The discovery of a stained rug in a river led authorities to investigate whether it might be tied to missing Connecticut mother Jennifer Dulos, but investigators later determined the stain was not blood, the Middletown Press reports.
Dulos vanished in May 2019 while she was in the process of divorcing her estranged husband, Fotis Dulos, and locked in a bitter custody battle with him.
Prosecutors charged Fotis with her murder and kidnapping, even though a body was not located. He committed suicide in January 2020.
On Sunday, social media star Sean Austin contacted police after finding what he described as a stained rug in the Farmington River.
“We did a little investigation here with scuba divers in the Farmington River, and we found something shady, possibly having to do with the case of Jennifer Dulos,” Austin said in a video.
Investigators subsequently went to the area where the rug was found and conducted a search.
Austin, a self-proclaimed “psychic-medium and demonologist,” asserted that “supernatural evidence” led him to the river to find the rug, which allegedly had a stain in the center.
However, authorities on Monday said the stain was not blood and there is no indication the rug is tied to the Dulos case.
“After investigating for several hours, detectives tested several large, irregular brownish-red stains on the rug and a presumptive test determined they were not blood,” state police said in a statement, according to CT Insider. “Detectives have found no evidence of the rug being related to any criminal case.”
In fact, numerous rugs were in the vicinity. Kayakers often use the rugs to help launch into the water, according to the news site.
“Detectives located numerous rugs in the area and, after speaking with local kayakers, discovered that the rugs are used to launch and retrieve kayaks and to keep vegetation down at this location of the Farmington River,” state police said in the statement, according to CT Insider.
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[Feature Photo: Family Handout]
