‘Bone Finder’ flags disturbed areas at former Dulos property
FARMINGTON — State police returned Wednesday with an excavator to a property formerly owned by Fotis Dulos after a New Hampshire man known as the “Bone Finder” flagged five areas that could be connected with the death and disappearance of Jennifer Dulos.
After state police said they found nothing significant during a search of the 80 Mountain Spring Road property the previous day, they returned Wednesday with excavating equipment based on the findings of Bob Perry, known as the Bone Finder, an expert in mapping unmarked graves and burial grounds.
Connecticut State Police contacted Perry to help with Tuesday’s search before the property is sold in the next few weeks. Police have previously searched the property, including shortly after Jennifer Dulos went missing on May 24, 2019.
“Just before I left (on Tuesday), they were digging out the spots and we agreed that they would probably have to come back with an excavator,” the 73-year-old Perry said.
Using ground-penetrating radar, Perry located four spots along the wood line of the property that appeared to have been disturbed and then covered back up, he said. He found a fifth location inside the house at the base of the stairs, leading to the basement that had been dug up and smoothed over, Perry said.
“It’s a small space, probably 3 feet wide,” Perry said. “There was something in the ground there that looks like a vault, but it’s most likely a pipe. There was a long anomaly, but it was an anomaly you could also see if you were tracking a pipe.”
He considered all of the locations “low probability” for the presence of a body or individual body parts based on his 20 years of experience mapping out cemeteries and unmarked graves through his company, TopoGraphix, which is based in Litchfield, N.H.
“Two of the spots were heavy with mud and water,” Perry said of the locations he flagged along the wood line. But each of the areas were anomalies that were large enough to bury a body, he said.
Perry said there’s a good possibility that the ground had been disturbed at each of the locations he identified. Cadaver dogs brought in to search Tuesday found nothing, Perry said.
In a brief statement to media gathered near the home Wednesday, state Trooper First Class Josue Dorelus said the case is still “active and ongoing,” but did not say if police had found anything during Wednesday’s search.
“As many of you are aware, over the past day or so our Western District Major Crimes Squad detectives have been on the property following up on leads and continuing to investigate the disappearance of Jennifer Dulos,” he said.
He directed requests for further updates to the office of Chief State’s Attorney Richard J. Colangelo Jr. Colangelo’s office has declined to comment about the searches.
“Our main goal is to work toward giving the family of Jennifer Dulos some sense of closure, which is why we’re here continuing to investigate the disappearance.”
After several hours on Wednesday morning, the excavator left the property. Soon after the digger left, a septic company arrived and began examining the pipeline into the home.
“Police think the body may have been dismembered,” Perry said.
Attorney Christopher Hug, the administrator of Fotis Dulos’ estate, also mentioned in Probate Court documents that police indicated that Jennifer Dulos may have been dismembered. However, Colangelo has said he had no evidence that occurred.
Police say Jennifer Dulos was the victim of a “serious physical assault” in the garage of her New Canaan home when she returned from dropping off her five children at school, according to arrest warrants in the case.
Her remains have not been found, but police believe she could not have survived the attack without immediate medical attention, the warrants state.
Fotis Dulos died Jan. 30,
2020 from an apparent suicide about three weeks after being charged with murder and kidnapping. He was originally charged in June
2019 with tampering with evidence and hindering prosecution in the case.
Four days before he attempted suicide at his Jefferson Crossing home in Farmington, Fotis Dulos received a notice of default on the Mountain Spring Road home from People’s United Bank, which held the mortgage on the property.
Sources said the Mountain Spring Road property, which was owned by Fotis Dulos’ real estate development company, Fore Group, is under contract for sale after a judge approved the foreclosure in September.
On the day of his wife’s disappearance, Fotis Dulos called his girlfriend, Michelle Troconis and told her to meet him at 80 Mountain Spring Road with cleaning supplies, according to arrest warrants.
He told Troconis to bring a vacuum, a Swiffer mop, paper towels, Clorox spray and garbage bags so they could clean the property “in preparation for a client meeting the next morning,” arrest warrants said.
They arrived in separate vehicles between 2:15 and 3 p.m., the warrants said. Troconis told police that Fotis Dulos had arrived first and she had to return to his house at Jefferson Crossing to get another vacuum because the one she brought didn’t work, the warrants stated.
Troconis told police Fotis Dulos came looking for more paper towels while she was inside the house because he “spilled something” in a pickup truck that belonged to one of his employees, the warrants stated.
Police said Fotis Dulos used his employee’s Toyota Tacoma on the day of the disappearance to drive to and from New Canaan, the warrants stated. Police said they traced the Tacoma that day through video surveillance footage, the warrants stated.
The blood of Jennifer Dulos was later found on the passenger seat of the truck after police seized and searched the vehicle, the warrants said.
Jennifer Dulos’ blood and clothing were also found in bags that police say Fotis Dulos dumped in Hartford on the night of the disappearance, the warrants stated. Fotis Dulos and Troconis were seen in Hartford on video surveillance at around the time Jennifer Dulos was reported missing, the warrants state.
Troconis and Fotis Dulos’ friend and former attorney, Kent Mawhinney, have each pleaded not guilty to conspiracy to commit murder charges. Troconis has also pleaded not guilty to tampering with evidence and hindering prosecution charges.