Fotis Dulos seeks access to medical records
Lawyer says information on estranged wife could ‘shed light’ on disappearance
STAMFORD — Fotis Dulos is trying for a second time to access his estranged wife’s medical records, which his lawyers say may support their theory that Jennifer Dulos staged her own disappearance to frame her husband.
In a new motion filed Tuesday, defense attorney Norm Pattis claimed that blood work and tests done in the months preceding Jennifer Dulos’ disappearance could help “shed light on what may have motivated her to disappear.”
Last month, Judge John Blawie denied an identical request made by Pattis, calling the motion “speculative.” However, he also said he would allow Pattis to revisit the motion in the future.
At the time, State’s Attorney Richard Colangelo called the motion a “fishing expedition.”
Pattis claims the defense has obtained billing records indicating Jennifer Dulos had $14,000 worth of “tests, blood work, diagnostic treatment and ‘labreproductive’ coding for work done from February through April 2019.”
“The defendant seeks the medical records to evaluate whether Ms. Dulos, alarmed by her diagnosis and fearing that she might not be able to raise the children on her own, took steps to cause her own disappearance in such a way as to raise suspicions about Mr. Dulos,” Pattis wrote in Tuesday’s motion.
The motion noted the couple was engaged in a highly contentious divorce case and says Jennifer Dulos told her estranged husband “she would do anything she had to do to make sure he did not get custody of their children.”
Pattis first floated the theory in June that Jennifer Dulos may have
faked her own disappearance, a la the novel “Gone Girl.” He later went so far as to suggest that she might have perpetrated a “revenge suicide” plot.
The theories drew sharp rebukes from Jennifer Dulos’ family and friends and “Gone Girl” author Gillian Flynn.
Pattis’ theories, along with other statements made
to the media, spurred Colangelo to request a gag order that would prevent attorneys involved from disseminating information that could prejudice the case.
In addition to the “Gone Girl” theories, the prosecution claims Pattis has also made false statements about evidence that could influence potential jurors —
specifically about a lie detector test he claimed Michelle Troconis passed. Colangelo said the polygraph was never administered.
Fotis Dulos, 52, and Troconis, 44, have each pleaded not guilty to tampering with evidence and hindering prosecution charges in connection with the May 24 disappearance.
They were each arrested again last week on new tampering with evidence charges in connection with their roles in cleaning up a
2001 red Toyota Tacoma police believe was used in Jennifer Dulos’ disappearance, according to the arrest warrants.
Police say Fotis Dulos was driving the pickup, which was owned by one of his employees, the day his wife went missing.
Jennifer Dulos was last seen around 8 a.m. May 24 after dropping off her five children at New Canaan Country School. After missing several doctors appointments in New York, she was reported missing
around 7 p.m. that night. Police said they found blood spatter and signs that Jennifer Dulos was the victim of a “serious physical assault” in the garage of her Welles Lane home.
Police said surveillance videos show Fotis Dulos and Troconis making more than 30 stops in a fourmile stretch of Hartford’s Albany Avenue the night of the disappearance.
According to arrest warrants, the videos also show Fotis Dulos dumping trash bags, which were later
found to contain his estranged wife’s blood.
Fotis Dulos, who appeared Monday night in a “Dateline NBC” hourlong segment about the case, will be arraigned Thursday in state Superior Court in Norwalk on the new tampering with evidence charge. He is scheduled to appear for his next pretrial hearing Friday in Stamford.
Troconis will be arraigned Sept. 18 in Norwalk on the new charge and will appear for a pretrial hearing Sept. 20 in Stamford.