A pilot accused of killing three people reportedly interviewed that a victim had an affair with his "bigamist" ex-wife

May 13, 2019, 21:16 UTC

By Elisha Fieldstadt

The plane pilot stopped over the weekend and accused of killing three people in Kentucky in 2015 had said in an interview a few months later that he had no motive for the murder, one of his alleged victims being his "defense witness" in court for sexual assault. -Martial he was facing.

PSA Airlines pilot Christian Richard Martin, 51, was arrested Saturday at the Muhammad Ali International Airport in Louisville and charged with murder, a fire chief, an attempt to Arson, first-degree burglary and three counts of falsification of material evidence.

He is accused of murdering his neighbors, the married couple Calvin and Pamela Phillips, and Edward Dansereau.

Calvin Phillips was fatally shot dead at his home in Pembroke, Kentucky, Attorney General Andy Beshear said on Saturday. The bodies of Pamela Phillips and Dansereau were found in Calvin Phillips' car, which had been burned in a cornfield a few kilometers from the couple's home, he said.

After the murders, Martin, an army major at the time, was prepared by military investigators and his home was raided by a SWAT team, according to the NBC affiliate, WSMV.

He was eventually released and later moved to North Carolina.

In April 2016, he was questioned by WSMV and said he did not fear that he would be held responsible for the murders because he actually needed Calvin Phillips to testify for him at a court martial that he was facing and in which his ex-wife Joan Harmon accused him of physical and sexual abuse and mishandling of classified military equipment.

Martin said he suspected Harmon of being involved in a long-term relationship with Calvin Phillips.

"Everyone in town knew what was happening while I worked every day," said Martin. "They were together all day and they did not really try to hide it or anything like that."

But Martin said that he was not jealous. In fact, he was grateful to Phillips.

Martin and Harmon had their marriage canceled about three years before the November 2015 killings, after learning that Harmon was actually married to another man.

"I'm just calling it the ex-bigamist," said Martin in the 2016 interview. Phillips "had come out of this huge mess. I moved on to something else."

When Martin and Harmon split up, she promised him "I'm going to ruin your career, I'm going to ruin your life, I know how to do it," he said. She then charged him with rape, buggery, child abuse, pedophilia and theft of a military computer, on which the military was conducting an investigation, Martin said.

Harmon also "joined the FBI and told them that I was an international spy, which is, I know, a fool," said Martin, adding that Phillips had accompanied him to bring this charge.

Several attempts to join Harmon for comment have failed. Harmon told WSMV in 2016 that she had never had a deal with Phillips and although she admitted to pleading guilty to bigamy, she did so because she could not afford a lawyer .

"I think his motivation was that if I put this guy out of the picture, I could then leave that mistress on the other side of the street," Martin said.

Martin hired private investigators who questioned Phillips, who claimed to believe Martin had stolen an army notebook, according to Martin and WSMV interviews records. He said he found it by helping Harmon clean up his things from Martin's home.

But Phillips also told the investigators that Harmon had never said that Martin or his children had been abused.

Phillips was to testify before the court martial of Martin and the army, according to the WSMV.

Martin said that he considered Phillips an asset in his case. "He was my star defense witness," he said. "My private investigator went through all the allegations with him … and did everything to refute it, and I was like, I'm in gold."

"And the other thing that he had done for me, is that he had me out of this bigamous relationship." This woman had been treating me for eight years, and I did not I did not know, and I really owed him, "Martin said in the interview.

Martin told WSMV that during the search of his home as part of the murder investigation, all exculpatory evidence had been seized. We do not know how and if the court martial has already been closed. On Monday, army officials were unable to provide information on Martin's military background or on the outcome of the court martial.

When WSMV asked him who killed the Phillips and Dansereau, Martin suggested that Phillips had run into a brothel and was using drugs.

"He was fainted on the road, OD'ad, about two months before the murders too," Martin said. "If I wanted to kill him, it would have been a good time to do it, you know, I could just flip him in. He was just sitting there," Martin told WSMV. No evidence has been presented to support Martin's claims.

Calvin's family and Pamela Phillips has long disputed the fact that Martin had no motive to kill the couple.

"I think the idea of ​​this star witness is nonsense," said Calvin Phillip's sister, Diana Phillips, at WSMV in 2017.

"My parents died for this court martial," Phillips' son Matt Phillips said on Monday. "My father was a federal witness, it was an attack not only against my family, but against the entire justice system," he said.

Martin is currently held without engagement at the Christian County Detention Center and is expected to be brought to trial on May 22. If he is found guilty, he risks life imprisonment. Prosecutors have said that they could seek the death penalty, according to court documents.

American Airlines, owner of PSA Airlines, said that Martin, who had been arrested while he was preparing to fly as the first officer from Louisville to Charlotte, was placed in "administrative suspension" pending the outcome of the case.