FILE – In this June 3, 2019 file photo, Fotis Dulos stands during arraignment on charges of tampering with or fabricating physical evidence and first-degree hindering prosecution at Norwalk Superior Court in Norwalk, Conn. Dulos was arrested again on Wednesday, Sept. 4, 2019, at his Farmington home in connection with the disappearance of his estranged wife Jennifer Dulos, the mother of five who has been missing since May 24. (Tyler Sizemore/Hearst Connecticut Media via AP, Pool, File)
HARTFORD, Conn. (AP) — The estranged husband of a missing Connecticut mother of five was arrested again in connection with her disappearance.
State police arrested Fotis Dulos at his Farmington home Wednesday afternoon and charged him with tampering with physical evidence.
Jennifer Dulos, of New Canaan, disappeared May 24 amid contentious child custody proceedings with Fotis Dulos. She hasn’t been seen since.
Fotis Dulos and his girlfriend, Michelle Troconis, were previously charged with evidence tampering and hindering prosecution in connection with Jennifer Dulos’ disappearance. They pleaded not guilty and posted $500,000 bail.
Police allege Fotis Dulos and Troconis went to Hartford to dispose of garbage bags containing items with Jennifer Dulos’ blood on them.
Fotis Dulos posted another $500,000 bail and was released Wednesday. He is scheduled to appear in court Sept. 12 on the new tampering charge.
An attorney said Fotis Dulos will plead not guilty to the new charge and criticized police for focusing all their attention on his client.
Authorities released a 43-page warrant Wednesday with additional details about the case, including allegations Fotis Dulos drove his employee’s truck to New Canaan, lay in wait for Jennifer Dulos to return home after dropping her five kids off at school and later driving her body away in the SUV.
Fotis Dulos had the employee’s truck washed and detailed and later pressured the employee to change the seats in the truck. Police later found Jennifer Dulos’ DNA in the employee’s truck, the warrant said.
Troconis admitted to police that it was she and Fotis in a truck caught on surveillance video in Hartford and Fotis was discarding trash bags that police later collected and found items with Jennifer Dulos’ blood on them, the arrest warrant said.
Police asked Troconis why she thought Fotis Dulos had his employee’s truck cleaned and she said, “Well obviously … all the evidence says because … you showed me the picture of the blood in the door it’s because the body of Jennifer at some point was in there,” the documents said.
Fotis Dulos’ attorney said prosecutors are trying to “convince” themselves that his client is responsible for Jennifer Dulos’ disappearance.
“It sounds like the state is trying to convince itself that Fotis is responsible for Jennifer’s disappearance,” Norman Pitts said in a statement. “When and if the state decides it can prove its case, we will welcome the chance to meet the case in open court. The new warrant speaks of a lying lover and handyman with something to hide. When do we get the chance to question these folks?”
Police say the employee’s story of working at a job site all day the day Jennifer Dulos disappeared checked out and they believe he had no involvement.
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