Jonathan Lehrer, 57, and alleged accomplice appear in court after bodies of Daniel Langlois and Dominique Marchand were found
An American chocolatier and his alleged accomplice have been charged in the Caribbean island of Dominica with the murder of a Canadian animation innovator and eco-resort owner and his partner days after their bodies were found in a burned-out car.
Jonathan Lehrer, 57, and Robert Snider appeared in magistrates court in Roseau, the capital, on Wednesday to face charges relating to the murders of Daniel Langlois and Dominique Marchand. They did not enter a plea.
Lehrer owns property next to Coulibri Ridge, a luxury eco-resort run by Langlois and Marchand listed by Condé Nast Traveler as a “hotlist” destination for 2023 and by Travel + Leisure as the “world’s greenest resort”. He is reported to have been locked in a dispute with the couple over a public road that passes through Lehrer’s cocoa plantation estate.
Radio-Canada, citing local sources, said that Langlois and Marchand had been ambushed and killed before their car plunged into the ravine and caught fire last Friday.
The fire that engulfed their bodies was reported to be so intense that police relied on “circumstantial evidence” to identify them. “This type of terrible and brutal crime cannot be ignored, and we cannot allow those responsible to get away with it,” Dominica’s minister of national security, Rayburn Blackmoore, said on national radio.
Four people have been arrested in connection with the crime, but only Lehrer and Snyder have been charged. They will next appear in court in March.
Lehrer is the owner of the Bois Cotlette estate, a chocolate maker. His father, Robert Lehrer, told the Journal de Montréal that his son was “a successful businessman, not a murderer”.
“I have a hard time believing it … He was fed up with illegal crossings on his route and it bothered him a lot, but it had been a while since I had any news,” he added.
According to the Journal, Lehrer and Langlois had been in a dispute about the Morne Rouge road that runs through Lehrer’s property and provided the only access to the eco-resort. Langlois had reportedly organized a demonstration against Lehrer.
In 2018, after Lehrer tried to block the route using rocks and metal pipes and by digging a trench, the eastern Caribbean supreme court ruled it was a public road paid for by taxpayers. The court considered the construction of a second road but opted for mediation and later granted Langlois’ employees and guests unrestricted access.
https://www.theguardian.com/world/2023/dec/07/us-businessman-charged-dominica-deaths
US chocolate mogul charged over deaths of Canadian animator and partner in Dominica
- Edge Guerrero
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US chocolate mogul charged over deaths of Canadian animator and partner in Dominica
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Don't be selfish, preserve this world for the next generations.
I'll never long for what might have been
Regret won't waste my life again
I won't look back I'll fight to remain
Don't be selfish, preserve this world for the next generations.
I'll never long for what might have been
Regret won't waste my life again
I won't look back I'll fight to remain
A good friend of mine has a place on that island, he's there right now. I facetimed with him the other day he told me the beginnings of this story but that was before this development
- Edge Guerrero
- Posts: 8326
- Joined: Tue Oct 22, 2013 7:14 am
- Reputation: 3076
- Location: Smackdown Hotel at "the corner of Know Your Role Blvd
Masato wrote:A good friend of mine has a place on that island, he's there right now. I facetimed with him the other day he told me the beginnings of this story but that was before this development
- Wheres is Canuckster?
- I rent this space for advertising
Don't be selfish, preserve this world for the next generations.
I'll never long for what might have been
Regret won't waste my life again
I won't look back I'll fight to remain
Don't be selfish, preserve this world for the next generations.
I'll never long for what might have been
Regret won't waste my life again
I won't look back I'll fight to remain
chocolate mogul...was he out for sweet revenge???//
Edge Guerrero wrote:Masato wrote:A good friend of mine has a place on that island, he's there right now. I facetimed with him the other day he told me the beginnings of this story but that was before this development
- Wheres is Canuckster?
LOL not Canuckster.
Canuckster is living under a bridge somewhere, according to another mutual friend. I hope he's OK
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