An unidentified man has said he exchanged a knife that was possibly used to kill Jennifer Dulos – a mother missing since May 24 – so he could get crack.
The individual in Hartford, Connecticut said that he came across the item – that was small enough to use in a game of ‘four fingers’ or for fishing – while going through trash on Albany Avenue near Garden Street that authorities later searched.
He said the item was traded for a $5 rock of crack and was accompanied by a blood-drenched pillow at the location where authorities said they have video of the woman’s estranged husband Fotis Dulos placing a FedEx mailer box in a storm drain.
‘I put my hand in the garbage can, I picked up the bloody thing, the bloody pillow and I looked underneath and there was a knife under there,’ the potential witness told The Courant. ‘It was about a quart of blood on the pillow, all over the pillow. I tell you, whoever got hurt got hurt real bad.’
An unidentified man says he sold knife from a dumpster cops searched on May 31 for evidence of what happened to Jennifer Dulos (pictured) on May 24. But the potential witness can’t remember if it had blood on it because he was high on crack
He exchanged the knife found in the dumpster on Albany Ave near Garden on the weekend after Mrs Dulos vanished. He got drugs worth $5 from a man nicknamed Fudge but doesn’t know his true identity
Authorities said they have video of the woman’s estranged husband Fotis Dulos placing a FedEx mailer box in a storm drain in the same area. His girlfriend Michelle Troconis (right) has also been charged for tampering with evidence and hindering prosecution
The individual was reportedly caught on camera going through the garbage near Scott’s Jamaican Bakery the weekend after Mrs Dulos vanished. A few days later he was picked up by police as he left community court and questioned at the station.
He says he can’t remember if there was blood on the potential weapon but can remember the pillow had blue and white stripes with black lines.
‘I didn’t know it was blood on the pillow until I picked it up. Some of the blood was wet,’ he continued after leaving jail this week for failing to appear and trespassing. ‘Blood got all over my hands so I wiped it off on my pants.
‘I put the knife in my pocket for some reason. I was thinking stupid. I was on that crack.’
The man claims he sold the knife but has no idea of the real name of his dealer he met on Homestead Ave.
‘Fudge gave me a $5 piece of crack, and then I gave him the knife, and that’s the last I saw of it,’ he claims.
The individual was reportedly caught on camera going through the garbage near Scott’s Jamaican Bakery (pictured) the weekend after Mrs Dulos vanished. A few days later he was picked up by police as he left community court and questioned
Mr Dulos’ attorney called the man’s story ‘bizarre’ on Friday and added: ‘This feels like a script from a David Lynch movie’
But Mr Dulos’ attorney called the man’s story ‘bizarre’ on Friday.
‘This feels like a script from a David Lynch movie,’ Norm Pattis added.
Two months ago, investigators with cadaver dogs went though trash on Albany Ave but later moved the search to the Materials Innovation and Recycling Authority’s plant in the South Meadows neighborhood as some of the collection hadn’t been burned yet due to a one-day delay for Memorial Day.
They went through as much as 35 tons of rubbish for three weeks.
Police claim a bag of bloody items was dumped by estranged husband Fotis Dulos, as he tried to dispose of evidence. They believe a Vineyards Vines top and bra belonged to mom-of-five, 50, who disappeared after dropping the couple’s kids off at school.
Missing mom Jennifer Dulos (left) and her estranged husband Fotis Dulos (right), she has been missing since May 24 after dropping the couple’s kids off at school
Fotis, 51, was allegedly caught on surveillance footage driving down the street in his black truck, around 75 miles from Jennifer’s New Canaan home where a bag containing ‘new evidence’ was found.
It’s also claimed that he tried to get rid of other items there including altered license plates by forcing them into a storm drain.
Then Fotis allegedly returned to his mansion in Farmington, according to police, who also claim that phone record show his girlfriend Michelle Troconis, 44, with him that night too.
Both have pleaded not guilty to charges of evidence tampering and hindering prosecution, but have been released on $500,000 bail with ankle monitoring.
Dulos’ disappearance happened during a high profile divorce battle that allegedly had become ‘bitter’ and involved the custody of their children.
When asked about the blood covered clothing Fotis’ lawyer Norm Pattis refused to comment.
‘The State has alleged that Jennifer’s blood was in one or more bags. That is far more troubling than an item of clothing,’ Pattis said according to the Courant.
State Police conduct a search of Fotis Dulos home in Farmington, Connecticut, in search of his missing wife Jennifer Dulos who has not been seen since May 24
During a search, eight days after Jennifer Dulos’ disappearance, police search Fotis’ home in Farmington, Connecticut
Police released footage from inside a Hartford trash facility (above) in the search for missing New Canaan mother of five Jennifer Dulos. They used cadavar dogs in their search and claimed to have ‘good idea of what they’re looking for and where it came from,’ but are yet to announce any new evidence
Police have undertaken a widespread search of neighborhoods in a bid to find Jennifer’s body.
On the day Jennifer vanished, Dulos and Troconis are believed to have stopped at more than 30 locations outside Hartford to dispose of items including clothing and a bloodied kitchen sponge, arrest warrants say.
Although the search for Jennifer’s body continues, cops allegedly found ‘multiple stains’ and traces of blood inside her New Canaan home as well apparent evidence that a crime scene had been cleaned up.
‘Investigators came to the consensus that a serious physical assault had occurred at the scene, and Jennifer Dulos was the suspected victim,’ reads a court affidavit.
Fotis’ Lawyer Pattis told the New York Post that Jennifer wrote a ‘Gone Girl’ style script years ago and could be leveraging that idea to get back at her husband.
In the 2012 book by author Gillian Flynn a wife fakes her disappearance to try and frame her cheating husband.
Pattis claimed that Jennifer also had a ‘troubled past’ and ‘struggled with heroin her whole life.’
He also added that Jennifer had a history of disappearing, even suggesting that she has vanished from New York once before and ‘lived for years under a false name’ after an ‘intrafamilial dispute about money.’
Pattis said: ‘This is a person who has a pretty florid imagination and motives to use it to hurt Mr. Dulos.’
Both Dulos (left) and his ex-girlfriend Troconis (right) have pleaded not guilty to charges
After Fotis allegedly received a bill for $14,000 of blood work for Jennifer, Pattis added: ‘If she were critically ill, thought she was about ready to lose control of her children, disappearing in such a way that made it look as though [her husband] were the culprit is the best piss off you can give somebody.
‘From our perspective this is a perfect storm: a mysterious illness we don’t know about, a history of substance abuse, and a history of having disappeared.’
But friends of Jennifer say she was ‘was afraid for her life’ and a ‘nervous wreck’ amid a bitter divorce and custody battle with Fotis.
Anne Dranginis, attorney for Jennifer’s mother, Gloria Farber, said: ‘It’s a classic act of desperation to slander the victim.’
She filed for divorce in 2017 and had been locked in a bitter legal battle for custody of their twin boys, a twin boy and girl, and a daughter, all aged between eight and 13.
Jennifer wrote in court documents: ‘I am terrified for my family’s safety.’
Sources close to Jennifer disputed claims her novel has similarities with Gone Girl saying it has ‘has nothing in common’ with the book.
Michelle Troconis, 44, who was dating Fotis at the time. The couple have since split up, with Troconis asking Fotis not to contact her