The Orange County Criminal Lawyer Blog
Richard Dabate, a 40 year old man from Connecticut, was charged with the alleged murder of his wife after the police found electronic evidence which included data from her Fitbit fitness tracker.
In December 2015, Dabate told the police that he left his home to go to work at 8:30 a.m., but then received an alert from his home security system, that the alarm had been activated. Dabate claimed to have emailed his boss from his car to let him know he would be late for work. But, the evidence had indicated that the alarm had not been activated, and that Dabate had actually emailed his boss from his laptop at home. Dabate also allegedly checked the time of his wife’s exercise class from his laptop.
Dabate had told police that he was unable to stop an intruder from shooting and killing his wife after she had returned home from her exercise class. The Fitbit data records, however, told a different story. The data showed Connie Dabate’s movement up until 10:15 a.m. on the day she was killed in December 2015, almost an hour after Richard Dabate claimed she had died. Dabate claimed that he confronted an intruder after he returned to his home around 9 a.m. and that his wife returned home during the confrontation.
Connie Dabate’s Fitbit indicated that she had returned home at 9:23 a.m., and her Facebook feed showed that she was posting videos from home after her arrival.
Police dogs could not pick up a scent of a third person outside of the home. It also didn’t appear as though the intruder could have entered the home. Further damaging evidence has shown that Richard Debate was having an affair and his girlfriend was pregnant, which could be construed as a possible motive for the killing.
If you or someone you love is charged with a crime, call Orange County criminal defense lawyer Staycie R. Sena at (949)477-8088 for a consultation now.