Late murder defendant Fotis Dulos befriended an apparent well-wisher who ended up creeping him out, say police in Farmington, Connecticut. The defendant Brad Ragaglia, 61, wanted to write a book, authorities said in Fox 61 report.
The story starts on Christmas Eve. Ragaglia turned up at Dulos’ door, and told him he felt bad for his situation, and said he would pray for him and his children, officers said. Dulos was charged at the time with hiding evidence his missing estranged wife Jennifer Dulos was the victim of a violent crime. He and the alleged victim were in the middle of an ugly divorce, in which Jennifer Dulos claimed he might retaliate against her for leaving him. He would soon be charged with murdering her, but back then, he was publicly suspected of being her killer. He and his attorneys denied allegations.
According to police, Ragaglia gifted Fotis Dulos holy water, magnesium malate capsules, and books titled “Grace for the Moment” and “Rediscover the Saints.” The well-wishing ostensibly left a mark with the criminal defendant. He invited Ragaglia over for a Christmas Day drink after the men exchanged phone numbers.
“Thank you for opening your heart to me – I have a lot to learn from you,” Dulos texted, according to police.
The two communicated for about a week, but things took a nose dive when Ragaglia allegedly outed himself by mistake: He accidentally texted Dulos one of Dulos’ own messages, and included the message, “he bit,” cops said.
Ragaglia allegedly wrote back an apology, said he felt “horrible,” insisted he was just texting his son, and that “I am truly a good person.”
Dulos called cops, voicing worry that the Christmas pills and holy water might have been poison. According to police, he became concerned because Ragaglia had stated, “God put me in this situation to end this horrible drama quickly.”
At the end of the day, however, investigators determined that Ragaglia was just trying to milk Dulos for information in order to write a book about Jennifer, though they didn’t test the gifts for poison.
Police say that on February 2, however, shortly after Dulos died by suicide, they found Ragaglia trespassing at the late murder defendant’s property. He was allegedly accompanied by a woman, according to WTNH.
Dulos attorney Kevin Smith called Ragaglia “a clown.”
According to Connecticut records, the new trespassing defendant doesn’t have an attorney of record as of Friday morning. An arraignment is scheduled for Wednesday.
WTNH reached out to Ragaglia for comment, and asked if he believed he was taking advantage of a person in a vulnerable state, and his family. He said he was an investigative journalist.
Updated – February 17, 2020, 4:43 p.m.: Ragaglia responded to a Law&Crime request for comment on February 17, Monday afternoon. He said “there’s there’s truly nothing strange about my journalistic stealth activity beginning Dec. 24 and ending Dec. 31, 2019 at 4 Jefferson Crossing,” adding “What is incomprehensible is [Fotis Dulos’] defense team not doing its better job vetting me. My role in the investigation can be traced back to the weekend of the murder (anyone close to case was aware that I was a friend of Jennifer’s back when we both lived in Farmington from 2013 onward.)”
He claimed he was working behind the scenes in giving law enforcement new leads on the Dulos case. Ragaglia maintained that the trespassing case will be dropped, and alleged he was set-up by a woman who wanted to see the property. He said he never went near the home, and that the case was overblown. He never communicated with Fotis Dulos or the late murder defendant’s relatives after cooperating with law enforcement on January 20, he said.
As of February 17, records still show that an arraignment is set for the 19th.
Correction – February 18, 2020, 9:32 a.m.: The original version of this article said that Dulos and Ragagalia allegedly communicated for weeks. It was actually for only about a week.
[Image of Fotis Dulos via Law&Crime Network / Pool]
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