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Fotis Dulos’ Lawyer Suggests Someone Else Could Have Killed Jennifer Dulos
As a judge dropped murder charges against the now deceased Fotis Dulos, his lawyer Norm Pattis put forth a theory that contradicts his former "Gone Girl" explanation for what happened to Jennifer Dulos.
As a judge dropped all charges against Fotis Dulos, a month following his death, his lawyer put forth a shocking new claim about what could have happened to Jennifer Dulos.
Dulos, 52, died in late January two days after a suicide attempt. He was found by authorities in his garage inside a parked car that was filling up with carbon monoxide; they'd been dispatched to his home after he failed to show up to a scheduled hearing. He was facing murder charges in the disappearance and presumed death of his estranged wife Jennifer, who was last seen dropping off their five kids on May 24. They were embroiled in a heated custody battle when she vanished.
Dulos’ former girlfriend Michelle Troconis and his former civil lawyer Kent Douglas Mawhinney have both been charged with conspiracy to commit murder in the case. Charges against Dulos were dropped Tuesday, due to his death.
In court Tuesday, Dulos' lawyer Norm Pattis called his now deceased client the victim “of a conspiracy so immense that in the end it drove him to despair and to take his own life,” according to local outlet Fox 61. He alleged that the conspiracy was fabricated by law enforcement. When reached out to by Oxygen.com, the New Canaan Police Department declined to comment.
While in the courtroom, Pattis claimed that as “recently as two months ago we’ve received reports of sightings of Ms. Dulos,” he put forward a new and different theory after court, according to Fox 61.
“We have reason to believe she met her end at the hand of third parties unrelated to Mr. Dulos,” he told reporters. “Obviously, we were working on the development of that evidence to present at trial in September, but there will be no trial.”
Pattis has previously expressed that he wanted to clear Dulos’ name in court.
Pattis also said in court Tuesday that the day Jennifer disappeared, his deceased client came home to find “a third party known to the participants in this trial standing in a pile of debris in his yard and he panicked and disposed of that debris.”
He appears to be referencing alleged bags of bloody clothing that his client and Troconis were allegedly caught dumping. He told the Stamford Advocate last summer that "there is an explanation" for the alleged dumping but he declined to elaborate.
“The case of State v. Fotis Dulos ended,” Pattis told Oxygen.com in a statement on Wednesday. “There are pending cases involving Michelle Troconis and Attorney Mawhinney. Out of respect for the fair trial rights of these individuals, we will have no further comment on the underlying factual allegations.”
In Dulos’ suicide note, obtained by Fox 61, he claimed innocence for himself and his alleged co-conspirators. He also stated, “The State will not rest until I rot in jail. My attorney can explain what happened with the bag on Albany Avenue. Everything else is a story fabricated by the law enforcement.”
Pattis has previously claimed that Jennifer orchestrated her own disappearance in order to frame her husband. Pattis first suggested to the New York Post last June that Jennifer may have staged her disappearance, claiming she once wrote a book manuscript with a similar plot to Gillian Flynn’s 2012 novel “Gone Girl.” That novel, which was also turned into a movie, is about a woman who fakes her own death to frame her husband.
A spokesperson for Jennifer’s family and friends have consistently denounced the suggestion that she staged her own disappearance and Author Flynn herself has even expressed disgust over the theory.
