Fotis Dulos, the 52-year-old estranged husband of Jennifer Dulos, a New Canaan woman who has been missing for more than seven months, has been arrested and charged with murder, felony murder and kidnapping in connection with the disappearance of his wife.
His bond has been set at $6 million and he will be arraigned Wednesday in Stamford, according to his attorney, Norm Pattis.
After reviewing the arrest warrant, Pattis said they were relieved they had something concrete to fight back against and that his client denies the charges against him.
"We are obviously chastened by the fact that the state thinks there is sufficient evidence to pursue Mr. Dulos for such serious crimes but frankly we are very encouraged by our preliminary review of the warrants," Pattis said.
The warrant released Tuesday includes detailed lists of the physical evidence investigators have collected at Jennifer's New Canaan home and from garbage bags recovered from Albany Avenue in Hartford.
The physical evidence recovered along Albany Avenue was a big factor in the investigation. Over the summer, police said a man who appeared to be Fotis along with a woman who appeared to be his girlfriend, Michele Troconis, were recorded disposing of trash along the street the night Jennifer disappeared.
Those bags included bloody paper towels, a sponge, clothes, duct tape, and blood-stained zip ties that contained Jennifer's DNA.
We categorically deny that Mr. Dulos had any involvement in the disappearance of his wife Jennifer and we defy the state to prove that she is, in fact, dead.
Norm Pattis, Fotis' Dulos attorney
Police believe the zip ties were used to hold Jennifer at some point.
Additionally, the warrant outlines what police said is Fotis removing what appears to be the rear cargo liner of Jennifer's Suburban, which was missing from her vehicle when it was found near Waveny Park in New Canaan.
The warrant also provided statements from Jennifer's nanny which contradict Fotis' original claims as to why his DNA may be inside her home. The nanny told investigators that Jennifer didn't want Fotis in the home at any time, and that the two of them went to great lengths to make sure he was never inside the house.
The document also offers a timeline, backed by surveillance footage and other evidence, that explains how investigators believe Fotis traveled from his Farmington home to Jennifer's New Canaan home on the morning of May 24.
Police have previously said that based on the evidence found at Jennifer's home they were concerned she had come to serious physical harm.
The Office of the Chief Medical Examiner was asked to weigh in on the evidence. According to the warrant, "Dr. Gill indicated that based upon the facts of the investigation, the degree of blood loss, as well as other factors, he was prepared to state that Jennifer Dulos had sustained an injury (or multiple injuries) which he would consider 'non-survivable' without medical intervention."
He called such an event a "'homicide of violence' to likely include some combination of traumatic, blunt-force injuries such as a bludgeoning/beating, and/or sharp-force injuries such as a stabbing/slashing."
Investigators also looked into Fotis Dulos' financial situation, showing that Dulos had $4.5 million due on lines of credit and another possible $2.5 million due in a civil lawsuit.
"It appears that Dulos was failing to make even minimal interest due payments on multiple loans," the warrant reads.
The document goes on to explain that each of the five Dulos children had trust funds set up by Jennifer's parents and that, were Jennifer to disappear, Fotis would have expected to have some level of access to those funds.
The warrant also details multiple interviews with Fotis' girlfriend, 45-year-old Michelle Troconis. Troconis has been charged with conspiracy to commit murder and bond was set at $2 million.
Investigators said that Troconis gave multiple interviews that often contradicted each other. Those inconsistencies included her statements about Fotis' whereabouts on the morning of May 24 and other key details about the day.
Troconis' interviews also offered insight on the state of her relationship with Fotis. In one interview when asked if the divorce caused tension between Fotis and herself, Troconis said "we fight all the time." She also told investigators that Fotis once said of Jennifer "Sometimes I hope she disappears."
The details in the latest warrant come in addition to the details in documents from previous arrests.
Pattis questioned the state's choice of charges and said it suggested a lack of confidence in their case.
"The charges against Mr. Dulos suggest the state can't decide what happened. They’ve charged him with murder, felony murder and kidnapping in the first degree. So what these charges tell us is the state has evidence and doesn’t know what to make of it and what it intends to do is throw as much against the wall and let the jury decide what happened. Our position is that’s not good enough for Fotis Dulos," Pattis told reporters outside Connecticut State Police Troop G's barracks in Bridgeport Tuesday.
A gag order remains in effect on the case, limiting what investigators and attorneys can discuss.
