Richard Dabate’s wife was murdered. A 6ft 2in masked intruder, he claims, burst into their Connecticut home on the morning of December 23, 2015, chased 39-year-old Connie, then fatally shot her in their basement at around 9am.
When police arrived, the Hartford Courant reports, Richard was found bound by one hand and one leg to a kitchen chair, having suffered superficial knife wounds. He told investigators he’d tried to fight the attacker off, and eventually succeeded by knocking a blowtorch into the man’s face.
Yet 16 months later, he was the one charged with his wife’s murder. And her Fitbit is at the centre of it all.
The 40-year-old computer network administrator is currently free on bond, awaiting his trial for murder, evidence tampering and giving false statements to police, which is due to be held later this year.
He maintains his innocence, and is hopeful his trial will vindicate him.
But authorities aren’t buying it. According to Hartford Courant, prosecutors believe he killed his wife so that he could begin a new life with his pregnant mistress.
Richard initially told police during his six-hour interview that he, Connie, and the woman planned to co-parent the child - born last February - but later admitted the pregnancy was unplanned.
The outlet reports that police found evidence of text messages sent to his lover days before his wife's murder, in which he promised divorce her.
Perhaps the most stunning allegation, though, relates to data recovered from Connie's Fitbit. According to his arrested warrant cited by the Courant, it allegedly shows the mother last moving around at 10:05am, roughly an hour after Richard claimed she'd been shot.
Futhermore, Facebook records allegedly showed Connie posted three videos at 9:46am.
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Connie Dabate's friend told People he was shocked to learn that her husband had been charged.
"I never saw this coming, never in a million years. They really did seem to have it all," the man, identified only as Clark said.
"[Connie and Richard] were different people, but they really seemed to really like and respect each other.”