Hartford

Investigation at Hartford Trash Facility Into Missing Mom Jennifer Dulos Is Winding Down: Source

Jennifer Dulos was last seen on Friday, May 24 when she dropped her children off at school in New Canaan.

State police have been investigating for more than two weeks at a Hartford trash facility in connection with the disappearance of Jennifer Dulos, a mom of five from New Canaan who has been missing for nearly a month, and a police source said the search at that plant is winding down.

Dulos was last seen on Friday, May 24 when she dropped her children off at school in New Canaan.

The search for her in the weeks since has spanned several communities, including New Canaan, Farmington, Avon and Hartford, and New Canaan police said Wednesday that they have received nearly 900 tips related to the investigation and more than 80 submissions from surveillance cameras.

State police first arrived at Material Innovation and Recycling Authority, a trash-to-energy plant in Hartford, in connection with the disappearance on Monday, June 3 and the search has continued in the weeks since. On Friday, police said the search at the Hartford facility should be "concluded in the very near future," but the exact ending date is not known.

On Wednesday, the NBC Connecticut crew at the facility saw a state police vehicle enter the facility around lunchtime and a police source said the search at that facility is winding down.

“I think they would all agree that their efforts have been worth it,” Brian Foley, an aide to the commission of the state Department of Emergency Service and Public Protection, said Tuesday.

He declined to go into detail about the evidence that investigators might have gathered while sifting through piles of shredded garbage.

“Making that stuff public is not in the best interest of the criminal investigation,” Foley said.

State Police troopers have worked in 12-hour shifts at the trash plant and one employee who witnessed the search describes investigators combing for clues through mountains of trash shredded into eight-inch pieces. State police said they are using cadaver dogs to search for a human odor in the pile.

Police are going through garbage that would have been collected along Albany Avenue in Hartford in the days after Jennifer Dulos disappeared.

Court documents said a man matching the description of Jennifer Dulos’ estranged husband, Fotis Dulos, could be seen on city surveillance cameras throwing bags into bins along that street the same day Jennifer was reported missing.

Contents that investigators recovered in that same vicinity tested positive for Jennifer’s blood, according to the arrest warrant charging Dulos with evidence tampering and hindering prosecution.

Fotis Dulos has been released on $500,000 bond after pleading not guilty.

His girlfriend, Michelle Troconis, was also charged with evidence tampering and hindering prosecution.

Court documents say a woman matching her appearance could be seen on that same surveillance video along Albany Avenue. She also pleaded not guilty.

NBC Connecticut reached out to her attorney and the state’s attorney again today but neither have responded to our requests for comment.

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