Inset: Jennifer Farber Dulos (New Canaan Police Department). Background: Kent Mawhinney, center, listens to a judge during his plea hearing (WVIT).
A Connecticut attorney avoided additional jail time after he pleaded guilty to a lesser charge for his role in the disappearance of a mother of five who went missing some six years ago and is presumed dead.
The guilty plea of 59-year-old Kent Mawhinney brings to a close the criminal case into the 2019 disappearance and suspected death of Jennifer Farber Dulos. But the most important question has yet to be answered: What happened to Dulos?
Mawhinney, originally charged with conspiracy commit murder, entered an Alford plea Friday on a charge interfering with police. An Alford plea is not an admission of guilt but a concession that the prosecution has enough evidence for a conviction at trial. The judge sentenced Mawhinney to 11 months behind bars, which he has already served, local NBC affiliate WVIT reported.
Dulos, 50, disappeared on May 24, 2019, amid an ugly divorce from her estranged husband Fotis Dulos. In divorce papers, she claimed he harbored “sickening revenge fantasies,” and she expected he’d retaliate against her for divorcing him.
Officers said he attacked her at her New Canaan home the day she went missing, and brought her out when she was either badly injured or dead. He later tried to get rid of evidence in Hartford. Authorities believed he received the help of his then-girlfriend Michelle Troconis and Mawhinney. Fotis Dulos died by suicide in January 2020 after he was charged with murder while a jury found Troconis guilty of conspiracy to commit murder, tampering with evidence and hindering prosecution. A judge sentenced her to 14-and-a-half years in prison.
Outside of court after sentencing, Mawhinney denied knowing what happened to the victim or where her body is located.
“No. If I did, I would tell them,” he said, according to WVIT.
Jennifer Dulos’ family released the following statement to local media:
We want to thank the state’s attorney’s office—in particular, Paul Ferencek, Michelle Manning, and Sean McGuinness—for their long-term commitment to this case and their careful consideration in seeking justice. We also express deep gratitude to the investigators and other law enforcement personnel for their dedication.
Today’s development does not absolve Kent Mawhinney of conspiracy to murder. His arrest warrant includes evidence sufficient to bring that charge, but the burden of proof is great by necessity. The conspiracy charge was dropped for multiple reasons, including the fact that another lengthy, complex jury trial would come at a substantial cost, financial as well as emotional, to all involved. We are in full support of the state’s attorneys’ decision.
Recently, we marked the six-year milestone of Jennifer’s disappearance. Many questions remain. It is clear that Jennifer was the victim of a systematically planned, ruthlessly executed murder, and her body still has not been found. We believe that someone possesses additional knowledge about where she is, and we hope fervently that they will come forward with that information.
We miss Jennifer every day, in every way, and ask that you please respect the privacy of her family and loved ones. Thank you.
During Troconis’ trial the Dulos family nanny testified to the volatility of the husband-wife relationship.
One such incident from 2017 involved Fotis Dulos chasing Jennifer Dulos to a room at their home and Jennifer pushing her body against the door to keep him out, according to testimony. Fotis allegedly acted calmer when he realized the nanny and one of the couple’s children were there. His demeanor changed from yelling to being “very soft-spoken,” said the nanny, Lauren Almeida.
“Jennifer, I just want to talk,” he said, according to Almeida’s testimony.
The marriage continued to deteriorate when the victim learned her husband was having an affair with Troconis.
“He is having an affair and I have proof,” Jennifer Dulos said, according to Almeida’s testimony.
That proof was emails and receipts showing that Fotis Dulos and Troconis went on a trip to Utah.
“She was just like, ‘I knew it,”” Almeida said, describing Jennifer Dulos as soft-spoken.
Following Mawhinney’s plea, Troconis’ family issued a statement to local media that proclaimed her innocence and dismay at the decision not to pursue further charges against the attorney.
Today’s decision by the State of Connecticut to drop the conspiracy to commit murder charge against Kent Mawhinney, without ever bringing him to trial, is both deeply disturbing and unjust. The very same prosecutors who claimed there was enough evidence to convict Michelle Troconis are now saying they don’t have enough to prosecute a man.
“This is not justice. This is selective prosecution.
“Today’s outcome only reinforces what we have known all along: This case has never been about equal justice. It’s been about scapegoating Michelle from the start. Our daughter remains incarcerated, serving 14.5 years for crimes she did not commit, based entirely on speculation, not facts. Michelle’s statements were distorted to fit the state’s narrative.
“We remain committed to fighting for Michelle’s exoneration and exposing the failures of a system that prioritized headlines over truth. We call on the media, the public, and legal advocates to take a closer look. Because when someone can be convicted without direct evidence, while another walks free despite it, we are all at risk.
Alberto Luperon contributed to this report
