Murder of VFX pioneer Daniel Langlois on Dominica: neighbour and hired killer arrested
Canadian film pioneer Daniel Langlois and his partner Dominique Marchand were shot dead and found burned in a ravine on Dominica. An American neighbour and a hired gunman have been arrested.
Canadian film pioneer and partner murdered on Dominica, two Americans held
The bodies of Daniel Langlois, 66, a French-Canadian philanthropist and computer pioneer, and his partner Dominique Marchand were found several weeks before Christmas in a burnt-out car, half hanging over the edge of a ravine in the mountains of Dominica. According to hollywoodreporter.com, the two were shot first before their car was set alight.
Langlois made his fortune as the founder of 3D animation software. He sold his company Softimage in 1994 to Microsoft for 200 million dollars. His software was used in productions such as the Harry Potter series, the Star Wars prequels and Titanic. For his technical contributions to the film industry, he received an Academy Award in 1997 for scientific and technological achievement, partly following his collaboration with Steven Spielberg on Jurassic Park.
Celebrated philanthropists on a small island
On Dominica, an island with 72,000 inhabitants, Langlois and Marchand were widely respected. The couple bought land on the island in the late 1990s and invested for years in the local community. They paid one million dollars for the rebuilding of a school that had been destroyed by a category 5 hurricane, financed coastal infrastructure such as a pier, supported a marine reserve and a stray dog and cat rescue programme, and provided private support to residents of the neighbouring village who needed medical or other assistance.
Weeks before his death, the Dominican government had awarded Langlois its highest civilian honour for his philanthropic work.
His most ambitious project on the island was Coulibri Ridge, a completely self-sufficient luxury resort that he designed and built deep in the mountains. The resort opened at the end of 2022 and appeared on the "2023 Hot List" of Condé Nast Traveler. Travel + Leisure described it as "the greenest resort in the world".
Arrests: neighbour and hired gunman
Several days after the bodies were discovered, police arrested two men: Jonathan Lehrer, an American with survivalist tendencies who lived as Langlois's nearest neighbour, and Robert Snyder, a man from Florida who according to police was hired by Lehrer as a hired killer. At his arrest, Snyder allegedly had burn wounds on his hands and legs, caused by the accelerant that was used to set the car alight.
Years-long conflict over a dirt road
The background to the murder goes back to a long-running neighbourhood dispute. Lehrer and his wife arrived on Dominica in 2011 and purchased the Bois Cotlette estate, a 53-hectare 18th-century coffee and cocoa plantation that borders Langlois's property. They operated it as a tourist attraction for cruise passengers, who came in busloads to visit the old plantation for a small exhibition on cocoa processing.
The unpaved road from the coastal area to Langlois's eco-resort ran through Lehrer's property. Dominicans had used that road since the time of slavery, but the American couple attempted to effectively privatise it. From 2016, access to the road was disputed and the conflict ended up in court.
In 2019, a judge issued a court order keeping the road public and explicitly designated it as "Morne Rouge Public Road". Lehrer agreed to the construction of a bypass road, but the first variant, which Langlois deemed unsafe, was never completed. A second alternative road also remained unfinished. Meanwhile, according to witnesses, Lehrer repeatedly blocked the original road with stones and tree trunks. Employees of Coulibri Ridge recorded these confrontations on video and published some of the footage online.
On TripAdvisor there are numerous warnings from visitors about the Lehrers. Hikers reported that large dogs were set on them and that drivers who accidentally ended up on the road were threatened.
Two North Americans, two opposing worlds
Langlois and Lehrer were both North American expats with wealth who chose tropical island living, but their visions were at odds with each other. Langlois built a progressive green resort where environmentally conscious guests paid a minimum of 700 dollars per night. Lehrer is known as a "prepper" who set up his plantation as a shelter for disaster scenarios and who also promoted it to other survival-minded individuals.
The investigation into the murder is ongoing and new details are expected to emerge in the coming weeks.
Source: Google News DM — Crime