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Crash Closed Berlin Turnpike in Berlin

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Part of the Berlin Turnpike was closed in Berlin after a crash Thursday morning.

Police said a car and a tractor-trailer crashed near 2253 Berlin Turnpike and extrication is taking place.

The Berlin Turnpike was closed in the area.


Two Additional Flu Deaths in Connecticut

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Another two flu deaths have been reported in Connecticut and the people who died were between the ages of 25 and 49, according to state Department of Health statistics.

There have been seven flu-related deaths in Connecticut this season and the most recent two were during the week of Dec. 29 to Jan. 4.

The other five flu-related deaths were people 65 years old or older.

The state Department of Health classifies flu as widespread and said there have been 472 flu-related hospitalizations since the start of the 2019-2020 season. Nearly 200 were reported this week.   

The department has received reports of 1,613 positive flu tests this season.

Get more data on flu in Connecticut online here.

Helping Men Get to the Doctor

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 The following content is created in partnership with Hartford HealthCare. It does not reflect the work or opinions of NBC Owned Television Stations Group editorial staff. Click here to learn more about Hartford HealthCare.

Men are 1.4 times more likely than women to die from almost any chronic medical condition, according to national statistics reported by Hartford HealthCare. Yet men are 80 percent less likely than women to seek preventive healthcare. The very fact that men also live shorter lives means that male attitudes about prevention need to change.

Erectile dysfunction (ED) the difficulty or inability to achieve and maintain an erection can affect men of any age, with 52 percent of men ages 40-70 experiencing some degree of ED. Medical conditions such as atherosclerosis, diabetes and obesity can contribute to ED. Surgery, medications or psychological issues can be factors as well, ED is treatable.

The first and perhaps the most difficult step for some men is to confide in their primary care physician, who may send them to a specialist. A board-licensed urologist will explain all possible options and FDA-approved treatments available.

Hartford HealthCare’s Tallwood Urology & Kidney Institute has an on-site behavioral expert who can help with any underlying emotional problems such as performance anxiety, depression, loss of interest and low self-esteem.

Many men don’t realize that there are ED treatments, including a penile implant. The surgery is about a 90-minute procedure, often outpatient or a one-night stay. The implant looks natural and creates an erection whenever desired.

Doug J., 74, of New London County, had the implant procedure in November 2017 and never looked back. He had recovered from cancer surgery that removed his prostate but unfortunately caused ED. Even after he was deemed cancer-free, he still wasn’t completely happy because of ED.

Doug’s oncologist referred him to Jared Bieniek, M.D., a board-certified urologist with Hartford HealthCare’s Tallwood Urology & Kidney Institute. Though Doug chose first to try less invasive treatments, such as medication and injections, those were unsuccessful or uncomfortable. When Dr. Bieniek advised Doug he was a candidate for an implant, Doug at first was reluctant.

“I was scared to death,” Doug recalls. “But Dr. Bieniek made me comfortable. After it was all over, I was fine. I had discomfort, but I can’t remember pain.”

The implant surgery involved inserting two chambers in the penis, a saline-filled reservoir behind the abdominal muscles, and a pump in the scrotum. By manually activating this pump, an erection occurs on demand.

“For something that you thought you would never have again, and there it was,“ he says. “It doesn’t feel fake at all. It feels like you’re a 20-year-old guy again. I would recommend it to anybody.”

Reflecting on his experience, Doug offers advice to any man with ED: “Go talk to your doctor about it. Make sure you get the best doctor possible. I was lucky. I got an amazing doctor. Don’t be afraid to do it.”

Dr. Bieniek and the Tallwood team of specialists perform implants weekly, making it a high volume center. After the procedure, he says patients respond with “a sigh of relief to have that part of their lives back.”

For more information, log on to Tallwood Kidney and Urology Institute.

US Officials: ‘Highly Likely’ Iran Downed Ukrainian Jetliner

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Two U.S. officials said Thursday it was “highly likely” that an Iranian anti-aircraft missile downed a Ukrainian jetliner late Tuesday, killing all 176 people on board.

The crash came just a few hours after Iran launched a ballistic missile attack against Iraqi military bases housing U.S. troops amid a confrontation with Washington over the U.S. drone strike that killed an Iranian Revolutionary Guard general last week. The officials, citing U.S. intelligence, spoke on the condition of anonymity to discuss sensitive information. They said they had no certain knowledge of Iranian intent. But they said it could very well have been a mistake, and that the airliner was mistaken for a threat.

President Donald Trump suggested that he believes Iran was responsible and wouldn’t directly lay the blame on Iran, but dismissed Iran’s initial claim that it was a mechanical issue.

“Somebody could have made a mistake on the other side,” Trump said, noting the plane was flying in a “pretty rough neighborhood.”

“Some people say it was mechanical,” Trump added. “I personally don’t think that’s even a question.”

The U.S. officials wouldn’t say what intelligence they have that points to an Iranian missile. But they acknowledged the existence of satellites and other sensors in the region, as well as the likelihood of communications intercepts and other similar intelligence.

The U.S. assessment comes after a preliminary Iranian investigative report released Thursday said the pilots never made a radio call for help and claimed the aircraft was trying to turn back for the airport when the burning plane went down. Ukraine, meanwhile, said it considered a missile strike as one of several possible theories for the crash, despite Iran’s denials.

The Iranian report suggests that a sudden emergency struck the Boeing 737 operated by Ukrainian International Airlines late Tuesday, when it crashed, just minutes after taking off from Imam Khomeini International Airport in Tehran.

Investigators from Iran’s Civil Aviation Organization offered no immediate explanation for the disaster, however. Iranian officials initially blamed a technical malfunction for the crash, something initially backed by Ukrainian officials before they said they wouldn’t speculate amid an ongoing investigation.

The Ukrainian International Airlines took off at 6:12 a.m. Wednesday, Tehran time, after nearly an hour’s delay at Tehran’s Imam Khomeini Airport, the main airport for travelers in Iran. It gained altitude heading west, reaching nearly 8,000 feet, according to both the report and flight-tracking data.

Then something went wrong, though “no radio messages were received from the pilot regarding unusual situations,” the report said. In emergencies, pilots reach out to air-traffic controllers to warn them and to clear the runway for their arrival, though their first priority is to keep the aircraft flying.

Eyewitnesses, including the crew of another flight passing above it, described seeing the plane engulfed in flames before crashing at 6:18 a.m., the report said. Flight-tracking data for the plane stopped before the crash, which occurred in the town of Shahedshahr to the northeast of the plane’s last reported position. That’s the wrong direction of the flight plan, bolstering the report’s claim that the pilots tried to turn the aircraft back to the airport.

The crash caused a massive explosion when the plane hit the ground, likely because the aircraft had been fully loaded with fuel for the flight to Kyiv, Ukraine.

The report also confirmed that both of the so-called “black boxes” that contain data and cockpit communications from the plane had been recovered, though they sustained damage and some parts of their memory was lost. It also said that investigators have initially ruled out laser or electromagnetic interference as causing the crash.

Hours before the plane crash the U.S. Federal Aviation Administration had issued an emergency flight restriction barring U.S. carriers and pilots from flying over areas of Iraqi, Iranian and some Persian Gulf airspace warning of the “potential for miscalculation or mis-identification” for civilian aircraft due to heightened political and military tensions.

Oleksiy Danilov, secretary of Ukraine’s Security Council, told Ukrainian media that officials had several working theories regarding the crash, including a missile strike.

“A strike by a missile, possibly a Tor missile system, is among the main (theories), as information has surfaced on the internet about elements of a missile being found near the site of the crash,” Danilov said. He did not elaborate on where he saw the information on the internet.

Ukrainian investigators that arrived in Iran earlier on Thursday currently await permission from Iranian authorities to examine the crash site and look for missile fragments, Danilov said.

The Tor is a Russian-made missile system. Russia delivered 29 Tor-M1s to Iran in 2007 as part of a $700 million contract signed in December 2005. Iran has displayed the missiles in military parades as well.

Iran did not immediately respond to the Ukrainian comments. However, Gen. Abolfazl Shekarchi, the spokesman of the Iranian armed forces, denied a missile hit the airplane in a comments reported Wednesday by the semiofficial Fars news agency. He dismissed the allegation as “psychological warfare” by foreign-based Iranian opposition groups.

Ukraine has a grim history with missile attacks, including in July 2014 when one such strike downed a Malaysian Airlines flight over eastern Ukraine, killing all 298 people aboard.

Danilov also said other possible causes under consideration included a drone or another flying object crashing into the plane, a terrorist attack or an engine malfunction causing an explosion. However, no terror group has claimed responsibility for the attack and the plane was only 3½ years old.

Oleksandr Zaporozhchenko, a mechanic with the Ukraine International Airlines in 2016-2018, said he knew one of the crew members of the plane and had never heard any complaints about the aircraft.

“It is one the most reliable planes out there,” Zaporozhchenko told The Associated Press.

The manufacturer of the plane’s engines, U.S.-French firm CFM, declined to comment. French air accident investigators have not been asked to take part in the investigation so far.

The plane was carrying 167 passengers and nine crew members from several countries, including 82 Iranians, at least 63 Canadians and 11 Ukrainians, according to officials. Many of the passengers were believed to be international students attending universities in Canada; they were making their way back to Toronto by way of Kyiv after visiting with family during the winter break.

Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskiy said he planned to call Iranian President Hassan Rouhani about the crash and the investigation.

“Undoubtedly, the priority for Ukraine is to identify the causes of the plane crash,” Zelenskiy said. “We will surely find out the truth.”

The crash ranked among the worst losses of life for Canadians in an aviation disaster. The flag over Parliament in Ottawa was lowered to half-staff, and Canadian Prime Minister Justin Trudeau has vowed to get to the bottom of the disaster.

While the cause of the tragedy remained unknown, the disaster could further damage Boeing’s reputation, which has been battered by the furor over two deadly crashes involving a different model of the Boeing jet, the much-newer 737 Max, which has been grounded for nearly 10 months. The uproar led to the firing of the company’s CEO last month.

Boeing extended condolences to the victims’ families and said it stands ready to assist. However, it remains unclear if Iran will allow that amid tensions with Washington, given Boeing is a U.S.-based firm.

Cold Today, Warm Weather This Weekend

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We will have windy and cold weather this morning before the milder weather comes in. This weekend, record-breaking temperatures are possible.

The high temperature for today will be around 30 degrees and there will be plenty of sunshine.

On Friday, we’ll have some clouds and temperatures will be milder, with a high of 45 to 50.

The warmer temperature begins Saturday with high temperatures near 60, which would match the record for the Hartford area that was set in 1983.

The record for the Bridgeport area is 58, which was set in 1975. It could get close to that on Saturday.

The high temperature on Sunday will be in the 50s.

Get the forecast anytime here.

Read the Fotis Dulos Arrest Warrant

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Fotis Dulos, the 52-year-old estranged husband of Jennifer Dulos, a New Canaan woman who has been missing for more than seven months, has been arrested and charged with murder, felony murder and kidnapping in connection with the disappearance of his wife.

His bond has been set at $6 million and he will be arraigned Wednesday in Stamford, according to his attorney, Norm Pattis.

After reviewing the arrest warrant, Pattis said they were relieved they had something concrete to fight back against and that his client denies the charges against him.

“We are obviously chastened by the fact that the state thinks there is sufficient evidence to pursue Mr. Dulos for such serious crimes but frankly we are very encouraged by our preliminary review of the warrants,” Pattis said.

The warrant released Tuesday includes detailed lists of the physical evidence investigators have collected at Jennifer’s New Canaan home and from garbage bags recovered from Albany Avenue in Hartford.

The physical evidence recovered along Albany Avenue was a big factor in the investigation. Over the summer, police said a man who appeared to be Fotis along with a woman who appeared to be his girlfriend, Michele Troconis, were recorded disposing of trash along the street the night Jennifer disappeared.

Those bags included bloody paper towels, a sponge, clothes, duct tape, and blood-stained zip ties that contained Jennifer’s DNA.

We categorically deny that Mr. Dulos had any involvement in the disappearance of his wife Jennifer and we defy the state to prove that she is, in fact, dead.

Norm Pattis, Fotis’ Dulos attorney

Police believe the zip ties were used to hold Jennifer at some point.

Additionally, the warrant outlines what police said is Fotis removing what appears to be the rear cargo liner of Jennifer’s Suburban, which was missing from her vehicle when it was found near Waveny Park in New Canaan.

The warrant also provided statements from Jennifer’s nanny which contradict Fotis’ original claims as to why his DNA may be inside her home. The nanny told investigators that Jennifer didn’t want Fotis in the home at any time, and that the two of them went to great lengths to make sure he was never inside the house.

The document also offers a timeline, backed by surveillance footage and other evidence, that explains how investigators believe Fotis traveled from his Farmington home to Jennifer’s New Canaan home on the morning of May 24.

Police have previously said that based on the evidence found at Jennifer’s home they were concerned she had come to serious physical harm.

The Office of the Chief Medical Examiner was asked to weigh in on the evidence. According to the warrant, “Dr. Gill indicated that based upon the facts of the investigation, the degree of blood loss, as well as other factors, he was prepared to state that Jennifer Dulos had sustained an injury (or multiple injuries) which he would consider ‘non-survivable’ without medical intervention.”

He called such an event a “‘homicide of violence’ to likely include some combination of traumatic, blunt-force injuries such as a bludgeoning/beating, and/or sharp-force injuries such as a stabbing/slashing.”

Investigators also looked into Fotis Dulos’ financial situation, showing that Dulos had $4.5 million due on lines of credit and another possible $2.5 million due in a civil lawsuit.

“It appears that Dulos was failing to make even minimal interest due payments on multiple loans,” the warrant reads.

The document goes on to explain that each of the five Dulos children had trust funds set up by Jennifer’s parents and that, were Jennifer to disappear, Fotis would have expected to have some level of access to those funds.

The warrant also details multiple interviews with Fotis’ girlfriend, 45-year-old Michelle Troconis. Troconis has been charged with conspiracy to commit murder and bond was set at $2 million.

Investigators said that Troconis gave multiple interviews that often contradicted each other. Those inconsistencies included her statements about Fotis’ whereabouts on the morning of May 24 and other key details about the day.

Troconis’ interviews also offered insight on the state of her relationship with Fotis. In one interview when asked if the divorce caused tension between Fotis and herself, Troconis said “we fight all the time.” She also told investigators that Fotis once said of Jennifer “Sometimes I hope she disappears.”

The details in the latest warrant come in addition to the details in documents from previous arrests.

Pattis questioned the state’s choice of charges and said it suggested a lack of confidence in their case.

“The charges against Mr. Dulos suggest the state can’t decide what happened.  They’ve charged him with murder, felony murder and kidnapping in the first degree.  So what these charges tell us is the state has evidence and doesn’t know what to make of it and what it intends to do is throw as much against the wall and let the jury decide what happened.  Our position is that’s not good enough for Fotis Dulos,” Pattis told reporters outside Connecticut State Police Troop G’s barracks in Bridgeport Tuesday.

A gag order remains in effect on the case, limiting what investigators and attorneys can discuss.

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Fotis Dulos Released on Bond

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What to Know

  • Fotis Dulos was arrested Tuesday and charged with the murder of his missing, estranged wife, Jennifer Dulos. Bond was set at $6 million.
  • Michelle Troconis, the girlfriend of Fotis Dulos, and a local attorney, Kent Mawhinney, were arrested on murder-related charges. Neither was able to post bail and both remain in custody.
  • Jennifer Dulos, a mother of five, has been missing since May 24 and police said they found bloodstains in the garage of her New Canaan home.

Fotis Dulos has been released on bond Thursday and one of his attorneys said he will be going home today, two days after being arrested of murder charges in the death of his estranged wife, Jennifer Dulos.

His girlfriend, Michelle Troconis, is also expected to post bond and her attorney said she will be released today.

Fotis Dulos intended to post the bond Wednesday after a court appearance, but was unable to because of a paperwork issue, according to an attorney.

Fotis Dulos, Troconis and a local attorney appeared in court Wednesday morning for murder-related charges in connection with the disappearance of Jennifer Dulos, a mother of five who has been missing since May.

The 52-year-old has been ordered to house arrest.

The court appearance came a day after Fotis was arrested Tuesday and charged with felony murder, murder and kidnapping in connection with his wife’s disappearance.

His attorney, Norm Pattis, previously said he was “cautiously optimistic” about Fotis Dulos making bail, however, he did say it is very expensive.

In court Wednesday, the judge kept bond the same as what prosecutors were asking for upon his arrest. The judge also ordered house arrest and said Fotis must not leave his home without permission. He will be refitted with a GPS monitoring device.

Pattis has said that he plans to file a motion to dismiss Fotis Dulos’ charges.

Troconis, and local attorney, Kent Mawhinney, have each been arrested on murder-related charges and both appeared in court Wednesday to face conspiracy to commit murder charges.

FOTIS DULOS APPEARS IN COURT

Fotis Dulos was the last of the three to appear in court, arriving in a sport coat, a dress shirt and jeans.

The judge set Dulos’ bond at $6 million.

Jennifer and Fotis’ five children have been living with Jennifer’s mother, Gloria Farber, since their mother disappeared and Fotis has been trying to get custody.

On Wednesday, the judge issued a protective order for the Dulos children and Jennifer’s family.

Fotis was also ordered not to have contact with the children’s nanny.

Pattis said they “very much want to try this case.”

Mr. Dulos wants to clear his name.

Norm Pattis, attorney for Fotis Dulos

“Mr. Dulos wants to clear his name,” Pattis said outside court on Wednesday.

He said there is no body, there does not appear to be a crime scene weapon.

“What we have is a suspicious disappearance and an entirely circumstantial case,” Pattis said.

The next court date, Pattis said, is Feb. 28.

AX REMOVED FROM FOTIS DULOS’ HOME

On Tuesday, police took an ax from the garage of Fotis’ home, according to Pattis.

“We’s heard for weeks they were looking for an ax and there was a discussion about whether we should give it to them,” Pattis said. “My opinion was, no, you don’t walk into the police saying, ‘here’s an ax.’ In this case, what are they going to say? ‘It’s Lizzie Borden’s murder weapon.”

He said he does not think there is any significance to it.

“If there was going to be significance to it, I doubt it would have been sitting in plain view for them to see when they came into the house,” Pattis said.

KENT MAWHINNEY APPEARS IN COURT

Mawhinney was the first of the three to make a court appearance Wednesday. The state prosecutor asked for house arrest, saying the suspect evaded police when he knew an arrest warrant was out and asked for the $2 million bond to stand.

The judge said that Mawhinney has a pending violation of a court order, kept the bond at $2 million, ordered GPS monitoring and for Mawhinney to hand over his passport.

The warrant issued for Mawhinney says there is evidence that he might have spoken via phone with Fotis Dulos on the day Jennifer Dulos went missing.

Also in that warrant, there is mention of what appeared to be a shallow grave on the property of a hunting club he founded more than a decade ago – the Windsor Rod and Gun Club in East Granby.

MICHELLE TROCONIS APPEARS IN COURT

Troconis appeared second, blowing a kiss to family and loved ones in the courtroom.

Her attorney asked for the $2 million bond to be lowered to $500,000 and the judge decided to lower it to $1.5 million.

Her attorney, Andrew Bowman, said Troconis did not make bond on Wednesday, but will make bond Thursday.

She will also be fitted with a new GPS monitor, according to her attorney.

ARREST WARRANT

The warrant released on Tuesday includes the case police are laying out, including detailed lists of the physical evidence that investigators have collected at Jennifer’s New Canaan home and from garbage bags recovered from Albany Avenue in Hartford. That evidence, according to the warrant, includes bloodstains that match Jennifer’s DNA at her home, in her car and on clothing found in the trash in Hartford, and zip ties with Jennifer’s DNA on them.

The warrant also details multiple interviews with Michelle Troconis.

Investigators said she offered contradictory information about the events of May 24.

Troconis was previously charged with first-degree hindering of prosecution and two counts of tampering with physical evidence. She has pleaded not guilty to the charges.

Read the Latest Fotis Dulos Arrest Warrant

STATEMENT FROM FAMILY AND FRIENDS OF JENNIFER DULOS

After police announced the charges, the family and friends of Jennifer Dulos released a statement.

Carrie Luft released the following statement on Tuesday afternoon on behalf of the family and friends of Jennifer Dulos.

“Above all we thank the Connecticut State Police and the New Canaan Police Department, as well as the assisting local departments, for their tireless commitment and diligent, painstaking work that have led to these arrests. Although we are relieved that the wait for these charges is over, for us there is no sense of closure. Nothing can bring Jennifer back. We miss her every day and will forever mourn her loss.

“We believe the arrest warrants will speak for themselves, and we ask that you please respect our privacy during this time. Thank you.”

“Although we are relieved that the wait for these charges is over, for us there is no sense of closure. Nothing can bring Jennifer back.”

Carrie Luft, statement on behalf of the family and friends of Jennifer Dulos

After state police took Fotis Dulos into custody Tuesday, New Canaan police sent out the following Tweet.

Pattis spoke with the media outside his client’s home on Tuesday morning.

“I haven’t seen the warrant. I’ll be surprised if they can win it.  Mr. Dulos contends he was not involved and I don’t think the evidence will show that he was,” Pattis said.

When asked about his conversation with Fotis Dulos today upon arriving at his house, Pattis said he could not talk about attorney-client privilege.

“But you can imagine what it’s like to say to someone, ‘prepare for the bottom to fall out of your world,'” Pattis said.

“But you can imagine what it’s like to say to someone, ‘prepare for the bottom to fall out of your world,'” Pattis said.

Norm Pattis, defense attorney for Fotis Dulos

Fotis Dulos was sitting in the front of a state police cruiser when he arrived at Troop G in Bridgeport Tuesday afternoon.

Fotis Dulos was booked into the MacDougall-Walker Correctional Institution in Suffield on Tuesday afternoon. He is expected in Stamford Superior Court on Wednesday.

Fotis Dulos was previously charged with two counts of tampering with physical evidence and hindering prosecution in the first degree. He has pleaded not guilty to the charges.

A warrant issued for Fotis Dulos in September says the arrest was in connection with the ongoing investigation into the disappearance of Jennifer Dulos.

Two months earlier, in July, Fotis sat down for an exclusive interview with NBC New York, his first after Jennifer disappeared, and said he has to stand and fight and “hope the truth is going to come out.

JENNIFER DULOS REPORTED MISSING

Jennifer Dulos was living at 69 Welles Lane in New Canaan when she disappeared on May 24, 2019. The last report of anyone seeing her was when she dropped her children off at school that morning.

The missing person report came in just before 7 p.m. that day.

Friends and family members told police that they hadn’t been able to reach her, and she’d missed several doctor’s appointments in New York City.

While officers were in Jennifer’s home, they found no sign of her, but they did find bloodstains on the garage floor and on a vehicle located in the garage, according to the arrest warrant.

That led police to believe the home was a crime scene and they said there was evidence of attempts to clean it up.

The arrest warrant for Fotis Dulos says the office of the chief medical examiner, based on lab results and information presented about the case, indicated that due to the degree of blood loss and other factors, “he was prepared to state that Jennifer Dulos had sustained injury (or multiple injuries) which he would consider ‘non-survivable’ without medical intervention.”

INFORMATION FROM PREVIOUS ARREST WARRANT

Also missing from Jennifer’s home was a 2017 Chevrolet Suburban, which police located around 7 p.m. on May 24 near Waveny Park in New Canaan, the arrest warrant states. They found blood both inside and outside the vehicle.

POLICE SPEAK WITH FOTIS DULOS

Around 9 a.m. on May 25, police contacted Fotis Dulos to speak with him about his missing estranged wife.

He and his attorney arrived at police headquarters that afternoon, but left without providing an interview, according to the arrest warrant.

When police searched Fotis’ cellphone, they found evidence that it had been used on Albany Avenue in Hartford from around 7:10 p.m. to 7:40 p.m. on the night of May 24, the day Jennifer disappeared, according to police.

Investigators also looked at surveillance cameras from the area, which they said showed a man resembling Fotis driving a black pickup and tossing garbage bags in trashcans, the arrest warrant says.

One of the stops was at a storm drain, where police found a set of altered license plates that linked back to Dulos, according to court paperwork.

A woman resembling Fotis’ then live-in girlfriend, Michelle Troconis, 45, was with him while the vehicle was on Albany Avenue, according to police.

On June 1, police obtained warrants charging Fotis Dulos and Troconis with tampering with evidence and hindering prosecution — charges for which both have pleaded not guilty.

When police spoke with Troconis the next day, she told them that she couldn’t account for Fotis’ whereabouts between 8 a.m. and 1 or 2 p.m. on May 24, according to the arrest warrant, and she told them she had no idea what Fotis was doing while dumping garbage bags.

During another interview in August, Troconis would tell police that she hadn’t seen Fotis on May 24 from the time she woke up, around 6:40 a.m., until after noon when he came home for lunch.

SEARCH OF FOTIS’ FARMINGTON HOME

On June 3, police searched Fotis’ home on Jefferson Crossing in Farmington and located what they referred to as the “Alibi Scripts” — notes with information that never happened and alibi witnesses who “were later determined to be false,” according to the arrest warrant.

While investigating, police spoke with one of Fotis Dulos’ employees who told them his boss had instructed him to remove seats from his Toyota Tacoma, which he was going to replace with seats from a Porsche Cayenne registered to Jennifer Dulos, court paperwork says. 

According to police, Fotis had access to the employee’s vehicle and a truck matching the description was seen near where Jennifer’s Suburban was found abandoned.

LAST SIGHTING OF JENNIFER DULOS

The last known sighting of Jennifer Dulos was at 8:05 a.m. on May 24 after she dropped her children off at school and the arrest warrant for Fotis Dulos says police believe he was “lying in wait” for his wife to return home.

Just before 10:30 a.m. that morning, surveillance cameras on Jennifer’s street show her Suburban heading west.

The arrest warrant says police believe Dulos was driving and Jennifer’s body and items used to clean up the garage were inside.

EVIDENCE FROM FOTIS’ EMPLOYEE’S TRUCK

One piece of evidence police documented in court paperwork is the employee’s truck. Police said seats removed from it had Jennifer’s DNA.

The employee went on to tell police that Fotis had taken his Toyota Tacoma to the car wash, which was unusual, and told him to change the seats in his truck or sell it, then offered seats from a damaged Porsche. 

When police spoke with Troconis about the truck, she said she’d seen Fotis cleaning what he described as “spilled coffee” out of it. Then he handed her a stained towel to throw away, but the towel didn’t smell like coffee, according to the arrest warrant,

She went on to tell them that the truck was cleaned and detailed without the employee’s knowledge or permission.

When asked why she thought Fotis would be washing the Tacoma, she told police, “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 arrest warrant says.

RESPONSE FROM DEFENSE TEAM

After the second charges were filed, Fotis Dulos’ attorney, Norm Pattis, said he questioned the wisdom of the charges.

A gag order has been issued in the case and Pattis is fighting to lift it so Dulos can be free to “criticize his accusers” and “defend himself in the court of law and in the court of public opinion,” according to court filings

“We hope that the Supreme Court gives us the opportunity to speak the truth as we know it,” Pattis has said, adding, “Mr. Dulos is not guilty of the crime of murder.”

THE CASE

Police have a dedicated website on the search for Jennifer Dulos. They have set up a tipline at 203-594-3544 as well as a dedicated email address, findjenniferdulos@newcanaanct.gov.

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Fotis Dulos, Michelle Troconis Released on Bond

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What to Know

  • Fotis Dulos was arrested Tuesday and charged with the murder of his missing, estranged wife, Jennifer Dulos. Bond was set at $6 million.
  • Michelle Troconis, the girlfriend of Fotis Dulos, and a local attorney, Kent Mawhinney, were arrested on murder-related charges.
  • Jennifer Dulos, a mother of five, has been missing since May 24 and police said they found bloodstains in the garage of her New Canaan home.

Fotis Dulos has been released on bond and is heading home two days after he was arrested on murder charges in the death of his estranged wife, Jennifer Dulos.

His girlfriend, Michelle Troconis, was also released and a source with direct knowledge of the case told NBC New York that she was transported to an area medical facility.

Fotis Dulos intended to post the bond Wednesday after a court appearance but was unable to because of a paperwork issue, according to an attorney. He was released shortly before 1 p.m. on Thursday and did not say anything while leaving.

Fotis was arrested on Tuesday and charged with felony murder, murder and kidnapping in connection with his wife’s disappearance.

He was booked into the MacDougall-Walker Correctional Institution in Suffield on Tuesday afternoon and appeared in Stamford Superior Court on Wednesday, where a judge ordered the 52-year-old to house arrest as a condition of being released on bond, which was set at $6 million.

The judge said Fotis must not leave his home without permission. He has been refitted with a GPS monitoring device.

Jennifer and Fotis’ five children have been living with Jennifer’s mother, Gloria Farber, since their mother disappeared and Fotis has been trying to get custody. On Wednesday, the judge issued a protective order for the Dulos children and Jennifer’s family. Fotis was also ordered not to have contact with the children’s nanny.

Dulos’ attorney, Norm Pattis, previously said he was “cautiously optimistic” about Fotis Dulos making bail, however, he did say it is very expensive.

Pattis has said that he plans to file a motion to dismiss Fotis Dulos’ charges.

Pattis said they “very much want to try this case.”

Mr. Dulos wants to clear his name.

Norm Pattis, attorney for Fotis Dulos

“Mr. Dulos wants to clear his name,” Pattis said outside court on Wednesday.

He said there is no body, there does not appear to be a crime scene weapon.

“What we have is a suspicious disappearance and an entirely circumstantial case,” Pattis said.

The next court date, Pattis said, is Feb. 28.

AX REMOVED FROM FOTIS DULOS’ HOME

On Tuesday, police took an ax from the garage of Fotis’ home, according to Pattis.

“We’s heard for weeks they were looking for an ax and there was a discussion about whether we should give it to them,” Pattis said. “My opinion was, no, you don’t walk into the police saying, ‘here’s an ax.’ In this case, what are they going to say? ‘It’s Lizzie Borden’s murder weapon.”

He said he does not think there is any significance to it.

“If there was going to be significance to it, I doubt it would have been sitting in plain view for them to see when they came into the house,” Pattis said.

Dulos’ girlfriend, Michelle Troconis, and a local attorney, Kent Mawhinney , also appeared in court Wednesday morning for murder-related charges in connection with the disappearance of Jennifer Dulos, a mother of five who has been missing since May. Both appeared to face conspiracy to commit murder charges.

Troconis’ attorney said she will be released today as well.

MICHELLE TROCONIS APPEARS IN COURT

Troconis appeared in court second Wednesday, blowing a kiss to family and loved ones in the courtroom.

Her attorney asked for the $2 million bonds to be lowered to $500,000 and the judge decided to lower it to $1.5 million.

She will also be fitted with a new GPS monitor, according to her attorney.

Troconis did not make bond on Wednesday, but did make bond on Thursday.

One source with direct knowledge about the case told NBC New York that she was “transported to an area medical facility for an unknown medical condition after she was released on bond.”

KENT MAWHINNEY APPEARS IN COURT

Mawhinney was the first of the three suspects to make a court appearance Wednesday. The state prosecutor asked for house arrest, saying Mawinney evaded police when he knew an arrest warrant was out and asked for the $2 million bond to stand.

The judge said that Mawhinney has a pending violation of a court order, kept the bond at $2 million, ordered GPS monitoring and for Mawhinney to hand over his passport.

ARREST WARRANT

The warrants released on Tuesday includes the case police are laying out, including detailed lists of the physical evidence that investigators have collected at Jennifer’s New Canaan home and from garbage bags recovered from Albany Avenue in Hartford. That evidence, according to the warrant, includes bloodstains that match Jennifer’s DNA at her home, in her car and on clothing found in the trash in Hartford, and zip ties with Jennifer’s DNA on them.

The warrant also details multiple interviews with Michelle Troconis.

Investigators said she offered contradictory information about the events of May 24.

Troconis was previously charged with first-degree hindering of prosecution and two counts of tampering with physical evidence. She has pleaded not guilty to the charges.

Read the Latest Fotis Dulos Arrest Warrant

STATEMENT FROM FAMILY AND FRIENDS OF JENNIFER DULOS

After police announced the charges, the family and friends of Jennifer Dulos released a statement.

Carrie Luft released the following statement on Tuesday afternoon on behalf of the family and friends of Jennifer Dulos.

“Above all we thank the Connecticut State Police and the New Canaan Police Department, as well as the assisting local departments, for their tireless commitment and diligent, painstaking work that have led to these arrests. Although we are relieved that the wait for these charges is over, for us there is no sense of closure. Nothing can bring Jennifer back. We miss her every day and will forever mourn her loss.

“We believe the arrest warrants will speak for themselves, and we ask that you please respect our privacy during this time. Thank you.”

“Although we are relieved that the wait for these charges is over, for us there is no sense of closure. Nothing can bring Jennifer back.”

Carrie Luft, statement on behalf of the family and friends of Jennifer Dulos

Fotis Dulos was previously charged with two counts of tampering with physical evidence and hindering prosecution in the first degree. He has pleaded not guilty to the charges.

A warrant issued for Fotis Dulos in September says the arrest was in connection with the ongoing investigation into the disappearance of Jennifer Dulos.

Two months earlier, in July, Fotis sat down for an exclusive interview with NBC New York, his first after Jennifer disappeared, and said he has to stand and fight and “hope the truth is going to come out.

JENNIFER DULOS REPORTED MISSING

Jennifer Dulos was living at 69 Welles Lane in New Canaan when she disappeared on May 24, 2019. The last report of anyone seeing her was when she dropped her children off at school that morning.

The missing person report came in just before 7 p.m. that day.

Friends and family members told police that they hadn’t been able to reach her, and she’d missed several doctor’s appointments in New York City.

While officers were in Jennifer’s home, they found no sign of her, but they did find bloodstains on the garage floor and on a vehicle located in the garage, according to the arrest warrant.

That led police to believe the home was a crime scene and they said there was evidence of attempts to clean it up.

The arrest warrant for Fotis Dulos says the office of the chief medical examiner, based on lab results and information presented about the case, indicated that due to the degree of blood loss and other factors, “he was prepared to state that Jennifer Dulos had sustained injury (or multiple injuries) which he would consider ‘non-survivable’ without medical intervention.”

INFORMATION FROM PREVIOUS ARREST WARRANT

Also missing from Jennifer’s home was a 2017 Chevrolet Suburban, which police located around 7 p.m. on May 24 near Waveny Park in New Canaan, the arrest warrant states. They found blood both inside and outside the vehicle.

POLICE SPEAK WITH FOTIS DULOS

Around 9 a.m. on May 25, police contacted Fotis Dulos to speak with him about his missing estranged wife.

He and his attorney arrived at police headquarters that afternoon, but left without providing an interview, according to the arrest warrant.

When police searched Fotis’ cellphone, they found evidence that it had been used on Albany Avenue in Hartford from around 7:10 p.m. to 7:40 p.m. on the night of May 24, the day Jennifer disappeared, according to police.

Investigators also looked at surveillance cameras from the area, which they said showed a man resembling Fotis driving a black pickup and tossing garbage bags in trashcans, the arrest warrant says.

One of the stops was at a storm drain, where police found a set of altered license plates that linked back to Dulos, according to court paperwork.

A woman resembling Fotis’ then live-in girlfriend, Michelle Troconis, 45, was with him while the vehicle was on Albany Avenue, according to police.

On June 1, police obtained warrants charging Fotis Dulos and Troconis with tampering with evidence and hindering prosecution — charges for which both have pleaded not guilty.

When police spoke with Troconis the next day, she told them that she couldn’t account for Fotis’ whereabouts between 8 a.m. and 1 or 2 p.m. on May 24, according to the arrest warrant, and she told them she had no idea what Fotis was doing while dumping garbage bags.

During another interview in August, Troconis would tell police that she hadn’t seen Fotis on May 24 from the time she woke up, around 6:40 a.m., until after noon when he came home for lunch.

SEARCH OF FOTIS’ FARMINGTON HOME

On June 3, police searched Fotis’ home on Jefferson Crossing in Farmington and located what they referred to as the “Alibi Scripts” — notes with information that never happened and alibi witnesses who “were later determined to be false,” according to the arrest warrant.

While investigating, police spoke with one of Fotis Dulos’ employees who told them his boss had instructed him to remove seats from his Toyota Tacoma, which he was going to replace with seats from a Porsche Cayenne registered to Jennifer Dulos, court paperwork says. 

According to police, Fotis had access to the employee’s vehicle and a truck matching the description was seen near where Jennifer’s Suburban was found abandoned.

LAST SIGHTING OF JENNIFER DULOS

The last known sighting of Jennifer Dulos was at 8:05 a.m. on May 24 after she dropped her children off at school and the arrest warrant for Fotis Dulos says police believe he was “lying in wait” for his wife to return home.

Just before 10:30 a.m. that morning, surveillance cameras on Jennifer’s street show her Suburban heading west.

The arrest warrant says police believe Dulos was driving and Jennifer’s body and items used to clean up the garage were inside.

EVIDENCE FROM FOTIS’ EMPLOYEE’S TRUCK

One piece of evidence police documented in court paperwork is the employee’s truck. Police said seats removed from it had Jennifer’s DNA.

The employee went on to tell police that Fotis had taken his Toyota Tacoma to the car wash, which was unusual, and told him to change the seats in his truck or sell it, then offered seats from a damaged Porsche. 

When police spoke with Troconis about the truck, she said she’d seen Fotis cleaning what he described as “spilled coffee” out of it. Then he handed her a stained towel to throw away, but the towel didn’t smell like coffee, according to the arrest warrant,

She went on to tell them that the truck was cleaned and detailed without the employee’s knowledge or permission.

When asked why she thought Fotis would be washing the Tacoma, she told police, “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 arrest warrant says.

RESPONSE FROM DEFENSE TEAM

After the second charges were filed, Fotis Dulos’ attorney, Norm Pattis, said he questioned the wisdom of the charges.

A gag order has been issued in the case and Pattis is fighting to lift it so Dulos can be free to “criticize his accusers” and “defend himself in the court of law and in the court of public opinion,” according to court filings

“We hope that the Supreme Court gives us the opportunity to speak the truth as we know it,” Pattis has said, adding, “Mr. Dulos is not guilty of the crime of murder.”

THE CASE

Police have a dedicated website on the search for Jennifer Dulos. They have set up a tipline at 203-594-3544 as well as a dedicated email address, findjenniferdulos@newcanaanct.gov.

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