Family and friends of Jennifer Dulos, who disappeared from her Connecticut home in 2019, testified Friday before her late ex-husband’s former girlfriend was sentenced after being found guilty of helping to plan and cover up his murder.
Michelle Troconis, 49, faces up to 50 years in prison. Prosecutors say Dulos’ ex-husband, Fotis Dulos, killed her at her New Canaan home and left with her body, which was never found. He committed suicide in 2020 shortly after being charged with murder. He had denied killing his wife.
Troconis’ conviction comes five years and one week after Jennifer Dulos disappeared after dropping her five children off at school on May 24, 2019.
Dulos’ mother, Gloria Farber, said she knew “something terrible had happened” when her daughter didn’t answer her calls or texts that day. Farber said her daughter “just wanted to give and receive love and be a loving mother” to her children, who are now ages 13 to 18.
The eldest, Petros, 18, said his mother’s death left him with “a hole in me that I know I will never fill.” Petros Dulos said he had been close to his mother but experienced difficulties during his parents’ divorce. “The defendant’s actions mean I will never be able to tell my mother how sorry I am for not being a better son when she needed me,” he said.
Theodore Dulos told Troconis he would never forgive him and urged him to provide information about his mother’s remains.
“Until you give us more answers, you will be considered mean, violent and most certainly a coward,” he said before addressing the judge. “An appropriate sentence, Your Honor, would be 50 years, 10 years for each child who lost their mother that day.”
Troconis was Fotis Dulos’ girlfriend and living with him when Jennifer Dulos disappeared. Troconis was sentenced by a jury in March on charges of conspiracy to commit murder, hindering prosecution and tampering with evidence.
Lauren Almeida, the Dulos family’s nanny, said she and Dulos’ friends feared for their safety and that of their children after he disappeared.
Almeida asked Troconis, “Where is Michelle?” referring to Dulos’ remains.
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Troconis insists she is innocent and intends to appeal his convictions. She was held at the state prison for women.
About 80 people filled the courtroom Friday, with Jennifer Dulos’ family and friends on one side and Troconis’ supporters on the other. The family and friends of Troconis, who were angry and heartbroken after his convictionwas also tested Friday afternoon, describing her as a person of integrity and caring.
His pastor, Rev. Christopher Solimene, of the Avon Congregational Church, said Troconis attended Bible studies and cooked for the church soup kitchen. “His heart is big for all of God’s creation, especially for children and people with disabilities,” Solimene said.
Troconis’ mother, Marisela Arreaza, said her daughter was a loving mother to her teenage daughter and was not the homewrecker described by Dulos’ friends.
“When Michelle met Fotis Dulos, he presented himself as a man who cared about his family and was going through an amicable divorce,” Arreaza said. “Michelle believed Fotis and had no reason to doubt him. However, we were all deceived by Fotis.”
Those close to Troconis are adamant that she would never harm anyone. They say they have an innocent explanation for every moment evidence presented by the prosecution.
The case attracted wide attention and has been the subject of news documentaries and a TV movie, Lifetime’s “Gone Mom.”
The journey of the people at the heart of the matter
Jennifer Dulos was a member of a wealthy New York family whose father, the late Hilliard Farber, founded his own brokerage firm, Hilliard Farber & Co., after running the bond trading desk at Chase Manhattan Bank. She was also the niece, by marriage, of fashion designer Liz Claiborne.
“We miss her every day, in every way,” some of her relatives and friends said last week in a statement released by Dulos’ friend Carrie Luft. “For us, five years is not a milestone but a marker of cumulative loss and longing. Life goes on, but grief continues alongside it, a shadow, a current, the presence of absence.”
Troconis, who has dual American and Venezuelan citizenship, described herself as a co-founder of equestrian therapy programs. She once had her own television production company in Argentina and hosted a snow sports show for ESPN South America. Fotis Dulos was a luxury home builder from Greece.
His attorney, Jon Schoenhorn, did not respond to messages seeking comment. When Troconis was convicted in March, he said he didn’t understand how the jury could have reached a guilty verdict.
Troconis’ family, including his parents and sisters, expressed the same disbelief.
“Selecting and naming my sister as guilty is not the right thing to do because she is innocent,” Claudia Troconis-Marmol said through tears outside the courthouse shortly after the convictions.
An alleged motive and the alibis mentioned
Authorities suggested that Fotis Dulos killed Jennifer Dulos because of his growing frustration with their divorce and child custody proceedings.
Sotiria Kontouli
At the time, Jennifer Dulos lived with the children in New Canaan while Fotis Dulos lived in the family’s 10,000-square-foot home about 70 miles away in Farmington.
Hours after Jennifer Dulos was last seen alive, Troconis was recorded on surveillance video accompanying Fotis Dulos on a trip to Hartford, where he threw trash bags into the back of his pickup truck. Police later found some of the bags after seizing Fotis Dulos’ cellphone, reviewing his location data and obtaining surveillance video from the scene.
In one of the most shocking moments of Troconis’ trial, the prosecution and state forensic experts showed a shirt, bra and clips with blood-like stains that were found in the one of the trash bags. Tests showed that the DNA on the items was most likely that of Jennifer Dulos.
Troconis told police she didn’t know what was in the bags or why Fotis Dulos was throwing them away in Hartford.
In an interview with “48 Hours” correspondent Erin Moriarty broadcast in April, Troconis-Marmol insisted his sister was “deceived” by Fotis Dulos to participate in what was supposed to be a Starbucks run. “At first he was an amazing guy, but it turned out he was a monster,” she told Moriarty.
Prosecutors also said Fotis Dulos left his cell phone at home the day Jennifer Dulos disappeared and that Troconis answered a call from his friend that morning. They say this is proof that Troconis was involved in the plot and tried to help create a false alibi. She denied the allegation.
Another defendant in the case, Kent Mawhinney, a friend of Fotis Dulos and his former lawyer in a civil case, is awaiting trial on conspiracy to murder charges. He pleaded not guilty.
Although Jennifer Dulos’ body was never found, a probate judge declared her legally dead last year. The Dulos children have been in the care of Jennifer Dulos’ mother in New York since her disappearance.