BRONX, N.Y. (WTNH) — Fotis Dulos has passed after an apparent suicide attempt.
On Thursday night, attorney Norm Pattis said Dulos was declared dead at 5:32 p.m. at Jacobi Medical Center in the Bronx.
Pattis said Dulos’ family was by his side and have decided to donate his organs, hoping he will “live on in some form.” They also said they want his name cleared.
Throughout the day, Dulos’ family had him undergo difficult tests and met several medical requirements to have him declared dead.
According to Farmington police, his body will be taken to the Manhattan Medical Examiner to determine his cause and manner of death. The suicide investigation is ongoing.
Pattis told reporters that his death was not an admission of guilt; he maintained Dulos’ innocence.
“To those who contend that Mr. Dulos’ death reflects a consciousness of guilt, we say no. We say it was more a conscience overborne with the weight of a world that was too busy to listen and that wanted a story more than it wanted the truth.”
WATCH: Pattis speaks following Dulos’ death
Pattis said Dulos’ legal team has filed a “motion to substitute an estate for Fotis Dulos for him as a defendant to force the state to show its hand in a trial filled with evidence we think that amounts to no more than innuendo and unsupported suspicion.”
RELATED: State police release detailed documents in Jennifer Dulos’ disappearance
He said it will be a difficult challenge to persuade the state of Connecticut to go forward with the trial in the absence of a defendant.
“We’re asking for the right to clear his name,” Pattis said. “We intend to proceed on as if he were alive to vindicate him because we think he’s wrongfully accused.”
Police found Dulos unresponsive after he failed to show up for an emergency bond hearing.
Probation officers tried to call Dulos’ cellphone but it kept going to voicemail; however, his GPS monitor showed that he was inside the house.
When officers arrived, they found him “slumped over” in the driver’s seat.
WARRANTS: Fotis Dulos charged with capital murder in case of missing estranged wife, Jennifer Dulos
Dulos was taken to UConn Medical Center and then later airlifted to Jacobi, where he underwent treatment in a hyperbaric chamber for carbon monoxide poisoning.
On Wednesday, search warrants were executed at Dulos’ Farmington home. On Thursday, News 8 learned that during that search, detectives with CT State Police found a note — believed to be written by Dulos for the attempted suicide — that maintained his innocence.
Pattis filed a motion to preserve “any and all evidence that the police discovered while executing a search warrant.”
In the motion, he wrote: “Upon information and belief, law enforcement officials recovered a note in which Mr.Dulos declared his innocence of the infamous and heinous crimes that the state has accused him of and claimed his lawyers have the evidence to prove it.”
Now that Dulos has passed, one question remains: Where is Jennifer?
Pattis said he, and Dulos’ legal team, will push through to prove his innocence. Dulos’ former ex-girlfriend, Michelle Troconis, and Dulos’ one-time lawyer, Kent Mawhinney, are still both facing a charge of conspiracy to commit murder. Hopefully, their trials will bring answers to Jennifer’s family.
Before Dulos’ apparent suicide attempt, he was due at an emergency bond hearing, which was postponed until Wednesday. In that hearing, his bond was raised to $6.5 million and the judge issued his rearrest.
The insurance company that put up his bond said it would be unable to guarantee the bond after discovering that two of his six properties they insured as collateral were unbeknownst to them in foreclosure.
According to the Hartford Courant, Dulos was able to post the original $6 million bond after being arrested for murder because of a woman from North Carolina.
Anna Curry, someone Dulos referred to as his “best friend” in the bond documents, contributed $147,000 in cash and promised to pay another $272,000.
The Dulos family was in the public eye for eight months — since Jennifer’s disappearance.
Dulos’s apparent suicide attempted shocked many, including Pattis who said he was his client’s “shepherd” and was there to “lead him through the valley of the shadow of death.”
Residents around the state came together over the months remembering Jennifer while hoping and praying for answers.
Now, their hearts are with Jennifer’s children.
“This is a horrific tragedy all around,” Carrie Luft, the spokeswoman for the Farber family said following Dulos’ death. “Please respect the privacy of the families and loved ones involved.”
