But, the cell phone, which was turned on, allowed police to track, or "ping," his movements and connect to video surveillance along Albany Avenue in Hartford. That video allegedly showed the estranged husband dump garbage bags full of incriminating bloody items linked to the mother-of-five missing person case.
Jennifer Farber Dulos, 50, of New Canaan, has not been seen since dropping off her five children at school on Friday, May 24. Her black Chevy Suburban was found abandoned on the side of Lapham Road near Waveny Park after she was reported missing.
The couple had been going through a contentious divorce for at least two years, and Jennifer Dulos has stated on several occasions that she was afraid of her husband and feared for her safety.
Police had searched parks and ponds and homes and woods without any luck at finding the missing mother.
But, again, that iPhone XS gave them just the break they needed to nail Fotis Dulos and his girlfriend, Michelle Troconis, with charges of tampering with or fabricating physical evidence and hindering prosecution. The duo was arrested on Saturday, June 1, and are being held on $500,000 bond.
Many of the trash bags allegedly dumped by Fotis Dulos and Troconis, who was outed after she was seen on video surveillance leaning out of the truck to smoke a cigarette, had already been taken to the incineration plant by the time New Canaan and Connecticut State Police had tracked their movements, a source told the New York Post.
Police had the incinerator shut down and began a search of whatever bags had not been burned using police cadaver dogs to scour the massive piles of garbage. On Wednesday, June 5, police, along with the FBI continued their search.
The items police did find contained the blood of Jennifer Dulos, the arrest warrant for Fotis Dulos stated. Police also found several bloodstains on the garage floor and on a parked vehicle in her Welles Lane home as well as “multiple areas of blood splatter.”
Since his arrest, a judge has suspended his visitation rights to his children, but an emergency order to grant custody to Jennifer Dulos' mother was not approved until a full court hearing could be scheduled.
Meanwhile, police have asked residents with video surveillance which points at the roadway to contact police as they continue their search. And, family and friends continue to wait and hope.
Click here to follow Daily Voice Stratford and receive free news updates.