Jennifer Dulos’ bumbling, estranged husband and his girlfriend handed cops the “big break” in the case — and just in the nick of time, a law enforcement source told The Post on Tuesday.
Fotis Dulos had his cellphone with him and turned on when he and gal pal Michelle Troconis allegedly dumped incriminating items stained with Jennifer’s blood in Hartford, Connecticut, trash cans the night of her disappearance, court papers show.
And the phone pings led cops to discover that the pair had made more than 30 stops to toss the bags while driving on Albany Avenue — allowing detectives to collect crucial evidence in time, the source said.
Many of the discarded trash bags had already been hauled off to the area’s incineration plant by the time authorities learned last week of the pair’s movements, another law enforcement source said.
Police frantically had the incinerator shut down and learned that the sought-after trash collected from Albany Avenue may not have been burned yet, according to the Hartford Courant.
Police cadaver dogs have been scouring a massive mound of garbage there — crushed into fragments no bigger than 6 inches — searching for things such as bone fragments.
“Right now, it’s a mystery where she is,” the first source said of Jennifer. “We don’t have a strong lead.”
But some of the bags dumped along Albany Avenue were recovered from their bins before being hauled off, helping detectives finally bring charges against the suspects for alleged evidence-tampering and hindering prosecution.