Michelle Troconis found guilty of conspiring to murder missing Connecticut mother Jennifer Dulos
By Artemis Moshtaghian, CNN
(CNN) — Nearly five years after Connecticut mother Jennifer Dulos went missing, her husband’s ex-girlfriend was found guilty Friday of conspiring to murder the mother of five.
Michelle Troconis was also found guilty of one count of hindering prosecution, two counts of conspiracy to commit tampering with physical evidence, and two counts of tampering with physical evidence.
Six jurors heard two hours of closing arguments from the state prosecutor and defense attorney at a Stamford Superior Courtroom on Tuesday before reaching a verdict.
Troconis had dated Jennifer’s estranged husband, Fotis Dulos, who was charged with his wife’s murder but died by an apparent suicide in January 2020 before he went to trial. Troconis was charged with conspiracy to commit murder in 2020 among other charges and pleaded not guilty.
Jennifer Dulos was last seen in May 2019 after dropping her children off at school. Friends reported her missing after she failed to show up for appointments and had no communication with them for 10 hours. She was in the middle of a contentious divorce and custody battle with Fotis Dulos at the time of her disappearance, CNN has previously reported.
Despite her body never being found, Dulos was officially pronounced dead through a declaration of death by a Connecticut judge in October 2023, a court document shows. She likely suffered a combination of “traumatic, blunt-force injuries,” according to the state’s chief medical examiner.
Authorities found a bloodlike stain in three places on her vehicle, which was parked in her garage in New Canaan. Her DNA was found in the stains and on the garage wall and door.
Both Fotis Dulos and Troconis were previously arrested on suspicion of evidence tampering in the disappearance. They pleaded not guilty to evidence tampering after investigators found a “bloodlike substance” with Jennifer Dulos’ DNA in a truck he had access to the day she disappeared.
Jennifer Dulos had told officials she was afraid of him before her disappearance, according to court documents obtained by CNN.
“I know that filing for divorce and filing this motion will enrage him,” she said, according to the documents. “I know he will retaliate by trying to harm me in some way.”
Family hopes to find body
Troconis was devastated by the verdict, said her attorney, Jon Schoenhorn.
Her family called the verdict “a tremendous injustice,” saying she is innocent and they “will keep proving that forever.”
“We are here devastated because it has been [a] tremendous injustice in the trial of my daughter,” Troconis’ father, Carlos Troconis, told reporters.
Survivors of Jennifer Dulos said they hope the verdict renews public interest in the case and “might spur new, viable leads” that will help lead to finding Dulos’ body.
“Today’s verdict is a crucial attribution of accountability, not a victory,” said a statement from Carrie Luft on behalf of family and friends of Dulos.
Luft emphasized that more important than the “immense body of evidence” that led to Troconis’ guilty verdict is that Dulos’ body has still not been found.
“It is our hope that the resurgent public interest in this case might spur new, viable leads,” the statement said.
A Connecticut judge set Troconis’ bond at $6 million in cash as surety Friday with the condition of being under house arrest, with electronic monitoring, should she meet the bond amount.
Her sentencing is scheduled for May 31.
This story has been updated with additional information.
CNN’s Nic Anderson and Jay Croft contributed to this reporting.
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