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    Sunday, May 05, 2024

    Police: Blood found in missing Connecticut mom's home

    This photo provided by the New Canaan Police Department shows Michelle C. Troconis, left, and Fotis Dulos, right. Police in Connecticut have arrested a missing mother of five's estranged husband and his girlfriend on charges of evidence tampering and hindering prosecution. New Canaan authorities announced Sunday, June 2, 2019, the arrests of 51-year-old Dulos and 44-year-old Troconis. Both were detained on $500,000 bail and are scheduled to be arraigned Monday in Norwalk Superior Court. Details of the allegations were not released. (New Canaan Police Department via AP)

    NORWALK — The blood of a missing mother of five was found in several locations where two people matching the description of her estranged husband and his girlfriend were recorded on video disposing of trash bags, according to arrest warrants released Monday.

    The warrants show blood spatter and evidence of cleanup attempts were also found at the New Canaan home of Jennifer Dulos, 50, who remains missing after her May 24 disappearance.

    "Investigators came to the consensus that a serious physical assault had occurred at the scene, and Jennifer Dulos was the suspected victim," police wrote in the warrants.

    The warrants were released Monday after Dulos' estranged husband, 51-year-old Fotis Dulos, and his 44-year-old girlfriend, Michelle Troconis, made their first appearances in Norwalk Superior Court.

    They were charged Saturday night with evidence tampering and hindering prosecution . They did not enter pleas.

    Fotis Dulos' lawyer, Eugene Riccio, said his client was not expected to post bail. Troconis posted bail Monday afternoon and did not comment as she left the courthouse wearing a GPS monitoring device. Riccio and Troconis' attorney, Andrew Bowman, both said their clients had no criminal records.

    Judge Stephanie McLaughlin rejected requests by both Fotis Dulos and Troconis to lower their $500,000 bail after a prosecutor cited the seriousness of the allegations and said more charges are expected.

    Jennifer Dulos went missing May 24 after dropping her kids off at school and missing appointments that day. She has not been found. She and Fotis Dulos have been embroiled in a contentious divorce and child custody case for the past two years.

    Police have searched locations in several towns including a park in New Canaan where Jennifer Dulos' vehicle was found and a home about 60 miles away in Farmington, where Jennifer Dulos and her children — who range in age from 8 to 13 and include two sets of twins — had lived until about two years ago when she filed for divorce. Fotis Dulos and Troconis were living at the Farmington house.

    The arrest warrants said the items with Jennifer Dulos' blood, including kitchen sponges, were found at various locations in Hartford in garbage bags police believe were dumped by Fotis Dulos and Troconis, based on surveillance videos and cellphone location data.

    New Canaan police have said they are investigating her disappearance both as a missing person case and a criminal matter.

    Court documents filed in the divorce case say Jennifer Dulos feared Fotis Dulos would harm her in some way in retaliation for her filing for divorce, and she noted he had a gun. Jennifer Dulos has primary custody of the children, with their father getting to see them every other weekend.

    After Jennifer Dulos went missing, Fotis Dulos asked the divorce case judge to grant him custody of the children. In a motion filed last week, he said the five children are staying with Jennifer Dulos' 85-year-old mother in New York City and are being protected by an armed bodyguard.

    A hearing in the divorce case is scheduled for Wednesday after being postponed last week.

    Fotis Dulos is arraigned on charges of tampering with or fabricating physical evidence and first-degree hindering prosecution at Norwalk Superior Court in Norwalk, Conn. Monday, June 3, 2019. Fotis Dulos, and his girlfriend, Michelle C. Troconis, were arrested at an Avon hotel late Saturday night and held on a $500,000 bond for charges of tampering with or fabricating physical evidence and first-degree hindering prosecution. Fotis Dulos is the estranged husband of Jennifer Dulos, the 50-year-old mother of five who has been missing since May 24. (Tyler Sizemore/Hearst Connecticut Media via AP, Pool)
    Michelle C. Troconis is arraigned on charges of tampering with or fabricating physical evidence and first-degree hindering prosecution at Norwalk Superior Court in Norwalk, Conn. Monday, June 3, 2019. Troconis and Fotis Dulos were arrested at an Avon hotel late Saturday night and held on a $500,000 bond for charges of tampering with or fabricating physical evidence and first-degree hindering prosecution. Fotis Dulos is the estranged husband of Jennifer Dulos, the 50-year-old mother of five who has been missing since May 24. (Tyler Sizemore/Hearst Connecticut Media via AP, Pool)
    This undated photo released Friday, May 31, 2019, by the New Canaan, Conn., Police Department shows Jennifer Dulos, missing since May 24 when she was last seen dropping off her children at school. (New Canaan Police Department via AP)

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