Death of Film Industry Pioneer, Whose Software Helped Make Titanic, Matrix, to Be Probed as Homicides – News18

The government of Dominica asked for assistance from Canadian authorities on Monday in the investigation into the grisly death on the Caribbean island of businessman and philanthropist Daniel Langlois.

Four people have been arrested in the case concerning the deaths of Langlois — a pioneer in 3D animation — and his partner Dominique Marchand, whose bodies were found in a burned out car at the bottom of a ravine on Friday near the town of Gallion, in the south of the small island.

Minister for National Security Rayburn Blackmoore said police were treating the deaths as “potential homicides.”

The couple were allegedly ambushed along the road and shot before the car plunged into the ravine and caught fire, police told AFP.

Among the four arrested was American businessman Jonathan Lehrer, who lived near the couple and had been embroiled with Langlois in a neighborhood dispute for years, a police source said.

Two other foreigners and a Dominican national have also been arrested.

“This type of terrible crime and the brutality in this crime is something we cannot ignore, and we cannot allow those responsible to go unpunished,” Blackmoore said.

A request has been made for “investigative support from the Canadian authorities,” he said.

The killings, he added, have “sent shock waves through the island” and “left many devastated.”

The couple had founded a luxury hotel in Dominica, and the government recently awarded them a prize for their contribution to the island’s development.

Langlois made a fortune with Softimage, a 3D animation firm that produced software used in Hollywood blockbusters like “Jurassic Park,” “Titanic,” “The Matrix,” and the “Harry Potter” and “Pirates of the Caribbean” franchises.

“It is with great sadness that we learned of the tragic death of Daniel Langlois,” the National Film Board of Canada said on X, formerly Twitter. “His contributions to the world of cinema are incalculable.”

Minister of Canadian Heritage Pascale St-Onge called Langlois “a visionary in digital technologies and cinema.”

“His legacy reflects his innovative spirit. My thoughts are with his loved ones.”

After setting up Softimage in 1986, Langlois sold it to Microsoft in 1994 but stayed on as president until 1998, according to his foundation’s website.

In 1997, Langlois received a Scientific and Technical Oscar from the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences, the website said.

(This story has not been edited by News18 staff and is published from a syndicated news agency feed – AFP)