When I reviewed the Dulos case, primarily through reading articles published by The Hartford Courant, I investigated whether there was anything about Fotis Dulos which could have warned people in advance what he was capable of. In doing so, I realized we certainly weren't going to get any information from Dr. Stephen Humphrey who was Fotis Dulos' therapist. Dr. Humphrey did a psychological examination of Fotis Dulos on behalf of the Court and determined that he "had no psychopathology" and presents "as gregarious and confident." After what happened to Jennifer, we'd all like to know how he could be so far wrong.
As it turns out, the reason why is that Dr. Humphrey solely used one test--the PAI test (Personality Assessment Inventory) along with meeting him for 20 hours. According to google, the PAI can test for Somatic Complaints, Anxiety, Anxiety-Related Disorders, Depression, Mania, Paranoia, Schizophrenia, Borderline Features, Antisocial Features, Alcohol Problems, and Drug Problems. It is a self report inventory with 344 items that are answered on a four point scale. This is a problem because, as "Scientific American" reports, self inventory personality tests are not as accurate as others. Not only that, from my understanding, a psychological evaluation consists of numerous tests, not just one--some of them self report and others not.
To be certain of this, I did a quick search of the internet and this is what I got from Psychology Today, "Psychological testing and evaluation consists of a series of tests that help determine the cause of mental health symptoms and disorders, to determine the correct diagnosis and follow up with the appropriate course of treatment." In other words, "a series of tests", not just one. When I had my last psychological evaluation for family court, I took five different tests. How is it that Dr. Humphreys just used one? Did he take one look at the charming Fotis Dulos and say why bother and then spent the rest of the 20 hours having nice chats? Isn't that typical of how narcissists hoodwink not only mental health professionals and court personnel as well? I'd say it is pretty classic.
Were there any other indications that Fotis Dulos was capable of murder? For one thing, just before the divorce he purchased an unregistered gun in Florida without a permit. Jennifer brought this to the Court's attention in one of her filings. In it she wrote, "I am fearful of my and my children's safety, especially because he has a handgun in the house." And further she stated, "I asked my husband to immediately remove the gun from the house, and he insisted that he was keeping the gun for protection." Once the divorce was filed, Fotis Dulos turned the gun over to the Farmington police and subsequently never picked it back up because he didn't have a permit for it. You have to wonder why he was running around with a gun just before the divorce.
In another incident Jennifer reported that Fotis Dulos threatened to run her over with a car. These kinds of incidents are hard to prove because without a witness, they are he said, she said. However, if that actually happened, it would have far worse implications than in most situations. This is because, in September 2010, Jennifer's mother-in-law was accidentally actually struck and killed by a car the nanny was driving in the driveway of the family home. It's striking that this kind of scenario rose again within the context of the divorce. In fact, knowing what we know now, it takes on an ominous tone.
Otherwise, in reading the Courant, I can't say there was anything else that indicated what Fotis Dulos was capable of. I do think one incident alerts me to the fact that Fotis Dulos was a total jerk. Specifically, at one point, Fotis had all his kids baptized as Christians against Jennifer's wishes. This is particularly offensive since Jennifer was Jewish and by Jewish law, since it goes by the matriarchal line, the children were also considered Jewish. In addition, before Hilliard Farber died, Fotis Dulos told his father-in-law that if he didn't keep giving money to him, Fotis would take the kids to Greece and never come back. This is the "congenial" guy which Dr. Humphreys was talking about.
The record shows that Jennifer Farber-Dulos absolutely outgunned Fotis Dulos financially. She clearly felt the need to defend herself to the fullest extent she was capable. While he spent $45,000 in a year on the divorce, sometimes filing his own motions, she spent $69,000 per month. She had enough clout to get the Court to limit Fotis' access to the children and require that he have supervised visitation. How? She pointed out that he had allowed the kids to have contact with his mistress, Michelle Troconis, against Court orders, and then told the kids to lie about it. For the rest of us who don't have that kind of money and status to help deal with our abusers, no way could we cut off our kid's other parent by making claims like that. Ordinarily, the Court couldn't care less. We are told we should just move on and get over it. In my case, for six years my ex refused to adhere to medical guidelines for my disabled children's care and the Court didn't do anything about it.
With all the Court processes, Fotis Dulos was staring financial ruin right in the face. This makes me question what Jennifer Dulos' attorneys were doing. I mean, you may have the ability to grind someone down, but is it wise under the circumstances to do so. Was it at all possible to arrive at a financial agreement which would have allowed Fotis Dulos to transition his business to a state of independence from his former in-laws without bankrupting him? Was all out assault necessary?
When it comes to custody, I was really struck by how clueless both Fotis Dulos and Michelle Troconis were. Michelle made the comment at one point during the custody battle that she would love to get together with Jennifer and chat over a cup of coffee. Was she kidding? Then there was Fotis peculiar idea that he could have himself, Michelle and her daughter, plus Jennifer and the five kids all living together in the same house. He thought his kids would make friends with Michelle's daughter and ultimately go to the same school together. That is so pie in the sky only a totally insensitive fool would think of it. But apparently, Fotis had concrete plans for that scenario. This is where Jennifer's kids arrived at the conclusion that Michelle was trying to erase Jennifer and take her place which, to be honest, seems entirely plausible.
If Jennifer felt she was going to lose her primary role as mother in the lives of her children, no wonder she fought with such vigor. However, this is not a situation new to family court. This is why Court orders are regularly put into place stating that romantic partners must be kept separate from the children. If people violate those orders, they can be warned, held in contempt of Court, fined, or lose privileges in many ways. However denying the offending parent access to the children or putting them on supervised visitation for that kind of offense is rather excessive. It might have made sense for Fotis' sessions with Dr. Stephen Humphrey to include some discussions about arriving at more realistic expectations for custody post divorce. But it seems like the attorneys, GALs, and custody evaluators were more interested in keeping the conflict going instead of arriving at common sense solutions.
Bottom line, divorce is a vulnerable and unstable time for most people. It is not the time for extreme accusations or extreme custody orders--at least not without a solid basis. It is not an opportunity to drive people into bankruptcy or for calling parents crazy. Why try to push people over the edge? But if the legal team involved in the Farber-Dulos case were going to act so unwisely, thank God for the supervised visitation with the children. If Fotis Dulos was willing to kill Jennifer in cold blood, had he not been restricted by supervised visitation, what might he have done to the children? It is chilling to speculate.
Justice for Jennifer would have meant that the judicial system and the legal professionals involved handled the Dulos divorce with wisdom and common sense. Instead, they used it as an opportunity to churn the case and seize as much money as possible from both Jennifer and Fotis. I suspect that the attorneys in the case were poised to carry out a custody switch from Jennifer to Fotis Dulos prior to her death. This is why Fotis was cleared of any mental health pathology while the custody evaluator, Dr. Steven Herman, labeled Jennifer with a serious mental health condition which she could not possibly have had. There were massive sums of money involved, and the kids came along with multi-million dollar trust funds.
If we were truly invested in Justice for Jennifer, this kind of nonsense would stop. The judicial branch and family court professionals would open themselves up for scrutiny and self criticism, and put a halt to the greed and corruption which has dominated the system for so long. It would end the news media blackout and allow newspapers and broadcast journalism to report on the judicial system fairly and honestly. Jennifer paid the ultimate price as a result of the CT Family Court's miserable failures. It is about time that the State of CT did something about it.
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