The American Magazine Rolling Stone spent six months in Dominica, a small Caribbean island, to conduct a series of interviews and examine the circumstances that led to the murders of Quebec entrepreneur Daniel Langlois and his partner, Dominique Marchand, last December. The investigation by journalist Brenna Ehrlich, published Monday, offers a portrait of the various protagonists in this drama that will be at the heart of a trial next September.
The deaths of the businessman and his partner shook Quebec on March 1er December. Computer animation pioneer and philanthropist Daniel Langlois was found dead in a burned-out sports car alongside Dominique Marchand near the luxury, eco-friendly Coulibri Ridge resort, which the couple owned.
Mr. Langlois was the founder of Softimage, a company whose 3D animation software was used in Hollywood blockbusters such as Jurassic Park And TitanicHe also received the Order of Canada in 2000.
Their neighbor accused
Five days later, their neighbor, American businessman Jonathan Lehrer, and his alleged accomplice, Robert Snider, were charged with murder. If convicted, Mr. Lehrer could face the death penalty by hanging.
The latter owns the land adjacent to the couple’s, which runs along a road they shared and which was at the center of a major dispute between the two businessmen. To get to Coulibri Ridge, tourists had to take a path that crossed Mr. Lehrer’s cocoa plantation. However, the American considered that the path belonged to him and did not allow the couple to use it. He obstructed the path with rocks, trenches and metal pipes, according to a document from the Eastern Caribbean Supreme Court. In 2018, the court ordered Mr. Lehrer to allow free movement on the road.
In interview with Rolling Stonedefense attorney Lawrence Lennox said “prosecutors have no evidence against Jonathan [Lehrer]”The discovered elements that they have already sent confirm his innocence,” he added.
However, in court documents seen by the US magazine, police say “compelling evidence has been obtained.” This evidence includes an eyewitness account, cartridges used and a firearm.
The duty contacted, without success, the Director of Public Prosecutions of Dominica, Sherma Dalrymple, lawyer Keith Scotland, defence counsel Lawrence Lennox and the Caribbean Court of Justice.
A highly publicized case
Since then, the case, which has gone around the world, has been the source of several theories about the perpetrators of the assassination of the Quebec couple. In an interview with Rolling StoneVictoria Lehrer, wife of the main accused, also shared several hypothetical scenarios exonerating her husband by indicating that the couple could have been killed by members of a drug cartel or even that he had faked his death.
The American magazine is not the only media outlet to have tried to unravel the mystery. In February, a CTV News team also went to Dominica to find answers to this double murder. They met a German tourist who allegedly heard gunshots near Mr. Lehrer’s land on November 30, the day the Quebec couple went missing. Less than an hour later, he allegedly saw black smoke and heard an explosion, reports CTV News.