The Middletown Press (Middletown, CT)
Jail conditions contributed to Fotis Dulos suicide, sister says
Rena Dulos Kyrimi contends the conditions inside a Connecticut prison, where her brother was held for two nights after being charged with murder in his estranged wife’s death, contributed to his suicide last January.
Facing the possibility of a judge revoking his bond and sending him back to jail, the 51-year-old Fotis Dulos attempted suicide in the garage of his Farmington home before dying two days later in a New York hospital on Jan. 30, 2020.
His sister believes the conditions of the Garner Correctional Institution in Newtown, where Fotis Dulos spent two nights after being charged with murder on Jan. 7, 2020, contributed to his demise.
He was held in “an empty, cold room full of spotlights, naked, with a metal bed rack and a Velcro blanket,” Dulos Kyrimi wrote in an email to Hearst Connecticut Media from her home in Greece.
The New York City Office of the Chief Medical Examiner has concluded that Fotis Dulos died from complications of acute carbon monoxide intoxication as a result of a suicide attempt.
Fotis Dulos’ death is still sharply felt by his family, who contends he was not responsible for his estranged wife’s death and disappearance.
“A year later, I still believe that the story, which led my brother to his death, is very dark and it deserves a fair resolution for the memory of both Jennifer and Fotis,” Dulos Kyrimi said. “There is someone out there who knows.”
However, arrest warrants in the case tell a different story.
The warrants indicate Fotis Dulos drove an employee’s pickup truck to New Canaan, where he was “lying in wait” for his estranged
wife to return home from dropping off their five children at school on the morning of May 24, 2019.
Inside the garage, Jennifer Dulos was the victim of a “serious physical assault” and would have died from her injuries without immediate medical attention, according to the warrants.
Later that night, police said video surveillance showed Fotis Dulos and his girlfriend, Michelle Troconis, making a series of stops in Hartford, the warrants stated. Fotis Dulos was seen dumping bags that were later found to contain his wife’s blood and clothing, according to the warrants.
The day after police discovered the bags, Fotis Dulos and Troconis were arrested for the first time on tampering with evidence and hindering prosecution charges in June 2019.
But after he was charged with murder and kidnapping on Jan. 7, 2020, Fotis Dulos spent two days at the Garner Correctional Institution,
which is considered the state Department of Correction facility with the most mental health programming for inmates.
Dulos Kyrimi believes the Newtown facility was on her brother’s mind when he was summoned to an emergency hearing where his $6 million bond was in jeopardy of being revoked on Jan. 28, 2020.
DOC officials could not comment on how Fotis Dulos was held or whether he was on suicide watch at Garner due to confidentiality reasons. DOC policies indicate that custodial staff “shall solicit information regarding an inmate’s potential for self-harm or suicidal behavior” upon admission or transfer.
If an inmate is deemed to be a self-harm risk, health services is supposed to be notified to conduct an evaluation, the policy states. The information could come from court transfer documents, attorneys, family or health services staff.
It is unclear if Fotis Dulos received a mental health
evaluation at Garner. The observation protocols for those who are deemed to be a risk for self-harm include observing the inmate every 15 minutes or on a continuous basis, DOC documents stated.
Inmates who are deemed a self-harm risk must have their cells searched and the inmate is subject to a strip search, the policy said. “Safety gowns” or “safety blankets” may be issued at “the discretion of the individual who authorized the inmate’s placement,” the protocol documents said.
Inmates can also be placed in a medical unit, Karen Martucci, director of external affairs for the DOC, said last year.
‘No indication he was about to take his own life’
But in the hours leading to his suicide attempt, Fotis Dulos seemed to be acting normal, one of his attorneys told investigators, according to a Farmington police incident report.
Kevin Smith said he spoke to his client between 10:45 and 10:55 a.m. that morning and encouraged him to get to Stamford for his noon court appearance, the report said.
“He gave no indication he was about to take his own life,” Smith told police, according to the report.
But as Smith and Chief State’s Attorney Richard Colangelo Jr. waited for Fotis Dulos at the Stamford courthouse at 11:44 a.m., they realized his courtordered GPS unit indicated he still hadn’t left his Farmington property, the report said.
Farmington police were asked to conduct a welfare check at the Jefferson Crossing home, where they found Fotis Dulos in his running Chevy Suburban in the garage, the report said.
A hose was running from the tailpipe of the vehicle to the passenger window that was secured by duct tape, the report said. One officer speculated that Fotis Dulos may have placed Styrofoam on the bottom of the garage doors to prevent carbon monoxide from escaping, the report said.
Officers removed him from the vehicle and performed CPR in the driveway — a dramatic scene that was captured by aerial video footage. As the scene was unfolding, family members of Fotis and Jennifer Dulos were notified that he had died, his former attorney Norm Pattis said.
But after first responders found a pulse, Fotis Dulos was taken to the nearby University of Connecticut Health Center and later flown to Jacobi Medical Center in New York where he died two days later.
Plot to ‘do away’ with Jennifer
The Farmington officers who found Fotis Dulos unresponsive in his SUV noticed he had lined up on his dashboard photos of his five children who he hadn’t seen in months, the police report said. An open bottle of Tylenol and a one-page, hand-written note were found in the vehicle.
In the note, Fotis Dulos wrote that he refused to “spend even an hour more in jail for something I had nothing to do with.” He claimed in the letter that Troconis and his longtime friend, Kent Mawhinney, were also innocent.
Troconis and Mawhinney have each pleaded not guilty to conspiracy to commit murder. Troconis has also pleaded not guilty to tampering with evidence and hindering prosecution charges.
Assistant State’s Attorney Daniel Cummings said this week Mawhinney is expected to testify against Troconis if her case goes to trial. Mawhinney, who is next due in court April 5, met with State Police investigators in August — about six weeks before he was released on a reduced bond.
Troconis’ attorney, Jon Schoenhorn, has referred to Mawhinney as a “jailhouse informant” who was trying “to exonerate himself from any misconduct” by implicating his client and Fotis Dulos during the August meeting with investigators.
In the videotaped interview, Schoenhorn said Mawhinney told investigators that Troconis and Fotis Dulos tried to “solicit him” in a conspiracy to “do away” with Jennifer Dulos.
Jennifer Dulos has been presumed dead based on blood evidence found in her garage, according to arrest warrants, although her remains have never been found.
Nearly two years since the disappearance, the investigation remains ongoing and has cost state and local police nearly $1 million in overtime. Last month, they enlisted the help of a New Hampshire man known as the “Bone Finder” who uses groundpenetrating radar to detect human remains. He said he identified five anomalies at a Farmington property once owned by Fotis Dulos, but state police have declined to say if anything was found.