Estranged Husband Of Missing Connecticut Woman Suggests 'Revenge Suicide' Explains Disappearance

Jennifer Dulos, the Connecticut woman who went missing on May 24th.

Jennifer Dulos, a 50-year-old writer and mother of five children, went missing on May 24th, amid a contentious and drawn-out divorce battle that reportedly left her "afraid for her life." With suspicion cast on Jennifer's estranged husband, Fotis Dulos—whose DNA authorities was found mixed into bloodstains around Jennifer's Connecticut home—his defense attorney suggested Wednesday that, actually, the month-long disappearance might come down to "revenge suicide."

"You heard us say today in court comments that Jennifer made to Mr. Dulos that give us great concern for her safety and well-being," Norm Pattis, Fotis Dulos's lawyer, reportedly said at a press conference convened outside a custody hearing earlier. According to the NY Post, he added that his client "has information that may help shed light on Jennifer's disappearance," telling reporters: "We are actively contemplating the revenge suicide hypothesis as an explanation for her disappearance."

On the day she went missing, Jennifer reportedly dropped her kids off at school, subsequently missing multiple appointments in New York City. Police recovered her black SUV in a park near the house she'd been renting in New Canaan, and when they searched the premises, found a large blood stain (with the scrubbed look of an attempted clean-up) in the garage, plus blood splattered throughout the home. Investigators also said they detected evidence of a "serious physical assault," and Fotis's DNA on a bloodied faucet. After reviewing security footage in which Fotis and his girlfriend, Michelle Troconis, could be seen dumping bags of what turned out to be clothes and sponges stained with Jennifer's blood in Hartford trashcans, they arrested the pair in an Avon, Connecticut hotel.

With Jennifer still missing, both Troconis and Fotis have been charged with fabricating or tampering with physical evidence and hindering prosecution, and both have since posted $500,000 bail.

Jennifer filed for divorce in 2017, accusing her husband of swinging into violent rages. In a custody affidavit filed that June, she wrote that Fotis had "exhibited irrational, unsafe, bullying, threatening, and controlling behavior." He had told her he planned to kidnap the children, Jennifer wrote, and had purchased a handgun.

"I am afraid of my husband," she stated. "I know that filing for divorce, and filing this motion, will enrage him. I know he will retaliate by trying to harm me in some way. He is dangerous and ruthless when he believes he has been wronged."

The Dulos children have been staying with Jennifer's mother on the Upper East Side; leaving the hearing on Wednesday, Fotis reportedly said, "Tell my children they are constantly on my mind and that I love them and miss them very much." Their court-appointed guardian—attorney Michael Meehan—convened the hearing because, according to the Hartford Courant, he believed Pattis violated a court order by making public comments about a sealed psychological evaluation the family completed in the course of the divorce process.

A copy of a report summarizing the findings landed at Fotis's Farmington home, according to the Courant. Pattis said he had reason to believe that "Ms. Dulos was aware" of its contents, "made statements about its recommendations to Mr. Dulos, and ... acted in accordance with her stated intention to do anything within her power to see to it that [Fotis] was deprived of their children's companionship." Additionally, Pattis reportedly said, he'd discovered that Jennifer penned a Gone Girl-reminiscent manuscript 17 years ago, seeming to suggest that she'd long schemed to set up her husband for her own faked disappearance. Parties close to Jennifer said Pattis had skewed the manuscript's plot.

Meanwhile, the search continues for Jennifer's body, and has already led police to a pond in Avon, Fotis's home, and a garbage processing plant in Hartford. According to the Courant, the case remains "very active."