Michelle Troconis set for sentencing in death of Jennifer Dulos

Family and friends of Jennifer Dulos, who disappeared from her Connecticut home in 2019, are expected to offer emotional testimony Friday as her late husband’s ex-girlfriend is sentenced for helping 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 in her New Canaan home and fled with her body, which was never found. He died by suicide in 2020, shortly after being accused of murder. He denied killing his wife.

Troconis was Fotis Dulos’ girlfriend and lived with him at the time of Jennifer Dulos’ disappearance. Troconis was convicted by a grand jury in March of conspiracy to commit murder, hindering prosecution and tampering with evidence.

Troconis, 49, insists she is innocent and intends to appeal his convictions. She remains detained in the state women’s prison. His family and friends, who were angry and heartbroken after she was sentencedare also expected to testify during Friday’s hearing.

Family and friends of Jennifer Dulos and Troconis prepared statements for the court before the sentencing. It was unclear which of them will testify, possibly including the Dulos’ five children, now ages 13 to 18.

The sentence comes five years and one week after Jennifer Dulos disappeared, after dropping her five children off at school on May 24, 2019.

The case drew widespread attention and was the subject of new documentaries and a made-for-TV movie, Lifetime’s “Gone Mom.”

The story of the people central to the case

Jennifer Dulos was a member of a wealthy New York City family whose father, the late Hilliard Farber, founded his own brokerage firm, Hilliard Farber & Co., after running the securities 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 pain remains 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 horse riding programs who once had her own TV production company in Argentina and hosted a snow sports program for ESPN South America. Fotis Dulos was a luxury home builder originally from Greece.

His attorney, Jon Schoenhorn, did not return messages seeking comment. When Troconis was sentenced in March, he said he could not understand how the jury could have reached guilty verdicts.

Troconis’ family including his parents and sisters expressed the same disbelief.

“Choosing and placing my sister as guilty is not the right thing to do because she is innocent,” said Claudia Troconis-Marmol, through tears, outside the courtroom, shortly after the convictions.

A supposed motive and suggested alibis

Authorities suggested that Fotis Dulos killed Jennifer Dulos because of growing frustrations he had with the divorce and child custody proceedings.

At the time, Jennifer Dulos lived with her children in New Canaan, while Fotis Dulos stayed 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 discarded trash bags from the back of his pickup truck. Police later found some of the bags after seizing Fotis Dulos’ cellphone, analyzing his location data and obtaining surveillance video from the locations.

In one of the most shocking moments of Troconis’ trial, the prosecution and state forensic experts revealed a shirt, bra and zipper with blood-like stains that were found in one of the trash bags. Tests showed that the DNA on the items was highly likely that of Jennifer Dulos.

Troconis told police he didn’t know what was in the bags or why Fotis Dulos was dumping them in Hartford.

Prosecutors also said Fotis Dulos left his cellphone at his home the day Jennifer Dulos disappeared and Troconis answered a call from his friend that morning. They say this was proof that Troconis was involved in the plot and tried to help him create a false alibi. She denied the accusation.

Another defendant in the case, Kent Mawhinney, a friend of Fotis Dulos and his former lawyer in a civil case, is awaiting trial on murder conspiracy 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 custody of Jennifer Dulos’ mother in New York City since she disappeared.