Richard and Connie Dabate.Photo: Connie Dabate/Myspace
At trial, prosecutors argued Richard had impregnated his girlfriend and wanted to end his marriage with Connie without divorcing her. Dabate had initially blamed the killing on an intruder, who he claimed had tortured and stabbed him before shooting Connie.
But data from Connie’s Fitbit indicated she was alive after Dabate claimed she’d been killed — a piece of evidence that undercut his alibi.
PEOPLE wrote about the case in a 2017 magazine story, which is reprinted here:
Connie and Richard Dabate.
By outward appearances the Dabates seemed to have an idyllic life. He was a computer network administrator; she worked as a pharmaceutical sales rep. They married in 2003 and had two sons, R.J., 9, and Connor, 6. Living in their colonial-style home 20 miles north of Hartford, they had a wide circle of friends. “He’s very funny in an offbeat kind of way,” says Clarke. “And she was the kindest woman you’d ever meet. The type who would never say no if you needed something. They were different people, but they seemed to really like and respect each other.”
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But according to police, Dabate was living a secret life that his wife may have known nothing about. He had reconnected with an old high school flame before Connie’s death, and their romance led to pregnancy. During his interview with detectives, Dabate admitted to the extramarital affair but seemed vague about many of the details, describing the pregnancy as both planned and unplanned at different times. “This situation,” he allegedly told cops, “popped up like a fricking soap opera.”
Richard Dabate.
source: people.com
