48 Hours - What Does the Other Woman Know? The Disappearance of Jennifer Dulos

Episode Date: February 14, 2021

Newly released video shows police grilling Michelle Troconis, the ex-girlfriend of Fotis Dulos, about the disappearance of his wife Jennifer: “I didn’t do it.” Does she know more?  "48 Hours" correspondent Erin Moriarty reports.See Privacy Policy at https://art19.com/privacy and California Privacy Notice at https://art19.com/privacy#do-not-sell-my-info.

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ConstantContact.ca The last year and a half is something I could never have imagined. Completely unfathomable in terms of my dear friend disappearing. My name is Carrie Luft and I'm a longtime friend of Jennifer Farber-Dulos. This is Wells Lane. This is where Jennifer Dulos lived with her five children back on May 24th, 2019. I'm Sergeant Kenneth Ventresca, Connecticut State Police, Western District Major Crime Squad. The last time Jennifer was seen was dropping her kids off

at school on May 24th in the morning hours. She vanished. Help us find her. The only goal right now is to find Jennifer, and I know that law enforcement are doing everything they can to bring her home. What was going through your mind? Just terror. You know, terror, fear, helplessness.

New Canaan, the police department called right away as soon as they located her vehicle down here. We did extensive line searches through these woods, through the whole park. You know, it wasn't looking good and, you know, we were fighting the clock. You know, then obviously you learn that she's going through a contentious divorce. Authorities believe that Fotis Doulos killed Jennifer Doulos, his wife, the day that she disappeared. It's not every day someone throws up bloody evidence, bloody clothes, cut up. Who does that?

Fotis, do you have anything that you want to say? My brother Fotis was an easy target. Fotis, what happened to Jennifer? They accused him of murder from the beginning. After about an eight month investigation, we finally charged Fotis Doulos with murder and kidnapping in January of 2020. Fotis, what do you have to say to this murder charge? You don't have a body. No body.

No weapon. No weapon. No eyewitnesses. No eyewitnesses. We've got three words for the state. Bring it on. At exactly the time Fotis Doulos was due in court, officers were seen running into his Connecticut mansion, minutes later, and he didn't have any strength to fight anymore. Fotis Doulos was declared dead tonight at 5.32.

The investigation did not die with Fotis Dulos. Police believe Michelle Triconis helped her boyfriend, Fotis Dulos, get rid of his wife. She's now charged with conspiracy in the murder of Jennifer Dulos. You gonna do the right thing, Michelle, and help the cops? The family of Michelle Triconis speaks out for the first time to 48 Hours. Did your sister have anything to do

with the death of Jennifer Dulos? No, she did not. Do you believe that Michelle knows where Jennifer's body is? No. My sister is innocent. Absolutely not. I didn't do it.

And there are newly released portions of videos showing detectives questioning Michelle Traconis. I have no idea what happened to Jennifer. I have no idea where Jennifer is. Is it possible you will never know, ever find her body? I don't want to think that way. Every day I ask myself, where's Jennifer? మిక్కారి మిక్కారి I loved the bedtime routines, the rituals, the saying goodnights, the books read, the hugs and kisses given, the songs sung. Jennifer Dulos was a gifted woman, says her close friend, Carrie Luft. She was a writer of plays and co-founder of a theater troupe,

a runner, a woman with a keen mind, and an infectious giggle. But in her blogs, she was first and foremost a mother. I just wanted to freeze the moment, snap a picture, take them all in. They grew too fast. Her writings are filled with a mother's musings about the ordinary blessings of family life. The best part of my night now, hands down, is when I give our baby a bath and then her bottle in my arms. Jennifer loved her children just beyond compare. She had this wonderful young and growing family.

Her existence was mostly about the kids. The morning of May 24, 2019 was no different. The organized chaos of getting five kids 13 and under dressed and off to school. But shortly after 8.05 a.m., the normal rhythm of daily life stopped forever. She was scheduled for a dentist appointment later that morning in New York City. She never made it to her dentist appointment. This was definitely one of the biggest investigations to come to the state police. Connecticut State Police Sergeant Kenneth Ventresca would become one of the lead investigators. People couldn't get a hold of her.

And then when we had radio silence, we knew that something was gravely wrong. The children were taken to the home of their maternal grandmother, Gloria Farber, in New York City. By 7 p.m., all-out panic set in, and Jennifer was reported missing. A little over an hour later, the police had ominous news. Officers found Jennifer's abandoned suburban SUV near Waveney Park, about three and a half miles from her home. The tailgate was was backed up against this tree. The Suburban was not running, keys were not in the ignition, the gear lever

was actually stuck in reverse, the doors were locked. On the passenger side of her Suburban at the time, you could see the cleanup of the blood-like substance all over the passenger side under a flashlight. Police are not sharing much information as they search, but sources confirm they're finding no activity from the missing woman's cell phone or credit cards. New Canaan Police Chief Leon Prolikowski immediately launched a massive search across the 300 acres of Waveney Park. And how would you describe the initial search for her? It was enormous. I mean, literally from other police departments sending their canines to search, to FBI team coming in search for evidence, to New York State Police helicopter, to divers checking the water within the park.

And it's 300 acres. It's pretty comprehensive. Checkpoint for the missing person. Kerry volunteered to become the spokesperson for family and friends. All I want to say is, Jennifer, we love you, and we are doing everything we can to bring you home. Your kids miss you. We all miss you. Sergeant Ventresca says the one person who didn't seem worried about Jennifer was the father of her five children, her estranged husband, Fotis Doulos. Did he help at all in the search?

No. No. Did he seem concerned about his wife as time went on? No. Never seemed concerned about his wife. It wasn't always that way. You know, Jennifer very much wanted to have a loving relationship and to start a family, and he seemed to want the same things. On the face of it, they seemed an unlikely pair. Jennifer, deep-thinking and introverted, grew up in wealth and privilege in New York City,

the daughter of a father who made a fortune in finance. Fotis, athletic and extroverted, was an international water skiing champion, born in Turkey and raised in Athens, Greece. Both outstanding students, they first met in 1986 at the prestigious Brown University in Providence, Rhode Island. But it didn't turn romantic until some 17 years later, after a chance meeting at the Aspen Airport. Jennifer put it this way in her blog. I was home, back in New York, and an email came to me. He wanted to get together. What did she like about him? Eventually love about him.

Well, you know, he was a really, a very charismatic and charming person. He was very handsome. He was smart and funny. And an ambitious real estate developer and builder of luxury homes. Hi, I'm Fortis Toulos, and I'm the owner of Ford Group. We're custom builders working primarily in the Hartford and Fairfield counties.

Fotis and Jennifer married in 2004 and settled in Farmington, Connecticut, an upscale enclave outside Hartford where old money mingled with new. Fotis' sister, Rainina Doulos Hirami. The couple was very, very happy. And in two years, they had their first set of twins. Another two years, they had the second set of twins. And another two years, they had a little daughter. They moved into one of Fotis' magnificent homes at Fort Jefferson Crossing

and raised their children with all the advantages that money affords, with an emphasis on sports, especially water skiing, Fotis' passion. They would compete internationally, even as six or seven-year-olds. So they were incredibly good. But that was also because they trained incredibly hard. Jennifer believed Fotis was pushing them too hard and later said her kids' mental and physical health was suffering because of Fotis' obsession with training. She often served as a buffer or a shield. And that led to fights, says Carrie.

Did he have a temper? He could be volatile, yes. Even with the kids? Sure. Life behind the grand brick facade grew ever more distant and unhappy. The couple who seemed to have it all, looks, money, children, were living all but separate lives. Was she lonely? I'm sure. For all of us who were outside of the romance, we knew that they were two incompatible characters. By 2016, Fotis was away as many as 10 days a month, often chasing the latest water skiing

competition. And one of his travels to Miami in the ski club with his children, he met Michelle. Michelle Draconis was Fotis' type. She rode horses. She reported for ESPN in South America on snow skiing. And even more to Fotis' liking, she was a competitive water skier. Soon after meeting in Miami, Fotis and the Venezuelan-raised single mother began an affair. And it was serious. He was very much in love. And not very good at hiding it from his wife, says Carey.

In March of 2017, Jennifer confronted Fotis, and he confessed. Was that an event that she just realized, okay, there's no going back? I think learning about the infidelity was horrible. You know, that that was a deal-breaker for her. Jennifer moved her kids into a rented home about an hour and a half away in New Canaan, Connecticut, and filed for divorce. Michelle and her young daughter moved into Fotis'

Jefferson Crossing house in Farmington. She said she had met a charming guy, that he was very family-oriented like us, that he was into sports like her, and they had many similarities, and she really liked him. It would be the biggest mistake of michelle traconis his life where is she where is she this has it shattered our life because my sister is not the person that they're saying and she would never be capable of anything they've said that she has done

In 2014, Laura Heavlin was in her home in Tennessee when she received a call from California. Her daughter, Erin Corwin, was missing. The young wife of a Marine had moved to the California desert to a remote base near Joshua Tree National Park. They have to alert the military, and when they do, the NCIS gets involved. From CBS Studios and CBS News, this is 48 Hours NCIS. Listen to 48 Hours NCIS ad-free starting October 29th on Amazon Music. As a kid growing up in Chicago, there was one horror movie I was too scared to watch. It was called Candyman. It was about this supernatural killer who would attack his victims if they said his name five times into a bathroom mirror. But did you know that the movie Candyman was partly inspired by an actual murder? I was struck by both how spooky it

was, but also how outrageous it was. Listen to Candyman, the true story behind the bathroom mirror murder, early and ad-free on Wondery Plus and the Wondery app. Jennifer Dulos vanished May 24th. Jennifer Dulos vanished May 24th, leaving behind five... As the search for Jennifer dragged on, Carrie Luft tried to hold on to hope, but she knew in her bones as early as the day Jennifer disappeared, it was hopeless. I had a horrible foreboding sense that she was not alive. The new Canaan police officers also had a bad feeling as they searched Jennifer's house the night she went missing.

When they go to the house, they go in the garage, they notice blood-like substance, blood spatter throughout the garage. Sergeant Ventresca and Detective John Kimball of the state's major Crime Squad were summoned to the scene. In addition to blood evidence in the garages, there was evidence that someone had attempted to clean up blood.

There would appear to be swirl marks on the sides of the vehicles. All the markings of an unhappy ending, says Sergeant Ventresca. A serious violent assault occurred in that garage. I mean, there's definitely some sort of foul play involved. The scene in the garage was all that Richard Colangelo, now Connecticut's chief state's attorney, needed. He immediately took on the case. Initially when it started, it was a whodunit.

But someone soon went to the top of the list. At the time of her disappearance, Jennifer was embroiled in a bitter divorce and custody battle with her estranged husband, Fotis Doulos. According to divorce documents, she was terrified of him. I'm afraid that my husband will harm our children to punish me. He is dangerous and ruthless when he believes that he has been wronged. He must always win at all costs. I don't think Fotis liked to lose in any aspect of his life, and I don't think that he liked to be losing in court at the hands of his wife.

He had spent thousands of dollars in lawyers' fees and court costs. His business was floundering. And worse, he lost shared physical custody of his children after going against court orders regarding his girlfriend, Michelle Traconis. What did he do or didn't do? He didn't comply with the court order that Michelle not be part of the children's lives. Fotis didn't even pretend to hide his feelings toward Jennifer when he agreed to go to the New Canaan police station the day after Jennifer disappeared. Did he agree to sit down and talk?

No. He'd brought his civil attorney with him. And his lawyer was already on the phone with a criminal defense attorney at the time in the parking lot. What does that say to you? To me, it was alarming because the mother of your five children are missing and you're worried about calling attorneys? Before he left, Fotis inadvertently gave the detective something more important than an interview.

The detective that was there said, is that your phone? Yeah, can I see it? He gave it to him. He asked him for the password. He told him the password. Fotis demanded his phone back, but the detective refused. Investigators got a search warrant and were able to retrieve the data. And then from there, we were off and running. Investigators tracked Fotis' cell phone to Albany Avenue in Hartford around 7 p.m. the evening of May 24th, roughly the same time Jennifer was reported missing. They then contacted the Hartford police, who downloaded a treasure trove of videos that had been captured on security cameras. New Canaan police officer Thomas Patton couldn't believe his eyes.

What are you seeing? Well, as he was driving around, he was depositing black garbage bags in various receptacles. Obviously, it was intent on spreading out the garbage bags. And is he alone? No, in one of those pictures, you can see a female that's leaning outside of the passenger side of the truck. Turns out that the female reaching for the sidewalk was Michelle Traconis. My first thought was, what are they doing? Why are they dumping trash in Hartford? They would soon find out. A team of detectives was dispatched to go digging through

the trash. Some of the things retrieved from the Albany Avenue garbage were used zip ties with human blood and DNA of Jennifer Dulos on them, female undergarments, a Vineyard Vine shirt in the size that Jennifer wore. There were two ponchos, which contained copious amounts of blood in the DNA of Jennifer Doulos. It's not every day someone throws up bloody evidence, bloody clothing, you know, cut up. I mean, who does that? We shifted gears and we turned this into the homicide investigation. On June 1st, eight days after Jennifer vanished, both Fotis Doulos and Michelle Traconis were arrested,

not for murder, but for tampering with or fabricating physical evidence and first-degree hindering prosecution. We weren't fully convinced he did the murder yet, but he was involved in some way, shape, or form. But they couldn't place him in New Canaan that morning for one reason, says Sergeant Ventresca, the location of Fotis' phone. At the time that Jennifer Dulos disappeared from her house, her husband was at home, according to his phone. According to his phone, yes. And according to Michelle Draconis,

she told police Fotis was with her that morning. Hartford Current reporter Dave Altomare. She told them that Fotis was in Farmington at the Jefferson Crossing home early in that morning that they woke up together and that they had sex and they had a shower. So her, in effect, she gave him an alibi. but in effect she gave him an alibi. Both Fotis and Michelle were released, each on a $500,000 bond, and ordered to wear ankle bracelets. They were also ordered not to communicate with one another.

Michelle moved into her own apartment, and Fotis stayed in his glittery mansion at Fort Jefferson Crossing. But neither would be able to escape the presumption of guilt. Fortis was tried and convicted in the court of the public opinion. That is sure. What they have said about my sister, the media and the police, is not who my sister is. She had nothing to do with this. Do you think Michelle Traconis knew what was in those bags? See more of the evidence on Facebook at 48 hours. Reina Doulos-Kirimi was at home in Greece when she learned about her brother's arrest.

I thought that this will be an issue of one or two days and the police will understand that they are making a mistake. Two days and the police will understand that they are making a mistake. She was wrong. He quickly became the prime suspect in a multi-agency murder investigation. Fotis was the easy solution for the police. Fotis, what happened to Jennifer? And an easy target for the press, says Reyna. Why was there DNA in front of Canaan Homes?

The cameras was following him when he was joking, when he was going to the grocery store. People are innocent until proven guilty. They never gave this opportunity to Fotis. Never. After the arrest, Reina, Fotis' only sibling, flew from Athens to stand by her brother's side. What have we done to the life of an innocent person? I know that it is impossible for him to do such a thing. It is impossible. It is a big no. In December 2019, Fotis's attorney allowed 48 hours into Fotis's home. He was under a gag order and refused to answer any questions. And we were witnesses to an almost surreal scene of a man suspected of a monstrous crime relaxing with his family. His nieces, Angelica and Clelia, had just arrived from Europe. It was very important for us to be here with him during this Christmas because it's a tough Christmas.

Trying to support him and be there for him to keep his spirits up. Fotis was banned by the court from seeing his own children. It's very, very hard. These kids are his heart and his soul. Every day he wakes up and it's just, you see it in his face. They tried to cheer him up by doing all of their favorite things. Playing board games and cooking and talking. And we've always been close. We've always been spending the holidays together. They knew it could be their last Christmas altogether. Fotis' attorney had told him to expect murder charges after the new year. We will be here to stand by his side, whatever it comes.

Like Reyna, Michelle Draconis' family couldn't believe it was happening. Her sister Claudia. My mom called us and told us Michi has been arrested. And I remember dropping to the floor and saying, why? Why? What happened? It's been devastating. Why? Why? What happened? It's been devastating. And just like Raina, they refuse to even think about the possibility that Michelle could have been involved in Jennifer's disappearance. What makes you believe that your sister had absolutely nothing to do with this?

How we were brought up, our principles, just that she's never been a violent person. She's never been revengeful. You know, she's a mother herself. She wouldn't harm anybody or anyone. We met Michelle's father, cardiac surgeon Carlos Traconis, and sisters, Daniela and Claudia, in Farmington. They're speaking out for the first time. She's not the person that they've portrayed and they've accused her of. They've said that, you know, she's a whore, that, you know, she entered this, that she should rot in jail.

They say the public image of Michelle as a homewrecker is simply not true. And what did voters tell Michelle about his marriage? That it was the same, that he was separated, that they each had their separate lives, and that they were going through an amicable divorce because they had the five children. Fotis Doulos lied to Michelle. It appears that he did on more than one occasion, which in my view casts suspicion on him. Michelle, who accompanied her family to our interview, refused to answer questions, but her attorney, John Schonhorn, did.

He claims Fotis deceived Michelle with lie after lie, and that included the trip to Albany Avenue in Hartford. And you're saying she had no idea what was in those bags that Fotis was getting rid of? She not only did not know what was in those bags, she had no idea what he was actually doing. He'd invited her to go out to Starbucks, but he claimed he had to just take care of a few items. Practically the entire time he's driving in Hartford, she's on either WhatsApp, texting, or making phone calls during that whole time. He says she was chatting with friends and family. What is she doing there? She told the police that she was chewing gum and she had gotten

it on her fingers and she tried to fling it out the window, it wouldn't come off, so she wiped her hand on the sidewalk. Schoenhorn recently released excerpts from interrogation videos hoping to prove his point that Michelle was cooperative, even helpful, and repeatedly denied any involvement in Jennifer's disappearance. We think you have information knew more than she was saying. So if you know stuff that you're not telling us, that's the man you're protecting because that's the sick. I'm not protecting him. But the more she talked, the more suspicious they became. Remember, Michelle told the police in her first interview that Fotis was with her the morning Jennifer disappeared, that they had a shower and were intimate.

By the third interview, she was telling a different story. Reporter Dave Altomare. Every time they would push her, she changed her story. And then by the third time, she basically told them that it was a lie, that he was not in the house on that morning, as she had initially told them. She also acknowledged that photos had left his phone behind the phone being in farmington was clearly part of the alibi at least that's the state police's belief that he left the phone there so no one would know where he was

after eight months of investigation on january 7, 2020, the police arrested Michelle for conspiracy to commit murder. It's been devastating because we know my sister is innocent. Sometimes women do ridiculous things for love. Not my sister. That's not Michelle. Other woman, but not my sister. Michelle will never harm anyone, anyone.

But would she possibly cover up for a man she loved? No, she would never put herself in harm's way, not even herself or her daughter, no. She's not capable of doing that. That would affect her life, so she wouldn't. The police came for photos the same day. Reyna was there. It was like a movie. They went out of the cars with the weapons

like they were going to arrest Al Capone. It was a terrible moment. It was terrible moments. Believe me. CAROLYN DOUGLAS GERBERT INVESTIGATORS BELIEVE THEY HAVE THE KILLER, BUT THEY STILL DON'T HAVE THE VICTIM, JENNIFER DULOS. AND FOATUS'S ATTORNEY NORM PATTIS SAYS THAT RAISES QUESTIONS WHETHER THERE WAS A MURDER AT ALL. And Fotis' attorney, Norm Pattis, says that raises questions whether there was a murder at all. We defy the state to prove that she is in fact dead. See more of the police interrogation at 48hours.com. Hot shot Australian attorney Nicola Gaba was born into legal royalty.

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behind one of the world's most shocking legal scandals. Listen to Informant's Lawyer X exclusively on Wondery Plus. Join Wondery Plus in the Wondery app, Apple Podcasts, or Spotify, and listen to more Exhibit C true crime shows early and ad-free right now. Have you ever wondered who created that bottle of sriracha that's living in your fridge? Or why nearly every house in America has at least one game of Monopoly? Introducing the best idea yet, a brand new podcast from Wondery and T-Boy about the surprising origin stories of the products you're obsessed with and the bolder risk takers who brought them to life. Like, did you know that Super Mario, the best selling video game character of all time,

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You can listen to The Best Idea Yet early and ad-free right now by joining Wondery Plus. It's just the best idea yet. Here is our message to the state of Connecticut. Mr. Dulos is not guilty. We are ready for the court. There's the courthouse. If you want to try the case, bring it on. Norm Pattis likes to stir things up.

And he did a good job of it for his client, Fotis Doulos. There is no body that we're aware of. And I'm sick and tired of hearing about it. He aimed straight for the state's weak spot. No body, no murder. We take the position there's insufficient evidence to conclude that she's even dead. Pat has launched a public campaign to cast photos as a loving father unfairly deprived of seeing his children. I love my children. I think about them all the time.

I miss them very much. And Jennifer as the villain. We are actively contemplating a revenge suicide hypothesis as an explanation for her disappearance. Another defense theory, Gone Girl. I had nothing to do with the disappearance of my wife. Pettis suggested that just like in the thriller and hit movie, Jennifer disappeared to frame her husband for murder.

When attorney Pettis raised it and talked about it, I begged him to do it in front of a jury. You could drive a bus through all the holes in that theory or that argument. Even so, Chief State's Attorney Richard Colangelo knew that proving murder without a body was not going to be easy. We tried to leverage everything we could, and we didn't leave any stone unturned. Bit by bit, Attorney Colangelo says they build a case of premeditated murder and coverup, a story they laid out in detailed arrest warrants.

It starts in the pre-dawn hours of May 24th with this old red Tacoma truck, not Fotis' truck, but a truck that belonged to one of his workers. Investigators believe Fotis took the Tacoma without permission and left the 80 Mountain Spring Road property, one of the homes owned by his company, around 5.35 a.m. He then drove it 70 miles south to New Canaan. We crunched about 12 hours of video surveillance on the Merritt Parkway, where we eventually located a red Toyota Tacoma pickup truck matching the Toyota Tacoma driving southbound. At 7.57 a.m., the Tacoma, pictured here in a screen grab from

the arrest warrant, was spotted again by a passing school bus, this time in New Canaan. The Tacoma was parked on a country road near Waveney Park. This is where he had parked it. Investigators believe Fotis had brought a bicycle with him and biked the last three miles to Jennifer's house. He came over on the back road over there. He waited for her to drop the kids off at school. She came home in the morning.

She enters the garage. That's where the violent assault occurred in the house. Fotis left behind two pieces of evidence critical to the investigation, says the sergeant. His DNA on the doorknob of the mudroom and a mixture of his and Jennifer's DNA on a faucet inside Jennifer's house. Foda's, Dulos' DNA being in the house is highly suspicious in nature. It shouldn't be in the house. Sergeant Ken Ventresca believes Foda spent about two hours cleaning up,

then put Jennifer's dead or unconscious body in the back of her Suburban and drove it away. And then her vehicle was left about three and a half miles away down on Lapham Road near Waveney Park. Just 100 feet from where police say he had parked the Tacoma. There's storm drains down here. Investigators could not account for the next 40 minutes. We searched all this whole area. It's possible Fotis used that time to get rid of Jennifer's body.

But they think it's more likely that he was transferring incriminating materials from the Suburban to the Tacoma. If he had things to move, like a lot of bloody clothing, he had to do so carefully. And he had to wait for breaks and traffic. Could have taken 40 minutes. We believe the body of Jennifer Dulos was transferred to the Tacoma and taken north.

What happened to Jennifer after that, they don't know. What they do know is that the Tacoma returned to 80 Mountain Spring Road at 12.22 p.m. Michelle told the police that Fotis met her for lunch around one o'clock. Michelle's attorney, John Schoenhorn. I have seen no evidence that Michelle knew anything about what Fotis Doulas had done during the day other than the time that they had lunch together. After lunch, according to Michelle, they spent much of the afternoon at the 80 Mountain Spring property cleaning. She claims Fotis was getting the house ready to show to a client.

So what do you think was happening that afternoon at 80 Mountain Spring? I think that the evidence that was found in Hartford was being bagged up. To be discarded in those trash cans later that evening. Five days later, Fotis and Michelle took the Tacoma to the car wash and detail shop. For a 20-year-old Toyota work truck, it was immaculate. You can eat off the floorboards in this truck. That's how clean it was by the time we got it. But Fotis made one major miscalculation, says Richard Colangelo. What did you learn

from the employee who actually owned that Tacoma? That Mr. Dulos wanted him to change out the seats and get rid of them. But he kept them in his garage and when we went to execute the search warrant, he said, hey, do you want the seats? So he gave us consent to take them, and we took them. On the passenger seat, there was a blood-like stain on the fabric of the seat, which was cut out, tested at the lab, and it came back to Jennifer Dulos' DNA blood. And that was paramount for this investigation. There was still a lot missing. Investigators never found a murder weapon

and couldn't even positively identify Fotis as the driver of the Tacoma in the surveillance footage. But they believed they had enough circumstantial evidence to prove Fotis killed his wife, but the case would never go to court. I could never imagine this. He had such a tragic end. On a cold winter day, three weeks after his arrest for murder and kidnapping, Fotis Doulos was ordered to court for an emergency hearing on whether to revoke his bond. He never made it.

I called him and called him and called him. When Fotis failed to show up, one of his attorneys, Kevin Smith, alerted authorities. Emergency responders rushed to his home. They found him locked in the garage in the front seat of his Suburban, surrounded with pictures of his five children, almost dead from carbon monoxide poisoning. EMTs shielded his motionless body as they frantically worked to get a heartbeat. I can tell you they are still administering CPR. And then they found a faint pulse.

He was still alive. Fotis was airlifted to Jacobi Medical Center in the Bronx. He is in critical condition after a suicide attempt at his home. Fotis' sister Raina was on the next transatlantic flight out of Greece. We had to be there because we had hopes that maybe he can come back and he can breathe by himself. But it was not to be. I could never imagine this. What happened? Two days after attempting suicide, Fotis was taken off life support. Fotis Doulas was declared dead tonight at 532. That evening 48 hours drove with Norm Pattis to Fotis' Jefferson Crossing home in Farmington.

I'm angry, I'm hurt, I'm determined, I'm sad. Pattis met Kevin Smith at the house. Together they secured the home and reflected on the day's events. You know, Mr. Duloz was tried and convicted in the court of public opinion and ultimately, in our view, executed in that court. Fotis went to his grave professing his innocence. In his suicide note he wrote, I refused to spend even an hour more in jail for something I had nothing to do with. As you sit here right now, do you believe that Fotis Doulos killed his wife, Jennifer? Yes.

To me, the suicide of Fotis Doulos was, in essence a demission of guilt and his involvement in his wife's murder. Detective John Kimball believes Fotis knew it was over. He knew he was likely going to jail after the bond hearing and might never get out. And the man who hated to lose was not about to live with a murder conviction. Because Fotis committed suicide before he went to trial, he will never be convicted of his wife's murder. It's frustrating that he didn't see justice. But Reyna says she will never stop fighting to clear her brother's name. He didn't have any trial,

so they cannot call him a murderer without a trial. Even with Fotis dead, the state of Connecticut is moving forward. Where does that leave Michelle Draconis? Well, I think the right expression here is she's left holding the bag. I'm not protecting him. I'm not protecting him. But they've spent millions of dollars of taxpayer money. So here they are. They got to show something for their effort at this point. Michelle Draconis isn't the only one facing trial.

Fotis' friend and sometime lawyer, Kent Maweny, is also charged with conspiracy. He was at Fotis' house the morning Jennifer went missing. And police say he was frequently vague or evasive and otherwise suspicious to investigators. But after spending nine months in jail, he's free on a reduced bail. He has turned state's witness. And according to Michelle's attorney, John Schoenhorn, he is now implicating Michelle to save himself. In a statement to 48 Hours, Schoenhorn, he is now implicating Michelle to save himself. In a statement to 48 Hours, Schoenhorn wrote, these new accusations directly contradict what he told investigators in 2019,

and I look forward to the chance to cross-examine him. Kent Mawenny's attorney told us he couldn't comment on an ongoing criminal case. Both Michelle Draconis and Kent Mawenny have pleaded not guilty. If either one of them came up with information that led to finding Jennifer, would there be a deal for them? Believe it or not, I'm a very open-minded person, so I'm not going to close the door on anything. I will take that as a yes. That's how much you would like to know where Jennifer is? Absolutely. Not a day goes by that Sergeant Kenneth Vantresca

doesn't think about Jennifer Dulos. I'm confident we are going to find her body, and we're not going to stop. I know you think about the kids, and then now the five children don't have a mom or a dad. Like, they all embody Jennifer in so many ways. And she just did such a great job of instilling them with love and delight. Jennifer left a legacy in words.

A parting gift to the five children she adored. Breathe. Be alive. Slow down. Enjoy life. Do less, but live more fully. Healthy, calm, joyful, and at peace. In the Pacific Ocean, halfway between Peru and New Zealand, lies a tiny volcanic island. It's a little-known British territory called Pitcairn, and it harboured a deep, dark scandal. There wouldn't be a girl on Pitcairn once they reach the age of 10 that would still a virgin.

It just happens to all of us. I'm journalist Luke Jones, and for almost two years, I've been investigating a shocking story that has left deep scars on generations of women and girls from Pitcairn. When there's nobody watching, nobody going to report it, people will get away with what they can get away with. In the Pitcairn trials, I'll be uncovering a story of abuse and the fight for justice that has brought a unique, lonely Pacific island to the brink of extinction. Listen to the Pitcairn Trials exclusively on Wondery Plus. Join Wondery Plus in the Wondery app, Apple Podcasts or Spotify.

A California lawyer murdered. This looked like a targeted assassination. This guy dressed as a delivery man. Across the country, a matching deadly attack at a judge's home. Who would want to hurt the judge? Were the crimes connected? 48 Hours, Saturday at 10, 9 central on CBS. If you like this podcast, you can listen ad-free right now by joining Wondery Plus in the Wondery app. Before you go, tell us about yourself by filling out a quick survey at wondery.com

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