Where is Cynthia Dziurgot? Missing Lawyer Owes Ex-Husband Almost $1M

Ordered to pay her ex-husband a settlement of nearly $1 million after a long, hard-fought divorce, a Massachusetts lawyer has disappeared and her beautiful 21-room Clinton home is in receivership.

However, authorities don't suspect foul play even though 55-year-old Cynthia Dziurgot has been missing for weeks, Clinton Police Chief Mark Laverdure tells the Boston Herald.

Warrants were issued for Dziurgot's arrest after she failed to appear at bankruptcy and probate hearings earlier this month. A Worcester Probate and Family Court judge ordered the divorce settlement in 2008, but Dziurgot refused to pay and filed for bankruptcy instead, the newspaper recounts. Late last year, she was found in contempt of the court order and briefly jailed before her lawyer, W. Sanford Durland III, obtained a stay of the 90-day contempt sentence.

"You cannot incarcerate someone in Massachusetts for failing to comply with a judgment when they don’t have the ability to comply,” says Durland. “It is concerning she has not been heard from. She’s a good person and I think she’s in a very difficult situation.”

Additional coverage:

Boston Herald: "Lawyer warned pals of trouble"

Worcester Telegram & Gazette: "Truant lawyer is ordered arrested by second court"

Worcester Telegram & Gazette: "No-show lawyer ordered to jail"