Former Army Major Apache pilot sentenced to life for murdering neighbor 'who was having affair with his bigamist ex-wife' and two others to stop child rape court martial against him going ahead

An ex-Army Major Apache pilot from Kentucky was sentence to life in prison without parole on Thursday for the murders a neighbor he thought was sleeping with his bigamist ex-wife and two others to stop a child rape court martial against him in 2015.

Christian Martin, 53, who served in the U.S. Army and National Guard, was found guilty by a Christian County Circuit Court jury of shooting Edward Dansereau and Calvin and Pamela Phillips in Pembroke, Kentucky on November 18, 2015. 

Calvin, 59, was found shot dead in the cellar of his home just two weeks before he was due to testify against Martin in a court martial case where the 30-year military veteran was accused of child rape and assault of his stepson. 

Martin, a former American Airlines pilot, appeared silent as Judge John Atkins read the verdict. Martin's attorneys indicted they would immediately file an appeal.  

Christian County Circuit Court Judge John Atkins, right, sentenced Christian Martin, in orange, to life in prison without parole on Thursday for the murder of three in 2015  

Christian Martin, who served in the U.S. Army and Coast Guard, worked as a pilot for an American Airlines subsidiary when he was arrested in 2019

Calvin Philips and Pamela Phillips, right, and Edward Dansereau were found shot and their corpses burnt in Pembroke, Kentucky, in 2015. Calvin was set to testify against Martin just two weeks before he was murdered. Martin believed Calvin was having an affair with his ex-wife

Martin also believed Calvin was having an affair with his ex-wife, Joan Harmon, who had also been married to another man while she was together with Martin, WSMV reported. 

Prosecutors said Martin failed to burn Calvin's body in the cellar, leaving the home and returning later in the day, where he bumped into Pamela, 58, and Dansereau, 63.

Investigators said Pamela and Dansereau were shot for being in the wrong place at the wrong time. 

He then set an alarm for 1.10am the following morning and got up and drove the two bodies a few miles away in Pamela's car, before torching the vehicle, investigators added.  

The charred remains of Pamela and Dansereau, were found hours later in a cornfield. 

With Calvin no longer able to testify in the court martial case, Martin was only found guilty on charges of two counts of mishandling of classified material and two counts of assault of a child, he but was found not guilty on both charges of rape of a child and communicating a threat.

After the case, Martin moved to North Carolina, and began a career working for American Airlines subsidiary PSA in 2018, after being discharged from the military carrying out a 90-day jail sentence.  

The gruesome triple murders went unsolved for more than three years until Martin was dramatically arrested at Louisville International Airport in May 2019 - just minutes before he was about to fly a plane.

Martin was convicted of all charges in the triple murder case in Hardin Circuit Court Wednesday, including three counts of murder, one count of arson in the first degree, one count of attempted arson, two counts of burglary in the first degree, and three counts of tampering with physical evidence. 

During the trial, Martin continued to protest his innocence throughout his trial, taking the stand in June to slam the charges against him as 'stupid'

Martin in an undated military picture. In the court martial, he was found guilty of mishandling classified material and child assault, was discharged from the military and sentenced to 90 days in jail. He moved on to be a pilot for an American Airlines subsidiary

During the trail, Calvin denied all allegations against him, saying the charges he faced were 'stupid' 

'Stupid. I didn't do it and the evidence shows I didn't do it,' Martin testified, reported WMSV. 

'I didn't do anything like that at all. Like I said, all the evidence shows I didn't do anything with this. I'm not involved in this.' 

His defense attorney Tom Griffiths argued there was forensic proof that the bullets that killed the victims did not come from the gun Martin owned. 

He also noted there were no eyewitnesses, no DNA and no fingerprints. 

The defense claimed evidence pointing to Martin could have been planted - possibly by his ex-wife who had access to his firearms.  

Both the shell casing and the dog tags were found by family members of Calvin several months after the murders. 

Harmon and her son both invoked the Fifth Amendment to avoid testifying in the trial.

Joan Harmon, right, accused Christian Martin of abusing her son. Martin had discovered Harmon was still married to another man when she married him

Martin in court in 2019. The murders took place just two weeks before Calvin was due to testify against Martin in a court martial case. The 30-year military veteran was accused of child rape and assault

In a 2016 interview with WSMV, Martin said he believed Harmon had been having a long-running affair with Calvin.

'Everyone in town knew what was going on while I was at work every day,' Martin said. 

'They were together all day long, and they didn't really try to hide it or anything like that.' 

But he said he was grateful to his neighbor as it helped him get out of his bigamist marriage. 

Martin and Harmon's marriage was voided around three years prior to the murders, after he discovered she had already been married to another man before they wed.  

Martin claimed his ex-wide warned him 'I will ruin your life' when they split. 

Martin served in the Army Reserve from 1986 to 1990, on active duty from 1990 to 1993, then in the Army National Guard from 1993 to 2005.

He was on active duty again from 2005 serving as a Fort Campbell Major when he was dismissed in 2016. 

He was hired as a Bombardier CRJ First Officer for American Airlines' PSA Airlines in January 2018.