Ellington Murder Case Headed For Pre-Trial Hearing

VERNON/ELLINGTON, CT — The murder case involving Richard Dabate, the Ellington man accused of killing his wife three years ago, is headed for a pre-trial hearing on Jan 24, a clerk at Rockville Superior Court said Friday.

Dabate filed an appearance on Friday.

Judge Jorge Simon is scheduled to preside over the pre-trial hearing, a clerk said.

Richard Dabate has been free on a $1 million bond since several family homes were leveraged for the bail money in April 2017,shorly after his arrest. The murder case dates back to two days before Christmas in 2015, when Connie Dabate was found dead.

The warrant by which Richard Dabate, who is now in his early 40s, was charged with murder, not only accuses him of having an affair, but getting a girlfriend pregnant and then scripting an involved story that included him being tied to a chair with an intruder "manhandling" him before shooting his wife.

State policeinvestigated Richard Dabate's account of what happened and, after what they called a "long and exhaustive" investigation, arrested him several months later, according to a warrant. See the full story on Richard Dabate's arrest, including details on the arrest warrant, here.

Richard Dabate also came under fire after a probate court official said Connie Dabate had $76,958.07 to her name shortly after her death, but her accounts showed a balance of $6.42 in late October 2017. See the details here.

Richard Dabate filed a civil complaint against the probate court in November 2017 while defending the use of the funds to support the Dabate children, court records show.

In all, Richard Dabate has filed 16 court appearances between April 28, 2017 and Friday, according to the case file at Rockville Superior Court.

Photo Credit: Chris Dehnel

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