Graveyardbride

Administrator







Posts: 5,579

Administrator 15th Update: Missing Connecticut Woman Feared for Her Life Quote Select Post

Select Post Deselect Post

Deselect Post Link to Post

Link to Post Member Give Gift

Member Back to Top Post by Graveyardbride on

Missing Connecticut Woman Feared for Her Life



Police in Connecticut are looking for Jennifer Dulos (above), a 50-year-old mother of five who has been missing for almost a week. She was last seen Friday, May 24, in New Canaan driving a black 2017 Chevrolet Suburban. She missed two appointments that day, one at 11 a.m. and another at 1 p.m. Friends reported her missing at 7 o’clock that night.



On Saturday, May 25, police searched her New Canaan home and found blood. A source said it appeared the scene had been cleaned. It isn’t known if the blood is that of Jennifer Dulos, however, police confirmed they have been conducting a criminal investigation in addition to the search for the missing woman. The Suburban she was driving was located near Waveny Park. Failing to locate Jennifer Dulos, local law enforcement requested assistance from the Connecticut State Police and federal authorities. On Wednesday, May 22, police searched the area near Waveny Park with ground units, a drone and an aviation unit from the New York State Police. “This investigation is being treated as a missing person case, but as with any missing person case, a criminal investigation is being conducted concurrently to determine if Jennifer was the victim [of] foul play or intentional harm,” a police spokesperson said.



Jennifer Dulos and her husband, Fotis Dulos (above right), a rich builder of luxury homes who was born in Turkey and brought up in Greece, have been embroiled in an adversarial divorce since June 2017 and Jennifer had told friends she feared for her life. Her estranged husband, however, vehemently denied threatening her.



According to documents filed in the divorce proceedings, Fotis Dulos was seeing another woman. Jennifer alleged her husband had threatened to take the five children (which includes two sets of twins) and disappear in Greece or some other country and, in fact, their father had applied for Greek passports for himself and the children. This prompted Judge Thomas Colin to issue an order prohibiting either parent from “taking any further steps to obtain any passports for the children or to apply the children for any other citizenship.” The judge also ordered the children were “not to be exposed to any romantic partner of the parents.”



Family and friends of the missing woman issued a statement describing Jennifer Dulos as 5'7" tall, slender with dark brown eyes, shoulder-length brown hair and a soft voice. “Those who know Jennifer know her to be a devoted mother; an extremely thoughtful, reliable and organized woman; and attest that she would never, ever, disappear when she is responsible for the lives of five loving and energetic children,” the statement read. “Jennifer is gentle, kind, intelligent and funny, and above all she prioritizes the health and happiness of her children. She and the children have been embraced by the New Canaan Country School community, where they have made good friends and are active in athletics and arts. Before living in New Canaan, Jennifer and her family resided in Farmington, where she was a beloved class parent among the Renbrook School community. We are touched by the outpouring of support from friends and colleagues in Farmington, Avon and West Hartford.”



The five Dulos children are currently with their maternal grandmother in New York, where an armed guard has been posted to protect them.



Sources: Dave Altimari and Nicholas Rondinone, The Hartford Courant, May 30, 2019; Inside Edition, May 30, 2019; Carma Hassan and Eric Levenson, CNN, May 30, 2019; and Michael Dinan, The New Canaanite, May 29, 2019.

Graveyardbride

Administrator







Posts: 5,579

Administrator 15th Update: Missing Connecticut Woman Feared for Her Life Quote Select Post

Select Post Deselect Post

Deselect Post Link to Post

Link to Post Member Give Gift

Member Back to Top Post by Graveyardbride on

Search for Missing Woman Expanded to Westchester and Hartford



The search for Jennifer Dulos, who has been missing for a week, has spread to Westchester, New York, and Hartford, Connecticut. The center of the New York search is a house at 40 Mallard Lake Road that Hilliard Farber, the missing woman’s late father, purchased in 2004 for $3,200,000. The property is located in a heavily-wooded area near Mallard Lake, just a 15-minute drive from New Canaan.



It has also been confirmed that detectives from the Connecticut State Police Western District Major Crimes Squad (WDMCS) are investigating the disappearance in the Hartford area. According to the Hartford Courant, state police are searching the Upper Albany area of Hartford. Around a dozen state troopers and firefighters are combing the area in the vicinity of Adams Street and Oakland Terrace along Albany Avenue. One crew searched a storm drain in front of Scotts’ Jamaican Bakery, but found was nothing, Hartford Fire Deputy Chief Harry Tulier told the Courant.



In the meantime, police in New Canaan handed out flyers in the area of Lapham Road behind Waveny Park where Jennifer’s vehicle was found shortly after she was reported missing. Lt. Jason Ferraro said they hoped to find someone who may have seen something suspicious when Dulos disappeared last week.



A source close to the investigation reported divers planned to search the nearby shallow pond in Waveny Park. The same source told Hearst Connecticut Media that blood was found in the home the missing woman was renting at 61 Welles Lane. Ferraro, however, told reporters police “will not discuss any evidence that has been recovered at this time during our investigation.” Nevertheless, he did confirm the search of the property in Pound Ridge, New York, was finished.



He also said authorities have not classified the case as a homicide and it is still considered a missing person case. A WFSB source claimed law enforcement was treating the case as a homicide. “Investigators from the New Canaan Police Investigations Unit as well as the Connecticut State Police Western District Major Crime Squad continue to work in partnership on both the missing person case as well as the criminal case,” a statement issued by Ferraro said. “We will not discuss any possible persons of interest/suspects as this investigation is active and ongoing,” he reiterated.



Jefferson Crossing, a stone’s throw from the Avon town line, was quiet Friday afternoon. The street was developed by the Fore Group, the company owned by Fotis Dulos, according to a sign posted at the entrance to the private road. No cars were in the driveway, which arcs in a half circle in front of the 10,396 square-foot house (above). What appeared to be a white van was parked in the rear. Fotis Dulos came to the door, but motioned through a window that he didn’t wish to speak. He then bowed politely as if to say, “Thank you.”





The Other Woman. In her petition for dissolution of marriage, Jennifer Dulos accused her husband of having an affair with Michelle Troconis-Arreaza (above). According to her now-deleted Facebook page, Troconis, who is originally from Argentina, was a Fore Group employee. She claims to have worked as a TV hostess and producer for ESPN in Argentina and also in marketing and as an events coordinator. Troconis could not be reached for comment.



According to Jennifer Dulos, at one point, her husband threatened to take their children to Argentina, “to be with his paramour,” and hide them at a ski resort allegedly owned by the father of Troconis’ daughter. Jennifer said when she told her husband she was leaving him, “he informed me that our children and I will continue to reside in the marital home every weekend and during the summer, so that we all (his paramour and her daughter included) would be together.”



In later pleadings filed with the court, Jennifer alleged Troconis and her daughter had moved into the Farmington home with Fotis Dulos. In an order, the judge wrote: “In view of the close bond among all five children, the court finds it highly likely that all five of the children have been adversely impacted by the breakdown of their parents’ marriage, the defendant’s relationship with [Troconis] and the pressure that the defendant has placed on them to lie.”



Sources: The Hartford Courant, May 31, 2019; Tom Cleary, Heavy, May 31, 2019; Lee Brown, The New York Post, May 31, 2019; and Michael Dinan, The New Canaanite, May 30, 2019.

Graveyardbride

Administrator







Posts: 5,579

Administrator 15th Update: Missing Connecticut Woman Feared for Her Life Quote Select Post

Select Post Deselect Post

Deselect Post Link to Post

Link to Post Member Give Gift

Member Back to Top Post by Graveyardbride on Missing Woman’s Husband Questioned by Police



Fotis Dulos, 51, the estranged husband of Jennifer Dulos, was detained and questioned by the New Canaan police Friday night. However, Lt. Jason Ferraro told Hearst Connecticut Media late Friday night no arrests have been made.



Dulos and his girlfriend, Michelle Traconis, were seen outside the Dulos home at 4 Jefferson Crossing in Farmington speaking with authorities around 6 p.m. Officers then entered the house and remained inside for about an hour. Dulos and Traconis then left in their car and police followed them.



The five Dulos children are with Gloria Farber, their maternal grandmother, in her 5th Avenue apartment in New York City. Mrs. Farber sued her son-in-law last year, charging he had failed to repay approximately $1.7 million of $10 million he had borrowed from her husband, the late Hilliard Farber. When reached by telephone on Friday, Mrs. Farber declined to comment.



In June 2017, Jennifer Dulos abruptly left the Farmington home with her children, rented a place in New Canaan and filed for divorce the following day. Her sudden departure prompted Fotis Dulos to call 911, saying he was worried about his wife and kids. The call is referenced in the almost 500 pages of the Dulos divorce file. The records also mention that Dulos initially believed his wife and children were going to her parents’ home in Pound Ridge, New York.



Jennifer Dulos filed for an emergency order for full custody of the couple’s children, who range in age from 8 to 13, simultaneously with her petition for dissolution of marriage. The request was initially denied, but last year, the court determined Fotis Dulos had an unhealthy influence on the children. A status hearing scheduled for Wednesday, May 29, has been postponed. The previous day, a guardian ad litem filed a motion for a hearing “regarding the safety of the children.”



In the meantime, Fotis Dulos has requested the judge allow him to see his children. In a motion filed by Michael J. Rose, his attorney, Dulos said the children have been staying at Gloria Farber’s New York City apartment under the watch of an armed guard hired by the family and when Dulos showed up to visit the children, the guard turned him away.



Anyone with information concerning the disappearance of Jennifer Dulos is requested to call the New Canaan Police at (203) 594-3544.



Source: The Stamford Advocate, June 1, 2019.

Graveyardbride

Administrator







Posts: 5,579

Administrator 15th Update: Missing Connecticut Woman Feared for Her Life Quote Select Post

Select Post Deselect Post

Deselect Post Link to Post

Link to Post Member Give Gift

Member Back to Top Post by Graveyardbride on

Husband and Girlfriend Arrested



Fotis Dulos, 51, the estranged husband of Jennifer Dulos, who has been missing since May 24, and his girlfriend have been arrested. Both Dulos and Michelle Troconis (above), 44, have been charged with tampering with or fabricating physical evidence and hindering prosecution in the first degree. The two were taken into custody in Avon, Connecticut, and transported to New Canaan Police Headquarters. Each is being held on $500,000 bond and both are scheduled to appear in Norwalk Superior Court Monday morning. Police say additional charges are expected as the investigation progresses.



“We miss her beyond measure – her five young children, her family, her friends, colleagues, and neighbors, as well as countless people who have never met her but who have responded to the spirit of grace and kindness that Jennifer embodies,” family spokesperson Carrie Luft said in a statement Friday. “The public response has been astounding. The support and love, the concern for her children, and the community efforts to help locate Jennifer have kept us going."



“I am terrified for my family’s safety,” the missing woman wrote in documents filed in the couple’s divorce action,” especially since discovering the gun, as my husband has a history of controlling, volatile and delusional behavior.”



Fotis Dulos denied any threatening behavior and insisted he and his wife had only “quiet” arguments.



Source: WABC News, June 2, 2019.

Graveyardbride

Administrator







Posts: 5,579

Administrator 15th Update: Missing Connecticut Woman Feared for Her Life Quote Select Post

Select Post Deselect Post

Deselect Post Link to Post

Link to Post Member Give Gift

Member Back to Top Post by Graveyardbride on Bloody Clothing Belonging to Missing Woman Dumped in Hartford



A man matching the description of Fotis Dulos was caught on video dumping garbage bags in multiple trash bins in Hartford the night his wife disappeared, police say in newly released arrest warrants. Hartford is 70 miles north of New Canaan, where Jennifer Dulos was last seen. Investigators recovered the bags, which contained blooding clothing and a sponge and the blood was determined to be that of the missing woman.



Arrest warrants were issued for Fotos Dulos and Michelle Troconis, his girlfriend, and they were arrested. The two appeared in court today (Monday, June 3), where they were ordered to surrender their passports.



According to the arrest warrants, police officers who initially responded to 66 Welles Lane, the house Jennifer Dulos was renting in New Canaan, found blood stains on the garage floor and on a vehicle in the garage. Investigators obtained a search warrant and discovered blood spatter and evidence someone had attempted to clean up what appeared to be a crime scene. In their application for the search warrant, police said they believed a “serious physical assault” had occurred in the home.



Data on the cellphones belonging to Fotis Dulos and Troconis revealed the pair traveled to Hartford the night Jennifer Dulos was reported missing. Additionally, surveillance video shows a man matching the estranged husband’s description driving his black Ford pickup, stopping at more than 30 locations along a four-mile stretch of Albany Avenue and dumping several trash bags in multiple bins. At one point, a woman who looks like Troconis is seen leaning out of the truck’s passenger window and either placing something on the ground or picking up something. Video also shows the man stuffing something into a storm grate from which investigators recovered a FedEx mailer package containing Connecticut license plates, on which the numbers had been altered with adhesive tape. Department of Motor Vehicle records linked the plates to a vehicle registered to Fotis Dulos. Later on the same night, video shows the man in the black truck returning to the residence at 4 Jefferson Crossing, where Dulos lives.



On Sunday, May 3, investigators searched another Farmington property developed by the Fore Group where the arrest warrant indicates Dulos spent time on the night of his wife’s disappearance



The five Dulos children remain in the custody of Gloria Farber, their maternal grandmother in New York City.



Sources: Erin Donaghue, CBS News, June 3, 2019, and WFSB, June 3, 2019.

Graveyardbride

Administrator







Posts: 5,579

Administrator 15th Update: Missing Connecticut Woman Feared for Her Life Quote Select Post

Select Post Deselect Post

Deselect Post Link to Post

Link to Post Member Give Gift

Member Back to Top Post by Graveyardbride on Fotis Dulos and Girlfriend Flaunted Affair



Michelle Troconis knew Fotis Dulos was married when they met – she didn’t care. Troconis and Dulos flaunted their affair around the tiny Connecticut towns of Farmington and Avon even before his wife took the couple’s five children and left the marital home at 4 Jefferson Crossing.



There were pictures of Troconis and her 10-year-old daughter, Nicole Begue Troconis, on the business blog maintained by Fotis Dulos. Nicole was the 2018 Tristate Girls’ U12 Slalom and Giant Slalom champion and was featured in his company’s ad campaign that year. There were also photos on his website of a smiling Troconis standing next to Dulos at an industry awards dinner.



None of this sat well with Jennifer Dulos, who said in court papers the presence of Troconis was emotionally damaging to her children and Superior Court Judge Donna Heller agreed. In March, Jennifer said Fotis Dulos “had pursued his own self-interest and exposed the children to his paramour Michelle Troconis and her daughter ... in complete disregard of the court’s prior orders and the effect his actions were having on the children.” However, none of this seemed to matter to Fotis Dulos or Troconis, who moved into the family home as soon as Jennifer and the children were out the door.



Everything changed 11 days ago when Jennifer Dulos was reported missing. Following a frantic search by local, state and national authorities, Fotis Dulos and Troconis were arrested over the weekend at a hotel in Avon and charged in connection with his wife’s disappearance. Troconis, like her lover, did not enter a plea on the tampering charges. She is scheduled to return to court June 11. But unlike her boyfriend, she was able to make her $500,000 bail and left the courthouse fitted with a GPS ankle monitor Monday afternoon.



It’s a long fall for Troconis who allegedly spent years traveling the world in one whirlwind career after the other. In the early 2000s, she worked as chief publicist for a sheik at the Ghantoot Racing & Polo Club in Abu Dhabi. The exclusive club was founded in 1994 and is now operated by Sheikh Falah Bin Zayed al Nahyan. It is billed as the only “royal” polo facility in the United Arab Emirates and boasts world-class polo and equestrian facilities, stables for more than 300 top-class polo ponies and a 2,000-seat grandstand equipped with VIP entrances. Over the years, the club has been the playground of royal families as well as visiting celebrities.



Troconis also worked for nine years as a marketing director for Cerro Castor, an Argentinian ski resort, that hosted the 2012 Freestyle Skiing World Cup. In this role, she was in charge of hosting high-profile guests and politicians and often jetted around the globe seeking potential investors in the company. Additionally, Troconis worked briefly for ESPN as a producer and hosted the show Snow Time in 2004, interviewing World Cup contestants, directors of other ski resorts and celebrities.



She reinvented herself again as an international businesswoman who sold active-wear on the Internet before settling down with Fotis Dulos in Farmington. The 44-year-old claims to have a degree in psychology from the Universidad Central de Venezuela and has trained as a therapeutic riding instructor.



During the contentious Dulos divorce proceedings, Jennifer indicated she was fearful her husband and Troconis might kidnap her children and take them to Argentina. “In the past, my husband has made references to disappearing to a ski resort, ‘where everyone wears masks every day and are indistinguishable from one another,’” she charged.



As Troconis stays put under a court order, the search for her boyfriend’s wife of 13 years continues. On Tuesday (June 4), New Canaan police asked residents to save any surveillance camera footage from May 22 trough May 25 as it may aid them in their search for Jennifer Dulos. Police have established a timeline of when the wife and mother disappeared, but are looking for cameras that might have caught driving activity.



Sources: Barnini Chakraborty, Fox News, June 4, 2019, and New Canaan Police Department.

Graveyardbride

Administrator







Posts: 5,579

Administrator 15th Update: Missing Connecticut Woman Feared for Her Life Quote Select Post

Select Post Deselect Post

Deselect Post Link to Post

Link to Post Member Give Gift

Member Back to Top Post by Graveyardbride on Husband, Girlfriend Not at House Day of Disappearance Lawyer Claims



Norm Pattis, the lawyer representing Fotis Dulos, the estranged husband of missing Connecticut woman Jennifer Dulos, claims there is “powerful reason to doubt” his client was at his wife’s home in New Canaan the day she disappeared. “I am unaware of any evidence supporting the theory he was involved in foul play,” the attorney said.



Pattis also said on WPLR’s Chaz & AJ radio show that Michelle Troconis was not in New Canaan the day Jennifer Dulos disappeared. “I’m told by people with information that the girlfriend was never at the New Canaan home that day – the day the wife went missing – and that she can prove she never was there and that law enforcement may be satisfied,” he delcared. “That is a very significant fact in this case.”



Fotis Dulos and Troconis have been charged with evidence tampering and hindering a prosecution in the disappearance, which is being treated as a homicide. The two are expected to enter pleas of not guilty in court Tuesday.



Source: Ben Feuerherd, The New York Post, June 11, 2019.

Graveyardbride

Administrator







Posts: 5,579

Administrator 15th Update: Missing Connecticut Woman Feared for Her Life Quote Select Post

Select Post Deselect Post

Deselect Post Link to Post

Link to Post Member Give Gift

Member Back to Top Post by Graveyardbride on Estranged Husband’s DNA Mixed with Blood of Missing Wife



STAMFORD, Conn. – The blood of Jennifer Dulos was found mixed with the DNA of her estranged husband at 66 Welles Lane, the house she was renting in New Canaan. State’s Attorney Richard Colangelo Jr. disclosed the evidence to challenge a request for bail reduction from $500,000 to $100,000 by Fotis Dulos. The judge rejected the request and Dulos pled not guilty to evidence tampering and hindering prosecution charges related to his wife’s disappearance.



Michelle Troconis, who posted $500,000 bail last week, also pled not guilty to the same charges. Her lawyer, Andrew Bowman, said outside the courthouse he was disappointed with what he called unfair and inaccurate reporting by some media outlets. “I don’t need to remind you that Michelle Troconis is presumed innocent,” he declared.



According to Colangelo, the blood and DNA were discovered on the faucet of the kitchen sink in the home in which Fotis Dulos had never lived. He, Troconis and her daughter lived at the Dulos family home approximately 60 miles away in the Hartford suburb of Farmington.



Norman Pattis, who represents Dulos, also spoke outside the courthouse and denied the charges, insisting Dulos has an alibi and he is confident his client will be exonerated. When a reporter asked about the blood-DNA mixture, Pattis replied, “He was in the house. Do you know where your DNA is? I would ask everyone to put aside the easy narrative here that an angry ex-spouse took matters into his own hands to resolve a custody dispute. That didn’t happen. Having said that, I don’t know what happened.”



In arrest warrants, police claimed blood spatter and evidence of cleanup attempts also were discovered in the Welles Lane home.



Jennifer Dulos is the daughter of the late Hilliard Farber, who ran Chase Manhattan Bank’s bond trading desk before founding his own brokerage firm in 1975.



Later, Dulos was able to raise the money for his $500,000 bail and released after being fitted with a location-monitoring device.



Source: The Associated Press, June 11, 2019, and Talia Kaplan, Fox News, June 11, 2019.