The estranged husband of a missing Connecticut woman has again argued her disappearance nearly two months ago is a ploy to get him in trouble and keep him from their five children.
Fotis Dulos accused his estranged wife Jennifer Dulos of trying to frame him for her disappearance in an attempt to access her medical records, according to court documents obtained by the New York Post.
The three-page motion filed Wednesday asked the court to grant Fotis access to records for $14,000 worth of medical tests Jennifer underwent between February and April.
“The defendant seeks information about the diagnosis and treatment Ms. Dulos received in the weeks before her disappearance as such information may shed light on what may have motivated her to disappear,” the filing reportedly said.
Fotis said during his first sit-down interview with the media that his interactions with his estranged wife at the time of her disappearance were more optimistic than they had previously been, and that he and his attorney were growing hopeful that a joint custody agreement could be reached.
“I had my differences with Jennifer like many people do when they go through a marriage, but that doesn’t mean that I wish her ill in any way,” he told NBC New York earlier this month. “I never wanted Jennifer out of the way.”
But the motion filed Wednesday noted the couple were in a “highly contentious matrimonial litigation” and claimed Jennifer told Fotis “she would do anything she had [to] to make sure he did not get custody of her children.”
Obtaining Jennifer’s medical records would help Fotis' attorney “evaluate whether Ms. Dulos, alarmed by her diagnosis and fearing that she might be able to raise the children on her own, took steps to cause her disappearance in such a way as to raise suspicions about Mr. Dulos,” the motion said, the Post wrote.
A judge has not yet ruled on the motion.
Fotis' attorney previously said Jennifer may be staging her disappearance to frame her estranged husband.
“We don’t know what had become of Jennifer, but the 'Gone Girl' hypothesis is very much on our mind,” lawyer Norm Pattis previously said in a statement.
In the best-selling novel by Gillian Flynn and the 2014 movie starring Ben Affleck, a wife fakes her own disappearance and frames her husband as a murderer.
In a statement provided to InsideEdition.com, Flynn denounced Pattis' suggestion that Jennifer's case could be anything like her work of fiction.
"It absolutely sickens me that a work of fiction written by me would be used by Fotis Dulos’ lawyer as a defense, and as a hypothetical, sensationalized motive behind Jennifer’s very real and very tragic disappearance," Flynn said.
"This situation is so incredibly painful, I can’t imagine what her children, her family, and all those close to her are going through. I am deeply sorry for Jennifer and her loved ones," she added.
Jennifer's family also dismissed the "'Gone Girl' hypothesis" a "classic act of desperation to slander the victim."
“None of this feels real. We tell ourselves that this kind of nightmare happens to people in stories, not to those we know and love,” Jennifer's family said in a statement.
“But this situation is real, and it is dire. Each passing day intensifies the impact of this tragedy on Jennifer’s children, who have not seen their mother — the guiding presence in their lives.”
Jennifer was last seen May 24 dropping off her kids at school. She was reported missing later that day. Police have since accused Fotis and his girlfriend, Michelle Troconis, of driving around Hartford the day Jennifer disappeared and disposing of garbage bags in 30 different locations.
Items recovered had Jennifer's blood on them.
Fotis and Troconis have pleaded not guilty to evidence tampering and hindering prosecution in connection with Jennifer’s disappearance.
Traconis made a brief appearance in court Thursday and a new hearing was set for Aug. 19. Fotis is due in court Aug. 2.