Michelle Troconis sentenced to 20 years in Jennifer Dulos murder conspiracy
Michelle Troconis was sentenced to 20 years in prison Friday but could be released after more than 14 years following her conviction of helping plan and cover up the killing of Jennifer Dulos, who disappeared from her Connecticut home in 2019. Troconis, 49, had faced up to 50 years.
Judge Kevin Randolph said Troconis' 20-year sentence for conspiracy to commit murder would be suspended after 14 and a half years and she would serve five years probation. Her sentences for lesser offenses would be served concurrently with the 20-year sentence.
Prosecutors say Dulos' estranged husband Fotis Dulos, who was also Troconis' boyfriend, killed his wife at her home in New Canaan and drove off with her body, which has never been found. He died by suicide in 2020 shortly after being charged with murder. He had denied killing his wife.
Some of Jennifer Dulos' family and friends said in the courtroom that Friday's sentence wasn't nearly long enough. Troconis' lawyer Jon Schoenhorn asked the judge to release her on bond pending an appeal. Randolph denied the request.
Before Randolph handed down his punishment, Troconis said in brief remarks she regretted being in a relationship with Fotis Dulos.
"I am deeply saddened by this tragedy that has affected so many lives," she said. "I found out things before and during trial about a man, Fotis Dulos, I thought I knew and loved."
Troconis' sentencing comes five years and one week since Jennifer Dulos disappeared after dropping off her five children at school on May 24, 2019.
Dulos' mother, Gloria Farber, said she knew "something terrible had happened" when her daughter did not return calls or texts that day. Farber said her daughter "only wanted to give and get love and be a loving mother" to her children, who are now ages 13 to 18.
The oldest child, Petros, 18, said his mother's death has left him with "a hole inside of me that I know I will never fill." Petros Dulos said he had been close to his mother but had struggled during his parents' divorce. "The defendant's actions mean that I will never be able to tell my mom how sorry I am for not being a better son when she needed me," he said.
Theodore Dulos told Troconis he would never forgive her and urged her to provide information about his mother's remains.
"Until you give us more answers, you will be considered evil, violent and most definitely a coward," he said before speaking to 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 lived with him when Jennifer Dulos vanished. Troconis was convicted by a jury in March of conspiracy to commit murder, hindering prosecution and evidence tampering.
Lauren Almeida, the Dulos family's nanny, said she and Dulos' friends had been afraid for the safety of themselves and the children after her disappearance.
Almeida asked Troconis, "Where is she, Michelle?" referring to Dulos' remains.
Troconis insists she is innocent and intends to appeal her convictions. She has been detained at the state women's prison.
About 80 people packed the courtroom Friday, with Jennifer Dulos' family and friends on one side and Troconis' supporters on the other. Troconis' family and friends, who were angry and heartbroken after she was convicted, also testified Friday, describing her as an upright and caring person.
Her pastor, the Rev. Christopher Solimene of Avon Congregational Church, said Troconis attended Bible study and cooked for the church soup kitchen. "Her heart is big for all of God's created, especially for children and those afflicted with disability," Solimene said.
Troconis' mother, Marisela Arreaza, said her daughter was a loving mother to her teenage daughter and was not the homewrecker portrayed by Dulos' friends.
"When Michelle met Fotis Dulos, he presented himself as a family-oriented man going through an amicable divorce," Arreaza said. "Michelle believed Fotis and had no reason to doubt him. However, we were all deceived by Fotis."
Troconis' daughter, Nicole, 17, told Randolph: "Michelle isn't just my mother. She's my best friend, my rock and my guiding light."
As he issued the sentence, Randolph said: "From what the court has heard, she has a great deal to offer."
Following the sentencing, family and friends of Jennifer Dulos issued a statement saying, in part:
"For us, there is some relief in knowing the defendant will serve substantial time for her crimes, starting now. This painful chapter has come to a close, but the legal process continues, and none of it will bring Jennifer back. The courageous, eloquent, and powerfully loving statements from her five children today made that achingly evident. We will continue to honor Jennifer's memory and spirit in every way we can, day by day."
Meanwhile, Troconis' relatives have remained adamant in saying she would never hurt anyone. They say they have an innocent explanation for every bit of evidence the prosecution presented.
The case drew widespread attention and was the subject of news documentaries and a made-for-TV movie, Lifetime's "Gone Mom."
The background 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 Chase Manhattan Bank's bond trading desk. She also was a 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, yet grief goes on alongside it, a shadow, a current, the presence of absence."
Troconis, a dual American and Venezuelan citizen, has described herself as a co-founder of horse riding therapy programs who once had her own TV production company in Argentina and hosted a snow-sports show for ESPN South America. Fotis Dulos was a luxury home builder originally from Greece.
When Troconis was convicted in March, Schoenhorn said he couldn't understand how the jury could have reached guilty verdicts.
Troconis' family, including her parents and sisters, expressed the same disbelief.
"Choosing and putting my sister as the guilty person is not the right thing to do because she is innocent," Claudia Troconis-Marmol said tearfully outside the courthouse shortly after the convictions.
An alleged motive and the floated alibis
Authorities suggested Fotis Dulos killed Jennifer Dulos because of growing frustrations he had with their divorce and child custody proceedings.
At the time, Jennifer Dulos was living with the 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, looking at its location data and obtaining the surveillance video from the locations.
In one of the most jarring moments in Troconis' trial, the prosecution and state forensic experts showed a shirt, bra and zip ties with blood-like stains on them that were found in one of the trash bags. Testing showed that DNA on the items was highly likely that of Jennifer Dulos.
Troconis told police she didn't know what was in the bags or why Fotis Dulos was dumping them in Hartford.
In an interview with "48 Hours" correspondent Erin Moriarty that aired in April, Troconis-Marmol insisted her sister was "fooled" by Fotis Dulos into coming along for what was just supposed to be a Starbucks run. "At the beginning, he was this amazing guy. But it turns out, he was this monster," she told Moriarty.
Prosecutors also said Fotis Dulos left his cellphone at his home on the day Jennifer Dulos vanished and Troconis answered a call to it from his friend that morning. They say that was evidence Troconis was in on the plot and tried to help him create a bogus alibi. She denied the allegation.
Another defendant in the case, Kent Mawhinney, a friend of Fotis Dulos and his one-time lawyer in a civil case, is awaiting trial on a murder conspiracy charge. He has pleaded not guilty.
Although Jennifer Dulos' body has never been found, a probate judge declared her legally dead last year. The Dulos children have been in Jennifer Dulos' mother's custody in New York City since she vanished.
