Police are searching for a New Canaan mother of five who was reported missing on May 24 and they are asking residents and business owners who have surveillance video systems to save video from around the time Jennifer Dulos disappeared.
The request comes after Dulos' estranged husband and his girlfriend appeared in court after being charged in connection with the disappearance of the 50-year-old woman.
REPORTED MISSING:
Jennifer Dulos was reported missing around 7 p.m. on May 24. The last time anyone reported seeing her was when she dropped her children off at school that morning.
Court documents say her friends were concerned when she did not show up for several appointments with doctors in New York City and they were unable to reach her.
Officers went to Dulos’ home on Welles Lane in New Canaan and could not reach her.
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When the nanny allowed them access to the home, police found human blood stains on the garage floor and what appeared to be blood on a vehicle parked in the garage, according to court documents.
Court documents also say police found “multiple areas of suspected blood spatter” and “evidence of attempts to clean the crime scene.”
Based on what they found at the scene, police feared that Jennifer Dulos was the suspected victim of a “serious physical assault.”
POLICE ASK RESIDENTS TO SAVE SURVEILLANCE VIDEO:
New Canaan police have sent an email to all New Canaan residents requesting that anyone with surveillance video to save the video captured between Wednesday, May 22 and Saturday, May 25.
The message says, in part:
“New Canaan Police and the Connecticut State Police Western District Major Crime Squad are investigating the disappearance of Jennifer Dulos.
“This investigation has established a timeline of when Jennifer went missing, and as part of this timeline, we seek video surveillance from homes or businesses that have cameras, which capture vehicular activity on roadways.
“If you have a surveillance video system at your residence or business, and it captures vehicular activity, we request that you save the video from Wednesday, May 22, 2019, to Saturday, May 25, 2019, and to please e-mail Kelly.coughlin@newcanaanct.gov with your contact information and address. Please do not send any video content.”
DIVORCE FILINGS:
Jennifer and her estranged husband, Fotis Dulos, have been going through a divorce.
In the initial 2017 affidavit, Jennifer Dulos wrote that she was “terrified for (her) family’s safety” and said her “husband has a history of controlling, volatile and delusional behavior.”
But in a court filing from his attorney, Fotis denied those allegations. And the day before being served with divorce papers in June of 2017, he called 911 with his own concerns.
“I’m worried about my wife and kids because they left to go to New York and I haven’t been able to get in touch with them,” Fotis said in a 911 call. Jennifer moved from their shared home in Farmington to New Canaan around the same time she filed for divorce.
POLICE CHARGE ESTRANGED HUSBAND AND HIS GIRLFRIEND:
Over the weekend, police arrested Jennifer Dulos’ estranged husband, Fotis Dulos, and his 44-year-old girlfriend, Michelle C. Troconis, and both have been charged with tampering with or fabricating physical evidence and hindering prosecution in the first degree in connection to the missing person case. Both appeared in court on Monday, where bond was set at $500,000. Troconis was released after posting bond.
See more about what police laid out in court documents here,
APPLICATIONS FOR ARREST WARRANTS:
The court documents released Monday also include details on where Fotis Dulos' cell phone and vehicle were believed to be after his estranged wife disappeared.
They say his cellphone left his Farmington home on May 24 and travelled to the area of 80 Mountain Spring Road, where it remained from 1:37 p.m. until 3:38 p.m., then back to his Farmington home at 4:17 p.m.Fotis Dulos' cell phone returned to Mountain Spring Road at 5:21 p.m., then to his home at 5:34 p.m., court documents say.
This past Sunday, Connecticut State Police were seen searching at a home on Mountain Spring Road in Farmington linked to the Fore Group, which Fotis Dulos owns, but they did not release details about if the search was connected to the missing person case.
The arrest warrant application for Troconis says that around 7:10 p.m. on Friday, May 24, Fotis Dulos’ phone travelled to the area of Albany Avenue in the North End of Hartford and surveillance video showed him return home around 8:10 p.m.
Investigators obtained surveillance camera footage from Hartford Police and video of a black Ford Raptor that matched characteristics of Fotis Dulos’ vehicle, court documents state.
That truck stopped at more than 30 locations along a four-mile stretch of Albany Avenue, between Baltimore and Edward streets.
The videos also show a man matching Fotis Dulos’ description place several garbage bags in various trash receptacles and some of the discarded items appeared to be stained with blood, according to details from the arrest warrant application.
Tne video clip also showed a woman whose appearance was consistent with Troconis lean out of the passenger seat of the pickup and either put something on the ground or pick it up, according to police.
Another video showed a man put something into a storm drain grate, the documents state.
An item police removed from a grate was a FedEx box containing two Connecticut license plates that had been altered and the actual plates were canceled on a 2007 Chevrolet Suburban owned by Dulos, according to police. While searching trash receptacles, police found garbage bags with clothing that appeared to be stained with blood, a kitchen sponge that had blood-like stains and other items, according to court documents.
The items were sent to the state police lab for testing, which revealed that they found Jennifer Dulos’ blood, court documents state.
SEARCH CONTINUES:
A source with knowledge of the investigation said that state police contacted MIRA, Materials Innovation and Recycling Authority, on Maxim Road in Hartford on Friday about a garbage truck that made a collection in Hartford the day Jennifer Dulos was reported missing.
