The defense for 51-year-old Connecticut man Fotis Dulos says they’re moving ahead with their theory that the defendant’s estranged wife Jennifer Dulos, 50, caused her own disappearance.
“You heard us say today in court comments that Jennifer made to Mr. Dulos that give us grave concerns for her safety and well-being,” defense lawyer Norm Pattis said outside of his client’s custody hearing on Wednesday. “We are actively contemplating the revenge suicide hypothesis as an explanation for her disappearance.”
Fotis Dulos, who is charged with hiding evidence that his wife was the victim of a violent crime, appeared in court Wednesday for a custody hearing involving his five children with Jennifer. The missing woman and her husband were in the middle of a contentious divorce, in which she claimed that he harbored “revenge fantasies” against people who wronged him. She also that said she was afraid of Fotis. He denied the allegations. The children are currently in the custody of their maternal grandmother.
The defendant also issued his first public statement.
“I just want to tell my children that they’re constantly on my mind, and that I love them and I miss them very much,” he said.
The defense has been floating a “Gone Girl” theory. Basically, they suggest that Jennifer Dulos faked her disappearance to get back at her husband. Investigators say surveillance footage and cell phone evidence weighs against Fotis Dulos. Evidence at the missing woman’s home indicated that she was the victim of a violent crime, and that there were attempts to clean the scene.
Pattis told The New York Post that Fotis Dulos broke up with co-defendant and girlfriend Michelle Troconis, 44. Her lawyer filed a motion Wednesday demanding that Dulos and his lawyer not contact her.
Both defendants are out on bond $500,000. Dulos’s defense said he did cross state lines into New York, but only because GPS redirected him to avoid a traffic accident.
[Screengrab via Eyewitness News 3]