Claremont man arrested in fatal overdose case, witness tampering charge added

A March overdose death in Claremont became a felony arrest this week when police said a 47-year-old city man was taken into custody after a traffic stop and accused of selling the fentanyl that killed 69-year-old Jane Lafountain.

Christopher Daignault was arrested April 30 on charges of sale of a controlled drug resulting in death and witness tampering, a combination that moves the case well beyond a routine possession or distribution arrest. Police said the investigation remains active and ongoing, and they said more charges may still be filed.

Lafountain died March 2, but authorities said the New Hampshire Chief Medical Examiner did not determine until the week before the arrest that her death was an accidental fentanyl overdose. That timeline helps explain why the case took months to mature into charges: investigators had to wait for the medical ruling, then continue building the chain of evidence around how the drug moved and who handled it before and after the fatal dose.

Daignault was transported to the Sullivan County House of Corrections and was scheduled to be arraigned Friday in the 5th Circuit Court, District Division, in Claremont. Claremont police identified Det. Sgt. Cameron Blewitt as the contact for additional information.

The witness-tampering allegation suggests investigators believe someone may have tried to influence testimony or obscure facts after the overdose, a complication that can make a fatal-drug case more difficult to prove and potentially broader than the original sale itself. Under New Hampshire law, the offense of sale of a controlled drug resulting in death is governed by RSA 318-B:26 and can carry a maximum sentence of 30 years in prison, a $500,000 fine, or both.

The case lands in a city still living with the daily strain of overdose response. New Hampshire recorded 287 drug deaths in 2024, down from 431 in 2023, but the state Office of the Chief Medical Examiner’s Feb. 10, 2026 update still listed 83 fentanyl-alone deaths among 2025 cases tracked at that point. In Claremont, the fire department says it responds to nearly 1,500 calls for service a year, a reminder that overdoses are only one part of a much larger emergency workload.

For Sullivan County, the arrest is less a closed chapter than a sign of how long the fallout from one overdose can last. A single fatal dose can trigger months of medical review, detective work and prosecutorial scrutiny, while a community absorbs yet another reminder that fentanyl deaths are still shaping public safety, hospital response and the burden on local first responders.