HARTFORD, Conn. _ As the one-year anniversary of Jennifer Farber Dulos' disappearance approaches, state police efforts to find the missing New Canaan mother have turned to an abandoned $3 million home in Avon where she once lived with her husband, Fotis Dulos.
State police's renewed interest in the property _ just 1.5 miles from the Jefferson Crossing home where Fotis Dulos took his own life after being charged in his estranged wife's murder _ followed Courant questioning as to whether the sprawling grounds had ever been searched.
Years before the bitter divorce proceedings that proceeded Farber Dulos' disappearance, in the summer of 2010, the couple lived briefly at the 44 Sky View Drive home, according to two former employees of Fore Group, Dulos' home construction company. Dulos died two days after his suicide attempt in January, never regaining consciousness, and many believed he took the secret of where his wife's body was with him.
But new information about the Sky View Drive property has renewed focus on that location.
Records reviewed by The Courant show that the Fore Group also spent several months cleaning up the inside of the mansion after pipes burst in January 2018. No one has lived at the home since December 2017.
State police were aware on some level of Dulos' connection to the Sky View Drive home, through interviews with current and former Fore Group employees, though it is unclear how vigorously they pursued that potential lead, sources said.
State police sources said they received a copy of the demolition permit and spoke with the property owner, attorney David Ford, who gave them permission last fall to conduct a search. Police did visit the property, but didn't get a search warrant for it and didn't bring cadaver dogs to search the large swath of woods behind the house or the septic tank, as they did at several other properties that Dulos owned, sources said.
It is unclear if police were aware that the couple lived at the house for several months, while they were waiting for their first home on Jefferson Crossing to be finished.
Dean Batchelder, a technology consultant who worked with Dulos for years, said he remembers the couple had only two children at the time.
"It haunts me to this day," Batchelder said, regarding Jennifer's disappearance. "I walk around the reservoir all the time and when I see police tape it makes me stop and wonder."
Ford, the property owner, said he first met Dulos in 2010 when he bought the property. He hired him to do the pipe work in 2017 on a recommendation from a friend. Ford said state police searched his property last June after he gave them permission. He wasn't sure what that search entailed.
"I told them, 'whatever you need to do if it helps find the missing mother of five children,' " Ford said.
Ford added, if they want to come back and search more they are welcome to do so.
