The estranged husband of a missing Connecticut mother is accused of taking his girlfriend and her daughter on lavish trips for years before his wife disappeared.
The Hartford Courant reports that missing mother Jennifer Dulos filed for divorce from 51-year-old Fotis Dulos in 2017, but for at least two years prior, he took his girlfriend, Michelle Troconis, on expensive vacations.
Details about the trips were heard inside the Hartford Superior Court on Thursday during a civil trial, unrelated to Jennifer’s disappearance. Jennifer’s mother, Gloria Farber, sued Fotis Dulos for over $2.5 million in connection with money his late father-in-law, Hilliard Farber, loaned him.
When confronted about trips to places such as Argentina, Florida, and Puerto Rico, Fotis Dulos said the trips were part of his business with the Fore Group, a company Hilliard Farber helped him open. Fotis admitted that Troconis did go on some of the trips with him.
Fotis also claimed Gloria Farber owed him $50,000 after she reportedly made an agreement to help him pay off the home he once lived in with Michelle. During cross-examination, attorney Richard Weinstein questioned why Gloria would give him anything considering her daughter was missing and Fotis was the primary suspect in her disappearance.
“You anticipated gifts even though you had cheated on her daughter and now her daughter is missing?” Weinstein asked.
“I don’t expect anything,” Dulos said. “I know what the agreement was.”
The civil trial wrapped up on Wednesday but is expected to resume in two weeks.
Police later found her vehicle, a black 2017 Chevrolet Suburban, parked off of Lapham Road. Jennifer was nowhere to be found. A cleaning service arrived at her home at noon on Friday but Jennifer was not there.
Jennifer also missed several appointments that day, including one at 11 a.m. and one at 1 p.m. Since she vanished, she has not used her cellphone or her credit cards.
Search dogs and search teams scoured through wooded areas by Jennifer’s home, as well as a 300-acre park, bodies of water and a cornfield. Authorities also spent days searching at a large dump facility and scouring Fotis Dulos’ property in Farmington.
Both Fotis Dulos and Michelle Troconis were arrested in June after authorities said the pair tampered with evidence in connection to Jennifer’s disappearance. According to the arrest affidavit, investigators found, in part:
- Bags of blood-stained clothing and sponges that Dulos allegedly dropped into trash cans at businesses in Connecticut
- Stains of blood on Jennifer’s garage floor
- Blood spatter in numerous areas of Jennifer’s home
- Dulos’ DNA mixed in with Jennifer’s blood on her kitchen faucet
- Obvious attempts to clean up the scene
- Altered Connecticut license plates that belonged to Dulos
- Security footage of Dulos driving his Ford pickup to various locations, dropping trash bags into different public trash receptacles
- Security footage of Troconis “leaning out of the passenger seat of the Ford pickup and either placing something on the ground or picking up an item”
- Blood DNA that matched to Jennifer inside Gummienny’s truck
The pair bailed out of jail, but both were arrested again in September on additional tampering with evidence charges after Troconis reportedly turned on Fotis Dulos and admitted she lied about seeing him the morning Jennifer vanished.
Troconis told detectives that she did not know where Fotis was on the morning of May 24, between 6:30 a.m. until 1:30 p.m, taking back her original claim that she was with him.
Authorities believe a “serious physical assault” happened to Jennifer, and the “the crime and the cleanup are believed to have occurred between 8:05 a.m. and 10:25 a.m.” on May 24.
Trocinis also said that Fotis Dulos borrowed a truck from his friend, Pawel Gummienny, around the time Jennifer vanished, according to court documents. Troconis said Fotis Dulos later had the truck detailed and washed.
When detectives asked her why the truck was cleaned, Jennifer allegedly referenced to blood inside the vehicle.
“You showed me the picture of the blood in the door. It’s because the body of Jennifer at some point was in there.”
The arrest warrant stated Fotis Dulos later offered replacement rear truck seats to Gummienny. The owner of the truck reportedly told police that Fotis instructed him to get rid of the old seats “so they would not be found.”
Gummienny claimed he held onto the old seats, in the event authorities asked for them.
Investigators obtained the old seats from Gummienny and performed a swab test on a “blood-like substance,” which matched Jennifer’s DNA. Further, investigators accused Dulos of “lying in wait” for Jennifer to come home on May 24, when security footage captured her walking into her home at around 8:30 a.m.
Investigators noted that Jennifer’s SUV left her residence at some point on May 24, but they think Fotis Dulos was behind the wheel.
The story continues. Check back for updates.
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[Feature Photo: Jennifer Dulos/Handout]
