📖First Chapter: I Will Ruin You by Emilio Corsetti III #firstchapter

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I Will Ruin You: The Twisted Truth Behind the Kit Martin Murder Trial

Emilio Corsetti III

420 pp.

True Crime

Moments before boarding a passenger flight on 11 May 2019 as the first officer, pilot Christian “Kit” Martin, a former army ranger, was arrested by a swarm of heavily armed officers for the murders of three of his neighbors. The arrest captured global attention as Martin’s mugshot, clad in a pilot’s uniform, spread across the internet, sparking a media firestorm with headlines such as “Monster in the Cockpit.”

A combat helicopter pilot, Kit Martin had seen his life unravel after seeking a divorce. His wife’s threatening words, “If you leave me, I will ruin your life …,” overheard by his daughter, seemed to have become a grim reality, escalating to a court-martial and culminating in a high-stakes murder trial at which he was convicted.

I WILL RUIN YOU: The Twisted Truth Behind the Kit Martin Murder Trial delves into the complex circumstances behind Martin’s story. It looks beyond the sensational headlines and legal turmoil into the heart of this controversial case.

You can purchase I Will Ruin You: The Twisted Truth Behind the Kit Martin Murder Trial at Amazon.

First Chapter:

The tension had been building for months. The date was September 5, 2012. By this time, Kit and Joan had been married for nearly eight years. They had experienced the same ups and downs as any other married couple. There were arguments. They argued about finances. They argued about Kit’s ex-wife and her frequent calls to Kit. The arguments between the two, however, had grown more frequent after the move to Pembroke, Kentucky. Kit, an army major with the 101st Airborne Division, had been assigned to nearby Fort Campbell a year earlier.

It was a Wednesday night. Everyone living in the house on South Main at the time was home. It was a mixed family with kids from previous marriages residing under the same roof. Joan’s son Elijah, sixteen, was in the kitchen. Kit’s daughter McKenzie was in the downstairs bathroom, helping Joan’s nine-year-old daughter Essie dry her hair and paint her nails. McKenzie had moved into the house in Pembroke several weeks earlier after transferring to Austin Peay State University in Clarksville, Tennessee. She was nineteen. Joan’s oldest daughter Alma, eleven, was in her upstairs bedroom doing her homework, using her bed as her desk.

This night’s argument had to do with what Joan felt was a personal slight. She had learned that Kit and McKenzie had been planning a lunch date that didn’t include her. Joan confronted Kit in the backyard, where he fed the few farm animals they kept. She complained about Kit’s lack of communication. Kit tried his best to separate himself from Joan. He entered the house and took off his boots in the mudroom. All he wanted to do was take a shower and relax. The fighting, however, continued. Joan wanted to know why Kit didn’t treat her better. They hadn’t been anywhere as a couple in months.

Kit grew angry. He complained about her spending, especially money spent on astrology, psychics, and an anti-religious organization called Nouveau Tech. Joan also had a habit of starting expensive construction projects on the house without consulting him. He pointed his finger at her and repeated a story he had heard from his ex-wife about how Joan had been saying bad things about him around the neighborhood.

“I thought you two only talked about the kids,” Joan said sarcastically. “Why are you doing this? Why is she saying this to you?” Joan would later claim that Kit had struck her in the temple with his finger and on the sides of her head with his fists.

Kit claims he only flicked her hair.

Kit went upstairs and took a shower. Later, when he entered the TV room to relax, Joan started arguing again. It was at this point that Kit decided that he had had enough. He told Joan he wanted a divorce.

What happened next would have implications for the two of them over the ensuing years.

“If you divorce me, I will ruin your career,” Joan snarled. “I will ruin your life, and I know how to do it.” She added that she would tell Kit’s superiors that he had abused her.

Kit knew that an accusation of abuse could cause him grief, even if it weren’t true. “If you think you’ve been abused,” he said, “you should call the police.”

To prove that he wasn’t bluffing about calling the police, Kit decided to call the police himself. If she wanted to make a false accusation against him, she would have to do it in front of a police officer, where it would be on record.

Shocked by the move, Joan walked to the kitchen where Elijah was and used her phone to dial 911 to report that her husband had assaulted her.

911 Operator: What’s going on, ma’am?

Joan: My, uh… domestic abuse… my husband.

911 Operator: What’s he doing to you?

Joan: Poking me in the head, screaming in my face, and threatening me.

After the phone call, she had a discussion with Elijah. There is some dispute over what Joan said to her son. McKenzie, who was in a room downstairs, close enough to hear the conversation, claims that Joan asked Elijah to say that Kit had hit her. Joan denies ever saying that. Later, before the police arrived, McKenzie would get Elijah alone and tell him not to lie to the police. Joan would later claim that McKenzie had cornered her son and told him to say to the police that he didn’t see anything. Either way, sides were being taken.

Joan left the house and waited in the front yard for the police to arrive. Kit waited in the driveway where the cars were parked. The kids retreated to their separate rooms. They had witnessed fights before, but this one was worse than any they could remember. The two young girls fought back tears. Someone turned off the interior lights. The house grew dark and quiet.

Emilio Corsetti III is a retired airline pilot and the author of the bestselling nonfiction books 35 Miles From Shore and Scapegoat. Emilio is a graduate of St. Louis University Parks College of Aviation. He and his wife, Lynn, reside in Dallas, Texas.

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