Jennifer Dulos case: Active searches resume as disappearance reaches 3 months

New Canaan police ask motorists and pedestrians about Jennifer Dulos on May 31 — one week after she went missing. New Canaan police ask motorists and pedestrians about Jennifer Dulos on May 31 — one week after she went missing. Photo: Erik Trautmann / Hearst Connecticut Media Buy photo Photo: Erik Trautmann / Hearst Connecticut Media Image 1 of / 210 Caption Close Jennifer Dulos case: Active searches resume as disappearance reaches 3 months 1 / 210 Back to Gallery

NEW CANAAN — Active searches have resumed into the disappearance of Jennifer Dulos as Saturday will mark exactly three months since she vanished.

New Canaan Police Lt. Jason Ferraro said Friday several recent searches have occurred, but declined to comment about the locations. Ferraro said last month investigators were not actively searching.

Ferraro said police have received nearly 1,400 tips in the case, but he said the volume and frequency has declined since the start of the investigation.

Ferraro said a team comprised of New Canaan police investigators and members of the Connecticut State Police Major Crimes units remain mostly focused on processing evidence.

According to the most recent data available, the investigation has cost local and state police more than $600,000 in overtime alone.

Fotis Dulos, and his girlfriend, Michelle Troconis, have each pleaded not guilty to evidence tampering and hindering prosecution charges in connection with the disappearance.

According to arrest warrants, two people resembling Fotis Dulos and Troconis were seen making more than 30 stops in a four-mile stretch of Albany Avenue around the same time Jennifer Dulos was reported missing May 24.

Police said the videos also showed Fotis Dulos tossing garbage bags that were later found to contain his wife’s blood.

As the police investigation has continued, so has a grassroots effort to raise awareness to the disappearance.

Sky Mercede, owner of Forever Sweet Bakery in Norwalk, is one of many spearheading an effort to try and locate the missing New Canaan mother of five by passing out flyers with her picture and other identifying information.

The efforts first started in the weeks after Jennifer Dulos was reported missing on May 24 when Mercede placed a flyer in his storefront window. By the end of the week, all his neighbors had similar ones posted in their windows.

“Our hope is that people will see this and they’ll talk about it,” Mercede said. “We need to continue to get the word out there and keep this going, so that maybe someone out there will see this and come forward with something that can help this investigation.”

Since June, Mercede said he’s persuaded hundreds of businesses — from Stamford to Wilton — to place flyers in storefront windows. Seven pizza places have also agreed to distribute the flyers with pizza deliveries.

“Let’s find her,” Mercede said. “That could be your wife, your mom, your sister or your daughter. She has five kids waiting for her, so let’s find her.”

Others have taken to the internet in their search for answers. Facebook groups dedicated to the disappearance, such as the “Where Is Jennifer Dulos? Case Discussion,” which has more than 3,000 followers, or the “Jennifer Dulos / Fotis Dulos Connecticut Case” group have become forums for people to discuss the latest developments in the case.

Much of the discussion online has recently focused on the legal sparring between State’s Attorney Richard Colangelo and Fotis Dulos’ attorney, Norm Pattis.

Earlier this month, Colangelo asked a judge for a gag order to prevent lawyers from making “prejudicial” statements to the media, after Pattis theorized that Jennifer Dulos authored her own disappearance a la the novel “Gone Girl,” and also suggested that she might have perpetrated a “revenge suicide” plot. His theories have drawn sharp rebukes from Jennifer Dulos’ family and friends and “Gone Girl” author Gillian Flynn.

In a separate motion, attorneys for Fotis Dulos requested his wife’s medical records, claiming Jennifer Dulos racked up $14,000 in medical bills in the months leading up to her disappearance.

The request for the medical records has since been denied. The judge has not yet ruled on the gag order.

Fotis Dulos is scheduled to return to court on Sept. 13, while Troconis will appear on Sept. 20.