Judge seals some docs in Dulos divorce
STAMFORD — A judge has ordered for some of the documents in the Jennifer and Fotis Dulos divorce case sealed as police continue to investigate the 50-year-old mother’s disappearance.
Judge Donna Nelson Heller has ordered some of the documents filed in the case sealed, according to a June 11 order. The exhibits were filed last week by Gloria Farber, Jennifer Dulos’ mother, who is seeking full custody of the five Dulos children, ranging in age from 8 to 13.
Farber has been caring for the children in her Manhattan apartment since her daughter Jennifer Dulos went missing on May 24.
It’s unclear whether Farber’s request for custody will be addressed next week during the next scheduled hearing, which will
come four days after the two-year anniversary of Jennifer Dulos first filing for divorce against her husband after nearly 13 years of marriage.
The hearing, on Fotis Dulos’ lawyer’s request to withdraw from the case, is scheduled for 2 p.m. June 24.
The lawyer who had been representing him in the case, Michael Rose, had filed a request to leave the case June 6. According to an order scheduling the June 24 court date, at least 12 days’ time was required to give Fotis Dulos notice of the hearing.
A new lawyer, Rich Rochlin, said last week he will now represent Fotis Dulos in the divorce proceedings.
Fotis Dulos declined to speak at last week’s hearing in the case, citing his Fifth Amendment rights.
Police over the weekend continued to search for missing mother Jennifer Dulos as the investigation into her disappearance entered a fourth week.
Divers searched Fisher Meadow Pond in Avon over the weekend, but did not find anything, WFSB reported. Authorities also returned Saturday to a Hartford garbage facility where police say trash was hauled after Fotis Dulos was seen tossing garbage bags the night his estranged wife disappeared. No one was seen searching the facility on Sunday, WFSB said.
Some of the bags recovered before they were taken to the Materials Innovation and Recycling Authority contained Jennifer Dulos’ blood, according to arrest warrants.
“Why do you think he is in such jeopardy? His behavior with the bags, if it can be proven, is deeply troubling and requires an explanation,” Norm Pattis, Fotis Dulos’ attorney, told NBC last week. “We understand and accept that.”
Fotis Dulos, 51, and his girlfriend, Michelle Troconis, 44, are free on bail after being arraigned last week on charges of tampering with evidence and hindering prosecution.
Troconis is due back in court on July 18, while Fotis Dulos is scheduled to return to state Superior Court in Stamford on Aug. 2.
Troconis has met at least twice with investigators since she posted bail on June 3.
Pattis, the controversial New Haven attorney hired last week to represent Fotis Dulos, claims Troconis has an alibi for May 24 when Jennifer Dulos disappeared. Pattis also claims Troconis passed a polygraph exam that showed she was not involved and does not know where to find Jennifer Dulos.
Around 9:15 a.m., Troconis returned a friend’s purse that had been left the night before at the Jefferson Crossing property owned by Fotis Dulos, according to the Hartford Courant. Troconis then visited another friend in Simsbury between 10:30 and 11 a.m., the Courant reported.
Andrew Bowman, a Westport attorney representing Troconis, has declined to comment about his client’s whereabouts that day.
Jennifer Dulos was last seen around 8 a.m. May 24 after dropping her five children off at New Canaan Country School. After missing several doctors appointments in New York, she was reported missing around 7 p.m. that night.
According to their arrest warrants, Fotis Dulos and Troconis were seen on video surveillance driving on Albany Avenue in Hartford around the time Jennifer Dulos was reported missing. Fotis Dulos was seen tossing garbage bags into more than 30 trash bins in a four-mile span that were later determined to have his estranged wife’s blood on some of them, the warrants said.
For the past two weeks, the state police search-and-rescue K-9 unit has been sifting through piles of garbage at the trash-toenergy plant where the materials are shredded before they are burned. The K-9s are trained to sniff biological materials such as blood and bodily fluids.
On Friday, the state police dive team returned to Avon to search a pond at Fisher Meadow on Old Farms Road. Earlier in the week, investigators searched a nearby pond known for water skiing where Jennifer Dulos claimed in divorce documents her husband pushed their children to “dangerous” limits to compete at a high level.