Missing New Canaan Mom Case: Family Blasts 'Gone Girl' Theory

NEW CANAAN, CT — Could missing New Canaan mother-of-five Jennifer Farber Dulos have staged her own disappearance? That is a claim that Norm Pattis, the attorney for estranged husband Fotis Dulos, floated over the weekend in the New York Post.

Pattis claims that Jennifer Dulos wrote a 500-page manuscript more than a decade ago that has similarities to the best-selling 2012 book "Gone Girl" by Gillian Flynn. In that book, a woman goes missing and readers learn that she had staged her own disappearance.

Carrie Luft, spokesperson for the family and friends of Jennifer Farber Dulos, released a statement to Patch and other media outlets Monday calling Pattis' claims "false and irresponsible allegations" that are hurtful.

"I read Jennifer’s novel in installments as she was completing the manuscript. She finished the draft around 2002. (This was before she was dating Fotis Dulos.) Her book has nothing to do with Gone Girl (published in 2012)," Luft stated. "Jennifer’s novel is not a mystery. It’s a character-driven story that follows a young woman through relationships and self-discovery over a period of years. Like all of Jennifer’s writing, it expresses a deep longing for human connection and the need to be accepted as one’s true self.

"Trying to tie Jennifer’s absence to a book she wrote more than 17 years ago makes no sense. Evidence shows that Jennifer was the victim of a violent attack in her New Canaan home. As of today, she has been missing for a month. This is not fiction or a movie. This is real life, as experienced every single day by Jennifer’s five young children, her family, and her friends. We are heartbroken. Jennifer is not here to protect her children, and these false and irresponsible allegations hurt the children now and into the future."

In a statement to Patch, Pattis says that Jennifer Dulos "had the imagination, means and motive" to potentially stage her own disappearance. Jennifer Dulos and estranged husband, Fotis Dulos, were in the midst of a contentious divorce and child custody battle at the time of her disappearance last month.

"We are continuing our investigation of Ms. Dulos's disappearance, and believe it to be entirely consistent with the evidence to conclude that she was not a victim of foul play at the hands of third parties," Pattis stated. "Efforts to distance Ms. Dulos from a Gone Girl-type scenario are well-meaning, to be sure. But the fact remains that Ms. Dulos remains accountably 'Gone,' and had the imagination, means and motive to disappear."

In addition to the "Gone Girl" theory, Pattis also claims that Jennifer Dulos has led a troubled life and lived under a pseudonym for a period of time during a separate family dispute.

Jennifer Dulos has been missing since May 24, and New Canaan and state police have worked ever since to find her and were back searching multiple locations on Monday, including a Hartford garbage plant, reports WFSB-TV.

Fotis Dulos and Michelle Troconis, who Pattis claims is now Fotis Dulos' ex-girlfriend, were charged with evidence tampering and hindering a prosecution a week after Jennifer Dulos disappeared. Police found blood stains at Jennifer Dulos' New Canaan home and bloodstained items in garbage that Fotis Dulos and Troconis discarded in the Hartford area, according to police.

Both Fotis Dulos and Troconis both are free on bond and are scheduled to be back in court in August and July, respectively.

Pattis added that his client deserves the presumption of innocence as do all defendants, and he says that Fotis Dulos hopes to regain visitation rights to his children.

"Fotis Dulos is presumed innocent. He should not be effectively imprisoned on conditions of release and kept from those he loves — including his children," Pattis stated. "Accordingly, we filed a motion this afternoon to clarify whether existing court orders permit him to have contact with Ms. Troconis, and I have filed my appearance in his family case where we will seek visitation with, and custody of, the children.

"We have learned that Ms. Troconis believes in his innocence, and loves him still. We see no reason why the two of them should not be free to live as they see fit."

Click here to read the full story on the New York Post website, and click here to read it on the WFSB-TV website.