Key moments in Jennifer Farber Dulos case, from her disappearance to Fotis Dulos’ death
The disappearance of Jennifer Farber Dulos has captivated the country since she was reported missing on May 24, 2019.
The Connecticut mother of five has not been seen since she dropped her children off at school in New Canaan that morning.
After months of investigating, police charged her estranged husband, luxury home builder Fotis Dulos, with her murder on Jan. 7.
Here are all the key moments in the case, from the days before Farber Dulos disappeared to Dulos’ suicide attempt to Dulos’ death on Jan. 30.
May 22: Fotis Dulos visits Jennifer Farber Dulos home
Fotis Dulos, enmeshed in a bitter divorce with Jennifer Farber Dulos, goes to her New Canaan home for a scheduled visit with his children. It is the last time he will see his five children.
May 24: Jennifer Farber Dulos reported missing
New Canaan mother Jennifer Farber Dulos drops her five children off at school early Friday morning but is never seen again. She misses two appointments in New York City, and her longtime babysitter cannot reach her, prompting friends to report her missing to New Canaan police a few hours later. Officers locate her SUV at nearby Waveny Park and find blood in her garage, leading them to fear the worst.
At 11:30 a.m., Lauren Almeida, the nanny for the couple’s five children, arrived at the home to find an unopened granola bar and Jennifer’s coffee mug on the kitchen counter. She tells police that 10 rolls of paper towels are missing. Almeida contacts police at 7 p.m. after trying to reach Farber Dulos all day.
A police affidavit will later say that Dulos was “lying in wait” outside her home in New Canaan to kill her and eventually transport her body in an employee’s red Toyota Tacoma pickup truck to Farmington.
During their investigation of the alleged crime scene, police find DNA from Fotis Dulos on the doorknob of the mudroom door in the New Canaan home.
Surveillance video obtained by police along Albany Avenue in Hartford shows a man matching the description of Fotis Dulos, accompanied by a woman who appeared to be his girlfriend, Michelle Troconis, dropping items in the trash during the evening of May 24. Among other items deposited and later recovered by police are zip ties smeared with Farber Dulos’ blood.
The video also shows Dulos dropping a FedEx package into a storm drain while Troconis sits in the passenger’s seat of a black truck. State police recovered the package and found a license plate inside that belonged to a car Dulos used to own.
At some point after, a homeless man discovered a folding “hunting knife” in one of the trash bins along the Albany Avenue area that investigators believe might have been the murder weapon. He traded it to another man known as “Fudge,” who himself sold it to an unknown person for $10, Fudge told the Courant in an exclusive interview. The knife has never been found.
May 30: Officials continue search, details emerge about bitter divorce battle
Dozens of state, local and federal law enforcement officers search Waveny Park and Farber Dulos’ home throughout the week while details emerge about her bitter, ongoing divorce and custody battle with her husband, Fotis Dulos. The documents reveal the yearslong animosity between the two and the intimate involvement in the family of Dulos’ girlfriend, Michelle Troconis.
May 31: Police search Hartford trash cans for evidence
Hartford police and state troopers descend on the North End to search trash cans along Albany Avenue, where the city’s surveillance cameras captured Dulos and Troconis dumping bags in bins a week earlier — at the exact time officers were made aware Farber Dulos was missing.
According to a police affidavit, the evidence discovered includes a black garden glove with Dulos’ DNA on the interior, a black Husky glove with Farber Dulos’ DNA on the outside of it, zip ties with Farber Dulos’ DNA and at least one garbage bag with the DNA of Dulos, Farber Dulos and Dulos’ girlfriend at the time, Michelle Troconis.
June 1: Fotis Dulos and ex-girlfriend Michelle Troconis charged
Dulos and Troconis were charged with hindering prosecution and tampering with evidence in connection with Farber Dulos’ disappearance, and police begin a dayslong, methodical search of each of the properties owned by Dulos’ luxury homebuilding company, Fore Group Inc.
June 3: Police search trash plant; ‘alibi script’ discovered
Detectives and police dogs begin combing through literal tons of garbage at the Materials Innovation and Recycling Authority in Hartford — where the trash from those Albany Avenue bins had been taken to be incinerated — to try to dig up new evidence. The search would continue at the trash plant for three full weeks while officers also searched Fore Group properties, the West Hartford reservoirs, an Avon water skiing lake and other properties connected to the family.
State police detectives, while executing a search warrant at Dulos’ Farmington home, find a two-page set of handwritten notes they call “the alibi script.” The notes outline activities of Dulos and Troconis between May 24 and May 25, but she later admits to prosecutors the outline is false.
June 24: Fotis Dulos’ attorney introduces ‘Gone Girl’ allegations
Dulos’ outspoken attorney Norm Pattis draws the ire of Farber Dulos’ family after claiming in a court filing that Farber Dulos wrote a manuscript in 2002 similar to the Gillian Flynn novel “Gone Girl,” implying she could have orchestrated her disappearance like the character in the novel who fakes her own murder to try to escape a troubled marriage.
July 25: Jennifer Farber Dulos’ mom retains custody of five children
Gloria Farber, Farber Dulos’ mother, is allowed to retain temporary custody of her five grandchildren despite the protestations and ongoing divorce and legal fight with Dulos. The move comes as Farber and Dulos remain locked in litigation over $2.5 million that she argues Dulos owes the estate of her late husband, Hilliard Farber, over money he contributed to Dulos’ homebuilding company.
Aug. 6: Documents show South Windsor attorney enlisted Fotis Dulos to arrange meeting with his wife
Documents in the divorce case of South Windsor attorney Kent Mawhinney, who represented Dulos on a variety of matters, show Mawhinney enlisted Dulos to try to help him reconnect with his wife in the days just before Farber Dulos disappeared. Mawhinney’s wife believed Mawhinney wanted her dead and that Dulos was a part of the plan, according to the documents, raising questions about the relationship between the two men’s divorce cases and Farber Dulos’ disappearance.
Sept. 4: Fotis Dulos arrested again
Dulos is arrested again and charged a second time with tampering with evidence. An arrest warrant affidavit released by state police finally reveals the state’s meticulous investigation to track Dulos’ movements the day of Farber Dulos’ disappearance, including an allegation that he ambushed her on the day of her disappearance.
Sept. 5: Michelle Troconis turns herself in to police
Troconis turns herself in to police on her own second tampering with evidence charge, but the warrant affidavit reveals she has begun cooperating with investigators, providing critical information that eventu
ally could prove damning to Dulos.
November: Jennifer Farber Dulos’ mom awarded custody of five children
Shortly before Thanksgiving, a probate judge removed both Fotis Dulos and Jennifer Farber Dulos as guardians of their children and legally turned custody of them over to their grandmother, Gloria Farber, despite the protestations of Dulos in legal filings throughout the year. The children have lived with her since their mother disappeared and continue to live in her Manhattan home.
Dec. 4: Dulos testifies at the civil trial for lawsuit over $2.5 million from Farber Dulos’ father
Dulos spends the day on the witness stand on the last day of the civil trial over the disputed $2.5 million that his late father-in-law gave him for his homebuilding company. Gloria Farber claims the money was a loan, while Dulos says the money was a gift.
He testifies that he expected the payments to continue, even after his father-in-law died and estranged wife disappeared, to cover the cost of the home on Jefferson Court in Farmington. After court, Dulos tells reporters gathered that he wishes “Jennifer and her family happy holidays.”
Dec. 12: State Supreme Court hears arguments on gag order
The Connecticut Supreme Courts holds an emergency hearing to consider an appeal by Dulos’ lawyers challenging a gag order imposed by Superior Court Judge John Blawie prohibiting officials from discussing details of the case outside the courtroom.
Pattis presents his argument that the gag order prevents him from being able to publicly defend his client while prosecutors argue the order was necessary to limit the spread of incorrect or incomplete information, and both sides endure an hour of questions from a full panel of justices.
Jan. 7: Fotis Dulos charged with murder
Dulos is charged with the murder of Farber Dulos more than seven months after she disappeared. His alleged accomplices, Dulos’ former girlfriend Michelle Troconis and one of his lawyers, Kent Mawhinney, are each charged with conspiracy to commit murder. Dulos and Troconis would post bond, but Mawhinney remained jailed.
Jan. 12: Documents reveal Kent Mawhinney’s alleged involvement
Court documents link Mawhinney to core elements of Farber Dulos’ disappearance, including his involvement in stories about potential alibis, a call he allegedly received from Dulos as police say Dulos was discarding bloody evidence in the Hartford trash bins in May and his connection to a suspected “human grave” at a gun club in East Granby.
Jan. 23: Fotis Dulos ordered to strict home confinement
A judge admonishes Dulos for dismantling part of the memorial to Farber Dulos at the end of the private drive leading to his Jefferson Crossing home in Farmington and orders him to strict home confinement.
Jan. 28: Dulos attempts suicide
Dulos attempts suicide in his Jefferson Crossing home just hours before an emergency hearing to revoke his $6 million bond and return him to jail. Initially declared dead, prolonged efforts to revive him apparently succeeded and he was rushed to UConn Health and later Jacobi Medical Center in the Bronx for treatment for carbon monoxide poisoning.
Jan. 29: Police obtain warrant, search Fotis Dulos’ Farmington home
Detectives from the State Police Western District Crime Squad searched Dulos’ home the day after his attempted suicide to look for any notes or documents related to the disappearance of Farber Dulos. Police found a note claiming his innocence but did not find other evidence that would lead them closer to finding the body, according to law enforcement sources.
Jan. 30: Fotis Dulos dies after suicide attempt
Fotis Dulos died, two days after he was rushed to a New York City Hospital in wake of a suicide attempt, perhaps taking with him forever the answers to the mystery of what happened to his estranged wife, Jennifer Farber Dulos. His death was announced by his lawyer Norm Pattis outside of Jacobi Medical Center in the Bronx.