Billionaire heir’s final moments after wild car chase seen on camera

GRAPHIC CONTENT WARNING 

Bodycam footage has revealed the terrifying final moments of a billionaire heir after he led police on a high-speed chase to his $2.8million hunting lodge before being shot dead as he emerged with a gun. 

Christopher Lindner, the son of Ohio business magnate Carl Lindner III, was shot dead during a standoff with state troopers on the balcony of his woodland mansion on November 14.

The 40-year-old had just been on a rampage through the sleepy town of Mount Orab, where he threatened to kill construction workers outside a marijuana dispensary he had visited before fleeing in his black Land Rover Defender. 

He drove the $100,000 SUV across an open field before law enforcement responded, chasing him down in a country road pursuit at speeds of over 100mph all the way to his lodge.

There, video shows the moment he ran inside as troopers closed in, with officers approaching the front porch with their weapons raised. 

Inside, Lindner was retrieving a firearm from the arsenal of guns he stored in the house, despite a recent court order prohibiting him from owning weapons. 

He emerged on the balcony on the third floor, where he refused orders to surrender and was shot dead by state troopers, who later said his body sustained ‘unsurvivable injuries’.

In the years before his violent death, Lindner, a married father-of-four whose life was the picture of perfection to the outside world, had a dramatic mental health spiral that ruined his wife’s life. 

His psychotic breaks became so bad that his wife Tabitha successfully took out a restraining order against him after he threatened to kill her and waved guns at their kids, according to court documents.

The drug and alcohol-addicted finance scion was let off the hook by his wife in recent years on the condition that he attend rehab and stayed off drugs. 

But he was eventually thrown out of their home in fall this year when she discovered he was using vape pens containing THC – the active ingredient in marijuana – and he descended further into madness.

His final meltdown on November 14 began after he visited a cannabis dispensary in Mount Orab before he raced towards his home near Manchester. 

Dramatic dashcam footage shows a police car intercepting Lindner’s speeding Land Rover near the small town of Peebles before following it into the home’s leafy driveway where two other matching Land Rover Defenders were parked. 

As Lindner ran inside, more heavily-armed troopers began descending on the scene, surrounding the sprawling property for about 45 minutes before multiple volleys of gunfire erupted.

Five minutes later, an officer in the woods can be heard speaking to someone off camera: ‘I probably dumped six or seven rounds, I think,’ he can be heard saying.

Troopers wearing body armor and carrying shields then cautiously approach the house, entering up the porch stairs as Lindner has and covering each other as they searched the home’s many rooms.

They eventually made it up to what appears to be the master bedroom and slowly walked towards the balcony where Lindner lay shot. 

‘He’s down, subject down. Don’t touch him,’ one officer can be heard saying in the footage, before he shouted to the other troopers: ‘We’ve got to clear the rest of this house.’ 

Ohio’s Bureau of Criminal Investigations is investigating the shooting after a request from the Adams County Sheriff’s Office, with the final report not yet released. 

An obituary for Lindner shared by his family on November 16 made no mention of Lindner’s mistreatment of his wife or his violent end

‘Christopher was kind-hearted, and a devoted follower of Christ Jesus,’ it read. 

‘His fun-loving and adventurous spirit was contagious – a joy he carried into every area of his life. 

‘A dedicated husband and father, Christopher poured his heart into both his family and loved ones.’

The obituary later continued: ‘Christopher embraced his calling as a husband and a father. He spent his days caring for his home and family, playing soccer with his children, and savoring the simple moments of life. 

‘He was an extraordinary father who was fully present in every activity and cherished every moment with his kids. 

‘Despite the many demands on his time, Christopher never failed to shower his wife with love, affection, and unwavering devotion.’

That obituary stands in contrast to the abuse Tabitha Lindner says she suffered at her late husband’s bands.  

A heartrending note Tabitha wrote in a court document seeking a restraining order said: ‘Chris has been verbally abusive for most of our marriage. 

‘There have been periods of physical abuse in the past. He has threatened to shoot me if I left the house to escape while pointing a gun at me.’

Tabitha said her husband had been diagnosed with psychotic breaks caused by drug and alcohol abuse and that he believed he was Jesus Christ.

She was granted that protection order weeks before Lindner’s final fatal meltdown. 

Lindner’s grim death marks an extremely dark chapter for his family, which had previously enjoyed generations of extreme wealth and prestige.

His grandfather Carl Lindner Jr was a high school dropout who made a $1.7 billion fortune by founding the United Dairy Farmers convenience store chain and an insurance company called American Financial.

Carl owned the Cincinnati Reds MLB team between 1999 and 2005.

Lindner’s father, Carl Lindner III, is one of the most well-known businessmen in Ohio and the owner of the FC Cincinnati soccer team. Tabitha Lindner is among the team’s board members. 

The powerful family has close ties with the Trumps, with the president himself even making an appearance at the wedding of Christopher’s brother Carl IV. 

The high-achieving family also includes award-winning film producer Matthew Lindner, who is Christopher’s brother. 

Lindner himself was such a huge soccer fan that a $10 million complex dedicated to the sport was recently created at his old private school, Cincinnati Christian Hills Academy.

He attended a ribbon cutting ceremony to mark the opening of the Christopher D. Lindner Family Soccer Complex as Tabitha and the couple’s four children proudly looked on.  

The obituary directly referenced that act of philanthropy, saying: ‘Most recently, he and his wife, Tabitha, funded the construction of the Christopher D. Lindner Family Soccer Complex at Cincinnati Hills Christian Academy. 

‘His hope was that it would be a place where dreams will be realized and lifelong memories created.’

Bosses at the $23,000-a-year school now appear to be keen to distance themselves from Lindner, with the page on their website dedicated to the stadium deleted.

It is unclear if they’ll also rename the complex in the wake of Lindner’s violent death.