Remove Leaflet overlayMaps layer programmatically

Using Leaflet javascript. I would like my "clear button" to do two things...

1) uncheck all the L.Control layers 2) remove the current overlay from the map

I can do the first easily enough using this code:

var checks = document.querySelectorAll('[type = "checkbox"]'), i;
    function uncheckBoxes() {
        for (i = 0; i < checks.length; ++i) {
            checks[i].checked = false;
        }
    }

The next is a little more tricky. I have tried using the removeLayer() and clearLayers() function but they do not work. I don't see a way in the leaflet documentation to remove an L.control overlayMap layer from the map unless you physically uncheck it yourself.

Any insight into this would be greatly appreciated.