Never has a book title rang truer than “I will ruin you.”
Emilio Corsetti III tells us the story of how Christian “Kit” Martin’s life unraveled in September 2012 after he told his wife Joan that he wanted a divorce. She answered: “If you divorce me, I will ruin your career. I will ruin your life, and I know how to do it.”
Lack of Clarity
Whether Joan alone is responsible for Kit Martin‘s downfall is unclear. Even the question of guilt proven beyond a reasonable doubt is unclear. The latest discoveries might bring more clarity, more on that below.
After telling Joan that he wanted a divorce, Kit Martin has been confronted with allegations of domestic violence, child abuse including molestation, sexual assault, mishandling of classified information, and more.
Three murders
The mishandling of classified information leads to his court marital in 2015. His neighbors were expected to testify. They were the married couple Calvin and Pamela Phillips and neighbor Ed Dansereau. All three would be found brutally murdered on Nov 18, 2015, right before they were expected to testify.
Martin became the prime suspect. The simple explanation would be that to stop them from saying anything detrimental to his case, Kit Martin killed them or had someone kill them. But who else had a motive to kill these three? And was it necessary to kill all three? The couple’s remains were not found together. Pam was found inside her car with Ed Dansereau. That car was set ablaze. Calvin was found in a secret basement inside the couple’s house.
The Story
Corsetti tells us the story in an even-toned narrative that never wavers in objectivity. It is detailed, researched, and written in chronological order. He highlights the life of Joan and Kit and what Joan never revealed before about previous marriages including the paternity of her children. Corsetti explains why the evidence does not explain the timeline and highlights everything that remains vague.
After reading this book, I did a web search to get a case update and found this update.
Update
On April 14, 2024, it was made public that “Kentucky detectives discovered weapons, stored in a hidden compartment within stairs” belonging to Kit Martin. This news article came out right after the release of Corsetti’s book.
“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.”
How did they find the box? Detective Lt. Scott Smith of the Christian County Sheriff’s Department in charge of this case explains. “Upon listening to the calls [from Kit Martin in prison] 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.”
The silencer could explain why nobody heard shots when the three neighbors were murdered. However, authorities must still tie Martin’s weapons to the bullet fragments found in the three remains and they do not match as far as I understand.
Conclusion
Whether Christian “Kit” Martin is guilty or a wrongfully convicted man remains unclear to me. I also wonder who else might have had a motive to kill these three neighbors to ensure Martin’s conviction. Who benefits from Kit Martin’s life sentence?
Book note
The book’s layout could have been better. You need to give the reader some breaks when you present a true crime story. Sub headings, lines between paragraphs, bullet point summaries, use of italics when quoting from reports, all that would have made the book better.
My other book reviews are here.
UPDATE
After this book review appeared on DCC, the author contacted me by email. He wants you to explore this post about the new evidence. Please do.