Celine Caissie, Marchands old friend from Canada, was the first to realize something was amiss.
Celine, its not normal, Caisee recalls her saying.
Dominique would never miss a lunch with you.
L to R: Daniel Langlois, Pierre Lachapelle, Philippe Bergeron, and Pierre Robidoux.Philippe Bergeron
Who would kill the popular couple?
Audiences of the 1993 hit,Steven SpielbergsJurassic Park, were gobsmacked.
Spielberg saw it, and everything changed.
We could not have doneJurassicwithout SoftImage.
It was a revolution, Williams adds.
They call me a visionary, but he was the original.
Daniel was the soul man, Bergeron says.
He was the creative guy first and foremost, and thats what madeTony [de Peltrie]alive.
We were really good.
But Daniel was the pixie dust.
The short sent shockwaves through the industry.
That was a common refrain with him.
I dont have visuals of him and I laughing and having a beer, Bergeron says.
Idohave wonderful memories of us in my kitchen, creating the storyboard and being geniuses.
While Bergeron was jetsetting, Langlois was on to the next frontier.
Together, Marchand and Langlois funneled money from the SoftImage sale into pet projects and philanthropy.
He and Marchand were generous but insular.
(Still grieving, the families declined to be interviewed for this story.)
Nevertheless, the pair made an impact.
Because even though you dont live in the same house with them, you live with them.
Langlois and Marchand were, as usual, all about business and helping their community out.
He wanted to deliver for humanity, Walsh says, voice quavering.
The first Europeans arrived in 1493, when Columbus bushwhacked onto the islands shores.
The British soon wrestled away control, though in the late 1700s.
The French and British continued to war over the land for years before the slaves were emancipated in 1834.
(The island finally gained its independence from England in 1978.)
When we first moved to Dominica, Daniel invited John to his property.
They were people of education and status close to ourselves, she says.
I was very interested in becoming friends or acquaintances.
They were never outwardly friendly to us or to me, anyway.
But it was never outwardly aggressive.
The second path opened that same year.
They were yelling at us, You are on our road!
Marchands friend Celine Caissie says.
And after that, they had dogs.
They were really not nice to people.
It got worse and worse and worse, she says.
I stopped talking to Jonathan because he was saying nonsense.
But I also think he was jealous of Daniel.
He would say, Im the richest man on the island; its not Daniel Langlois.
Daniel would never say anything like that.
It became a small problem, and then it became a bigger problem.
It was more than the road.
Lehrers PR denies Caissies allegations.
Jonathan was never jealous of Daniel and cared nothing about the limelight or being a celebrity.
I believe that Langlois strategy was to just overwhelm me with paperwork.
I dont think he realized that I had the wherewithal to put a proper defense together.
And it did take a little time, but [it wasnt] a big deal.
These programs are not supposed to work in favor of criminals, to state the obvious.
He also called reporters behind the report terrorists.
(He didnt respond to a request for further comment.)
To become a broker in Dominicas citizenship by investment program requires deep connections to the islands government.
(Kopplin has written forRolling Stonein the past.)
We have a system of separation of powers just like you have in the United States and in Canada.
The executive is totally different from the legislature.
That connection certainly didnt protect Lehrer on Dec. 1, when the police showed up at his door.
Nearly every outlet seemed to outline the road dispute as a motive for the alleged crime.
The truth, though, is murkier than all of that or at least according to Lehrer.
For one, he isnt a chocolatier, per se at least not in the Willy Wonka sense.
He is basically a solo player.
Thats because Lehrers not particularly serious about the art of chocolate-making.
Biers family had less money than Jonathans, and the richer boy would often give him hand-me-downs.
He was an independent thinker, Bier tells me.
Lehrers senior quote speaks to a kind of devil-may-care boyishness.
Good evening officer can I help you?
Is [sic] fun in the sun its fun if you like it but be CARFULL.
Still, his business acumen ran deep according to Lehrer.
Racecars, planes, motorcycles, and other boys toys tend to drain the bank account.
Meanwhile, Lehrer continued climbing the ranks at MetLife, becoming a VP around 2007, per Victoria.
The family continued to grow and so did their bank account.
We were so financially set we could have retired, Victoria says.
Or we could take that money and we could invest and do something.
He turned this desolate piece of rock and broken-up buildings into one of the premier destinations on Dominica.
He has the Midas touch.
It doesnt matter what he touches, it turns to gold.
His daughter, Emma, now 24, was equally thrilled.
They go, Were going to move to the Caribbean and be chocolatiers, she tells me.
And we were like, Oh, my God!
Were gonna be eating chocolate all day.
[Bois Cotlette] was really my dads passion project, Emma says.
He loves the island; he wants to share it with people.
And thats what he was doing.
Ive Been Here Longer
Dominica, though, did not always love Jonathan Lehrer.
Hes generous, a man who believes in value.
(Lehrers criminal record is also minimal, largely speeding-related.)
However, another former acquaintance of the family disagrees; he also chose not to use his name.
The man also claims that Lehrer was aggressive, mistreating his dogs and frequently carrying a gun.
He sometimes even tried to shoot snakes and other pests that invaded the estate.
Lehrers PR denies claims that Lehrer was a strict boss and allegations of the businessman mistreating his animals.
This is not uncommon at all in the area.
No, you cant live off the property.
No, you cant take the children to (just about anywhere off the property), etc.
I knew I couldnt stay, and I was heartbroken because I loved Dominica.
She declined to say more when I reached out to her on Facebook.
Lehrer, for his part, responded to each, alleging that the posters had been trespassing.
Archaeologist Khadene Harris tells me she witnessed a similar streak of possessiveness when it came to the property.
[The mans] explanation was, Ive been here longer than you.
She pauses, Theyre, delicious, by the way.
As it turns out, fruit thieves were the least of Lehrers problems.
The asymmetrical show of force was quite alarming, he says.
As for the local police?
They didnt respond to multiple requests for comment.
His lawyer, Lawrence, also declined to give me Lehrers alibi.
To date, we can confidently say that the prosecutors have no evidence against Jonathan.
The items in discovery they have currently sent support Jonathans innocence.
There has been no forensic evidence against Jonathan nothing, he added in a later email.
Theyre currently awaiting forensic testing.
(The RCMP declined to comment on foreign investigations.)
They plan to plead not guilty should the case go to trial, per Lehrers PR.
His lawyer also did not respond to my inquiries.)
I heard explosions, two explosions, very loud.
So for me, it was like dynamite.
When he came to work for us, he was on drugs.
He was homeless, Victoria tells me.
John helped him put his life together.
He would have done anything for John.
She suspects he left the island because he was afraid of the police.
One involves Langlois now-shuttered private club, 357c, which was allegedly a favored hotspot for the mafia.
[This] is a tiny portion of the membership of this club, he said.
In my opinion, the place is not important….
I really dont want to focus on the club, but on the meetings.
This was not out of his resort, he allows.
I dont know if that was a cartel situation.
Again, we dont have anything outside of what was reported by the Dominica news.
One of Victorias theories, however, is the wildest.
Thats a great tagline for a summer blockbuster, for sure, but real life isnt Hollywood.
Most of the time, the more believable answer is almost always true.
Meanwhile, Victoria is unraveling.
John is planning his final days, she tells me, voice cracking.
He doesnt think hes going to get out.
I dont know what we can do to help him.
Wouldnt it be convenient if they had nobody to prosecute?
I feel like, you know, Julian Assange, his wife, probably how she feels.
And then theres the road case, which quietly came to a resolution this past May.
Moreover, the ruins surrounding the estate that Lehrer was so worried about being damaged by heavy equipment?
The court ruled that those dont even belong to Lehrer, but the Commonwealth of Dominica.
According to Lehrers PR, his lawyers plan to appeal.
Then she immediately quit and left the island…. Thats a major red flag.
That dispute seems rather beside the point now, though.
A Man Who Had Accomplished His Vision
As for Langlois and Marchands family and friends?
Theyre still broken and hungry for justice.
It was meant to be small a peaceful vigil on the clear, blue waters of Dominica.
There were supposed to be kayaks laden with local flowers, a conch-shell call, and candlelight.
But the couples impact on the island was anything but small and an intimate memorial wouldnt suffice.
It was imperfect, a bit wild, and jewel-toned colorful, much like his and Langlois adopted homeland.
It reminded Walsh of another moment of levity the couples last New Years party, in 2022.
There was live music, a chocolate room that opened at midnight, champagne, and dancing.
Everything was just amazing.
I had never seen Daniel like that.
He was just dancing and happy, he says.
And I said to Dominique, Thats a man thats accomplished his vision.
And she said, I have not seen him like this in years.
He had this thing that came out of his head, and it was now real.
And his friends and his people were all having the time of their lives.
