A Connecticut mother of five who has been missing for weeks could have killed herself to prevent her estranged husband from getting custody of their children, a lawyer for the man argued.
Jennifer Dulos, 50, vanished after she dropped her children off at school in late May.
Fotis Dulos, 51, and his girlfriend, Michelle Troconis, 44, have pleaded not guilty to tampering with evidence and hindering the prosecution.
“We are exploring all possibilities, including that she made good on a threat she made to him prior to her disappearance: ‘I’ll do anything I have to do to make sure you never see the kids again,’” the lawyer, Norm Pattis, told the New York Times. “This, together with evidence of an alarming number of medical tests she endured just prior to her disappearance, makes the revenge-suicide hypothesis something we are taking very seriously as we continue our investigation.”
Pattis said Jennifer Dulos underwent $14,000 in medical and blood tests before she disappeared May 24.
“We don’t know what diagnosis supported those tests,” Pattis said. “Was she critically ill? Did she plan a final farewell intended to assure Fotis never saw the kids? We are looking for Jennifer and for answers.”
The lawyer has previously claimed Jennifer Dulos staged her own disappearance and had written a manuscript similar to Gone Girl, a novel and film about a woman in a tumultuous marriage who fakes her own murder.
Carrie Luft, a close friend to Jennifer Dulos, pushed back on the lawyer’s claims.
“Jennifer Farber Dulos would absolutely never leave her children and would never do anything that would bring them harm,” she said. “Attorney Pattis’s perpetuation of these allegations is hurting the Dulos children now and into the future.”
Investigators discovered her blood mixed with her estranged husband’s DNA on a faucet in her multi-million dollar home in New Canaan.
Security camera footage showed Fotis Dulos and Troconis dumping trash bags along a street in Hartford the night of the disappearance. A man who matched Fotis Dulos’ description was also seen dumping an item into a storm drain on the same street. The license plate on the vehicle used was registered to Fotis Dulos.