Exclusive: Detectives believe American Airlines pilot stashed murder weapons within stairs to avoid discovery
Silencer, .22 AR-15 discovered two years after Christian “Kit” Martin was found guilty of triple homicide.
CHRISTIAN COUNTY, KY. (WSMV) - Christian County, Kentucky detectives discovered weapons, stored in a hidden compartment within stairs that they believe were used by an American Airlines pilot to murder three people in the small town of Pembroke in 2015, WSMV4 Investigates has learned.
The weapons, including a silencer and an AR-15, were stashed inside stairs leading up the attic of a home where Christian “Kit” Martin lived with his former fiancé in Raleigh, North Carolina.
The discovery of the weapons was made two years after Martin was found guilty in the murders of his former neighbors, Cal and Pam Phillips, and Ed Dansereau.
The lead detective in the case, Lt. Scott Smith of the Christian County Sheriff’s Department in Kentucky, told WSMV4 Investigates in his first interview that they chose not to disclose the discovery the weapons until Martin exhausted all of his appeals.
“Just because a trial is over with a conviction, a case doesn’t end,” Smith said.
The weapons in the stairs
After the murders, while Martin was considered a prime suspect, he moved to Raleigh with his ex-fiancé where he worked as an American Airlines pilot.
Once charged with the murders, Martin made national headlines as he was arrested after being pulled off an American Airlines jet.
A WSMV4 Investigation in 2016 first exposed that Cal Phillips was set to testify against Kit Martin in his upcoming court martial, but Cal, his wife Pam and Dansereau were all murdered two weeks before that court martial.
While bullets found in the body of Cal Phillips were ultimately found to have come from a Glock 45 within Martin’s safe, there were several unanswered questions in the case.
No one could explain how three people were murdered and no one heard the gunshots.
And while detectives believe Pam Philips and Ed Dansereau were killed by an AR-15, none of the bullet fragments in their bodies were conclusively found to have been fired by the AR-15 in Martin’s possession.
But after Martin was sentenced to life in prison, a Kentucky investigator continued to monitor Martin’s calls and heard something that was concerning enough to alert Lt. Smith.
Upon listening to the calls to Martin’s sister, Smith said he heard Martin direct them to recover a box that he had hidden inside the stairs of the Raleigh, North Carolina house that would soon be sold.
Martin did not disclose to his sisters what was in the box.
“He was definitely urgent that (his sister) find it,” Smith said.
Smith and a fellow law enforcement officer then flew to Raleigh, North Carolina, and ultimately recovered the weapons hidden in the box.
Upon finding the silencer, Smith noted that it not only fit the Glock 45 used to kill Martin but both were painted the same gray-green color.
“Why would anyone need a silencer?” asked WSMV4 Investigates.
“I don’t know. I’m a gun person. I’m a firearms person, I’m a firearms instructor, and I don’t own a suppressor (silencer), have no use for them,” Smith said.
Smith believes the silencer explains why no one heard the gunshots that killed Phillips.
Smith is awaiting test results to see if there is any DNA on the silencer.
Upon finding the AR-15-22 stashed in the stairs, Smith noted that several of its components had been removed.
Smith tells WSMV4 Investigates that the missing components could be used to determine if bullets or bullet fragments from that specific AR-15 were used to kill two of the victims.
Martin, Smith believes, removed them to cover his tracks.
The discovery of the weapons ultimately does nothing to impact Martin’s conviction, but Smith says they are further proof that Martin killed the three.
WSMV4 Investigates has obtained the entire case file and has learned that detectives faced considerable trouble in Raleigh, North Carolina in recovering the weapons.
When we verify the details, we will provide a follow-up story on WSMV4.
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