American businessman Jonathan Lehrer and an accomplice appeared in a Dominica court on Wednesday to face murder charges, five days after the bodies of Quebecers Daniel Langlois and Dominique Marchand were found in a charred car near their hotel complex.
Dominica police on Tuesday completed their investigation into the deaths of the two Canadians, who had been missing for several days when law enforcement found the remains of two individuals last Friday in a burned vehicle near the Coulibri Ridge hotel, owned by Daniel Langlois in the south of the Caribbean island. Local police were later able to confirm that the two people in the car were Daniel Langlois and his long-term partner, Ms.me Merchant.
As of Saturday, three individuals were arrested by Dominica police, who subsequently arrested a fourth person. The police investigation, however, has made it possible to limit the charges brought so far to two individuals, namely Jonathan Lehrer and his alleged accomplice Robert Snider. They appeared Wednesday at the Roseau courthouse where they faced murder charges, confirmed to the Duty Jonathan Lehrer’s lawyer, Wayne Norde. Their trial is expected to take place in March 2024.
Meanwhile, the two accused have been detained in a prison on the Caribbean island, according to the local media Dominica News Online.
It is unclear at this time whether Jonathan Lehrer and Robert Snider will plead guilty to the charges brought against them. Tension had nevertheless risen in recent years between Mr. Lehrer and Daniel Langlois in connection with the use of a road leading to the respective hotels of the two businessmen. In 2018, the Supreme Court of the Eastern Caribbean had to twice order Mr. Lehrer to stop obstructing the road leading to the eco-responsible Coulibri Ridge hotel complex, owned by Daniel Langlois. Jonathan Lehrer, who is also a chocolate producer, owns the Bois Cotlette estate, located north of the hotel owned by the couple who were victims of a homicide.
A candlelight vigil Thursday
These developments come at a time when many relatives of Daniel Langlois and Dominique Marchand are in mourning, in Quebec as in Dominica, where a friend of the couple, Simon Walsh, planned to hold a ceremony on Thursday in honor of the two Quebecers. Participants in this event will meet in the town of Soufrière, in the south of Dominica, before heading offshore by kayak and holding a candlelight vigil in the Caribbean Sea, in time for sunset, in tribute to the couple. Participants are invited to bring flowers that they can place in the sea. A minute of silence will also be held.
“This is a tribute from all of us and a positive moment recognizing their incredible love for Dominica and Soufrière,” Simon Walsh wrote on Facebook.