Former American Airlines pilot convicted in Kentucky triple murder

HARDIN COUNTY, Ky. — A former American Airlines pilot was convicted in the murder of three of his neighbors six years ago in Kentucky.

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Christian Richard Martin, 53, was found guilty Wednesday of the murders of Edward Dansereau, Calvin Phillips and Pamela Phillips in Christian County, WPSD reported.

The case had been moved to Hardin County from Christian County, the Louisville Courier-Journal reported.

Martin was also convicted of one count of first-degree arson, one count of attempted arson, two counts of first-degree burglary and three counts of tampering with physical evidence, Kentucky Attorney General Daniel Cameron announced Wednesday.

According to prosecutors, Martin shot and killed his three neighbors on Nov. 18, 2015, WPSD reported. Calvin Phillips, 59, was found dead in the basement of his Pembroke home four days later, and the remains of Dansereau, 63, and Pamela Phillips, 58, were found in a burned vehicle in a cornfield a few miles away, the television station reported.

The murders occurred two weeks before Calvin Phillips was set to testify in Martin’s military court-martial trial on several charges, WLKY reported.

Martin, a former major, was eventually convicted of one count of mishandling classified information and one count of assault on a child, the television station reported.

Martin was arrested on May 11, 2019, at Louisville Muhammad Ali International Airport after he was indicted by a Christian County grand jury, according to The Paducah Sun. He had been a pilot for PSA Airlines, a subsidiary of American Airlines, since January 2018, the newspaper reported.

Martin was still wearing his pilot’s uniform when he was booked, the Courier-Journal reported.

Martin was living in North Carolina at the time of his indictment, the Sun reported.

During Thursday’s sentencing, Christian Circuit Judge John L. Atkins recommended a maximum sentence of life in prison without the possibility of parole, the Courier-Journal reported.

Atkins will decide whether to accept the jury’s recommendation during a formal sentencing hearing on Sept. 2 in Hopkinsville, the newspaper reported.

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