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cover of episode What Happened to Jennifer Dulos?

What Happened to Jennifer Dulos?

2023/5/31
logo of podcast True Crime with Kendall Rae

True Crime with Kendall Rae

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Jennifer Farber Dulos, a mother of five, disappeared under mysterious circumstances. She was last seen near her home in New Canaan, Connecticut, after a tumultuous relationship with her husband, Fotis Dulos.

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Hey guys, and welcome back to my channel. So today's case I have been wanting to talk about for a really long time. It's a very interesting case. It's very frustrating and it's also very highly requested by you guys, which by the way, I wanted to remind you guys that I do have a request inbox for case suggestions. Sometimes you guys send them to me via social media or in my comment section, and it's very hard to keep track

cases that way. So if you do have a request, please drop it in my form, which will be linked below as always. But the Jennifer Farber Dulos case has come up a lot in my requests and I see why it happened pretty recently. And so much has come out since I first heard about it. There's a lot to go over here. So let's just go ahead and jump right in.

So this is Jennifer Farber. She was born in New York City on September 27th, 1968. She grew up in an area called Brooklyn Heights in a very wealthy family. You could definitely say Jennifer's upbringing was very comfortable. Her dad made a ton of money in finance. He was the youngest VP for Chase Manhattan Bank, and he also founded his own company.

Her mom also worked. She had her doctorate in early childhood education. So they both definitely valued their education and their career. Jennifer also has an older sister that she's very, very close with. And not only did she grew up privileged financially, but she definitely was very loved as a child, had a privileged childhood in that sense as well. But even though she had, you know, everything someone could want, Jennifer was also very, very down to earth.

People that knew her said she had an incredibly warm personality and a contagious smile. She was very soft spoken, very kind, and also very smart. She was kind of an introverted type. She spent a lot of time being introspective, getting into her own thoughts. And one thing that she loved to do in her spare time was write. She knew from a young age that she eventually wanted to pursue a full career in writing.

And she did. She graduated from Brown University in 1990 and eventually got her master's degree in writing from New York University. She worked there as a freelance writer and had her own blog where she wrote about her everyday life and her experiences, just a very casual approach to writing. And she planned to branch out into other projects as well.

But then in 2003, she had a meeting kind of by chance with an old classmate. This was someone that she knew at Brown, and she actually met him when she was at the Aspen Airport here in Colorado. And his name is Fotis Doulos. He's a Greek-American man who was a year ahead of Jennifer in college, but she was very interested in him right off the bat. He came across as very charming to her.

very friendly, and he also seemed well-educated, worldly, and had a lot to offer when it came to having a deep conversation. And that was something that was super, super important to Jennifer. So Fotis was born in Turkey and he grew up in Athens, Greece. He came to the United States as an immigrant in 1986. And after graduating college, he got an MBA in finance from Columbia Business School. He was also known for having a very outgoing personality for business.

being extroverted, kind of the opposite of Jennifer in that way. And he also lived a very active lifestyle. He had just won a championship for water skiing that he was very proud of. So after they met up by chance, Jennifer and Fotis decided that they were going to meet up for an actual date in New York city. But at the time he was still married to his first wife, but Jennifer was thrilled. She even wrote about it in her blog.

To her, Fotis seemed like a catch because he was so charismatic and interesting and deep. Not only that, he was funny, he was handsome, he was smart. He seemed like the full package to her. And the thing that was most interesting to Jennifer was the fact that Fotis also seemed very interested in getting married, settling down, and having a family. And that's what she really wanted at this point in her

So they went on that first official date and it went well and they continued to date and eventually they got married in August of 2004 and when they got married he had only been officially divorced for about a month.

So it was pretty quick. So after they got married, they moved to an upscale area of Farmington, Connecticut. That same year, Fotis decided to start his own company. So it was pretty hectic, a lot going on. He decided he wanted to get into real estate development and start building really fancy luxury homes.

And it seemed like he did really well with this. Once Fotis got his company rolling, they decided they wanted to have kids and they ended up having five kids, two different sets of twins. The first set of twins were boys and then they had another set of twins, a boy and a girl. And then they also had a daughter. So it was a full house. And Fotis ended up designing a

huge six bedroom mansion for them. They had a library, a wine cellar, a fully equipped gym, an elevator, a four car garage, and a full-time home office with a private entrance, a bathroom, and a kitchenette, all for Fotis to work for.

Jennifer decided to be a stay at home mom with the kids. She still kind of worked on her blog here and there and did some freelance writing, but most of the time she was focused on her children. Even most of what she was writing on her blog was about being a mother. And that was really the most important thing in her life. She had learned that from her parents, they were very involved parents. And so they were also very involved grandparents and they lived in New York city so they could come visit quite often.

So of course, Fotis decided he wanted to start the kids in sports super young. And he starts the first one in water skiing. By the time the oldest was six or seven, they were already in water skiing, international water skiing competitions. Fotis went hard.

training the kids. He made it almost like a second job for himself to train them. It became one of those things where the kids liked it at first, but eventually the fun was just taken out of the situation because he took it way too seriously and it just became stressful for them. And Jennifer really felt like he was pushing them way too hard. But every time that she would bring it up to him, he would get really angry and it would lead to a huge fight. That's the thing about Fotis is he had a very quick temper.

and he was always quick to anger. As the years went on, they started fighting more and more and their relationship eventually became pretty toxic. All the fighting just took its toll on the relationship and they were spending a lot less time together, they felt irritated by each other more easily than ever, and gradually they just spent less and less time together. It was clear that they were

growing apart and Fotis started traveling more for work and he would go do his water skiing competitions as well. So he was gone a lot. By 2016, he was away for at least 10 days out of the month, which is a lot, especially with five kids. But Jennifer didn't actually mind him being gone. In fact, she felt like the house ran smoother when he was gone. So she didn't really fight it. So then in June of 2017, Fotis goes to a

competition in Miami. And while he's there doing his water skiing, he meets this woman named Michelle Draconis. Michelle is a single mom from Venezuela and she instantly falls for Fotis. And after spending just a little bit of time in the shell, Fotis felt like he had more in common with her than he ever had with

with Jennifer. Michelle was a very athletic and competitive person just like Fotis. She actually worked as an ESPN reporter in South America and reported on snow skiing. She rode horses in her spare time and was also a competitive water skier. So, Fotis was really into her.

And she was too. They were both falling fast. And according to Michelle, she had no idea that Fotis was actually married at the time. She was under the impression that Fotis and Jennifer had separated and that he was currently single essentially. And she was so happy about meeting him that she went and told her family. She told her friends how excited she was to meet this guy. She was really impressed by him. She couldn't believe she found such a handsome, charming guy.

with his life together, who was also so kind. And one thing that she would write about is that he was super family oriented. He was so family oriented that he spent all his time away from his family and instead spent that time with Michelle. So the kids were clearly really suffering through all of this. And Jennifer knew that there was an affair going on. I mean, it wasn't hard to tell, especially with him being gone all the time and showing no interest in

her or the kids. So she confronts him about it in March of 2017. And as soon as she does, it just all spills out. He confesses to everything. And Jennifer honestly, isn't even that shocked.

She knows deep down that this is the beginning of the end. So fast forwarding a bit to June 19th, 2017, Jennifer and the kids had gone on a day trip to New York city and Fotis was back at the house waiting for them to come home. Jennifer had also taken their babysitter. Her name is Lauren, but they never came back that day. So Fotis began to get worried. So he starts calling and texting Lauren and Jennifer.

and neither of them are answering. However, their messages are being marked as delivered. He keeps calling, keeps texting, but no one is responding. So he gets concerned and he calls 911. Here's the call. Okay, they were going to New York. What's the license plate on the car?

I have to get this for you. Okay, who's the car registered to? It's registered to my wife's name, Jennifer Dulos. Spell the last name for me. Dulos, D-U-L-O-S. Jennifer? G-A-E-N-I-F-E-R? Yes. Your hair date of birth? September 27, 1968. They're not answering their cell phone. How many kids? Two?

Five. Five kids? Okay, and how long ago did they leave Connecticut? I want to say 4:30, 4:00. And they were supposed to be in New York tonight?

Yeah, they're supposed to be in New York. I've been texting and I see that the texts are being delivered, but nobody's responding to me. Okay, I'll send an officer over to speak with you, okay? You're at 4 Jefferson Crossing? Yes. Okay. What time do you think he'll be here? He should be there shortly. He's not too far, okay? Okay, very good. Thank you so much. Thank you. Yep.

But it turns out that Jennifer was not missing this time. She had actually purposely left and she was leaving for good. She was done with her relationship with Fotis. She rented herself a multimillion dollar home in New Canaan, Connecticut and filed for divorce and also filed for an emergency order of custody the next day. So Fotis gets off the phone and he's like, you know what? That's fine. He wastes absolutely no time. And instead he calls up his girlfriend and invites her to come take up the vacancy in his house.

So Michelle and her young daughter move into his house in Farmington. Now it's really important to note here that in the court documents, Jennifer actually noted just how afraid she was to make this move. She was nervous that Fotis might retaliate. She specifically said she was scared to divorce him because he can be

dangerous and ruthless, especially if he thinks that he has been wrong. She expressed that she was worried that he might retaliate and that he had already threatened to kidnap the kids before, so that was her main concern. But Fotis fought back. He actually denied all of those claims and he filed a motion for custody of the kids.

So this back and forth, you know, through the court went on for a while. Together they filed 300 motions and spent thousands of dollars in lawyers fees and court costs. Divorce is an industry, man.

But then in January of 2018, Jennifer ended up filing for a second emergency order of custody. And this is because they had agreed upon in court that Michelle would not be around Jennifer's kids at all. And obviously by moving them into his house, he violated that court order. And so in March, Jennifer was granted sole physical custody, full custody of the children and Fotis was able to do supervised visits only.

Obviously, this was a huge blow for him. He was not happy about it at all. He submitted a formal request to get custody of the children again, but on May 17th, 2019, that request was denied. And Fotis was obviously crushed by this.

and angry. So we're now in May of 2019. Jennifer is happy that Fotis has been denied to have full custody of the kids. She has full control, full custody of the children. He's getting supervised visits. She feels good about that.

But she is still on terrible terms with him and is afraid of him. So on May 24th, Jennifer had a really busy day scheduled. She had two different doctor's appointments in New York City, one at 11 a.m. and one at 1 p.m. But before all that, she had to get all the kids to school. And that's obviously not easy. She's got five kids. They're all under 13. She's a single mom. And getting them out the door is a big challenge.

Now on this particular day, the kids had a half day at school, but because her last appointment was at 1:00 PM in New York, Lauren, their babysitter obviously had to pick them up from school that day. So Jennifer took her Range Rover into the city for her appointments. And she told Lauren that she would be back later that afternoon. So Lauren gets to their house around 11:30. She's going to go in, drop her stuff off.

maybe do a few things and then head out to go get the kids. But as soon as she walks in the house, she said right away, something just felt off. And she immediately noticed that the Range Rover was still in the garage. She thought this was weird because Jennifer told her she specifically be taking the Range Rover, but another one of their cars was gone. So she thought maybe she took that car instead. Her other car was a Chevrolet Suburban SUV, and that was not in the garage. But then she went inside.

and she saw Jennifer's purse on the floor, which is obviously a huge red flag because most women take their purses with them everywhere, especially if you're going to go downtown for an appointment in New York City, you're going to have your purse, you know, your license, there's things that you need. Not only that, there was a mug of tea and a granola bar.

just sitting out on the counter like someone had left it in a rush. And Jennifer is not the type to just leave food out, leave mugs out. She was very clean. So Lauren grabs paper towel and starts to clean up.

And as she's cleaning up, she realized that there was only two rolls of paper towel left. But when she was there yesterday, there were 12 and that strikes her as really odd. Like what mess could have happened in the house that would require Jennifer to have used 10 paper towel rolls, but she doesn't think too much of it.

She decides to go and pick up the kids at noon like she's supposed to. She picks them up and then she texts Jennifer at 12:43 just to check in and she gets no reply. She texts her again at 1:10 and got no reply.

But she figured, you know, she's probably just in that second appointment. So she waited until 2:30, figured it was probably over by then, and then texted again. But still she got no answer. So four o'clock came and she decides that she should call her. But when she does, it went straight to voicemail. So she gets very concerned right away. And she starts texting a few of Jennifer's friends, seeing if any of them have heard from her. She contacts one of her friends named Carrie, Carrie Luft.

and she immediately thinks that this is bizarre. She knew that there was no way that Jennifer just wouldn't be responding. Jennifer was the type to always respond or answer calls as soon as she could. So Lauren's obviously panicked, doesn't know what to do, so she decides she's going to take the kids to Jennifer's parents in New York.

and they don't know where Jennifer is, so they're all concerned and they're all together at their house in New York. When she gets over there, they decide to report her missing at 7:00 PM. At this time, Jennifer Dulos was 50 years old. So the police took Jennifer's case seriously right away. I mean, we have a wealthy white woman

rich woman who is normally very active in her children's life, in her family's life. She just completely goes missing. This is the way they should treat all cases. Unfortunately, not everyone gets this type of attention this quickly, but Jennifer did. Jennifer had these two doctors appointments that day. They were important appointments that she dismissed. This was super, super unlike her. And then the fact that she hadn't packed any type of bag shows that she wasn't planning to go away for a little while.

and she left her purse. Obviously, it would make absolutely no sense for Jennifer to just leave her life and abandon all five kids with no warning. So they obviously start by searching Jennifer's home. And they start in the garage. And in the garage, there was a dark...

red stain on the floor. It was on the side of her Range Rover and it was also splattered onto a garbage can. It looked like blood, but there was this like swirled pattern in it that looked like someone had clearly tried to clean it up. So they officially called it a crime scene. They blocked everything off and they swabbed everything for DNA, everything inside the whole house and the garage. And as soon as they start this, they start looking for Jennifer's SUV

and they found it right away. Literally just a little over an hour after she was reported missing, they recovered the vehicle. It was abandoned at Waveney Park, which is about three miles away from her home, and it was backed up against this tree. So they immediately launched a large-scale search of this park. It was 300 acres, and multiple police departments and the FBI teamed up

and conducted it. They brought in canine units, divers, even helicopters. They were hoping to just find something. - Authorities have looked for clues in New Canaan Park, New York State, and Connecticut's capital city. - The FBI is once again focusing their search here on the secluded woods of Waveney Park. - And that night they decided that they also needed to inform Fotis. So they went to his place, which is about 70 miles away from where she lives. And when they talked to him, he says that he hasn't heard from Jennifer or the kids

all day. But he said he was concerned and agreed to go to the police station and be interviewed and help in any way he can. So by the next morning, this story already made it to the media. Jennifer's friend, Carrie became kind of the spokesperson for their family. And their focus was obviously on finding Jennifer, but they also wanted it clear that they want the kids kept safe and also shielded from everything going on. But Carrie said that she had a sinking feeling in her heart that Jennifer was never coming back.

After the media covered it, there was a lot of interest from the public. People just couldn't believe that this mother of five had just vanished this way. We love you so much.

And we just want you to come home. You'd have to have a heart of stone if it didn't affect you. It's just surprising there's so many police officers around. If you have any information about her whereabouts or concerning her disappearance, please, please contact the New Canaan Police or the Connecticut State Police and help us find Jennifer.

Tons of people volunteered to physically search for Jennifer, help hang up flyers, spread awareness. And Jennifer's mother filed an emergency action to get full custody of the kids temporarily and make it so that Fotis would have no contact with them. And it was granted. So the next afternoon, Fotis went to the police station as he promised them to do his interview.

And his lawyer was literally on the phone with a criminal defense lawyer as they went into the door. So they were fully prepared. And lawyers told police that Fotis would actually not be answering any questions that day. And detectives thought this was really weird. When they first interviewed him, he seemed concerned. He seemed willing to help. The mother of his five kids is missing. You'd think he'd want to do everything he can to help locate them.

But he didn't. He didn't want to cooperate at all. And not only that, he didn't even ask how the search was going for Jennifer, if there were any leads or any new information. Didn't even seem to care. So they ended up seizing his phone and they worked on obtaining a search warrant for his home and his car. They accessed Jennifer's credit cards, her bank account, and her cell phone records. And there had been no activity since the morning that she disappeared.

But then they got a big break. A neighbor actually turned in security footage from that morning. It was a view of Jennifer's driveway. It showed that she left in the Range Rover at 7:58 AM to take the kids to school and came back just a few minutes later at 8:05. And then at 10:25, the Range Rover backed out and left. So that tells us that whatever happened to Jennifer happened in that garage between 8:05 and 10:25.

So the obvious thing to do here is track Fotis' phone records. I mean, everyone has their phone on them nowadays. See if he is anywhere near the garage at that time. So the search warrant for his phone records came through and they were able to access them. But all they saw was that his phone was at his house that morning and didn't move, which obviously doesn't prove much. You can leave your phone at home, but they did find some odd activity on his record that evening.

They tracked him to Albany Avenue in Hartford around 7:00 PM and he had made multiple stops along that stretch of road. So that looks very odd. And then they decide to talk to the babysitter, Lauren. They ask her, you know, what has it been like working for this family? What does their relationship seem like as co-parents?

What have you noticed? And she noticed that even when they were together, that Fotis always seemed distant. She said that he had a clear temper and that the two of them fought all the time. Lauren said that Jennifer was very depressed, mainly due to her relationship with Fotis. She said Jennifer was a lovely person, but was very, very sad. She explained how the breaking point for her was the affair.

And it turns out that after she found out about Michelle, Fotis had actually asked if Michelle and her daughter could move in with him and Jennifer. Yeah, that's right. He wanted them all to live together. And she obviously said no, and she wanted to keep fighting for their relationship, but he wanted to move on. He wanted Michelle instead, and this crushed her. But her real final straw with him was when she found out that he bought a gun. She found a receipt for this gun.

and she felt scared that he might use it on her. And she thought it was weird that he didn't just tell her he was gonna buy it. So Lauren explained to the police that after that happened, she made a plan to get the kids and her out of the situation completely.

And once investigators had a better idea of how toxic this relationship and that she was trying to flee this emotionally abusive relationship, it all was starting to make more sense. So they knew they had to put together a timeline of what happened that day. They also need to figure out what the hell Fotis was doing in Hartford, making multiple stops on that road. So they started working with the Hartford police to pull video footage from multiple security cameras around the city.

And to gather even more footage, they actually drove through the city with a loudspeaker out the window of the car and screamed, "If you have any surveillance footage, please send it in to us so that we can review it." So they gathered 12 hours of different surveillance footage from different places and started piecing it together. They found that a black Ford Raptor truck had matched the stops that he was making on Albany Avenue in Hartford, according to his cell phone.

In fact, he stopped at 30 locations in a four mile stretch. Several people had seen the driver and confirmed that it looked like Fotis. And at all of these little stops along the way, he was dropping trash bags. He was spreading them out in multiple garbage cans. In fact, they even caught him pushing one down into a storm drain.

And in one shot, they saw a woman leaning out the passenger side door and reaching down toward the sidewalk. And this woman matched the description of Michelle Draconis. That's right, Michelle, the woman that Fotis was having an affair with. So a team of detectives were obviously dispatched right away to go look through these trash cans and see if they could find any evidence.

And they did recover a couple of the bags, and inside of the ones that they found, they recovered a kitchen sponge, paper towels, zip ties, plastic bags, a mop handle, and women's clothing completely covered in bloodstains. And they also found a few other weird clues. They found this metal label with a logo on it for this French-made bicycle company.

And they also found a box in the storm drain. And it had two Connecticut license plates in there, one for the front of the vehicle, one for the back.

And it looked like it said 5T6WBU, but that was actually because he had tape on it. It actually said WBJ. And when they looked up that license plate number, it was registered to Fotis. So at this point, they started searching the Hartford landfill. And they did this for three weeks. They spent hours going through 30 to 35 tons of garbage a day looking for Jennifer's body. But they found nothing.

And eventually it was time to bring in Michelle for questioning. And when they talked to her, of course, she provided Fotis with an alibi. She said that that morning they woke up together, they had sex, and they showered together. According to her, after that, he went and hung out with his friend Kent, who is a former lawyer. At 9 a.m., Michelle left the house as well, and she didn't see him again until 1 p.m. that day.

And when they do meet back up, she says that he asks her to go and help clean a house for a client with him.

with him. But investigators thought this was really odd. I mean, Fotis is a rich guy. He owns this company. He owns all these properties. Do we really think he's the one who cleans them all? And Michelle said after they were done cleaning that Fotis asked if she wanted to get the Starbucks. She said yes, but they never actually did. On their way to Starbucks instead, he kept stopping and tossing out random bags, according to Michelle. And she claimed she doesn't know what

they were or what was in them. And she also said that she was just kind of on her phone during all this and not really paying attention. But she did confirm that it was her and Fotis in the surveillance video. And that's really all the police needed. So on June 1st, 2019, they were both arrested.

When state police arrested Fotis Dulos at his Farmington home, wearing a gray T-shirt with no expression on his face. Police have found a lot of evidence, including her car, bloody clothes, but there has been no sign of a body. Their official charge was tampering with or fabricating physical evidence and first degree hindering prosecution. But within just a few days, both of them were out on bond.

Of course, they have a lot of money, but they were put on ankle monitors and they were ordered not to talk to each other at all. And still, Fotis was not allowed to see the kids, which Jennifer's family was really happy about. So when this happened, Michelle decided that she should probably move out of Fotis' house, distance herself from him as much as possible. So she and her daughter move out into an apartment out of his mansion.

And after he was first released, he gave a pretty strange TV interview and he talked about how the media made him out to be this monster. It's been a very tough time for the whole family. We're all very worried about Jennifer. How do you think the public looks at you? It depends. I think that the people that do not know me, they probably look at me as a monster. As a monster? Yes. And that is because of the information that has come out. And I...

cannot speak about what happens. So they take the narrative that they see from the arrests, the arrest warrants and what is being reported in the press and they draw their own conclusions. So I've already been convicted in their mind. What do you want people watching to know? I want them to know that this is a very, very challenging time for my whole family and we just have to be patient to get to the other side and see what happens.

Do you have any message for Jennifer's family? Yes, I send my prayers. I had my differences with Jennifer. It didn't work out for us, but that doesn't mean that I wish her ill in any way. Where do you see this going for you? I try to go day by day. When it first started,

I seriously pinched myself a couple of times and I said, this cannot be true. I'm dreaming this. I'm wearing orange and I'm in a cell six feet by nine feet. And this cannot be true. Do you think you've been treated fairly by the criminal justice system? I do. I think with the information they had, they did the best they could. And I understand they have tremendous pressure on them.

And it's also statistically when something like this happens, 90 or 95% is the spouse. So I can understand why people feel like that. Do you have any thoughts about that, about her disappearance or what's happened? I do, but I'd rather not speak about that.

Now, Fotis' family members say that they are shocked, that they can't believe that he would have anything to do with it, and they believe that he is innocent. Michelle's family feels the same way. They feel like there's no way that she would have had anything to do with this, and that people are making assumptions. So at this point, the investigators did not have enough to actually charge Fotis with murder.

But they felt like they were getting close so they kept digging. So they found out that that black Ford Raptor truck in the surveillance video was registered to Fotis's company. It was usually driven by one of his employees and that employee would leave his old unreliable red Toyota truck at Fotis's home office in the morning and then swap it for the black Raptor to go to job sites. Now Fotis did take the black Raptor to ditch all those trash bags that day, but

But they realized that someone else had driven this employee's old red truck that morning. The red Tacoma left Bodice's home at around 5:30 a.m. before the sun even came up. They tracked it to Waveney Park, right near the spot where Jennifer's Range Rover was found.

And then hours later, they tracked the Tacoma to 80 Mount Spring Road, which is one of Fotis' properties. So they decide that they're going to search the property and all the other properties that he owns too. So they do a multi-day search and find absolutely nothing. So they figured out that the red Tacoma was returned back to Fotis' house at 1222 p.m.

And sadly, by the time that investigators actually connected it to the case, it was too late to process it for evidence. Not only that, they had discovered that Fotis and Michelle had taken it to get detailed five days after Jennifer first went missing. This was a 20 year old work truck

And it was completely spotless after this. They tried searching it, but they found absolutely nothing. But before they left the auto shop where he got the cars cleaned, one of the employees asked them if they wanted to see the old seats that were in the car.

That's when they found out that when he had the car cleaned, Fotis actually had them replace the seats from an old Porsche that he had. The employee though thought this was really weird and he decided to hang on to the seats, which was super smart. Investigators knew that there had to be a reason that Fotis wanted those seats gone. And of course, on the passenger side of those seats,

they found a stain that could be blood. So they cut out the fabric, they sent it off for testing. They also asked the employee if Fotis ever rode a bike and it turns out he did. And this employee had fixed it a while back. It was a unique bike.

with ram horn handlebars, just like the bike that matched the metal logo that they found in the trash. And that's when they went to the surveillance footage near Jennifer's house and they found a video of someone riding a bike, that exact type of bike, towards Jennifer's house at 7:40 in the morning.

So it seems really obvious now. The day she disappears, he was headed towards her house when he said he was nowhere nearby. So they got a search warrant for Fotis' house. And when they went in there, they found these alibi scripts, literally written out

what he and Michelle did that day, and it included their friend Kent. So it showed that Kent could possibly be involved in this. So that was very interesting for them to find. Now at this point, her family was still hoping that maybe there was a chance she would come back alive.

But then the forensic evidence report came back with some pretty devastating news. I'm sure they figured that this was the case, but it just confirmed that the blood found in the garage, on the trash cans, on her clothes, and other things found in the garbage bags actually did belong to Jennifer. And based on the amount of blood at the crime scene, the report actually classified her death

as a homicide of violence and they also noted that it was considered non-survivable but not only that you guys they found that jennifer's blood

also had Fotis's blood mixed into it. Having that mixture of their DNA at the crime scene is a slam dunk. Not only that, his DNA was found on the door handle of the mud room, which means that he was at the scene of the crime period. Fotis had never lived at this house, he never visited either, so there was no reason for his DNA to be there. And the fact that it was mixed with her blood

Case closed, right? So detectives decided to talk with Michelle again, try to figure out if she's involved. The more they talk with her though, they start to feel like she really could have been manipulated by Fotis, but they also believed that she probably knew some things and was being manipulated into keeping them secret. - We think you have information. - I can go in and help you and I can want the whole world with you if you want. - Great. - Whatever you want, but I didn't do it. - I have no idea.

what happened to Jennifer. I have no idea where Jennifer is. And they ended up telling her that the house that they cleaned up that day

It was Jennifer's. That's right. He had tricked her into helping clean the entire crime scene. That's assuming that she didn't know what was going on. And as they're explaining all of this to her, she suddenly drops a bombshell. She said that she actually hadn't been with Fotis at all that morning. She said that he was gone when she woke up and that he had left his phone at the house in the home office. And not only that, she said that at some point in the day,

Kent had been to the house, his lawyer friend. She said at one point it was the two of them in the office and that Fotis had called and he told her to pick it up. And detectives believe that this was done in order to make it seem like he was at the house when he really wasn't. When they interviewed Kent, he said that he was with Michelle that morning, but he denied knowing anything about Jennifer. So they started to dig a little bit more into Fotis'

company. And that's when they discovered that his company was really not doing well at all. In fact, it was failing. It was deeply in debt. Turns out Fotis had to borrow $2.5 million from Jennifer's dad to try and save the business and it didn't work. And when her dad died in 2018, he just stopped paying off the loan. Jennifer's mom actually had to file a civil suit against Fotis to get the money back.

So it turns out that Fotis was actually in debt of about $7 million from multiple loans. They also found out that Jennifer's parents had set up a $2 million trust fund for the kids. And that started to make them think that maybe his motive was killing Jennifer so that he could have full custody of the kids. Maybe in his mind, he thought he would have gotten full control of that $2 million. So then several months into the investigation, something huge happened.

A man came forward saying that he discovered a shallow grave in the woods around a gun club a week before Jennifer went missing. It was a fancy club for the super rich on 25 acres of land. The guy was just in the woods hunting with his buddy when they came across his grave. It was a six foot hole with two holes

bags of lime, which I'm sure most of you true crime fans know that lime is sometimes used to hide bodies. It was covered by barbecue grates and a blue tarp. To them, it looked like someone was planning to bury a body. And remember, this is before Jennifer went missing that they found this. Later, this guy had overheard that Jennifer was missing and she was connected to this guy named Kent who was a member at the club.

So investigators dug more into this Kent guy and they found out that he was a terrible person. He's estranged from his ex-wife and she accuses him of sexually assaulting her. And she said that she was so afraid of him that she was worried that he and Fotis might come kill her one day. So that says a lot. So they questioned him again. And of course he denied everything.

So things were pretty quiet for a while and then in September of 2019, Fotis and Michelle were both arrested. This time it was for tampering with evidence. Both of them pleaded guilty and they were both released on bond. It's an exhausting fight. I love my children. That's about it.

We've pled not guilty to the pending charges. We intend to plead not guilty to these charges and we look forward to a full day in court. At December, his two nieces flew in from Europe to support him and keep his spirits up. However, his lawyer prepared him to get ready for a murder charge coming probably in the new year once the holidays were over. So then on January 7th, 2020, Michelle and Kent were both arrested for conspiracy to commit murder.

And then Fotis was arrested that same day at his home and charged with felony murder and kidnapping. And of course, they all pleaded not guilty. This time, Fotis was held on a $6 million bond, which he was able to gather that money and bail himself out. He was released on strict conditions, and Michelle was also released and put on house arrest.

But Kent didn't have the money to post his bail, so he was just stuck in jail. So trial was coming up and prosecutors believed that they had a really strong case. They had over 400 pages of search warrants, affidavits, and other bits of evidence to prove that Fotis was the one who murdered Jennifer and that Michelle and Kent were both somehow involved. Now, of course, when you go to trial without a body, it can be

very, very difficult to get the guilty charge. Votis' lawyers were able to argue that maybe Jennifer wasn't even dead because they didn't have her body. - The state is trying to put together a case that Mr. Dulos is responsible for that murder or for that disappearance. And we take the position there's insufficient evidence to conclude that she's even dead. - And they actually started pushing a disgusting theory. They had the nerve to say that Jennifer actually staged her own suicide.

in order to frame Fotis because she was mad about the way their marriage ended. Michelle's lawyer claimed that she was misled by the police and said incorrect information when she was interviewed. They claimed that they twisted her words to fit their narrative, essentially. According to Michelle, she had no idea that they were actually cleaning Jennifer's house that day.

And she also said she had no idea that he was dumping trash out while she was in the car. And in that surveillance video where she's seen actually leaning out of the car, she said that she was wiping gum off of the sidewalk.

Girl, what? So I don't know what exactly to think about Michelle. Her family supports her and think that she's also a victim of Fotis, that she was manipulated by him as well. They said that she was under the impression that he wasn't even with Jennifer anymore and that she truly had no idea what was going on. It's been devastating because we know my sister will never harm anybody. So then before trial even began,

this case got crazier. Fotis was ordered to court that day for an emergency hearing on whether or not they would revoke his bond. He had told his new girlfriend at the time, Anna, to meet him at the courthouse and that he was headed out. While she was driving there, Fotis' lawyer calls her and asks where he is. And she has no idea. So the lawyer looked at Fotis' GPS location because he's wearing a tracker and they see that he's still at

home. So Anna knew that something was wrong right away. And she told Fotis' lawyer to call 911. And he did. Police were sent to his home and that's where they found Fotis sitting in his car, sitting straight up, not moving inside of his locked garage. They could see through a window that Mr. Dulos was sitting in his vehicle.

and he had obvious signs of medical distress. - The paramedics were called and police broke into the garage, and when they did, they found out that Fotis had used a vacuum cleaner hose from the exhaust pipe of the SUV to the window. He was found unresponsive

and he was surrounded by pictures of his kids. But they did get a faint pulse, so they ended up airlifting him to a hospital in the Bronx in critical condition. But Fotis never recovered. The kids were brought into the hospital to say goodbye, now losing both parents, and they made the decision to take him off of life support. So he did write a note. There was one part I thought was interesting, and he said, "I refused to spend even an hour more in jail for something I had nothing to do with."

And then a month later, the state ended up dropping their charges against Fotis. Now, Fotis' attorney and his sister are fighting to this day to clear his name. They see his suicide note as proof of an innocent man who could not handle being accused of murder. Obviously, the potential for a bond revocation was devastating news to him. But throughout, he has been a fighter and resolute.

In our review of the discovery, we very much liked our options for trial and we very much liked the possibility of success. So this development comes as stunning. But Jennifer's family feels the complete opposite.

it. They see it as an admission of guilt that the guilt finally caught up to him and he took his own life. The state is still pursuing charges for conspiracy to commit murder against Michelle and Kent. However, Michelle is currently out on bond. Kent has turned into a state witness and is now implicating Michelle in the murder. And after spending nine months in jail, he was actually released on reduced bail. Now to this day, investigators have not

found Jennifer's body and they're still searching. In January 2021, Connecticut State Police visited the property on Mountain Spring Road to follow up on old leads. They even brought this man named Bob Perry out there who is nationally known as the Bone Finder. And he uses ground penetrating radar to discover secret grave sites. But even he hasn't been able to find anything yet. Jennifer's friends and family are heartbroken, doesn't even cover it.

absolutely devastated by her loss. Jennifer was incredibly loved and she's so, so missed to this day. People just want answers. And of course they want to find her body as hard as that would be because that would confirm that she's no longer alive. But they want to be able to bury her and be able to really start the process of grieving. I totally get that.

not having answers, not even having a body, it's gotta be like one of the worst things in the world. - We made arrests, that's great, but we still have to find Jennifer. And that's our number one priority. - If there's people out there, as we wholeheartedly suspect, that have information, we would like to speak to them.

so that we can bring this case to some type of closure for the family. We miss Jennifer beyond words. The ache of her absence does not go away. Countless questions do remain unanswered. It went on to say, but the earth keeps spinning and somehow an entire year has elapsed.

Jennifer's kids are currently being raised by their grandmother in New York City.

which is good. That's the best place that they can possibly be. But it is just a damn shame that now they don't have either parent. It's just tragic. Jennifer deserves justice. Those kids need answers. Her family and friends need answers. And it sucks because now that Fotis is gone, they may never get the answers they truly deserve. Like I said, this one is just so frustrating because there's really not that much to work with at the end of the day. And now the suspect, the main suspect,

is gone. That is going to be it for me today, guys. Thank you for joining me for another episode and make sure you follow the show on Spotify and Apple podcasts. It really does help me out. If you want to watch the video version of this show, you can find it on my YouTube channel, which will be linked, or you can just search Kendall Ray. I will be back with another episode soon, but until then stay safe out there.