrate the anniversary. But Kit disappears and goes across the street and kills two people. Then he comes back to the house and Laura doesn't notice that anything

is amiss. And then the third part of the crime occurs at two am when the car was set on fire. And we know that because there are two witnesses that heard two explosions and one witness who saw the flames at two am. Well, we have three people now at the house in Pembroke that are home. We have Laura,

Emma and Austin. So to believe the prosecution theory, you have to believe that Kit got up at ten am because he had his alarm set for that, then went out through the front door, which they never proved functioned properly, and roaded two bodies by himself into a car and drove it to a farm fill, set it on fire, walked four miles back to the crime scene, got into ed dangerous car, drove it to Elkton, Kentucky, where Joan lived, and threw Pam Phillips's phone into her front yard, drove

back barked Edge's car four blocks away, walked home, got into bed, and nobody in the house noticed anything amiss. And the very next day spent most of the day with Laura's daughter Emma, driving to her horse driving horse lessons, horse riding lessons. So yeah, and the whole story as far as how this that's the theory that the prosecution laid out.

Speaker 9

But without giving stuff away, the whole theory of the crime, they didn't actually present it to the jury until closing arguments.

Speaker 4

And you would say, well, how can you do a two week murder trial and not present a theory of the crime until the closing arguments on the last day of the trial. And the reason is is because everything points to multiple individuals involved in this crime. Right, There were two different weapons that were used, there were bodies that were loaded into a car, there were two cars

that were moved from the crime scene. Even the prosecution admitted that there were circumstantial evidence that there were more than one person was involved, but at no time they identify a second person. So on the day before the evening before the closing arguments, the defense had argued because the original charges were that he was charged with complicity to commit murder either by himself or with the aid

of others. That was the original charges, and the defense argued successfully that at no point during the trial had they brought forth evidence of another individual. So the prosecution's plan all along, for all these holes in their case was to say, well, he had help, and that's why we're charging him with complicity. We haven't identified this who helped him, but that's why we're charging him with complicity because we all know that more than one person was involved.

But the judge agreed with the defense and said, you know what, you can no longer argue complicity. So now they had to come up. They had to make up this this whole stupid theory of the crime or how this how this thing took place on the spur of the moment on the last day of the trial, and it doesn't hold up. I mean, it's it's completely disproven simply just by the phone evidence of Pam Phillips's phone.

Because Pam Phillips's phone pinged off a tower that indicated that that phone was in the Pembroke area the day after the murders, they could not have been laying in

the front yard of Joan Martin as she claimed. And not only that, later in the day in the evening, the phone pinged off another cell tower even further east of Elton, Kentucky, where Joan lived, indicating that the phone was moving in movement somehow and not laying in the front yard as was claimed by the prosecution and by Joan Martin, who pled the fifth the trial and never testify.

Speaker 7

How important was it that the judge allowed witnesses to say what they had Kit had said or what they had heard Kit had said.

Speaker 4

So I mentioned earlier that as the build up to the court martial, everybody was on edge. Kit was on edge, law was on edge. They weren't sleeping. Well, Calvin expressed his concern you know what ramification might be if Kit was court martial and this evidence of this alleged affair. You know, he rightfully was concerned, and he expressed that concern to a number of individuals, and Pam Phillips also expressed her concern to another person individual coworker at the bank. Well,

typically that's hearsay evidence. It's not allowed in a trial, but in this case, the judge made the decision and it's it's explained in the book how this came about. But he used to a person of the law called forfeiture by wrongdoing, being if you kill somebody so they don't testify, you can no longer claim that it's hearsay evidence because you forfeited that right because you kill them. And all it's needed for this while to be applied

is what's called ponderance of evidence. So the judge, even though the trial had not begun and the evidence had not been challenged in front of a jury, it had been discussed in pre trial hearings. I will say that him made He made the ruling that this hearsay evidence was going to be allowed because of forfeiture by wrongdoing, and the preponderance of the evidence was that kid had killed these three people, at least Calvin Fils, to prevent

him from testifying in the court martial. So it's a very complicated issue, this whole hearsay thing, but it certainly was detrimental to his case, and he was convicted in this trial, and the hearsay evidence played an important role

in it. But what really played an important role is that there was so much deception that the prosecution used throughout the trial that by the time I actually interviewed one of the drawers, he had no clue about the prosecution's theory because like when I told him what the prosecution theory was, he said, well, that sounds implausible, and then he tried to make excuses about the phone movement, and then he had he had basic details about the

case wrong, important details about the case. For example, the bullets that were used to kill Calvin Fields, who were a very specially designed bullet called a RIPG two research

around right. It was designed so that when it entered the body, it would break into eight different parts, So you had eight different pedals what's called Troy cars, separating from the bullet traveling through the body trust the bullet base right, And Calvin received five shots with this ammunition, this rip ammunition, But they never found of all the ammunition that it had at his residence, in his truck. They never found any evidence that he had this type

of ammunition, this very specialized ammunition. When I testified, when I interviewed one of the jurors, I told him that he said, no, I think I remember seeing a picture of that ammunition in the back of his truck. All right, Well, that was part of the deception that was the prosecution had done early on in this trial where they served a bunch of pictures that were seemingly incriminating, it actually had no connection to the case. And one of those pictures was a box of ammunition in the back of

his truck. It was forty five caliber ammunition and there was also a twenty two caliber magazine. All right, well before it got to the picture that had already stated that Pimela and at Damswel were killed by twenty two rounds and Callen Phillis was killed by a forty five round And here we are was showing a picture of both types of ammunition in the back of his truck, and the ammunition box on the back of the truck said something like prim or something. What it wasn't was

the gig two research rounds. But in this drawer's mind, and I don't know if he expressed the same miss identification of this important evidence, but he in his mind, he thought that he had that ammunition in the back of his truck and he did not, And that was that's a crucial piece of evidence because it's such a unique piece of ammunition that if he did have that ammunition, it will mean further towards the points that maybe he did this because the shell facing match is glock forty

five and now here is that rare ammunition in the back of his truck. So it just goes to show you that, you know, even though these people sat, these drawers, sat in this week and this trial for two plus weeks, the whole prosecution theory of what happened wasn't thrown on them until the very last day closing arguments, and none of them put on connected the dots.

Speaker 7

Yes, absolutely, I want to thank you so much for coming on and talking about I Will Ruin You The Twisted Truth behind the Kit Martin murder Trial. For those that might want to check out more about the story, can you tell us about a website or any social media you do?

Speaker 4

Yes, if you go to Emeliocorsetti dot com E M I, L I O C R S E T T I dot com, you'll find all the information about this this story, all of the posts I made during the two years two and a half years of research that I did. Letus, you'll find all the social media links on that website.

Speaker 7

Thank you so much. I Will ruin You, Amelia Corsetti. The third The Twisted Truth behind the Kit Martin murder trial. Thank you very much for this interview, and good night.

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