Inside the Fotis Dulos, Jennifer Dulos murder case: Possible grave and nanny's account

Fotis Dulos' estranged wife, Jennifer Dulos, has been missing since May.

January 8, 2020, 1:27 PM

Arrest warrants allege new details in the mysterious disappearance of Connecticut mom Jennifer Dulos -- including her nanny's first reaction and what apparently went missing from her pantry.

Jennifer Dulos, who shared five children with her estranged husband, Fotis Dulos, went missing May 24 amid the former couple's contentious custody battle.

Her body was never found, but Fotis Dulos was charged Tuesday with capital murder, murder and kidnapping, police said.

Authorities allege Jennifer Dulos was killed at her home on May 24 between 8:05 a.m. and 10:25 a.m, after she returned from taking her children to school, according to an arrest warrant.

On May 24, surveillance footage showed someone in a hoodie riding a bike consistent with Fotis Dulos' bike toward Jennifer Dulos' home.

PHOTO: This booking photograph released Tuesday, Jan. 7, 2020, by the Connecticut State Police shows Fotis Dulos, arrested in Farmington, Conn., and charged with murder of his estranged wife Jennifer Dulos, who went missing in May 2019.
This booking photograph released Tuesday, Jan. 7, 2020, by the Connecticut State Police shows Fotis Dulos, arrested in Farmington, Conn., and charged with murder of his estranged wife Jennifer Dulos, who went missing in May 2019.
Connecticut State Police via AP

Police claim Fotis Dulos bound Jennifer Dulos with zip ties, put her inside her own car and cleaned the garage, according to an arrest warrant.

Surveillance video shows Jennifer Dulos' car leaving home at 10:25 a.m., according to the documents.

Fotis Dulos' defense attorney, Norm Pattis, told ABC News on Tuesday, "Mr. Dulos has contended he's not guilty."

PHOTO: Connecticut State Police officers lead Fotis Dulos, center, from the State Police barracks to a waiting car, Jan. 7, 2020, in Bridgeport, Conn., after he was arrested at his home in Farmington.
Connecticut State Police officers lead Fotis Dulos, center, from the State Police barracks to a waiting car, Jan. 7, 2020, in Bridgeport, Conn., after he was arrested at his home in Farmington.
Chris Ehrmann/AP

'My stomach sank'

The Dulos children's nanny, Lauren Almeida, said she arrived at Jennifer Dulos' home at 11:30 a.m. on May 24, according to the warrant for Dulos' arrest.

Jennifer Dulos was supposed to be at a doctor's appointment, the documents said, and Almeida found the mom of five's unopened granola bar and mug of tea on the kitchen counter.

In the pantry, Almeida found only two paper towel rolls remained -- which she said was "'incredibly strange' because just the night before she had placed a brand-new pack of twelve rolls in the pantry," the documents said.

That afternoon, Almeida's texts to Jennifer Dulos were going unanswered, and at 4 p.m., her call to Jennifer Dulos went straight to voicemail, the arrest warrant said.

PHOTO: Police in Connecticut are looking for Jennifer Dulos, 50, who was last seen on Friday, May 24, 2019.
Police in Connecticut are looking for Jennifer Dulos, 50, who was last seen on Friday, May 24, 2019.
New Canaan Police Department

"Immediately my stomach sank, and I had a feeling that something was wrong," Almeida said, according to the arrest warrant. "In the almost seven years that I have worked for Jennifer I NEVER EVER had a hard time reaching her and NEVER had an issue with her phone being off."

Once Almeida learned Jennifer Dulos didn't make it to a child's orthodontist appointment that afternoon, her "first thought was that Fotis did something," the arrest warrant said.

Almeida later was shown investigation photos and she noted that a cleaning supply bucket with cleaning supplies inside was missing from the garage, the arrest warrant said.

'Sometimes I hope she disappears'

Fotis Dulos' girlfriend, Michelle Troconis, also was arrested Tuesday, charged with conspiracy to commit murder, authorities said.

Police allege she lied about when she saw her boyfriend on the morning his wife disappeared, according to an arrest warrant.

PHOTO: Fotis Dulos and Michelle Troconis in police booking photos.
Fotis Dulos and Michelle Troconis in police booking photos.
New Canaan Police Department

Police also say, according to the documents, that Troconis "conveyed Dulos had told her, 'Sometimes I hope she disappears.'"

In one of Troconis' police interviews, according to the documents, "When Troconis was told that Dulos had killed his wife and involved her [Troconis] in the clean-up, she responded by saying, 'That's like even worse. I hate him because of that. ... I was cleaning the house. I wasn't cleaning Jennifer.'"

'One hundred percent a human grave'

Kent Mahwinney, an attorney and a friend of Fotis Dulos, was the third person arrested in the case, charged with conspiracy to commit murder.

Troconis told police Fotis Dulos was meeting with Mawhinney at the time Jennifer Dulos disappeared, according to an arrest warrant.

On May 18, 2019, days before Jennifer Dulos disappeared, two men were at a Connecticut gun club Mawhinney once belonged to when they found a hole they described as "one hundred percent a human grave," according to the warrant for Mawhinney's arrest.

PHOTO: Kent Mahwinney, an attorney who has represented Fotis Dulos, was charged with conspiracy to commit murder.
Kent Mahwinney, an attorney who has represented Fotis Dulos, was charged with conspiracy to commit murder.
South Windsor Police Dept.

In the hole, one man found a blue tarp and two unopened bags of lime, the documents said.

One man said, "What's the lime for?"

The other answered, per the documents, "For trying to get rid of a body!"

In early June, one of the men returned to the spot and "found the hole had been filled and covered 'as neat as a pin' with leave and sticks too the point that you could not tell a hole had ever been there," the documents said.

Officers searched the spot in June and August, but while they, along with canine teams, discovered "a site of disturbed earth," they "could locate no signs of human remains" and "no signs of the tarp or the bags of lime," the documents said.

On the night of May 31, Mawhinney's phone polled the tower that appears to service the gun club, the documents said.

Initial court appearances

Dulos, Troconis and Mawhinney made initial appearances in court Wednesday.

Mawhinney was tipped off to his arrest and evaded state police for a period of time on Tuesday, prosecutors alleged, before he was found near the Connecticut-Massachusetts border. He was held on $2 million bond Wednesday and returns to court on Feb. 20

Dulos, appearing in court in a blue blazer and open-collared shirt with his hands cuffed behind back, was ordered to not speak with his five children or the nanny. His bond was set at $6 million and he returns to court on Feb. 28.

PHOTO: Fotis Dulos appears in court in Stamford, Conn., Jan. 8, 2020.
Fotis Dulos appears in court in Stamford, Conn., Jan. 8, 2020.
ABC News

"We are in the process of arranging bail," Pattis, the Dulos defense attorney, told reporters Wednesday after court. "It's unclear to me whether all of the parts will fall together today."

"We very much want to try this case. Mr. Dulos wants to clear his name," Pattis said. "There does not appear to be a crime scene weapon ... there's no body. What we have is a suspicious disappearance and an entirely circumstantial case."

Troconis had bond set at $1.5 million and returns to court on Feb. 7.

Carrie Luft, a spokeswoman for Jennifer Dulos' family, said in a statement Tuesday: "Although we are relieved that the wait for these charges is over, for us there is no sense of closure. Nothing can bring Jennifer back. We miss her every day and will forever mourn her loss."

ABC News' Brian Hartman contributed to this report.