Michelle Troconis Found Guilty of Conspiring to Murder Jennifer Dulos
Originally appeared on E! Online
Five years after Jennifer Dulos' shocking disappearance, a jury has reached a verdict of one of those involved in her murder.
Michelle Troconis, who was accused of helping Jennifer's late estranged husband Fotis Dulos cover up the Connecticut mom's 2019 murder, was found guilty on all charges after a seven-week trial.
The 49-year-old was convicted on several charges, including one count of conspiracy to commit murder, two counts of conspiracy to commit tampering with physical evidence, two counts of tampering with physical evidence, and hindering prosecution in the second degree.
"I want to offer my deepest condolences to the family of Jennifer Farber Dulos, particularly her five children, who had their mother violently taken from them on May 24, 2019," Connecticut State Attorney Paul J. Ferencek said in a statement following the verdict. "While it's our hope that today's verdict brings Jennifer's family and friends some peace, we also hope that someday we can provide resolution to the still unanswered question of where Jennifer rests. I assure you the State of Connecticut and this office will never stop looking."
Michelle's sentencing is set to take place May 31 in the Stamford Superior Court in Connecticut and, according to NBC Connecticut, she could face up to 50 years in prison if her sentencing is served consecutively. The judge set her bond at $6 million.
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Jennifer, a New Canaan, Conn., mother of five, vanished on May 24, 2019. She was last seen dropping her and Fotis' children—who were between the ages of 8 and 13 at the time of her disappearance—at school, according to authorities.
One month after her disappearance, Fotis and his then-girlfriend Michelle were arrested after police discovered clothing and sponges stained with Jennifer's blood in city trash cans in Hartford, according to a warrant previously obtained by NBC News. Police said there was surveillance footage from city security cameras showing a man matching Fotis' description disposing trash, while a woman who appeared to be Michelle waited in a nearby pickup truck.
Investigators subsequently found traces of Jennifer's blood on the passenger seat of a truck that belonged to one of Dulos' coworkers, which the warrant said Fotis and Michelle had taken to get washed and detailed.
The following January, Michelle and Fotis were charged for their respective roles in the presumed murder of Jennifer. However, Fotis, who was charged capital murder, murder and kidnapping, died just weeks later as a result of injuries sustained following a suicide attempt.
Four years after they were charged and just weeks before Michelle's trial began, Jennifer—whose body has yet to be found—was pronounced legally dead.
After the verdict was read, Michelle, who has maintained her innocence, put her head down on the defense table, NBC News reported.
"I am extremely disappointed in the outcome—I firmly believe that there was virtually no evidence to find Michelle guilty of a murder conspiracy beyond a reasonable doubt," her attorney Jon Schoenhorn said in a statement to E! News. "I think it was unfortunate that the interrogations were conducted in a manner that led her to contradict herself, and I understand that that would be used against her. I believe that played a major role in the verdict. However, none of that explained how, and when, she would have been aware in advance that Dulos planned to murder his wife."
And the defense attorney, who told NBC News that he plans to file a motion arguing for a new trial, believes his client's case was decided on "hindsight bias."
As he added, "It also illustrates why nobody who is suspected or accused of a crime should ever voluntarily submit to police interrogation without a guarantee it will not be used against them."
Meanwhile, a spokesperson for Jennifer's family told NBC News the verdict was "a crucial attribution of accountability, not a victory."
"There can be no victory," the spokesperson added. "When five children are growing up without their mother."
(E! and NBC News are both part of the NBCUniversal family.)
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