CLAREMONT — A 47-year-old Claremont man has been arrested and charged in connection with the fatal overdose of his 69-year-old mother-in-law.
At his arraignment late last week, Christopher Daignault entered no pleas to felony charges of drug sale with death resulting, witness tampering and controlled drug acts prohibited.
The case dates back to March 2, when Claremont Police responded to a house on Elm Street after receiving a call about a deceased woman, Jane LaFountain, from her husband, Joseph. Initially, the cause of death was undetermined.
On April 22, the New Hampshire Office of the Chief Medical Examiner determined that the cause of LaFountain’s death was fentanyl toxicity and the manner of death was ruled accidental, Claremont Police stated in a news release on April 30.
During an investigation that followed the toxicological findings, Joseph LaFountain told police that his wife had been homebound for a couple years, and that Daignault provided her with drugs in the hours preceding her death, according to the affidavit signed by Claremont Police Chief Brent Wilmot and filed in Claremont District Court in support of the charges against Daignault on May 1.
“Mr. LaFountain told us that he and (his wife) were sitting in their bedroom together, when Daignault came into the room and gave (her) a white-colored substance,” the affidavit states.
When Joseph LaFountain asked his son-in-law what he was giving her, Daignault allegedly replied, “It’s for her anxiety, don’t worry about it.”
At around 4 a.m. the next morning, LaFountain “removed the covers, turned the lights on and … it was immediately apparent that (his wife) was deceased,” the affidavit says. “He called 911.”
Responding to the scene that morning, officers documented medications including muscle relaxers and treatments for acid reflux. Daignault later told police his mother-in-law had been having “issues for years with her stomach” and “believed it was related to her gallbladder.”
Joseph LaFountain told police that at the time of her death, his wife “was not prescribed fentanyl and wasn’t a recreational drug user,” according to the affidavit.
He also stated his wife’s use of “drugs/medications, outside of those lawfully prescribed by her physician(s), began approximately four years ago (after the death of her sister),” according to the affidavit.
“Mr. LaFountain couldn’t tell me what (his wife) took for drugs (other than what was legally prescribed) and said whatever she used was given to her” by their daughter Jennifer Daignault and her husband, Christopher Daignault, the affidavit states.
While speaking with police, Joseph LaFountain said he was concerned that the illegal use of drugs by Daignault and his wife was going to cause him to “lose his house.”
In a conversation that was recorded by police at the authorization of the Sullivan County Attorney’s Office following the toxicology findings of the Chief Medical Examiner’s Office, Joseph LaFountain explained to his son-in-law how Jane LaFountain had died of a “fentanyl overdose,” according to a transcript of the conversation.
When LaFountain asked Daignault what he gave her the night preceding her death, Daignault denied giving her fentanyl, but said he gave her naloxone, also known by the brand name Narcan, and went on to say “just because (fentanyl is) in her system, that’s not the reason,” according to the transcript.
He did admit to giving her fentanyl previously when she had an episode of convulsions in bed a couple weeks prior to her death, according to the transcript.
“(Fentanyls) what they found, Chris,” Joseph LaFountain told Daignault. “What am I going to tell (the authorities) if they call me?”
“You’re going to say you had no idea,” Daignault replied, according to the transcript. “Your wife took medications. Unless you want me to go to jail. I will take the blame. I didn’t murder mom.”
On April 29, Claremont Police conducted separate interviews with Christopher Daignault, Jennifer Daignault and Joseph LaFountain.
Joseph LaFountain told police that prior to the interviews, “Daignault was making sure that they had a consistent story to tell police regarding (his wife’s) death, specifically her use of fentanyl and how she may have obtained it,” according to the affidavit.
“Basically, the story that they were supposed to tell police was that no one in the house provided her with fentanyl, and that someone may have stopped over and delivered her the fatal dose, but without her knowledge,” the affidavit stated.
However, in his interview, Joseph LaFountain told police that on the night before Jane Fountain died, “she did not leave” and “had no other visitors.”
When asked about his fentanyl use during his interview, Daignault allegedly admitted that he “dabbled a little bit” following a car crash in September, but that he “does not use fentanyl right now” and did not have any around the time of his mother-in-law’s death.
He also denied having previous encounters with Claremont Police, but the affidavit cites an incident in August 2025 when Claremont Police discovered him “overdosing near the intersection of North and Elm Street,” according to the affidavit.
The affidavit stated that Daignault’s story and his wife’s story appeared to be “rehearsed.”
At the conclusion of his interview with police on April 29, Daignault was allowed to leave. The next day, police pulled him over and arrested him on a charge of drug sale with death resulting, according to the affidavit.
After he was taken into custody, he told police he had fentanyl in his lunch bag, which was on the passenger seat of his car, according to the affidavit.
Daignault is being held in Cheshire County Jail in Keene, due to a “relationship with an employee” at Sullivan County Jail, Wilmot told the Valley News in a phone interview on Wednesday.
He is scheduled for a probable cause hearing in Claremont District Court on Monday.
The charge of drug sale with death resulting carries a maximum penalty of life in prison. Witness tampering and controlled drug acts prohibited carry a penalty of three and a half to seven years in prison.
“This is an active and ongoing investigation,” Wilmot said. “Additional arrests are anticipated.”
