Jennifer Dulos becoming a symbol for domestic violence advocates,
NEW CANAAN — In the six months since Jennifer Dulos went missing, she has become a symbol for advocates working against domestic violence.
Jennifer Dulos, a mother of five, was last seen on May 24. In the years prior, she had been involved in protracted divorce proceedings with her husband, Fotis Dulos.
The police investigation remains a missing persons case and no murder charges have been filed as the disappearance reaches six months on Sunday. Fotis Dulos and his former girlfriend, Michelle Troconis, have each been charged with evidence tampering and hindering prosecution.
Jennifer Dulos said in divorce filings that she feared her husband, and advocates working in the domestic violence field have said her case is not unique, but emblematic of a toocommon problem.
“We know through court documents that Jennifer Farber Dulos offered to the family court on more than one occasion, that she was fearful of her husband who could be vengeful and dangerous,” said Karen Jarmoc, president and CEO of the Connecticut Coalition
Against Domestic Violence.
That fear, according to Debra A. Greenwood, president and CEO of The Center for Family Justice, is exactly what keeps an abused spouse in a dangerous environment.
“Her statements in court filings that she feared her desire to dissolve her marriage would enrage her husband, signaled to many of us who do this work a real and tangible concern that was quite chilling, considering she has now been missing since May,” Greenwood said. “This case hit home because it is representative of so many others we see on a daily basis.
Many people trapped in the cycles of domestic abuse live with the daily fear that their spouses may do them or their families’ real harm.”
Intimate partner homicide is not uncommon — half of all female homicide victims in the United States are killed by intimate partners, according to a 2017 report from the Centers for Disease Control.
That CDC report also noted that intimate partner homicide crosses racial boundaries: “Across all racial/ethnic groups of women, over half of female homicides for which circumstances were known were intimate partner violencerelated.”
That’s an important point, according to Jarmoc. Though the CDC said black women are killed at higher rates than white women, intimate partnerrelated homicide is the cause of about 50 percent of all female homicides, regardless of race.
“Jennifer’s experience also highlights our clear understanding that domestic violence is a pattern of coercive and abusive behavior that crosses over all socioeconomic, religious and ethnic backgrounds and the need for us to be more aware of how these complex behaviors permeate all of society,” Jarmoc said.
The Dulos case, according to Jarmoc, is another example of how important it is for courts to review how domestic violence cases are handled.
“This circumstance, and so many others, underscores the opportunity for Connecticut’s family courts to improve its approach around how it views intimate partner violence,” she said. “We must do better and work collectively to improve policy and practice in this context.”