The family of murder suspect Fotis Dulos want his trial to continue despite the fact that he is dead so they can try to clear his name, his legal team have said.
Lawyer Norm Pattis said he will file an ‘unusual motion’ to have Dulos – who was suspected of killing estranged wife Jennifer amid an acrimonious divorce – prosecuted posthumously with the aim of exonerating him.
Dulos, 52, died Thursday afternoon at a hospital in New York, 48 hours after he was found unconscious in his car following a suicide bid.
Speaking after the death was announced, Pattis said: ‘Mr. Dulos was tried and convicted in the court of public opinion. Now he has been executed.
‘We remain committed to demonstrating he did not murder Jennifer.’
The family of Fotis Dulos (pictured earlier this month), who died Thursday two days after a suicide attempt, want his murder trial to continue posthumously so he can be cleared of killing his estranged wife
Dulos’s lawyers say he was ‘tried, convicted and executed’ in the court of public opinion, and want to be given the opportunity to clear him in a court of law
Attorney Norm Pattis (left) said he will file a motion to have the defendant in the case named as Dulos’s estate so that the case can continue
The move, which the Hartford Courant said is ‘unprecedented’, would involve making Dulos’s estate the defendant.
‘It’ll be a difficult challenge,’ Pattis said. ‘We intend to proceed on as if he were alive to vindicate him.’
The motion, which will have to be agreed to by state prosecutors, states that Dulos’ family wants his children to know their father is innocent of killing their mother.
Dulos died while on bail accused of murdering estranged with Jennifer amid a divorce and custody dispute
‘Mr. Dulos’ children should not be subjected to a lifetime coping with the fictional reality that their father murdered their mother in cold blood on the basis of baseless and rampant speculation,’ the motion says.
The family are also trying to harvest the father-of-five’s organs, Pattis said.
Dulos was on bail accused of murdering his estranged wife Jennifer Dulos when he died.
Jennifer disappeared on May 24 after dropping their children off at school, in the midst of an ugly divorce and custody battle over their five children.
Her car was abandoned near to her home but her body has never been found.
Police believe Dulos murdered Jennifer and then disposed of evidence with the help of his then-girlfriend Michelle Troconis.
The pair were caught on surveillance disposing of garbage bags of items, some of which were later recovered and found to be stained with Jennifer’s blood.
Fotis Dulos is led by police in Connecticut after being arrested for the murder of his ex-wife. His attorney slammed the public’s treatment of his client, saying he was ‘executed’ by public opinion
The family of Fotis Dulos (pictured being led out of court by officials) are now demanding that he is cleared posthumously of murdering his wife Jennifer last year. ‘The family is adamant that his name be cleared,’ Pattis said in a statement, after announcing Dulos’ death
The family of Jennifer Dulos released a statement asking for privacy as news broke of his death.
‘This is a horrific tragedy all around,’ family spokeswoman Carrie Luft said.
‘Please respect the privacy of the families and loved ones involved.’
It emerged earlier Thursday that Dulos left a suicide note protesting his innocence over Jennifer’s murder.
Law enforcement sources told the Hartford Courant that during a search of Dulos’ home, officers found the note but no other evidence that could reveal the location of Jennifer’s missing body.
Dulos’ lawyer confirmed in a court filing Thursday that the note was found in the vehicle with Dulos.
Fotis was found in his car inside his garage. The exhaust pipe he used to try to kill himself is shown attached to his vehicle
Fotis is filmed being put into a helicopter at UConn Health in Connecticut on Tuesday
In the note ‘he 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 motion states.
Police said in arrest affidavits that Jennifer was attacked in the garage of her home in New Canaan, Connecticut, after dropping her children off at school for the day.
They think her killer then transported her body out of the home in her own car.
The car was found abandoned not far from the property later that day, but there was no sign of her.
Police then found large pools of her blood in the garage. They also said they had surveillance footage of two people who looked like Dulos and Troconis depositing garbage bags at various locations that night that, when tested later, were found to contain Jennifer’s DNA.
Fotis’ sister, Rena, who had traveled from Greece to support him throughout his legal woes, is shown outside Jacobi Medical Center in the Bronx Thursday
Rena previously said she believes her brother is innocent and that he would never have harmed Jennifer
Jennifer had said in divorce papers that she was afraid of him, and their children’s former nanny said she once witnessed him ‘chase her through the house’.
Dulos, however, gave interviews protesting his innocence.
He said he never harmed her and, at one stage, his attorney suggested Jennifer had killed herself in a Gone Girl style plot to blame it on him.
Gloria Farber, Jennifer’s mother, was given full custody of Jennifer and Fotis’ children, aged 8 to 13, after she filed a custody motion the same day Fotis was arrested for evidence tampering and hindering prosecution in relation to Jennifer’s disappearance in May.
She continues to care for them in her Upper East Side apartment on Fifth Avenue.
At one point, Farber’s apartment was being guarded by armed security.
Police carried out a new search of Fotis Dulos’ home on Wednesday, the day after the suspected murderer was found unresponsive in his garage.
Connecticut State Police confirmed they had executed a new search warrant at the Farmington home.
Brian Foley, assistant to the Department of Emergency Services and Public Protection commissioner, said the Western District Major Crimes unit had obtained the warrant for the home and conducted the search Wednesday afternoon, NBC Connecticut reported.
Authorities did not divulge what they were looking for but, according to The Hartford Courant, they found the suicide note.
A bondsman who had been working with Dulos since his first two arrests has come forward revealing he was probably the last person to speak with the suspected killer before he died.
Mark Motuxzick, a bondsman for Capitol Bail Bonds, said he spoke on the phone with Dulos just hours before he was found lifeless.
Motuxzick told NBC Connecticut Wednesday that Dulos called him at 9:53 a.m. Tuesday morning asking if he could take over the bond that was up for the emergency hearing that Dulos missed later that day.
Police searched Fotis Dulos’ home on Wednesday, the day after the suspected killer tried to kill himself with carbon monoxide poisoning on Tuesday
Connecticut State Police executed a new search warrant at the Farmington home (above)
Authorities did not divulge what they were looking for but it later emerged that a suicide note was found in which Dulos’ maintained his innocence
‘He asked me what do I need to take over, those were his words, the bail that he’s referring to the $6 million,’ said Motuxzick, who was the first bondsman to try to secure Dulos’ most recent $6 million bond.
‘I stated that I would give him a call back in a little while because he said he was on his way to his attorney’s office.’
He said when he called Dulos back about 40 minutes later at 10:34 a.m., he noticed he sounded different and like he was ‘out of breath’.
‘He was like it’s all set something to that effect,’ Motuxzick said.
‘It sounded like he was working out it was almost like he was kind of I don’t know out of breath.’
A bondsman (pictured) who had been working with Dulos since his first two arrests has come forward revealing he may have been the last person to speak with him before he died
‘Unfortunately I don’t know if it just all got to him at that point and he said to heck with it,’ said Motuxzick.
The bondsman told NBC Dulos always told him he loved his children and that he had an explanation for the accusations against him but the bond might have ‘put him over the edge’.
‘Whatever happened along the way with the bond being posted I think this was possibly a something that just might’ve put him over the edge,’ Motuxzick said.
At the time of his suicide attempt, Dulos was on strict house arrest and could only leave his mansion to see a lawyer, a doctor or attend a religious service.
Dulos’ attorneys Norm Pattis (right) and Kevin Smith (left) in court on Wednesday at the bond hearing. Pattis announced his client’s death on Thursday evening
The company which insured his $6million bond and got him out of jail reneged on it on Tuesday over doubts around the equity of the real estate assets he put up as security.
Palmetto Surety Company, which originally posted the bond, had recently learned that two properties offered as collateral, including the real estate developer’s mansion in Farmington, were subject to foreclosure and a third was overvalued by over $300,000.
Dulos faced the prospect of having his $6 million bond revoked at an emergency court hearing Tuesday.
Sources told DailyMail.com Dulos was ‘losing his mind’ at the prospect of having to go back into custody.
Fotis was due in court at noon that day, but failed to show up.
Police arrived to check on him and saw him through a window, sitting in his vehicle in the garage, showing ‘obvious signs of medical distress’.
On Wednesday, New York bail bondsman Ira Judelson, a celebrity favorite, went to Stamford to offer up the bond.
Before Dulos passed away, the judge issued a warrant for his re-arrest and added $500,000 to his bail.
Dulos’ attorney Pattis said on Wednesday he never anticipated his client would try to take his own life.
‘A lawyer’s commitment is to be a shepherd to his client and to walk them through the valley of the shadow of death…
‘Sometimes you make a call where you think your client is self destructive. That is based on the best judgement you can see.
‘I saw nothing that made me believe that so I look back and wonder what I missed,’ he said outside court.
Emergency workers are shown trying to revive Fotis Dulos at his home in Farmington, Connecticut, on Tuesday
The new girlfriend who put up nearly $150k for his bond and was with him the morning of his suicide attempt
Murder suspect Fotis Dulos had a new girlfriend who had fronted thousands of dollars in cash in order for him to make bond and who was with him the morning he attempted suicide, DailyMail.com revealed Thursday.
Before his suicide attempt and death two days later, Fotis Dulos had a new girlfriend Anna K. Curry (above) who paid 147,000 in cash in order for him to make bond, DailyMail.com revealed
Documents obtained by DailyMail.com found that Anna K. Curry, 42, put up $147,000 in cash and said she would pay an additional $272,000 to secure the $6million bond that Dulos posted after he was charged with Jennifer’s murder.
Curry was seen at Dulos’ home on Tuesday in the hours before he was due to attend a hearing at Stamford Superior Court where he feared his bond would be revoked and he would be jailed.
She left Dulos’ home around 10.30am to run errands and returned to find police officers fighting to revive him on the driveway, according to sources.
Sources confirmed that Curry was in a romantic relationship with him.
She bears a striking resemblance to Dulos’ missing wife Jennifer and his ex-girlfriend Michelle Troconis, who has been charged with conspiracy to commit murder.
The brunette bears a striking resemblance to Dulos’ missing wife Jennifer (left) and mistress Michelle Troconis (right) who has also been charged in the disappearance
A neighbor told DailyMail.com: ‘A young woman has been at Fotis’ house several times over the past few months. They’ve been out jogging together. She’s been driving one of his cars.’
The Hartford Courant first reported that Curry wrote two checks for a total of $147,000 on January 9, according to public records, in order to pay the bail bondsman his fee on the $6million bond. Dulos contributed a check for $1,000.
The conditions of Dulos’ $6million bond meant putting up 7 per cent of that amount or $420,000 in cash, to prevent him awaiting trial in jail.
According to the filing, Curry also agreed to pay the balance of just over $272,000 in 15 installments until April 2021 to secure the $6million bond.
In the documents, seen by DailyMail.com, Dulos listed Curry as his ‘best friend’.
Curry worked at a consulting firm in New York from 1999 until 2003 and Dulos overlapped with her at the company when he worked there from 1997 until 2004
On Curry, Dulos’ lawyer Norm Pattis said in an earlier statement: ‘It is my understanding and belief these were old friends who developed a friendship years ago at work and out of loyalty to that friendship she has assisted Mr. Dulos. We should all be lucky enough to have such a loyal friend.’
He declined to elaborate on the nature of Dulos and Curry’s relationship.
Curry lives in Charlotte, North Carolina, and works in financial services.
She worked at Capgemini, a consulting firm in New York, as a senior consultant in wealth management strategy for four years from 1999 until 2003, according to her LinkedIn.
Dulos overlapped with her time at the company when he was a manager at Capgemini for seven years from 1997 until 2004.
Curry went on to take other senior positions in wealth management at New York firms until 2013 when she relocated to North Carolina, where her family are based. She graduated magna cum laude from Duke University in Durham with a BA in history in 1999.
Social media pictures appear to show she is a keen equestrian.
Dulos’ final message: The suicide note protesting his innocence
Fotis Dulos maintained he was innocent of murdering his wife until the very end, DailyMail.com revealed Thursday.
The suspected killer left a suicide note protesting his innocence over Jennifer’s murder before attempting suicide, it emerged.
Dulos consistently denied having anything to do with her death since her disappearance in May.
He gave interviews saying he never harmed her and, at one stage, his attorney suggested Jennifer had killed herself in a Gone Girl style plot to blame her death on him.
Hopes of any admission of guilt have been dashed after Dulos succumbed to his injuries Thursday – not before authorities allegedly found a note in which he continued to proclaim his innocence.
Police conducted another search of Dulos’ home Wednesday.
While authorities would not comment on what they hoped they would find, many were eager to know whether he had confessed to Jennifer’s murder in a note before trying to take his own life.
According to The Hartford Courant, officers did find a note – but it protested his innocence and not his guilt.
Dulos’ lawyer later confirmed in a court filing Thursday that the note was found with his body.
In the note ‘he 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 motion states.
Family flew in to say their goodbyes
The family of Fotis Dulos were urged to come to the hospital to say their goodbyes to the suspected murderer before he passed away as his chances of recovery appeared to dwindle, DailyMail.com revealed exclusively on Wednesday.
A source told DailyMail.com that by the day after his suicide attempt, he was ‘completely reliant on life support’ and all hope had faded that he would ever wake up.
Had the father-of-five pulled through, doctors had said brain damage would have been ‘inevitable because of the amount of time he was unresponsive’, the source said.
Relatives flew in from Greece to be with him in his final hours and his affairs were ‘being put in order’, according to the source.
Rena Dulos, his sister who lives in their native Greece, was his closest living adult relative.
Rena traveled to New York with his niece Angelika to say goodbye to her brother.
She was pictured outside Jacobi Medical Center in the Bronx Thursday.
Rena Dulos speaks with her brother’s attorney, Norm Pattis, at the hospital on Thursday shortly before Fotis Dulos died at 5.32p.m.
Jennifer’s disappearance and alleged murder
On May 24, in the midst of an ugly divorce and custody battle over their five children, Jennifer vanished without a trace.
She was last seen arriving home at around 8a.m. after dropping the children off at school that morning and then missed several appointments in New York City that day.
Her car, a Chevrolet Suburban, was abandoned in a parking lot near to her home.
Her body has never been found.
Surveillance footage allegedly shows Dulos in a pickup truck with his then-girlfriend Michelle Troconis disposing of garbage bags of items, some of which were later recovered and found to be stained with Jennifer’s blood.
Sources told the Hartford Courant that police later recovered blood-soaked sponges and a Vineyard Vines shirt that Jennifer was wearing when she went missing.
Surveillance footage (pictured) shows the last known images of Jennifer driving home, where police say Dulos ‘lay in wait’, after she dropped her children at school at around 8am on May 24
Dulos is shown on May 29 withdrawing $500 cash before visiting a car wash to clean his employee’s car on the day Jennifer vanished
Jennifer and her husband had been locked in a vicious custody battle for the last two years. In 2017 divorce documents, Jennifer said she was ‘afraid’ of Fotis and he would ‘harm’ her
They also have traffic and school bus camera footage of a man they believe was Dulos driving a pickup truck to New Canaan on the morning Jennifer disappeared; surveillance video of Dulos getting the truck washed and detailed days after she vanished; and evidence that Jennifer’s DNA was found on the truck’s passenger seat, according to a police warrant.
State’s Attorney Richard Colangelo Jr. said in court last year that Jennifer’s blood also was found mixed with Dulos’ DNA on the kitchen sink faucet of her home in New Canaan.
Authorities believe that Dulos drove an employee’s red Toyota Tacoma truck to New Canaan, and lay in wait for Jennifer to return home from the school run.
Dulos is believed to have murdered Jennifer sometime over the next two hours.
Jennifer’s SUV was seen leaving her house at around 10.20a.m. Police believe Dulos was driving the car.
Dulos was then allegedly picked back up by surveillance cameras at 11.20a.m. back in the truck.
The most explosive claims in the warrant came from Pawel Gumienny, the employee whose truck Dulos allegedly used.
Gumienny claims Dulos urged him to keep one of his cars instead of taking back his truck that day.
Five days later, Gumienny said he found out that Dulos and Troconis had washed his truck without his knowledge.
Dulos then repeatedly urged him to replace and get rid of the seats of his truck and grew angry when his employee failed to do so at first.
Police found a ‘bloodlike substance’ containing Jennifer’s DNA on the seats, despite Dulos’ alleged attempts to clean the car.
Investigators are convinced Jennifer is dead.
It took eight months for murder charges to be brought against Dulos.
The ex-girlfriend and the civil attorney: The surviving two charged in Jennifer’s disappearance
Dulos’ ex-girlfriend, Michelle Troconis, and his friend and civil attorney, Kent Douglas Mawhinney, are charged with conspiracy to murder for their alleged roles in plotting and covering up Jennifer’s death.
Dulos and Troconis had previously been charged with evidence tampering and obstruction in Jennifer’s disappearance.
Dulos’ criminal attorney previously proposed that Mawhinney could provide an alibi that cleared him of wrongdoing.
Troconis is accused of helping Dulos dispose of evidence on the day of Jennifer’s disappearance. They were both captured on surveillance disposing of the items that tested positive for Jennifer’s blood.
Mawhinney is accused of digging a grave and stocking it with lime before she disappeared. The grave was later discovered and found not to have been used.
According to arrest warrants, Mawhinney had a prearranged meeting with Dulos on the morning of his wife’s disappearance, was at Dulos’s office and had his cellphone with him.
He also was mentioned in what police described as ‘alibi notes’ found in the trash at Dulos’ business, according to the warrants.
Mawhinney once represented Dulos in lawsuits filed by Jennifer’s mother, who claims Dulos never repaid her late husband for about $3 million in loans he gave Dulos to develop expensive homes.
Mawhinney is charged in another case with sexually assaulting his estranged wife in South Windsor last year and violating a protective order. He has pleaded not guilty.
In court documents in those cases, Jennifer told authorities she believed Mawhinney was plotting to have her killed and Dulos made contact with her as part of the plot.
Michelle Troconis (left), Fotis’ live-in girlfriend at the time of Jennifer’s disappearance, and Kent Mawhinney, Dulos’ civil attorney (right), are charged with conspiracy to murder for their alleged roles in plotting and covering up Jennifer’s death