Pembroke triple murder focus of ‘Dateline’ on Friday

The popular true-crime program on NBC has titled the episode "The Evil That Watches."

NBC is devoting a two-hour special episode of “Dateline” to the 2015 murders of Pembroke residents Calvin and Pamela Phillips and their neighbor Ed Dansereau. 

The episode titled “The Evil That Watches” will air at 8 p.m. Friday, Sept. 24, on NBC affiliates, which includes Paducah’s Channel 6 and Nashville’s Channel 4.

pembroke water tower
An aerial view of the town of Pembroke in southern Christian County. (Screenshot from Dateline NBC)

On Nov. 19, 2015, the burned bodies of Pamela Phillips and Ed Dansereau were discovered in a car belonging to Calvin Phillips that authorities said had been set on fire and left in a farm field a few miles outside of Pembroke. The body of Calvin Phillips was discovered a short time later at his home in the historic Main Street residential section of Pembroke. All three had been shot.

After the Kentucky Attorney General’s Office took over the investigation, former Pembroke resident Christian “Kit” Martin, a commercial pilot and 30-year Army veteran, was charged. Prosecutors said Calvin Phillips was scheduled to testify in a court martial of Martin two weeks before the murders. A jury in Hardin Circuit Court convicted him of three counts of murder and other charges in June, and he is serving a life sentence. 

The son of Calvin and Pamela Phillips, and several residents of Pembroke, are interviewed in the “Dateline” program. It is the premiere for the popular, true-crime show’s 30th season. 

Jennifer P. Brown is co-founder, publisher and editor of Hoptown Chronicle. You can reach her at editor@hoptownchronicle.org. She spent 30 years as a reporter and editor at the Kentucky New Era. She is a co-chair of the national advisory board to the Institute for Rural Journalism and Community Issues, governing board president for the Kentucky Historical Society, and co-founder of the Kentucky Open Government Coalition.