Michelle Troconis is on trial for allegedly assisting her boyfriend in covering up his wife’s 2019 murder.
Troconis’s boyfriend, Fotis Dulos, was charged with murdering his wife, fifty year old Jennifer Dulos who was declared legally dead in October 2023.
Troconis is charged with conspiracy to commit murder, tampering with evidence and hindering prosecution.
Jennifer Dulos was reported missing on May 24, 2019 though authorities suspect she was killed at her house in New Canaan, Connecticut. No body was found.
After charged with his wife’s murder, Fotis Dulos died by suicide in January 2020. Before committing suicide, Fotis Dulos left a note claiming his innocence.
Tronconis’s trial is the first to take place since the disappearance of Jennifer Dulos.
“We are grateful to the prosecution and the investigators for their meticulous collection and presentation of evidence in this case. Above all, we trust in justice, and we hope that this trial will help provide answers to, and accountability for, what was done to Jennifer that day,” close friend Carrie Luft said.
Hours after Jennifer Dulos was reported missing, Fotis Dulos and Michelle Troconis were seen on a street in Hartford by street cameras driving a black pickup truck down the road, Dulos in the driver's seat and Troconis in the passenger's seat. Dulos stopped and got out to dump a few trash bags into a trash can and left a car mat beside it. Inside of the trash bags were a shirt, bra, gloves, plastic ponchos, a box cutter knife, and zipties all covered in blood.
Despite this evidence, Traconis’s attorney Jon Schoenhorn argued that Traconis is innocent and being tried merely as a scapegoat.
“Nothing that was in those bags will be shown to have had anything to do with Michelle Troconis or that she knew what was in any of those bags,” Troconis’ lawyer Jon Schoenhorn said.
Troconis’ arrest warrant states that Jennifer Dulos and Fotis Dulos’ DNA was found on the items inside of the trash bag. It also states that Troconis’ DNA was found on some of the trash bags.
Both Dulos and Troconis were charged shortly after the footage was released.
Troconis claims she had no idea what was in the garbage bags citing footage of her on her cell phone in Dulos’s truck as he unloaded bags.
There were a few discrepancies in the alibi that Troconis provided the detectives with the day of the disappearance, however Troconis’s lawyer claimed that any confusion was due to the lack of clarity on the investigators part.
Troconis could be sentenced with 25 years to life in prison.
“It doesn't take a brain surgeon to be able to tell you that she was involved in this in some way. I don’t think she had any part in the disappearance, but she certainly helped him cover it up,” NHS social studies teacher Lawrence Saladin said.
As disclosed on Troncis’s arrest warrant, the same truck that Dulos was seen driving in after his wife's disappearance had its front seats replaced shortly after, with the seats of Dulos’s Porche.
Troconis told the police that she did assist in cleaning the same vehicle days after Jennifer Dulos was reported missing, but that she believed to only be cleaning spilled coffee in the car.
“I think that any reasonable person would think that something was wrong,” Saladin said.
The man who replaced the seats with seats from Dulos’s Porshe kept the front seats in case the police wished to see them. They are expected to appear in the trial at a later time.
As shown on the first day of the trial, police found evidence of what looks to be a bloody footprint and some other blood stains throughout the garage of the New Canaan house where authorities suspect Dulos was killed.
Despite Troconis being on trial, much of the evidence connects Fotis Dulos to the alleged murder.
“I don’t believe in charging her with conspiracy to commit murder,” NHS sophomore Bryce Maddox said.
Jennifer Dulos filed for divorce in 2017 in which Fotis Dulos was described as dangerous, irrational and having controlling behavior.
During the time of the divorce, Fotis was also being sued by Jennifer's family for money that they loaned him for his real estate company.
Troconis’s trial will continue for days to come.
Comments