DISTURBING

Police: Fotis Dulos Was ‘Lying in Wait’ for Estranged Wife the Day She Vanished

Investigators say a “bloodlike substance” was found in a truck he “used in the commission of the crime”—a vehicle he allegedly had cleaned before insisting the seats get swapped.

Connecticut investigators working to get to the bottom of what happened to missing mother Jennifer Dulos say a truck her estranged husband used on the day she vanished was found to have a “bloodlike substance” inside it—and he allegedly went to great lengths to conceal it by having the vehicle professionally cleaned, according to an arrest warrant application. 

Police took Fotis Dulos into custody Wednesday afternoon and charged him for a second time with tampering with evidence. According to the The Hartford Courant, he posted a $500,000 bond and was released Wednesday evening. 

Upon his release, Dulos apparently made no mention of his estranged wife, who has been missing since May 24, telling the Courant, “It’s an exhausting fight, I love my children, that’s about it.”

In an arrest warrant application detailing the evidence behind his arrest, investigators said Dulos “has declined to cooperate with this investigation in any way” since refusing to provide an interview with police the day after Jennifer Dulos went missing. 

The warrant application paints a detailed picture of what investigators say happened on the day the mother of five dropped her kids off at school only to never be seen again. 

After borrowing an employee’s Toyota Tacoma, Dulos is believed to have traveled to his estranged wife’s New Canaan home where he was “lying in wait” when she returned home, the warrant application says.  

At the home, investigators later found signs of a “serious physical assault,” including “multiple areas within the garage which tested positive for human blood as well as evidence of attempts to clean the scene,” according to the arrest warrant application.  

Surveillance cameras in Hartford reportedly picked up a man resembling Fotis Dulos driving a large pickup truck and “stopping at multiple locations to dumb garbage bags in several trash cans” the night Jennifer Dulos went missing, according to the warrant application. 

A BREAK IN THE CASE

Two Arrested in Case of Missing Mom Jennifer Dulos

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The 43-page document says cell phone records and surveillance footage indicate that Dulos, who was involved in a volatile divorce battle with Jennifer, drove off with her vehicle after first arriving at her home in the borrowed Toyota Tacoma that was “used in the commission of the crime.” When Dulos allegedly drove off in his estranged wife’s car, it was believed to be carrying “the body of Jennifer Dulos,” the warrant application said.  

Investigators reportedly learned of the role the Toyota Tacoma truck allegedly played after Pawel Gumienny, an employee of Dulos’ home-development business, told them he had replaced the rear seats in the vehicle at Dulos’ insistence. 

Gumienny later told police that Dulos and his girlfriend Michelle Troconis had used his truck on the day Jennifer went missing and taken it to get washed without his knowledge or permission five days later. Over the next several days, he said Dulos became “pushy” about urging him to swap out the seats in the vehicle, and later asked him if he had “seen anything” on the day Jennifer vanished. 

Police later found Dulos’ blood on one of the seats in the vehicle. 

Troconis, who was allegedly with Dulos when he had the truck cleaned, allegedly told investigators he claimed to be cleaning up “coffee” in the truck. When pressed by investigators to explain why the vehicle needed to be cleaned, however, she allegedly said the “evidence” presented to her by police suggests “it’s because the body of Jennifer at some point was in there.” 

Investigators also said they found “alibi scripts” in Dulos’ business office— handwritten notes that Troconis is said to have told detectives were meant to “help them remember” their activities on the day Jennifer Dulos vanished. Much of the information, including alibi witnesses, turned out to be false, investigators said. 

Norm Pattis, Dulos' lawyer, told the Courant the arrest didn't “even rise to the level of a jab” and said his client would plead not guilty. As for the new details revealed in the arrest warrant application, he told The New York Times, “There’s not much here that we hadn’t heard before, and I question the wisdom of these charges at this late date.”

Dulos and Troconis were initially arrested on tampering with evidence charges in early June before being released on $500,000 bail. 

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