The Register Citizen (Torrington, CT)
Jennifer Dulos’ family: ‘Absurd’ to think she visited doctor
STAMFORD — The family of missing New Canaan mother Jennifer Dulos has denied that a medical record cited by defense attorney Norm Pattis could indicate she is alive.
In a Friday filing, Pattis said a billing record sent from Anthem Blue Cross and Blue Shield to his client indicated Jennifer Dulos received “reproductive” services at a New York medical facility on July 7 — more than a month after she disappeared.
“If Ms. Dulos did, as the bill suggests, receive medical services on July 7, 2019, she is obviously alive, if not necessarily well,” Pattis wrote in the motion.
Carrie Luft, a spokeswoman for Jennifer Dulos’ family and friends, responded Monday, saying the document Fotis Dulos received was automatically generated for a quarterly fee and does not indicate she received medical services in July.
“The insurance claim in question, dated July 7, 2019,
is for an autobilled quarterly fee with no connection to inperson services — the Anthem claims summary in Mr. Dulos’s possession lists this same charge every three months,” Luft said. “To allege that Jennifer obtained medical treatment in July is absurd. To allege that Jennifer — together with her family — orchestrated her own disappearance is baseless and cruel.”
“Yet again, the allegations by Mr. Dulos’ attorney blame the victim and inflict pain on her family and loved ones,” Luft added.
Pattis filed the motion as part of an ongoing effort to obtain Jennifer Dulos’ medical records, which he claims could help exonerate his client.
In August, Stamford Superior Court Judge John Blawie denied Pattis’ first attempt to obtain Jennifer Dulos’ medical records, but said he could revisit the issue if he discovered more evidence to support his request.
Pattis claims his client received billing records reflecting “a series of tests, blood work, diagnostic treatment and ‘lab reproductive’ coding” for treatment Jennifer Dulos received in the months leading up to her May 24 disappearance. Pattis said the tests totaled $14,000.
A second nearly identical motion filed in September is still pending.
Pattis has claimed that Jennifer Dulos may have faked her own disappearance, a la the novel “Gone Girl,” and later suggested she might have perpetrated a “revenge suicide” plot.
The theories have drawn sharp rebukes from Jennifer Dulos’ family and friends and “Gone Girl” author Gillian Flynn.
Fotis Dulos, 52, and his girlfriend Michelle Troconis, 44, have each pleaded not guilty to two counts of tampering with evidence and hindering prosecution charges in connection with the disappearance.
Police said surveillance videos show Fotis Dulos and Troconis making a series of stops in a 4mile 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 and Troconis are also accused of cleaning up a 2001 red Toyota Tacoma police believe was used in Jennifer Dulos’ disappearance, according to 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.
Troconis is next due in court on Oct. 25, while Fotis Dulos will be back in court on Nov. 6.