Disappearance of Jennifer Dulos

Jennifer Dulos (née Farber; born September 27, 1968) went missing in Connecticut on May 24, 2019. She was 50 years old at the time of her disappearance. Authorities suspect that she was killed in a violent attack at her home in New Canaan. Her husband, Fotis Dulos, and his girlfriend, Michelle Troconis, were arrested on charges of tampering with evidence and hindering prosecution in connection with the disappearance. Later, the two – along with Fotis' attorney Kent Mawhinney – faced additional charges related to Jennifer's murder.

Jennifer Dulos
Born
Jennifer Farber

(1968-09-27)September 27, 1968
New York City, New York, U.S.
DisappearedMay 24, 2019 (aged 50)
New Canaan, Connecticut
StatusMissing for 1 year, 8 months and 11 days
Spouse(s)
Fotis Dulos
​
(m. after 2004)​
Children5
Parent(s)
  • Gloria Ortenberg
  • Hilliard Farber
RelativesLiz Claiborne (Maternal aunt)

Police suspect that Fotis Dulos had been lying in wait for Jennifer and attacked her when she arrived at her home, after dropping her children off at school. Police allege that Fotis Dulos and Troconis went to Hartford, Connecticut, to dispose of garbage bags containing items with Jennifer Dulos' blood on them on the night that Jennifer disappeared. Police further allege that Mawhinney participated in the murder conspiracy.

Jennifer and Fotis Dulos were in the midst of both a contentious divorce and child-custody proceedings.[1]

Background

Jennifer Farber Dulos (born September 27, 1968) was born in New York City to Gloria Ortenberg and Hilliard Farber, a banker and philanthropist. She had an older sister, Melissa Irene Farber.[2] Jennifer’s maternal aunt and uncle, Elizabeth Claiborne and Arthur Ortenberg, founded the fashion company Liz Claiborne Inc.[3] Jennifer graduated from Brown University in 1990, and later earned a master's degree in writing from New York University Tisch School of the Arts. Jennifer was a stay-at-home mother; she also was a writer for Patch.com and ran her own blog.

Fotis Dulos (August 6, 1967 – January 30, 2020) was born in Turkey, and grew up in Athens, Greece. He moved to the United States in 1986. He graduated from Brown University in 1989, and later earned an MBA in finance from Columbia Business School. He married Hilary Vanessa Aldama, also a Brown University graduate, in Athens, Greece, in June 2000. The marriage lasted 4 years, and they were divorced on July 12, 2004.

In 2004, Dulos founded Fore Group Inc., a luxury home developer company in Connecticut.[4]

Dulos started emailing Farber, whom he'd also met at Brown University, whilst still with his first wife. Dulos and Farber married just over a month after Dulos' divorce, on August 28, 2004, in Manhattan and moved to Farmington, Connecticut.[5] They had five children together, including two sets of twins, all named after Greek Orthodox saints – three sons: Petros, Theodore, and Constantine; and two daughters: Christiane and Cleopatra Noelle.[6] [7]

In a blog post on March 12, 2012, Jennifer said of the marriage, “I wish I were a strong person and that confrontation did not both scare and appall me.”[8]

After the slow break down of their marriage, in which Jennifer claimed Fotis was living an increasingly independent life, she filed for divorce on June 20, 2017, at Superior Court in Stamford, Connecticut. In the same month she started renting a house in New Canaan, Connecticut, about 70 miles southwest of Farmington, and moved there with her five children.[9] In divorce court documents she wrote, “I know that filing for divorce, and filing this motion will enrage him. I know he will retaliate by trying to harm me in some way.” She also stated she believed he was having an affair with his colleague, Michelle Troconis from South America.[10] Jennifer also alleged that Fotis had threatened to kidnap their children if she did not agree to his terms in the divorce settlement, and that he had bought a gun that year, to which Fotis denied and claimed he bought the gun legally for home security. [11] Both parents filed numerous motions claiming that the other was disparaging them. [12] Despite Jennifer requesting an emergency order of custody, they were given temporary joint custody of their children until the end of the divorce proceedings.

In January 2018, Jennifer again requested an emergency order of custody. The judge found that Fotis had broken numerous court orders. In March 2018 the judge ruled that Jennifer Dulos have sole physical custody of the children, and both parents would share joint legal custody. Fotis was granted supervised visitation and monitored phone calls.

In February 2018, after Jennifer’s father's death, Gloria Farber, Jennifer’s mother, sued Fotis Dulos for unpaid loans. She claimed he owed them $1.7 million loaned to him by his father-in-law Hilliard Farber.[13]

Disappearance

Jennifer Dulos was last seen at around 8:00 am on May 24, 2019, when she dropped her children off at New Canaan Country School and then at 8:05 am on a neighbor’s security camera returning home.[14] The same day, she missed two doctor appointments that she had scheduled for 11:00 am and 1:00 pm in New York City. Later that evening, at around 7:00 pm, two of her friends, including Lauren Almeida, her children’s nanny, reported her missing after they failed to get in contact with her. Family and friends of Jennifer stated that it would be out of character for her to leave her home on her own without telling anyone.[15]

Almeida, who had arrived at the house at 11:30 am that day, later told detectives she was surprised to see Dulos' Range Rover in the garage because she had planned to take it to her doctors appointments, instead of her Chevrolet Suburban, which was nowhere to be seen.[16]

When detectives arrived at the house, they found blood spatter on the floor, door and a wall in the garage, as well as on the exterior of the Range Rover parked in the garage. Blood was also found in the kitchen. DNA tests revealed most of the blood to be Jennifer’s, apart from blood on the kitchen faucet, a mixture belonging to both her and her husband, Fotis Dulos.[17] Police also found other evidence of Jennifer being the victim of a serious assault.

Jennifer’s black Chevrolet Suburban had been captured on the neighbor’s security camera leaving her home at around 10:25 am that morning. Fotis Dulos was believed to be the one driving the victim’s vehicle, carrying the body of Jennifer and other items associated with the probable cleanup.[18]

That same evening around 7:30 pm, Fotis Dulos and his girlfriend, Michelle Troconis, were captured on video dumping garbage bags in 30 bins in Hartford, Connecticut.[19] The trash bags were found to contain various pieces of bloodied clothing, as well as blood stained cleaning items. The blood was determined to be that of Jennifer Dulos. Fotis’ DNA was found on the inside of a glove in one of the trash bags, and on one of the trash bags.

Jennifer's Chevrolet Suburban was later found on the road side, near Waveny Park in New Canaan, just over 3 miles away from her home.[20]

At the time Jennifer went missing, she and her husband were estranged and still engaged in a tumultuous divorce. They were also involved in the ongoing contentious child-custody proceedings.

Police searched numerous properties and around Farmington, near Fotis Dulos’ home, and in Fairfield County, around Jennifer’s home without success. Investigators believe Fotis arrived by bike to her home, due to tire marks found and other evidence. They believe he was lying in wait for his estranged wife to return home, and killed her in the garage when she returned from dropping their kids at school. [21] Helicopters were used to look for signs of Jennifer, as well as canine units on the grounds and divers used to search the local ponds. There has been no activity on her credit cards and no calls made from her cell phone as of May 24. [22]

On January 19, 2021, Connecticut State Police visited property on Mountain Spring Road in Farmington, which was once owned by Fotis Dulos’ Fore Group, Inc.

State police said they were at the property to follow up on “old leads.” Several authorities could be seen behind the property digging up the yard.

Police also brought in Bob Perry, who is nationally known as “The Bone Finder,” though he would not say what, if anything, had been discovered.

Their presence comes nearly a year after Fotis died by suicide in January 2020.

The next day, police once again returned to the property on Mountain Spring Road in Farmington. An excavator and septic tank was brought in and seen behind the former Dulos-owned property.

Police briefly spoke with the media but said they did not have any updates.

Initial arrests

On June 1, 2019, Fotis Dulos and Michelle Troconis were arrested at a hotel in Avon, Connecticut, and charged with tampering with evidence and hindering prosecution. Not enough evidence existed at that time to warrant any more severe charges.[23]

The Dulos' five children, then aged between 8 and 13, moved to live with Jennifer's mother, Gloria Farber, in New York City, to whom a judge granted temporary custody.

Fotis Dulos hired attorney Norm Pattis to represent him. In an interview, prior to being hired by Fotis, Pattis had appeared convinced that Jennifer was dead.[24] Dulos and Troconis both pleaded not guilty to the charges.

In September 2019, both Dulos and Troconis were again arrested for tampering with evidence. They both pleaded not guilty.[25]

Dulos appeared in court on October 4 to seek a dismissal of the charges against him. The judge said he would review arguments by the defense and prosecution.

In late October, it was reported Troconis, along with her 10-year-old daughter, had moved out of the $5 million home in Farmington, Connecticut, that they had been living in with Fotis.[26]

2020 arrests

On January 7, 2020, Fotis Dulos was arrested at his home by Connecticut State Police and charged with capital murder, murder, and kidnapping in relation to the disappearance of Jennifer. His former girlfriend, Michelle Troconis, was also arrested and charged with conspiracy to commit murder. Fotis Dulos's friend and former attorney, Kent Douglas Mawhinney (often misreported as Mahwinney), was also detained on January 7 and charged with conspiracy to commit murder.[27] Despite these arrests, the body of Jennifer is yet to be found.[28]

Following the arrests, court documents released highlighted the backgrounds of both Dulos and Mawhinney.

Mawhinney became estranged from his wife after being accused of spousal rape. His wife went to South Windsor police and told authorities that she feared Fotis and Mawhinney were working together to kill her. After Jennifer disappeared, a shallow grave was discovered at a secluded property that Mawhinney owned, filled with two bags of lime and a blue tarp. Authorities and K9 dogs discovered the grave in August 2019, but no body was found in the grave, and said items were found to have been removed.[29]

Jennifer's family issued a statement after the arrests; “Although we are relieved that the wait for these charges is over, for us, there is no sense of closure. Nothing can bring Jennifer back. We miss her every day and will forever mourn her loss.” [30]

On January 8 Dulos' bond was set at $6 million. He was released the following day and was due to return to court on February 28, 2020.[31]

In a statement issued in May 2020, Michelle Troconis said it was a "mistake" to have trusted Dulos. However she still maintained that she does not know what happened to Jennifer or of her whereabouts.[32]

Troconis, out on bail, was next scheduled to appear in court on August 6, 2020 to face the charges. Mawhinney is being held in lieu of $2 million bond and is scheduled to appear in court on September 3, 2020.[33]

Fotis Dulos suicide

While out on bail, Dulos failed to appear at Stamford court house on January 28, 2020, for an emergency bond hearing. He was found in an unresponsive state by police at his $5 million home in Farmington, Connecticut, after intentionally poisoning himself with carbon monoxide by running a vacuum-cleaner hose from the exhaust pipe of his SUV into the interior of the car while it was parked in the garage.[34][35][36][37] Initially, it was reported by some news outlets that Dulos had been found dead, but responders had performed CPR and restored a faint pulse.[38] They transported him by ambulance to UConn Medical Center in Farmington, Connecticut, and from there he was airlifted to Jacobi Medical Center in The Bronx, New York, to undergo hyperbaric oxygen therapy.[38][39] His five children visited him at the medical center before he was taken off life support. This marked the first time they had seen their father since he was accused of murdering their mother.[40]

Dulos was pronounced dead at Jacobi Medical Center on January 30, 2020.[41][42] He was 52 years old.

He left a suicide note in his car that read "I refuse to spend even an hour more in jail for something I had NOTHING to do with".

In the police report, it states that Dulos' new girlfriend, Anna Curry, was at his home the morning of his suicide. They had planned to drive to the court house together, but Dulos said that they should drive separately. On the way to the court house Curry received a call from Dulos' attorney, asking where his client was. She told him that they were driving separately, but the lawyer informed her that Dulos' GPS tracker showed that he was still at home, at which point Curry said that she knew Fotis must have done something to harm himself and asked his lawyer to call 911.[43]

Media

A documentary, Vanished in New Canaan: An ID Mystery, premiered on ID Discovery on June 1, 2020. Investigation Discovery attempts to put pieces together of Dulos' disappearance.[44] The documentary gives an insight into how Jennifer and her estranged husband met at Brown University and started a family. A group of experts and witnesses dissect the events of the case.

See also

References
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  2. "Who is Jennifer Farber Dulos?". Latest Bios. July 2020.
  3. "Wealthy CT woman murdered". Latest Bios. July 2020.
  4. "Fotis Dulos: 5 Fast Facts You Need to Knew". Heavy News. July 2020.
  5. "Fotis Dulos' first marriage to Hilary Aldama ended quickly". Hartford Courant. July 2020.
  6. "How a Conn. Couple's 'Stereotypically Perfect' Marriage Went Sour Before Mom of 5 Disappeared". PEOPLE.com.
  7. "NYC Times FARBER--Hilliard Obituary". NYC Times. July 2020.
  8. "The loneliness and turbulence in the marriage of missing New Canaan mother Jennifer Farber Dulos". Hartford Courant. July 2020.
  9. "Jennifer Dulos home for sale". ncadvertiser. July 2020.
  10. "Fotis Dulos: 5 Fast Facts You Need to Knew". Heavy News. July 2020.
  11. "A timeline of the Jennifer Dulos, Fotis Dulos case". ABC News. July 2020.
  12. "Jennifer Dulos: Inside the Turbulent Marriage of the Missing Connecticut Mother of 5". The New York Times. 5 June 2020.
  13. Pagones, Stephanie. "Fotis Dulos says in-laws owe him $1M from unpaid work, unaccounted payments". Fox News.
  14. "Jennifer Dulos home for sale". Ncadvertiser. July 2020.
  15. "Who is Jennifer Farber Dulos?". Latest Bios. July 2020.
  16. "Jennifer Dulos evidence details". Newsweek. July 2020.
  17. "Jennifer Dulos evidence details". Newsweek. July 2020.
  18. "Jennifer Dulos home for sale". Ncadvertiser. July 2020.
  19. EDT, Jenni Fink On 8/9/19 at 11:45 AM (August 9, 2019). "Everything we know about Fotis Dulos, Connecticut man charged in estranged wife's disappearance". Newsweek.
  20. "What happened to Jennifer Dulos". Eonline. July 2020.
  21. "Fotis Dulos: 5 Fast Facts You Need to Knew". Heavy News. July 2020.
  22. "What happened to Jennifer Dulos". Eonline. July 2020.
  23. "Jennifer Dulos evidence details". Newsweek. July 2020.
  24. Matt McFarland, Kaitlyn Naples. "Local defense attorney weighs in on case of missing mom". Pattis & Smith Law Firm.
  25. "Jennifer Dulos 1 year on". ABC News. July 2020.
  26. "Jennifer Dulos 1 year on". ABC News. July 2020.
  27. Backus, Lisa; Tomlinson, Pat (January 7, 2020). "Fotis Dulos' former attorney arrested at gunpoint in Jennifer Dulos case". The Hour.
  28. "Fotis Dulos arrested for murder of estranged wife Jennifer Dulos". ABC News.
  29. "Shallow 'human grave' found before Connecticut mom Jennifer Dulos' disappearance". NBC News.
  30. "Who is Jennifer Farber Dulos?". Latest Bios. July 2020.
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  32. "Michelle Troconis Issues Statement on Disappearance of Jennifer Dulos". NBC News.
  33. "Troconis denied hearing to remove GPS tracking device". Stamford Advocate.
  34. Vigdor, Neil; Gold, Michael (January 28, 2020). "Fotis Dulos, Charged With Killing His Wife, Jennifer, Attempts Suicide". The New York Times. ISSN 0362-4331. Retrieved 2020-01-28.
  35. "Attorneys Speak Out After Fotis Dulos Suicide Attempt: 'The Situation Is Grim'". January 28, 2020. Retrieved 2020-01-28.
  36. Altimari, Dave. "Police say Fotis Dulos in critical condition after attempted suicide". courant.com. Retrieved 2020-01-28.
  37. Polansky, Rob. "Fotis Dulos in critical condition after attempted suicide". WFSB. Retrieved 2020-01-28.
  38. "Fotis Dulos In Critical Condition After Apparent Suicide Attempt At His Connecticut Home". CBS Local. January 29, 2020. Retrieved 2020-01-29.
  39. Rosenberg, Rebecca; Moore, Tina; Fitz-Gibbon, Jorge (January 28, 2020). "Fotis Dulos transported to Jacobi Medical Center after suicide attempt". New York Post. Retrieved 2020-01-29.
  40. "Dulos' 5 kids visited him before he was taken off life support". NY Post. July 2020.
  41. Chakraborty, Barnini (January 30, 2020). "Fotis Dulos, Connecticut man charged in wife Jennifer Dulos' murder, dead after suicide attempt, lawyer says". Fox News. Retrieved 2020-01-31.
  42. "Fotis Dulos, charged with killing his estranged wife, dies after suicide attempt". NBC News. Retrieved 2020-01-31.
  43. "Dulos meticulously planned his suicide". NY Post. July 2020.
  44. "New Jennifer Dulos documentary". June 2020.
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