Testimony Begins in Trial for Richard Dabate in Wife's Murder

On Tuesday, the prosecution tried to take the jury back in time to two days before Christmas in 2015, when Connie Dabate was killed.

A jury had been selected back in 2020, but the trial never continued due to the pandemic. Today, a new jury saw pictures of Connie Dabate's body as well as Richard Dabate, who police found on the floor zip-tied to a chair when they first arrived on the scene.

Dabate, who has pleaded not guilty, claimed a masked home invader entered the family’s house and shot Connie and injured him before fleeing while their children were away at school.

Prosecutors focused the bulk of their first day's case on the testimony of the three now-retired state police who responded to 7 Birchview Drive in Ellington on December 23, 2015.

They each described arriving to the smell of gunpowder and seeing a trail of blood leading from the house's entrance into the kitchen where they found Richard Dabate spread out on the floor surrounded by blood smear with a zip-tie on his neck and another on one of his wrists attached to a metal folding chair.

The jury also saw Connie Dabate who was found lifeless inside the basement shot to death.

During their investigation, Richard Dabate told investigators that a masked intruder dressed in camo entered the family's house and shot Connie in front of him.

The state said Richard shot Connie possibly in an attempt to escape the pressure of alleged affairs and a pregnant mistress.

Former State Police Lt. Wayne Rioux is a longtime neighbor of Connie Dabate's family and her family spokesperson for the trial. He said they appreciate the support they've gotten but mentioned it's been a hard six years waiting for this day.

"It's immensely important. They’ve been waiting a long time for this. It’s a pain that has continued for all these years," Rioux said.

Many headlines of this case surrounded the Fitbit that Connie Dabate was wearing the day she died which allegedly shows was moving after Dabate said she was dead.

The prosecution said they will not be calling an expert to speak about that part of the case this week.

The trial is expected to last 5-6 weeks.