The latest twist in the saga surrounding Jennifer Farber Dulos’ murder came Friday, with a Connecticut jury finding Michelle Troconis, whose boyfriend was accused of killing his estranged wife in 2019, guilty of conspiring to murder Dulos.
Troconis, 49, now faces up to 50 years in prison after a jury found her guilty on charges of conspiracy to commit murder, evidence tampering, and hindering the prosecution.
The New York Times reported that Troconis sobbed and leaned on her lawyers as the guilty verdict was read. At one point, the Times reported she “rested her head on the desk in front of her as one of her lawyers, Audrey Felsen, rubbed her back.”
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Troconis was then led out of the courtroom in handcuffs. She’d previously been out on bail since 2019.
Troconis will learn her fate in a sentencing hearing slated for May 31. An initial date of May 24 was suggested, but a lawyer for Troconis said that date would be inappropriate because it was the five-year anniversary of the day that Dulos, a mother of five, disappeared after dropping her children off at school.
Carrie Luft, a close friend of Dulos who’s acted as a spokesperson for her loved ones, said in a statement that the guilty verdicts were “a crucial attribution of accountability, not a victory.”
“There can be no victory when five children are growing up without their mother,” the statement continued. “This verdict represents the meticulous collection, analysis, and presentation of evidence to illuminate an unconscionable series of crimes. That immense body of evidence also serves to highlight the gaps that remain in this case—most important, that Jennifer Farber Dulos still has not been found.”
Dulos’ disappearance grabbed national headlines when authorities launched a massive manhunt for her that saw drones, dogs, and helicopters deployed across New England in 2019.
That search uncovered Dulos’ abandoned car in New Canaan, her hometown in Connecticut, but her body was never recovered. (Before trial, a judge declared her dead last year.)
At the time of Dulos’ disappearance, Troconis was the live-in girlfriend of Fotis Dulos, 52, who was engaged in a bitter divorce with Dulos that included a custody battle over their children.
Authorities determined that Fotis, a luxury homebuilder, killed his estranged wife at her rental home after she returned from school, restraining her with zip ties. What happened next remains a mystery, but police and prosecutors say Fotis killed Dulos and disposed of her body.
Dulos’ family reported her missing after she failed to show up for appointments she had scheduled in New York City. Cops who were sent to her home arrived to see blood stains and splatters around the house, a scene so grisly that Connecticut’s chief medical examiner, Dr. James R. Gill, determined Dulos must have sustained injuries so severe they were “non survivable” without medical intervention.
Surveillance footage captured Fotis and Troconis stop at several locations around Hartford just after the slaying, prosecutors said. In one video, prosecutors said Fotis was captured disposing bags of trash into garbage cans as Troconis sat in the car.
Troconis was accused of not complying with investigators as they probed her boyfriend, refusing to reveal his whereabouts on the day of the murder. She told detectives she didn’t know her boyfriend was doing anything criminal when she watched him throw away the garbage bags, which prosecutors said had zip ties, bloodied clothing, and a kitchen sponge stained with blood inside.
Troconis never testified in her month-long trial, but repeatedly insisted she was innocent through her lawyers.
Fotis faced charges in connection to his estranged wife’s disappearance, but he died in a New York City hospital in 2020, shortly after he attempted suicide at his home.
In interviews with police that were shown in court, Troconis admitted that she wasn’t truthful with police in earlier conversations she had with them—a statement that prosecutors homed in on. In other interviews with police, she claimed she was also a victim of Fotis.
“He set me up because he used me,”she said.
Troconis never denied claims that she was having an affair with Fotis while he was still married to Dulos.
In their statement, Dulos’ family thanked the trial’s jury for their “careful deliberation during this lengthy, complex trial,” and Judge Kevin Randolph for his “guidance and authority in the courtroom.”
“Many questions remain as we approach the five-year marker,” the statement said. “It is our hope that the resurgent public interest in this case might spur new, viable leads. In the meantime, Jennifer’s grace, goodness, and light live on through her children and through the honor of her memory.”
