New York Daily News

Possible knife clue on missing mom of 5

- BY JESSICA SCHLADEBEC­K

A Connecticu­t crackhead peddled a possible key piece of evidence in the hunt for a missing suburban mom for a $5 rock of cocaine.

The man, released from jail last week on two minor charges, told the Hartford Courant about finding a knife inside a garbage can not far from the spot in Hartford where other evidence was found as investigat­ors searched for Jennifer Dulos, who disappeare­d on May 24.

The man claimed the knife was beneath a blood-soaked pillow stuffed in a trash can on Albany Ave., and he placed the cushion back inside before pocketing the blade, the newspaper reported.

He then swapped the weapon for the crack with a drug dealer known to him only as “Fudge.”

“I was thinking stupid,” he told the Courant. “I was on that crack. I wanted a hit so bad I went looking for somebody to sell me some crack.”

According to the man, there was “about a quart of blood on the pillow, all over the pillow. I tell you, whoever got hurt got hurt real bad.”

Dulos, a 50-year-old mother of five, was reported missing by friends after she failed to appear for previously scheduled appointmen­ts.

Authoritie­s discovered her 2017 Chevrolet Suburban a few miles away from the house where she lived with her kids, who are currently in New York City with their maternal grandmothe­r.

According to court records, Dulos had recently filed for divorce from her husband, Fotis Dulos (inset left).

The husband and his ex(inset right) girlfriend Michelle Troconis pleaded not guilty to charges of tampering with or fabricatin­g physical evidence and hindering prosecutio­n in relation to the disappeara­nce. Both are free on bond.

On the day his estranged wife went missing, Fotis Dulos was allegedly caught on surveillan­ce video dropping bags into trash cans in the same area where the knife, bloody pillow and additional items were recovered.

Police, prior to their interview with the knife-finding man, recovered several other items allegedly dumped on Albany Ave., including the bloody Vineyard Vines shirt that authoritie­s believe Dulos was wearing when she disappeare­d.

The paper withheld the man’s identity because he could emerge as a witness in the case.

He was set free after doing time on misdemeano­r charges of failure to appear and trespassin­g.

Authoritie­s said they also have video of Fotis Dulos placing a FedEx mailer box into a storm drain.

It was later recovered and revealed to contain a doctored license plate to a car he previously owned.

Prosecutor­s have said investigat­ors uncovered evidence of an assault in the garage of Jennifer Dulos’ New Canaan, Conn., home but have not yet found her body.

Investigat­ors are so far treating her case as both a criminal investigat­ion and a missing persons case.

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