Fotis Dulos, the estranged husband of Jennifer Farber Dulos, who has been missing for months, has been charged with her murder.
The New Canaan woman went missing after dropping her children at school in May of 2019. Her body has never been found.
Dulos was arrested at his home in Farmington and taken to the state police barracks in Bridgeport. State police said Dulos’ girlfriend, Michelle Troconis, was also arrested and charged with conspiracy to commit murder. A third person, attorney Kent Mawhinney, who had not previously been connected with the case, was also charged with conspiracy to commit murder.
Dulos’ attorney, Norm Pattis, called that additional arrest “startling.”
“We don’t believe there is enough evidence to support charges against Mr. Dulos,” Pattis told Connecticut Public Radio. “The addition of this third person suggests that there’s a theory of the case that we’ve overlooked, and we’re very interested in seeing what the state has.”
Dulos has been arrested twice previously on charges of tampering with evidence and obstruction of justice. He has denied having anything to do with his wife’s disappearance.
“In a paradoxical way, we’re relieved that charges have finally been brought, because Mr. Dulos has been charged in the press on the basis of suspicion and innuendo,” said Pattis. “Now we finally get a chance to confront the proof.”
Dulos and Farber Dulos had been involved in divorce proceedings for two years before Farber Dulos was last seen.
Surveillance camera footage from Albany Avenue in Hartford taken shortly after the disappearance showed a man police say is Fotis Dulos dumping black trash bags in garbage cans on the street.
Items later recovered by police included a bloodstained shirt and towels.
A friend of Farber Dulos, Carrie Luft, who has been acting as a spokesperson for her family, issued a statement Tuesday, thanking police for their commitment to the case.
“Although we are relieved that the wait for these charges is over, for us there is no sense of closure,” said Luft in the statement. “Nothing can bring Jennifer back. We miss her every day and will forever mourn her loss. We believe the arrest warrants will speak for themselves, and we ask that you please respect our privacy during this time.”
Advocates for victims of domestic violence also commented on the developments in a case that has sparked sustained national interest.
“A gaping hole has been left in the lives of her five children, her mother, and all of her friends and family,” reads a statement from the Connecticut Coalition Against Domestic Violence. “Jennifer loved her children fiercely and they have been robbed of irreplaceable experiences with her because of someone else’s desire to have permanent and absolute control. This trauma will forever impact each of their lives. The arrest in this case comes on the heels of several intimate partner homicides and near deaths in December. In 2019, 11 women and three men were victims of intimate partner homicide.”
This story has been updated.
