00:00:03
[theme music] [stirring music] NARRATOR: The fourth largest
lake in the USA, Lake Erie.
00:00:45
It sits on the boundary
of Canada to the north, and also borders
four US states.
00:00:54
But on American
Independence Day 2017, a family out
boating on Lake Erie noticed something
out of the ordinary,
00:01:01
off the shore
of Dunkirk, New York. - They believed it was
a blow-up doll because it
00:01:09
was floating in the water. The boaters approached
and realized it wasn't a blow-up doll.
00:01:15
It was a human being. [stirring music] NARRATOR: The body
appeared to be female,
00:01:28
but it had been ravaged
by the waters and marine life. ERIC ROGERS: She did
not have a top on.
00:01:39
She had no hair. All her hair was gone. And she just had
a floral bikini bottom.
00:01:49
[stirring music] - She's got bites, you know. Her entire face, all
of her features are gone,
00:02:01
are worn off. It is literally just
a head with no nose, no eyes, no mouth, and,
obviously, being bloated.
00:02:09
And there's things
all over her body. It was very upsetting. She was found too by a family.
00:02:16
All the injuries to her
were very hard to see. [stirring music] ERIC ROGERS: The recreational
boaters then contacted
00:02:32
the Chautauqua County
Sheriff's Department, who contacted the Pennsylvania
State Police and
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the Coast Guard. And the Coast Guard then
contacted me and said, hey, we have a body floating 6
miles off the shore of Dunkirk,
00:02:47
New York. NARRATOR: Police
recovered the body. Its bloating gave
them an idea how
00:02:54
long it had been in the water. - In this case, the body
was estimated to have been
00:03:03
there for about three weeks. Lake Erie is very cold. The water is also
very cold, and
00:03:10
that is going to have an effect
on how that body decomposes. Because the water
temperature is a lot cooler,
00:03:17
as is the air
temperature, it was better preserved than it would
have been for normally
00:03:21
being in the water. However, decomposition
had begun to set in, which would make the
identification of this person
00:03:30
more difficult. [helicopter whirring] - The body was
recovered in the water by the Chautauqua County
Sheriff's Department.
00:03:39
They went out and put
a blue tarp under the body, put the body in a tarp. When it was brought ashore,
I was in Dunkirk, New York,
00:03:47
because I had been interviewing
the people who were in the water that discovered
the body/ and then I took
00:03:52
photos of the body as it
had come in from the waters in the blue body bag. NARRATOR: Investigators
needed to identify the woman,
00:04:05
but they also had to work
out what happened to her. Deaths in Lake Erie
are not uncommon.
00:04:13
It's popular with
swimmers and scuba divers, but its waters
hold many dangers. [water sloshing]
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- Certainly, there are things
in the water like temperature creating hypothermia.
00:04:29
There's significant
shipping traffic that goes through the Great Lakes. Even though the Great Lakes
are lakes and not the ocean,
00:04:39
water movement is
significant, in addition to just the effects of wind
and gravitational pull.
00:04:50
[water sloshing] [stirring music] - The tide on Lake Erie is
only about 30 millimeters,
00:05:05
about 3 centimeters. But the lake itself is
about 240 miles long, about 380 kilometers.
00:05:11
And that gives it plenty
of length for big waves to develop. Waves are created
by the wind, and
00:05:18
you can get these big storms
across all of the Great Lakes. NARRATOR: Although
it was summer,
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Lake Erie had recently
been hit by a storm. MICHELLE DUPRE:
Because this is one of the Great Lakes in Michigan
area, the water is rough.
00:05:36
And storms that
come up are much more detrimental to preserving
a body than you might expect.
00:05:44
So when we're trying
to identify a deceased person, we want to go
for the fastest way possible.
00:05:49
Because we often-- until
we can identify the victim, we often can't tell
exactly what happened
00:05:54
and put a timeline together. So what we try to do is look
at the amount of decomposition
00:06:00
and what type
of decomposition there is. In this case, the body
had been in the water
00:06:05
for approximately three
weeks, so dental records were used to compare
the victim to dental records
00:06:10
that were on file. NARRATOR: The body was
confirmed as local woman, 51-year-old Karen LeClair.
00:06:19
She'd been reported missing
three weeks earlier. [stirring music] - Christopher LeClair was
a commercial fisherman
00:06:30
in the waters of Lake Erie. He had asked his
wife, Karen LeClair, to go out on the fishing boat
to help him attend to his nets.
00:06:39
NARRATOR: They set off on the
couple's boat, the Doris-M. ERIC ROGERS: They left
the East Marina on the Doris-M.
00:06:50
And they proceeded
through the channel into the waters of Lake Erie. And at that point,
Karen was suffering
00:06:58
from nausea from the fumes
off the port side of the boat. He was in the captain's house.
00:07:07
- Christopher was
up driving the boat. He was checking on her. - He reports her being
off the port side,
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leaning over the boat. - One point, he looks
back, she's gone. [water sloshing] So he had theorized
she fell over the boat.
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She was just, I guess,
sick and ill and fell over. - He then reported her
missing as being overboard.
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NARRATOR: The Doris-M
made a distress call, and a full scale emergency
response was launched.
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ERIC ROGERS: That triggers
a whole bunch of agencies. The US Coast Guard,
the Fish and Boat Commission
00:07:55
is notified immediately
because it's in the waters of Lake Erie. The Pennsylvania State Police
were notified immediately.
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- When he gave the distress
call that she fell overboard, you can't thank
the Coast Guard enough.
00:08:12
They scrambled a helicopter,
I believe, out of Detroit. There were cutters out of
Buffalo, the Erie Coast Guard.
00:08:19
Canada may have
contributed to this. All in a desperate attempt
to save Karen LeClair.
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ERIC ROGERS: It was
a great deal of manpower. We had our Pennsylvania
State Police aviation unit,
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helicopters were up. Obviously, the Fish and Boat
Commission had their boats out.
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The Coast Guard had
their boats out. And they were all searching
the waters of Lake Erie
00:08:42
approximately 4 or 5
miles off the shore in a northwesterly direction. NARRATOR: It was a race against
time to find Karen alive.
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[stirring music] SARAH MORMINO: Given
the harsh conditions of the water, once
Karen went overboard,
00:09:01
it would have been
very hard for her to survive for a prolonged
period of time. Even the best
swimmer cannot keep
00:09:06
themselves afloat in waves 4 to
5 feet for an extended period. NARRATOR: Despite Karen
being a strong swimmer
00:09:14
and a qualified scuba diver,
the cold water, even in July, meant hypothermia could
set in within hours.
00:09:23
SARAH MORMINO: Even if she
was able to stay afloat for an extended period of time,
the waves would have pushed her
00:09:28
and pulled her very far
from her initial entry into the water. This makes it very
difficult for rescuers
00:09:34
to know where
to start the search, as they don't know
where she currently is. [lightning strikes]
00:09:41
NARRATOR: By nightfall, all
hopes of finding Karen alive were fading. - The search for Karen LeClair
went on Sunday, June 11,
00:09:51
and into Monday. Monday is when
the Pennsylvania State Police took over the lead
investigation
00:09:58
of the disappearance
of Karen LeClair. ELIZABETH HIRZ: Obviously,
everyone was very concerned and
00:10:04
sad and worried about her. And I believe the search
was called off Monday night,
about 30 hours they
00:10:13
had been searching for her. And they declared her
dead at that time. Just a despair.
00:10:23
It was very sad. And it's just confusion. This was a woman that
went out on that boat.
00:10:28
Regardless of the conditions,
scuba diver, I think it was, you know,
how did this happen?
00:10:34
ERIC ROGERS: Despite the fact
that she did go over, it was a fishing vessel. And the Doris-M, being
the size that it is
00:10:40
and the heavy steel
that it's made out of, it should have navigated
those waters fairly easily.
00:10:45
Definitely not
to the point where they would rock
to the point where somebody would fall overboard.
00:10:50
It doesn't make sense. NARRATOR: Investigators feared
things were not as they seemed.
00:10:57
- That's just not adding up. Things in this case
just don't add up. It seems suspicious in nature.
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[foreboding music] [stirring music] NARRATOR: In Pennsylvania,
detectives are investigating after
local woman Karen LeClair was
00:11:20
found floating in Lake Erie. Her husband
reported her falling overboard from their fishing
boat three weeks earlier.
00:11:29
It was thought she drowned. [water sloshing] - The lake is known to have
several strong currents,
00:11:36
strong enough to where,
most of the time, officials recommend that people do
not swim in the waters
00:11:41
as they can be very dangerous. Karen fell overboard. If she was unable
to keep herself afloat,
00:11:47
she would have sunk all
the way to the bottom. [water sloshing] Lake Erie also ranges in depth,
with the deepest point
00:11:55
being approximately 210 feet. When a body enters
the water and sinks in water deeper than 100 to 130
feet, a lot of the times,
00:12:03
that pressure will
hold them underwater and they will not resurface. However, on average, the depth
of Lake Erie is about 64 feet.
00:12:13
And as gases build
in their system, they will float to the surface. This happened to Karen LeClair.
00:12:21
[water sloshing] NARRATOR: But even before
her body resurfaced, investigators had their doubts
about the situation.
00:12:29
[water sloshing] - Just falling overboard? Randomly falling
overboard in Lake Erie,
00:12:36
you don't hear that
a lot, especially right outside in the bay. I just said, something
doesn't seem right with this.
00:12:42
ERIC ROGERS: So from
the time that she was reported missing
on Sunday, it was a constant
investigative effort.
00:12:51
It's all hands on deck. It's an area between 15
to 20 investigators working around the clock
in an attempt to determine
00:12:59
as much information
as we possibly can and follow those leads
in whichever direction they go.
00:13:04
Speaking to the coworkers
of Karen LeClair, speaking to other people
down in the marina
00:13:10
who were familiar with
Christopher LeClair. NARRATOR: Detectives looked
into Karen's personal life and
00:13:18
her relationship with
husband Christopher. ERIC ROGERS: Karen LeClair is
a beautiful woman, very loving,
00:13:24
caring woman, hard
worker, well loved by her family and friends,
her coworkers, wonderful work ethic.
00:13:34
- She worked at a local
business auto dealership where she was a very
dedicated employee.
00:13:41
ELIZABETH HIRZ: When
she wasn't working, she was out with her
husband on their boat.
00:13:46
Just salt-of-the-earth woman. ERIC ROGERS: Karen
LeClair was a very good wife to Christopher LeClair.
00:13:55
She was married to him
for about 26 years. - Met in Florida,
I believe, and came up here and lived here
in Albion, about 27 acres,
00:14:05
I believe, on a home. From what we learned, she
was very devoted to Chris. Loved him very much.
00:14:11
Just very even-keeled
and loving. - We realized how dedicated
Karen was as a wife
00:14:16
when we found out what type
of person Christopher was. Because we spoke
to a number of people
00:14:23
who, not only had business
acquaintances with Christopher, but also had personal
relationships with Christopher.
00:14:30
And I would say, of those
people we spoke to, very, very few had
anything positive to say
00:14:37
about Christopher. NARRATOR: Behind
the scenes, the couple had their ups and downs.
00:14:45
ERIC ROGERS:
Christopher LeClair was not doing well financially,
but that was his own doing.
00:14:50
He was a commercial fisherman. However, his nets were
unattended for weeks. So imagine
a commercial fisherman
00:14:59
who has large nets
in the lake, is catching perch by large quantities
and other fish in Lake Erie
00:15:06
to take to market to sell. Imagine not pulling
those nets up on a daily basis
to take those fish out
00:15:15
while they're still fresh
so you can make money on them. Well, either
because of his lifestyle,
00:15:21
maybe his own laziness,
failed to attend to those nets to the point where the Fish
and Boat Commission go out
00:15:29
and pull up his nets,
because the decomposition of the fish in the nets
was just atrocious.
00:15:35
The livelihood was there. It was his effort that lacked. - He was very lazy. And he basically wanted
everything done for him.
00:15:45
He did the minimum
that he could do. If you did talk to people, they
knew of his lack of work ethic.
00:15:51
ERIC ROGERS: He
could have very well been a successful
commercial fisherman. And there are other
commercial fishermen
00:15:57
in the area that
are doing well, but they're putting
the effort forth to make their business successful.
00:16:03
Christopher did not
choose to do that, and that resulted in him
having financial difficulties.
00:16:12
Karen actually stayed
with him during some very difficult times, even after she
found out he had a mistress.
00:16:21
ELIZABETH HIRZ: It has been
going on for quite some time and was quite serious. ERIC ROGERS: She did move
out of their residence
00:16:27
in Albion, Pennsylvania,
but she eventually came back. So she was a dedicated wife.
00:16:34
NARRATOR: Investigators
needed to speak to Christopher himself. - That is when we brought
Christopher LeClair
00:16:40
in for an initial
interview to get all the details of what happened. - He started off basically
talking about their marriage,
00:16:50
and it was a good marriage. And sticking with
the story that she was ill, sat in the back of the boat,
and then fell over.
00:16:58
It came out that
she's an avid swimmer. She's a scuba diver. So they were starting to press
him on a few of those matters.
00:17:07
During that interview, he was
really starting to get nervous. So then he talked about
how his wife had cancer.
00:17:16
She wasn't doing well. - He would tell people that
Karen LeClair had cancer. There were no indications
that Karen LeClair
00:17:23
had any type of cancer. And that was not-- the fact that she
did not have cancer
00:17:29
was also supported
by family members. ELIZABETH HIRZ: Christopher
had told Karen's boss
00:17:39
that Karen had cancer. But this individual
followed-up with Karen and she said, no, I don't have cancer.
00:17:47
JONI JOHNSTON: She
wasn't somebody who would necessarily air
her dirty laundry in public.
00:17:51
But she was close
enough to her coworkers and to her supervisors
that if she had been sick,
00:17:57
and if somebody had
broached her with this, she certainly would not have
lied about it or not told them.
00:18:03
So this is completely
out of character for her. What Chris LeClair is
saying is clearly a lie.
00:18:09
[stirring music] NARRATOR: Next,
detectives question Christopher about his affair.
00:18:17
- He started to offer
up that the individual was just a fling, didn't
mean a lot to him.
00:18:24
And then when they
kept pressing, it became every other month
that he was with this mistress.
00:18:29
Then they asked, you know,
when was the last time you were with her? And he said, a month ago.
00:18:34
And then within
the same breath, changed it to,
last Friday night. So he was very inconsistent and
all over the place with that.
00:18:42
And every time they
would ask a question, he would give more
information that was completely contradictory
to what he just said.
00:18:50
NARRATOR: Police
were also puzzled at Christopher's
reaction to the news that his wife's rescue was
now a recovery mission.
00:18:58
ERIC ROGERS: The Coast Guard
informed him that the recovery efforts were going to begin.
00:19:02
He showed very little emotion. His only question
to me at that time was, how long do you
think it would take
00:19:08
for a body to float up
in the waters of Lake Erie this time of the year? [water sloshing]
00:19:14
It was very matter-of-fact. There was zero emotion. NARRATOR: Investigators
needed another way
00:19:21
to check Christopher
LeClair's story about how and when his wife went missing. ERIC ROGERS: There was
a very good possibility
00:19:28
that there was video footage
down on Dobbins landing in the East Marina
where Christopher had
00:19:34
his boat, the Doris-M, docked. So we immediately got
manpower, and we began to look for video footage.
00:19:42
There were some new
cameras installed in various areas
of the East Marina, but also going out the Coast
Guard station in the channel
00:19:50
out to Lake Erie. Fortunately, we found some
very, very good footage. ELIZABETH HIRZ: It was
phenomenal footage.
00:20:00
I mean, it was very clear. And they actually had
one of the state troopers sit and watch for hours.
00:20:10
NARRATOR: The footage
showed the couple arriving at the dock
the day before Karen
00:20:14
was reported missing. [stirring music] - When Karen and Christopher
pull in that Saturday,
00:20:25
he loads up the ice. They get on the boat,
they take off. ERIC ROGERS: The two
of them proceeded
00:20:34
through the East Marina. Out through the channel and
into the waters of Lake Erie.
00:20:40
He then returned
later that afternoon, I believe it was three
or four hours later.
00:20:46
Docked his boat on a wall
of the East Marina, where he typically
never docked his boat.
00:20:51
- We believe he
knew there were-- he thought outside
of the view of the cameras,
00:20:55
so it wasn't in his
regular boat slip. And it's just him. At no point does anyone
else get off that boat.
00:21:07
He's the only one
that gets off. - Two people went fishing. One person came back.
00:21:14
And it was not until
the following day that he reported her missing. [stirring music]
00:21:27
- Sunday we see him
come back around noon, get back on the boat
where it's docked,
00:21:31
and go out and buy himself. And then the distress signals
about an hour and a half later.
00:21:36
JONI JOHNSTON: So it
became very clear that he did not go out with his
wife on June 11 like he said.
00:21:44
And so the fact
that he has already lied to them about the timeline
of events, I think,
00:21:50
would have been
a huge red flag. - We knew at that point
that something tragically
00:21:56
had happened to Karen LeClair. He was not telling
us the whole story about what happened
in the waters of Lake Erie
00:22:03
on that weekend. [stirring music] [water sloshing] NARRATOR: Lake
Erie, Pennsylvania.
00:22:21
Detectives are questioning
Christopher LeClair's claims that his wife fell overboard
during a fishing trip.
00:22:28
Video evidence suggests he
took his wife out on the boat and returned without
her the day before he
00:22:34
reported her missing. He's been lying to them. But why? - Based on everything
we were gathering,
00:22:43
it was very evident
that Christopher LeClair was responsible for the
disappearance of his wife.
00:22:50
So at that point,
our investigation focused strictly on him. It focused on his affair
with his mistress.
00:22:57
There were a bunch of factors
that we started to focus on and delve into to determine
exactly why he
00:23:03
would want to kill his wife. NARRATOR: Prosecutors
reviewed video footage of Christopher's
initial police interview
00:23:10
where he discussed
his mistress. ELIZABETH HIRZ: He would
talk about the fact that Karen knew about
this woman, Tracy Butler,
00:23:18
but it was years ago that
she found out about it, then eight months ago. Watching his demeanor
through that,
00:23:25
he was getting
extremely frustrated when they did not believe
his answer and just move on.
00:23:32
And he did not like that. And when they would
bring him back to Tracy, he would get
frustrated, I believe
00:23:38
walked out at one point. So it was very telling in
looking back on that really is
00:23:43
who Christopher LeClair was. He was always in control. And he was so manipulative,
and that everyone
00:23:51
did what he asked and wanted. And that wasn't happening
in that interview room, and he just didn't
know how to handle it.
00:23:57
He was so arrogant
that he actually-- knowing he was recorded
in that room, at one point,
00:24:03
took his phone
and started deleting text messages from his girlfriend. So just, I think,
he's gotten away
00:24:09
with so much over the years,
he just thought he could continue that pattern. ERIC ROGERS: When
Christopher LeClair
00:24:16
was questioned during
that initial interview, he minimized the relationship
that he had with Tracy.
00:24:20
He did not say it
was for five years. Our investigation revealed
that it was for five years.
00:24:25
He minimized the emotional
attachment he had to Tracy. He said it was just a sexual
relationship at that time.
00:24:33
NARRATOR: His lover
told a different story. ELIZABETH HIRZ:
Pennsylvania State Police
00:24:38
also talked to Tracy Butler. So confirmed
the affair, confirmed with Tracy that it
was much more serious
00:24:45
than Christopher had let on. ERIC ROGERS: When
Christopher's wife moved out, his mistress Tracy moved in to
Christopher's house in Albion.
00:24:55
During that time, Tracy became
pretty comfortable living out there in Albion,
Pennsylvania.
00:25:01
However, Karen moved
back in with Christopher, and Tracy was back home
into the city of Erie.
00:25:07
She wanted to be back
living in his house in Albion, Pennsylvania. She had children who
she wanted to get
00:25:13
enrolled in the school
in that area for the following school year. He had to make a decision.
00:25:19
ELIZABETH HIRZ:
She had given him an ultimatum that he
either leave his wife or she was going to leave him.
00:25:27
JONI JOHNSTON: - Oftentimes, when I see people
who end up murdering somebody, and they are people who
have never murdered anybody
00:25:35
before, they don't have
a violent criminal history, there are very significant
situational variables
00:25:41
that come into play. So, for example,
they might feel like their back is
up against the wall,
00:25:46
but they don't
have any options. Which, again, is no excuse
because most people wouldn't
00:25:50
do that under any
circumstances, but you can look and see where
that person felt desperate.
00:25:54
ERIC ROGERS: The more
we looked into it, and the more we looked
into the background
00:25:57
of Christopher
LeClair, we realized that there may
be another motive as to why he would
have killed her and
00:26:04
then pushed her overboard. He wanted to maintain his
relationship with his mistress,
00:26:09
but his wife was in the way. [water sloshing] [stirring music] - Obviously, Karen, her body
wasn't able to be found.
00:26:26
We know the only other
person with her on that boat was Christopher LeClair. We knew the ultimatum
that Tracy had given him.
00:26:32
It was decided that evening
to arrest him for the murder of Karen LeClair. [stirring music]
00:26:44
- We knew Christopher had
access to a number of guns. He had quite a few
guns in his residence.
00:26:49
So we tactically
approached his residence from all directions
with anticipation that he was in the house
and without knowledge
00:26:56
of how he would react. At that point, we were notified
that the vehicle, which I believe he was driving,
was located on the roadway
00:27:05
outside of his residence. And he was taken into custody
at that particular point.
00:27:13
NARRATOR: From prison,
Christopher's calls and letters were monitored by detectives.
00:27:18
- He was giving us
more information from his jail cell
that we really didn't even need to go out and get.
00:27:27
ERIC ROGERS:
In listening to the phone calls of Christopher
LeClair, we realized that he
00:27:33
was a very gifted liar. He could lie
at a drop of a hat. He would talk to Tracy
on a regular basis.
00:27:40
And the outlandish web
of lies that he would tell her was unbelievable. The letters that they would
share with one another
00:27:50
about their love
for one another, it clearly allowed us
to see that he knew Karen was out of the picture.
00:27:58
That he was planning
on getting out of jail and continuing
this relationship with his mistress, Tracy.
00:28:05
- He really was building
our case from his jail cell. NARRATOR: But investigators
still had a problem.
00:28:12
ERIC ROGERS: It
was about proving beyond a reasonable
doubt that he was responsible
for the death of Karen.
00:28:18
But we did not know how
that happened at that point because we didn't have a body.
00:28:23
Without a body, you
can't tell, obviously, the nature or manner of death. [stirring music]
00:28:33
NARRATOR: Three weeks
later, on July the 4th, that changed when Karen's body
was found 50 miles away from
00:28:41
where she left the dock alive. And the damning evidence
found with her body proved this was no
boating accident.
00:28:53
ERIC ROGERS: There
was a blue rope tied around the upper portion
of her chest under her arms.
00:28:58
There was a white
rope and a blue rope also tied around her ankles. Those two ropes were
joined by a rope
00:29:08
in the middle of her body. From that single rope,
there was another rope that had an anchor attached to it.
00:29:22
So the anchor was
used to assist in keeping the body down,
which is consistent with what
00:29:31
Christopher had asked
me as far as how long would it take
a body to come up in the waters of Lake Erie.
00:29:37
He already had knowledge
as to what he did to Karen, how he had tied her down. NARRATOR: But if it
was weighed down,
00:29:45
why did Karen's body resurface? [water sloshing] [stirring music] SIMON BOXALL: We
can demonstrate that
00:29:59
here, when a body
is weighed down, it will sit on the sea floor. And if the sea floor
is reasonably smooth,
00:30:07
then it can drag
along the sea floor. But if it then gets snared on,
say, a sandbank or a rock or
00:30:13
something similar
to that, then it can stay there
for a long period until it's
resuspended by a wave.
00:30:19
Because Lake Erie is
relatively shallow compared to many
marine areas, it means those waves,
which can be quite big,
00:30:27
are quite capable
of extending to the sea floor and lifting any body
that's on the sea floor up.
00:30:33
And that will then
make it jump over some of these obstructions. And so the waves are
critical to the body
00:30:40
moving along the sea floor. NARRATOR: Now,
investigators needed to link Christopher
LeClair to the items used
00:30:48
to weigh his wife's body down. They started a search
on Christopher's boat, the Doris-M.
00:30:54
ERIC ROGERS: We discovered
that the rope that was used around her
chest and her ankles
00:31:00
was actually rope that
was cut off of a hammock. It was like
a two-tone blue rope.
00:31:05
That was a hammock that
was located on the Doris-M. [stirring music] And then the off-white
rope was also
00:31:20
rope that was used to secure
his anchors to the boat. And the anchor that
was used for her body
00:31:26
was also very, very
similar to anchors that were located on the Doris-M. - There are three anchors,
kind of a small, medium, large.
00:31:35
And, obviously, he had used
the largest anchor in that set. So, obviously,
photographed all of that
00:31:42
and, again, just added
to the evidence against him. NARRATOR: But investigators
still needed
00:31:50
to know whether Karen drowned
or if she died by other means. Her body was sent
for a post-mortem.
00:31:58
ELIZABETH HIRZ:
Several of us drove out there to observe the autopsy. She's this beautiful
blonde woman.
00:32:04
And then you go
to this autopsy, and just what's happened to her
was very, very difficult.
00:32:09
And also just to see how he
had tied her up in those ropes and tied her to that anchor.
00:32:16
MICHELLE DUPRE: Even though
there was decomposition on the body, there was no other
evidence of injury to the arms
00:32:22
or to the legs, which
would have indicated that she may have struggled
once the ropes were
00:32:27
tied around her. This would lead us
to believe that she was deceased at the time
she was put into the water.
00:32:35
NARRATOR: Then
the pathologist noticed two injuries to the head. - He noticed above the right
ear, and then another injury
00:32:48
on the left ear. In this case, you could see
the skull had fractured. [water sloshing]
00:32:57
- The injury itself was
to her right temple. So we knew we had
a bullet wound. ERIC ROGERS: The manner
and cause of death
00:33:07
was determined to be
a single gunshot wound to the right side of the head,
exiting on the left side
00:33:12
of the Karen's head. NARRATOR: Despite
the decomposition of the body, the autopsy could
determine how far
00:33:21
the gun was from Karen's head. - The medical examiner
did an exceptional job in that autopsy, and getting
us that evidence that it
00:33:31
was a very close bullet wound. [gunshot] - You could tell it
was a contact wound
00:33:41
to the right side of the head. Because when you shoot
somebody in the head and it's in contact
with the skin,
00:33:47
it creates this
stippling effect, which is almost like a burning
of the skin from the heat
00:33:53
of the discharge
of the round going through and the barrel of the gun. When they removed the layer
of skin around the wound,
00:34:02
you could actually
see gunpowder residue between the tissue
and the layer of skin.
00:34:08
So that gunpowder does
not get under the skin, unless the shot that's
fired to kill her
00:34:15
is basically right up
against her head at the time it is discharged. [stirring music]
00:34:24
- We can tell that
it was a gunshot wound because when it
enters the skull, as it did
00:34:29
in Karen's case, we
can tell the entrance from the exit wound. ERIC ROGERS: So you
have a smooth entry and
00:34:35
the stippling on the entry. But on the exit, you
have a rough edge, or a tearing effect.
00:34:41
Or the skull, because of the
gases is being pushed out, it creates a crack
in the skull.
00:34:49
[stirring music] NARRATOR: Even though
the murder weapon had yet to be found, investigators
charged Christopher LeClair
00:34:59
with his wife's killing. - All the physical evidence
that we found regarding the gunshot wound to the head,
and then all the ropes from
00:35:12
the Doris-M and the anchor
from Doris-M, that physical
evidence basically sealed his fate regarding
the killing of his wife.
00:35:20
- To see the lengths that he
went to hide his crime just deepened my resolve
to make sure this man never
00:35:28
got out of jail. [water sloshing] [stirring music] NARRATOR: In Pennsylvania,
detectives investigating
00:35:41
Karen LeClair's
murder now know she was shot dead before
being tied to an anchor
00:35:47
and thrown into Lake Erie. Her husband, Christopher
LeClair, the prime suspect, is now in jail awaiting trial.
00:35:58
- He was not interested
in talking to us because, I believe, at that point,
he realized that we had
00:36:05
all the evidence we needed. NARRATOR:
But investigators still had to find the murder weapon.
00:36:11
After monitoring LeClair's
calls from prison, they struck gold. - He was communicating with
his father on the phone.
00:36:20
And during one
of our phone conversations that we were monitoring,
he instructed his dad
00:36:26
that there was an item in the
basement above a ceiling tile. [stirring music] I think he referred to it
as, "outside the gun room,
00:36:41
there's an item that
needs to disappear." We heard that, but we had
a pretty good idea what his dad
00:36:50
was attempting to dispose of. - He was directing his
father to go to the basement,
00:36:54
get a ladder, go
up to the rafters, and there would
be something there and that he needed
to make sure was gone.
00:37:02
ERIC ROGERS: So we
immediately brought the dad in, spoke to the father. The father was very
forward with us
00:37:12
and said that he was instructed
by Christopher to remove a gun, and he put it
underneath the bed.
00:37:22
- A second search was
executed at his home. And in a drawer under
the bed, behind that drawer,
00:37:28
was found a cloth bag with
a 0.38 revolver in the bag. And so that we had now,
not only had the body,
00:37:37
we had homicide, we
had the cause of death, we now had the weapon. [stirring music]
00:37:53
NARRATOR: 15 months
after the body was found, Christopher LeClair finally
stood trial, pleading not
00:38:00
guilty to first degree murder. ERIC ROGERS: Christopher
conducted himself in a manner
00:38:10
that you would expect. There was very little
remorse, very little emotion. And that's what you would
expect from somebody
00:38:19
of his mental capacity as far
as his egotistical behavior, narcissistic type
of personality that he had.
00:38:28
NARRATOR: Witnesses revealed
LeClair's long-held plans for Karen's murder. - There were conversations that
he had 13 years prior on how
00:38:39
he would murder his
wife by taking her to the middle of Lake Erie,
wrapping her in rope or a net,
00:38:46
and sinking her
to the bottom of the lake. Not only did he emphasize
it to this person
00:38:52
who testified at trial. And when she responded, oh,
you must be joking, he said,
00:38:57
no, this is what I would do. Then, years later, closer
to when the event occurred,
00:39:03
he said it again
to yet another witness. NARRATOR: The prosecution
outlined Christopher's motive.
00:39:12
Killing his wife would
make way for his lover, while avoiding a financially
crippling divorce.
00:39:19
- We put all of this
evidence out to the jury to just paint this picture. A lot of it involved
text messages between he
00:39:27
and Tracy setting up
the fact that, you know, they were trying
to get pregnant, that she wanted him to leave.
00:39:34
So we have the motive. We have the opportunity. It was just it's such
an amazing storyline
00:39:41
that we had against him that
we just put everything in. ERIC ROGERS: On that
June 10, Christopher
00:39:48
had an ultimatum
that was provided to him by his girlfriend. And that was his
last weekend, where
00:39:54
he had to do
something with Karen in order to satisfy
the ultimatum. NARRATOR: Through
the CCTV at the Marina,
00:40:03
the court was shown
LeClair taking his wife out into Lake
Erie on their final trip.
00:40:09
[stirring music] ELIZABETH HIRZ: You are
watching this video. This is the last
day of her life.
00:40:17
He knows what's going
to happen to her. This is the woman that you've
been with for 27 years.
00:40:22
You hate her that much. NARRATOR: LeClair's text
messages revealed what he did after killing Karen.
00:40:30
- He had just
murdered his wife, and he's texting
his mistress if he can pick up some beer
to bring to the house,
00:40:38
if he could get some food. And he was that
depraved that he was able to carry on a
conversation with his mistress
00:40:45
while basically wrapping
up his wife in an anchor to throw overboard. NARRATOR: The Doris-M's
navigation system
00:40:57
was also used
as evidence to show where Karen's body was dumped. - The GPS coordinates
were very helpful to us
00:41:04
because we were able
to see on Sunday, when he went back out, he
went to the exact place
00:41:09
that he was the day before. And he was just
circling that area. ERIC ROGERS: Because he
wanted to make sure
00:41:16
her body hadn't
come up, or there were any remnants that would
indicate that her body was
00:41:21
in the water. NARRATOR: A tidal expert
plotted out for the court the 50-mile journey.
00:41:27
Karen's body took
after being dumped. [water sloshing] SARAH MORMINO:
Especially in Lake Erie,
00:41:34
these tides
and current conditions are not just on the top. There are several strong
currents that flow
00:41:40
at the bottom of the lake. That would have resulted
in her body being moved from her original position.
00:41:48
- Her body would have
continued to move in an easterly direction
towards Dunkirk, New York,
00:41:53
where it almost
found in the waters. We were very fortunate
that, you know, the lake surrendered Karen and
gave us the answers we needed.
00:42:03
JOHN TRUCILLA: When
you take a step back, it was overwhelming
the amount of evidence
00:42:09
that solidified him as the
murderer of Karen LeClair. NARRATOR: But even with the
evidence stacked against him,
00:42:18
LeClair came up with
an eyebrow-raising defense to explain how Karen died. - The new story was that
he was up driving the boat.
00:42:31
He now hears a bang. He looks back. She's slumped over. She had shot herself. He runs to her.
00:42:40
She's slipping off the boat. He grabs her foot. The boat is still
moving forward,
00:42:47
so he ties her feet
up to make sure she doesn't drop any further. And then pulls her
in, and then makes
00:42:58
a decision that it would be
too much for her family to know that she killed herself.
00:43:06
JONI JOHNSTON: And so to
preserve her reputation, he then wraps her
in these ropes
00:43:12
and puts an anchor around her,
and tosses her in to the ocean. It's pretty arrogant
for him to feel like he can
00:43:23
completely change his story. And I think the arrogance is
really in convincing himself
00:43:32
that he is so good at lying
that he can actually concoct an alternative scenario,
and that certainly
00:43:43
a jury is going to buy it. - He just couldn't stop lying. And the lies were just becoming
more and more ridiculous.
00:43:53
And he just-- he
wasn't going to stop. He still maintained
that it was a suicide.
00:43:59
And the fact that he thought
he could win is shocking. I was very excited when
doing the closing argument
00:44:11
and felt very confident. And the jury was
out about two hours. - The verdict came back
in a relatively short period
00:44:22
of time, that Christopher
was guilty of the death of his wife. [stirring music] - At the sentencing, I very
profoundly recognize Karen
00:44:42
LeClair as the epitome of a
selfless person trying to make a relationship work, and he
did everything in his
00:44:50
power to make sure it didn't. - Judge Trucilla sentenced
Christopher LeClair to life
00:45:00
without parole plus,
I believe, three years on top of that
for the tampering and abuse of a corpse.
00:45:07
[somber music] - His ego and his
superior mentality that he thought he
had over everybody
00:45:20
eventually did him in. ELIZABETH HIRZ: I'll never
forget that experience. And knowing and learning
what the water does
00:45:26
to someone buried
into the water for her body to be torn up, and it
just revictimizes her
00:45:32
in such a degrading manner. He wanted her gone. There's no way anybody
could do that and
00:45:40
have anything in their heart
but just darkness. JOHN TRUCILLA: When you
lose a life as sweet and
00:45:48
loving as Karen, I believe
my words at sentencing was, I thought the LeClair
family and
00:45:55
her friends could take
solace in that they had an angel looking over them. And that Karen was that angel.
00:46:01
[stirring music] [theme music]