DIRTY SECRET

Richard Dabate would have done anything to keep his pregnant mistress hidden...

- KEZIA REYNOLDS 

Richard and Connie Dabate seemed like a perfect couple.

They were often pictured grinning happily alongside their two young boys.

The four of them resided in a gorgeous suburban home in Ellington, Connecticut - and to their friends and family, the Dabate's were a perfect American family.

In the run up to the festive season in 2015, Connie, 39, was set on having a perfect Christmas Day.

She was trying to organise a potluck with one of her close friends and joked about her appalling cooking skills over text.

 If I don't get to see you, Merry Christmas, her friend said when the chat ended.

But Connie's jokes about her cooking leaving her guests with 'food poisoning' were covering a secret.

Her picture-perfect life wasn't what it seemed.

Connie never told anyone how unhappy she was.

But hidden away in the notes of her phone was a list titled; Why I want a divorce.

In this note she wrote that Richard, known as Rick, was never sorry for anything, spent the family's money, lied about being a happy couple and she didn't trust him.

Rick, 46, was also unhappy - he loved two women.

Since May 2015, Rick was involved in a sexual affair with his childhood sweetheart Sara Ganzer.

The pair had met at junior high and had reconnected after Sara got divorced.

Rick would promise Sara he wanted to leave his wife and be with her.

At the same time, he would text Connie sweet nothings-calling her pet names like 'sweetpea' and 'buttercup'.

A month into Rick and Sara's extramarital affair, Sara fell pregnant.

And the pair decided to keep the baby.

It seemed Rick was in quite a predicament.

Then tragedy struck.

On 23 December at approximately 10.16am, Connecticut State Police received an alert from LiveWatch Security Llc, reporting a panic alarm going off at 7 Birchview Drive-the family's home.