HARTFORD, Conn. (AP) — Fotis Dulos, the Connecticut man charged with murder in the disappearance of his estranged wife, insisted he was innocent in a note found at his home after he apparently tried to kill himself, according to a court motion filed by his lawyers Thursday.
In the course of searching the vehicle in which Dulos was found unresponsive, the motion said, police officers recovered a note in which Dulos “declared his innocence of the infamous and heinous crimes that the state has accused him of and claimed his lawyers have the evidence to prove it.”
The filing asks a judge to order the state to preserve the note and any other evidence found at Dulos’ home in the Hartford suburb of Farmington, where he was found in medical distress in the vehicle inside his garage on Tuesday.
Dulos, 52, remained hospitalized with carbon monoxide poisoning at Jacobi Medical Center in New York City on Thursday. His attorney, Norm Pattis, and hospital officials declined to comment on Dulos’ condition Thursday. Pattis had said Dulos was in “dire” condition Wednesday.
Pattis and fellow Dulos lawyer Kevin Smith were holding vigil at the hospital Thursday. Relatives of Dulos from Greece also were believed to be at the hospital.
Dulos is accused of killing Jennifer Dulos, who disappeared last May amid contentious divorce and child custody proceedings. The couple have five children, who have been staying with Jennifer Dulos’ mother in New York since she vanished after dropping them off at school in New Canaan. Jennifer Dulos’ body has not been found.
Police responded to Fotis Dulos’ home on Tuesday for a welfare check when he failed to appear in court in Stamford, where he faced the possibility of his $6 million bond being revoked and his returning to jail to await trial because of problems with assets used to secure the bail. Officers discovered him in medical distress in a vehicle, police said.
Officers and medics performed CPR for about 30 minutes and he was taken to a hospital by ambulance after a pulse was discovered, Farmington police Lt. Tim McKenzie said Thursday. Confusion ensued because Pattis and others initially said that he was dead.
Police allege Fotis Dulos attacked Jennifer Dulos in the garage of her New Canaan home and drove off with her body, leaving behind a bloody crime scene. A medical examiner said it appeared Jennifer Dulos could not have survived her injuries without immediate medical treatment.
Fotis Dulos has denied any involvement in his estranged wife’s disappearance.
Also arrested were Fotis Dulos’ former girlfriend, Michelle Troconis, and his friend, attorney Kent Mawhinney, both charged with conspiracy to commit murder. Police said they helped Fotis Dulos try to cover up the killing.
Police say Fotis Dulos and Troconis were recorded on surveillance video disposing of trash bags in Hartford the day Jennifer Dulos disappeared. Police found clothing, zip ties and other items in the bags that later tested positive for Jennifer Dulos’ DNA.
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