Jury finds Michelle Troconis guilty of conspiring to murder Jennifer Dulos
STAMFORD, Conn. — Michelle Troconis was found guilty of conspiring with Fotis Dulos to kill his wife, Jennifer Farber Dulos, and five other counts in connection to her disappearance and presumed death.
Troconis, 49, was Dulos’ girlfriend when his wife disappeared in May 2019. Dulos was eventually charged with murder in the case but died by suicide while out on bail.
On Friday, after two days of deliberations, a six-person jury found Troconis guilty of conspiracy to commit murder, two counts of conspiracy to commit tampering with physical evidence, two counts of tampering with physical evidence and one count of hindering prosecution in the second degree following a weekslong trial in Stamford Superior Court.
Troconis, a dual American and Venezuelan citizen, became visibly emotional during the reading of the verdict, local television station WTNH reported.
She left the courtroom in handcuffs and was ordered to surrender her passport. She’s scheduled to be sentenced on May 31.
Jennifer Farber Dulos was last seen alive on May 24, 2019 at her home in New Canaan, Conn. She was 50 years old at the time.
Despite an extensive search of the city, surrounding areas and other Dulos-related locations, she has never been found. She was declared legally dead in October 2023.
At the time she disappeared, Farber Dulos was going through an acrimonious divorce with her husband, Fotis, a luxury real estate developer in the tri-state area. Troconis was living with Fotis Dulos at a home in Farmington.
Dulos was arrested on Jan. 7, 2020 and charged with killing his wife. He posted $6 million bail and died by suicide on Jan. 30.
Troconis and a lawyer, Kent Mawhinney, had been arrested on the same day. Troconis was the first person to stand trial in connection with Farber Dulos’ death.
Surveillance video from Hartford on the days after the murder showed Dulos driving around the city and disposing of items in various trash bins. Prosecutors played several of the videos at trial and claimed Troconis was with Dulos while he was attempting to destroy evidence.
Investigators eventually recovered several of the items, and testing revealed blood stains on multiple items of clothing.
Prosecutors also played Troconis’ three interviews with police for the jury. In the third interview, Troconis admitted to lying about knowing Fotis Dulos was home on the day of Farber Dulos’ murder.
Defense attorneys argued that the evidence focused on Dulos, not Troconis, and that she could have been stressed and confused in the police interrogations.
“The entire case, at least 99 percent of it, is about Fotis Dulos’ conduct and notably his conduct outside the presence of my client,” Troconis’ lawyer Joe Schoenhorn told local CBS affiliate WFSB during the trial.
Mawhinney, who previously worked as a lawyer for Dulos, is still awaiting trial on a charge of conspiracy to commit murder. The opening date for those proceedings has not been scheduled.
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