Two American men have been found guilty of murdering a Canadian entrepreneur and his partner in the Caribbean island nation of Dominica.
The two men were accused of killing Daniel Langlois and Dominique Marchand, a couple from Quebec whose bodies were found in a burnt-out vehicle in late 2023 after police launched a search when they were reported missing.
Jonathan Lehrer and Robert Snyder Jr, who were arrested shortly after the killings, had pleaded not guilty to the murder charges.
Langlois, founder of the animation software firm Softimage, whose technology has been used in blockbuster films including the Matrix and Titanic, had been living with his partner in Dominica since 1997.
The couple were well-known philanthropists in Dominica, where they supported development projects and also opened a luxury hotel shortly before their deaths.
Three foreign nationals and one Dominican were arrested on the same day the police found the bodies in late 2023.
A few days after, officials charged Lehrer and Snyder Jr, who was described in reports as Lehrer’s “accomplice”, with the murder of the couple.
Lehrer, a chocolate maker who is originally from New Jersey, owned a property next to a 200-acre luxury resort owned by Langlois and his partner in Dominica.
He and Langlois were locked in a years-long dispute over the use of a road that connected their adjacent properties.
In 2019, a court mandated that Lehrer open up the road to public use, and that he grant guests of Langlois’ unrestricted access.
A spokesperson on behalf of Lehrer told Canadian newspaper the Toronto Star in 2024 that the “narrative that’s being built that Jonathan was potentially moved to violence” because of the disagreement over the road is “completely inaccurate”.
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