-The suspect has a pregnant mistress on the side

-He tries to cash in on his children’s life insurance policy within days of wife’s death

Police say a Connecticut man killed his wife in their Ellington, Connecticut, home, then blamed it on an imaginary intruder who sounded like Vin Diesel. He had an arraignment on Monday at the Connecticut Superior Court.

The Hartford Courant reports that Richard Dabate, 40, was charged with providing a false statement to police, murder, and tampering with evidence. His wife, Connie Dabate, was shot in the head in her own home in December 2015, and left on the kitchen floor. Police said she was shot with a Magnum .357, the same type of gun that Richard bought just a few months prior.

According to detectives, Richard’s motives seemed to be money and his mistress. He was reportedly having an affair for seven years with an unidentified girl, who was seven months pregnant at the time of the murder. Shortly after his wife’s death, Richard tried to cash in on her $475,000 life insurance policy. He also withdrew $93,000 from her investment account.

Richard Dabate, charged with killing his wife at their Ellington home in December 2015, will face a judge today https://t.co/kKwg8AopnB pic.twitter.com/0XtnjcK1FS — Hartford Courant (@hartfordcourant) April 17, 2017

On the night of the murder, when police arrived to the home, Richard was tied to a chair in his kitchen. He told the police that a masked intruder who sounded and looked like actor Vin Diesel shot his wife then tied him up.

“Dabate stated he opened the bedroom door and saw the intruder in the closet looking through things. (He) stated the intruder was about 6’2′, larger than he was, and was wearing a dark green camouflaged suit and mask,” court documents read. The intruder then noticed he was in the room, and he (the intruder) pulled out a knife. Dabate said the intruder then said something like, “give me your money, your wallet and your PIN numbers, and if you don’t, I’m going to wait here for your wife and kids.”

Richard then said he heard his wife walking in from the garage, and he told her to run, but the intruder shot her. He said the intruder wrung his neck and tied him to a chair, but he was able to free himself by grabbing a blow torch and burning the intruder’s arm.

Police didn’t buy the story. There were numerous inconsistencies in the story, listed in the 48-page arrest warrant, coupled with text messages Richard reportedly sent to his mistress, indicating that would he be divorced from his wife soon. When confronted about the mistress and the pregnancy, Richard initially said that his wife knew about and was excited about the possibility of co-parenting the baby. Later he admitted the pregnancy was accidental.

“‘I’ll see you tomorrow my little love nugget,” he texted to mistress the day before Connie was killed.

This is Superior Court in Rockville, where Richard Dabate will be arraigned in the death of his wife, Connie. pic.twitter.com/0SxKmRL1Iw — Christine Dempsey (@ChristineDempse) April 17, 2017

Dabate is currently behind bars at the being held on a $1 million bond at the Hartford Correctional Center. He’s scheduled to appear at arraignment on Monday at the Connecticut Superior Court. Check back with Crime Online as additional details become available.

[Feature Photo: Facebook]