Lawyer claims Jennifer Dulos created own ‘Gone Girl’ disappearance

Jennifer Farber Dulos Jennifer Farber Dulos Photo: Contributed Photo Photo: Contributed Photo Image 1 of / 5 Caption Close Lawyer claims Jennifer Dulos created own ‘Gone Girl’ disappearance 1 / 5 Back to Gallery

NEW CANAAN — As investigators and K-9 units sift through tons of trash at a Hartford garbage dump seeking clues into the disappearance of Jennifer Dulos, the controversial defense attorney representing her estranged husband has an alternative theory to the case.

Jennifer Dulos, who was last seen dropping off her five children at New Canaan Country School on May 24, was an accomplished writer, earning a master’s degree in the field from New York University.

Her husband’s attorney, Norm Pattis, claims she used these skills to once write a 500-page manuscript similar to the 2012 best-selling thriller novel, “Gone Girl.”

“This is a person who has a pretty florid imagination and motives to use it to hurt Mr. Dulos,” Pattis told the New York Post.

“Gone Girl,” written by Gillian Flynn, is about a woman involved in a troubled marriage disappearing on the couple’s wedding anniversary. The woman fakes her own death to frame her husband while she goes into hiding.

Pattis admitted he has not read the version he claims Jennifer Dulos wrote, but he alleges she once disappeared from New York and “lived for years under a false name” over a family money dispute, according to the New York Post.

Anne Dranginis, an attorney for Jennifer’s Dulos’ mother, Gloria Farber, called Pattis’ claims a “classic act of desperation to slander the victim,” the Post reported.

A friend of Jennifer Dulos also told the Post that the New Canaan mother was “afraid for her life” before she disappeared.

Pattis’ client, Fotis Dulos, 51, and his girlfriend, Michelle Troconis, 44, are free on bail on charges of tampering with evidence and hindering prosecution.

The charges stem from Hartford video surveillance that showed two people matching the descriptions of Fotis Dulos and Troconis making frequent stops along Albany Avenue the night of the disappearance, according to arrest warrants.

Police said Fotis Dulos was seen getting out of his black Ford Raptor pickup truck and tossing garbage bags in more than 30 trash bins along a four-mile stretch of Albany Avenue. Police said some of the bags they recovered contained Jennifer Dulos’ blood.

But most of the trash had already been collected by the time they discovered the video evidence, leading investigators to a three-week search of the Materials Innovation and Recycling Authority facility where they have been sifting through 30 to 35 tons of trash for 15 hours each day.

“We know what we are looking for,” State Police Sgt. Ralph Soda said during a press briefing Saturday outside the trash facility. “We can’t be specific because of the evidence. We can’t release something publicly because there are things as far as what evidence and facts of the case that may be known to the suspect and the victim that no one else knows. That can’t be released.”

Police said they found blood spatter and signs of a “serious physical assault” in the garage of Jennifer Dulos’ New Canaan home. State’s Attorney Richard Colangelo also said Fotis Dulos’ DNA was found mixed with his wife’s blood on the faucet of her kitchen sink.

In a statement released Friday, Jennifer Dulos’ family and friends said the past month has been a “nightmare” and called the situation “dire.”

“None of this feels real,” the statement said. “We tell ourselves that this kind of nightmare happens to people in stories, not to those we know and love.”

Investigators and search-and-rescue dogs have been working under “deplorable conditions” at the trash facility, but are pushed each day to find answers for Jennifer Dulos’ family.

“We have a grieving family, friends, Jennifer’s children. That’s what we do as investigators,” Soda said. “Any type of investigation that we’re working on, there’s always the victims and the victims’ families that we’re working for and everybody understands that.”

In addition to the tip line, 203-594-3544, tips and information regarding Jennifer Dulos’ disappearance can be sent to FindJenniferDulos@newcanaanct.gov and submitted anonymously at www.FindJenniferDulos.com