You may remember the particularly grisly story of Kit Martin; his gruesome crimes were featured on the season 30 premiere of Dateline NBC back in 2021. The two-hour-long special went into a lot of detail surrounding the murders committed by Martin and his shocking acts are still seared into the memories of those who watched the episode. But who exactly is Kit Martin and was he ever put away for his crimes?
Christian “Kit” Martin was an army Major with a 30-year-long career serving in the military. He married his wife Joan in 2004, and later went on to become an airline pilot and, oh yeah, a mass murderer. Things were going pretty well for him until he discovered that his wife was a bigamist, meaning that she was still legally married from her previous marriage. This all led to a pretty nasty split with Joan accusing Kit of being abusive and controlling.
So what did he do?
Obviously, the marriage came to a pretty bitter end, While Joan was moving out, she enlisted the help of their neighbor Calvin. Kit suspected the two of having an affair although there was absolutely no evidence of this. Arguments ensued that only made the situation worse.
While moving, Joan and Calvin stumbled upon computer discs supposedly containing classified military information. The pair took what they found to the police, and suddenly Kit was facing a whole list of charges. Calvin was supposed to testify against him in court, however, before that day could come, Calvin, his wife Pamela, and another of Kit’s neighbors were found dead. The bodies had been burned with Pamela and Edward Dansereau, the other neighbor, being found in a burnt car.
Naturally, suspicion fell upon Kit who had motive and opportunity. However, the evidence just wasn’t there and the trail quickly went cold. That is until 2019, when a bullet casing was found at the scene of the crime that was able to be linked to a gun owned by Kit. The case was reopened, and Martin was arrested in 2019.
What happened to Kit?
After his arrest in 2019, Kit Martin was put on trial. His defense raised questions about the convenient new evidence as well as implying that Kit’s ex-wife Joan was out to ruin him, although she did not testify against him in court. Ultimately he was found guilty on all charges in June of 2021 and given life in prison without the possibility of parole.
Kit began his sentence on September 2, 2021, three weeks before his Dateline episode was aired. His lawyers stated their intent to appeal the decision and take it to the Kentucky Supreme Court and get a new trial. Currently, he resides at the Roederer Assessment and Classification Center, but there is no news on how his appeal is going.
