In June of 2017, the life of 51-year-old Karen Leclair was tragically cut short in a premeditated act of violence orchestrated by her husband. The events unfolded on the waters of Lake Erie, where a plot to end a troubled marriage culminated in murder. Karen and her husband of 25 years, Christopher Leclair, had a relationship described as a pairing of a selfless life with a selfish one. While Karen was reportedly working to mend their marriage, her husband was engaged in an affair and plotting to kill her.
On June 10, 2017, Christopher Leclair took his wife out on their commercial fishing vessel, the Doris-M, from Erie's East Basin. It was on this boat that he shot her, bound her body with rope, and weighed it down with an anchor before casting her into the depths of Lake Erie. The following day, in an attempt to cover his tracks, Christopher returned to the lake alone and made a distress call to the Coast Guard, reporting that his wife had accidentally fallen overboard.
The gruesome discovery of Karen Leclair's body was made on July 4, 2017, by a boater approximately six miles off the coast of Dunkirk, New York. An autopsy later confirmed that she had sustained a gunshot wound to the head. The investigation quickly unraveled Christopher's deceit. Surveillance footage from the dock showed the couple boarding the boat together on June 10th, but only Christopher returning alone. The footage also captured him going out on the vessel by himself on the day he made the false distress call.
The motive for the murder, as presented by prosecutors, was Christopher's ongoing affair. His girlfriend had given him an ultimatum, pushing him to end his marriage. Rather than seeking a divorce, he chose to murder his wife, a plan he had allegedly contemplated for years. During the investigation, it was also revealed that Christopher's father, Earnest Leclair, attempted to help his son by hiding the murder weapon, a revolver.
Christopher Leclair was arrested and charged with the murder of his wife. During his trial, his defense attorney argued that Karen had taken her own life due to her husband's infidelity and that Christopher had only disposed of her body out of panic. However, the prosecution presented a compelling case, including the surveillance footage and testimony that Christopher had spoken of killing his wife on prior occasions. In October, a jury found him guilty of first-degree murder, abuse of a corpse, evidence-tampering, and making false reports. Subsequently, he was sentenced to a mandatory life sentence in prison without the possibility of parole, with an additional three to 17 years for the other charges. The judge who handed down the sentence described the crime as one of 'depravity,' noting the calculated nature of the murder. In addition to his prison sentence, Christopher Leclair was ordered to pay over $700,000 in restitution to the Coast Guard for the extensive search they conducted based on his false report.
