A Connecticut jury on Friday found Michelle Troconis, girlfriend of Jennifer Dulos' estranged husband, guilty of conspiring to murder the New Canaan mother of five in May 2019.
After four days, the jury found Troconis guilty of all charges brought against him, including plotting to murder Jenniferconspiracy to commit tampering with evidence, tampering with physical evidence, conspiracy to commit tampering with physical evidence, tampering with physical evidence as an accessory, and hindering an investigation.
Troconis leaned over a table in the courtroom with his head in his arms as the verdict was read aloud Friday morning.
Prosecutors said Troconis conspired to kill Jennifer with the late Connecticut mother's estranged husband, Fotis Dulos, who was accused of murdering Jennifer in New Canaan. Fotis committed suicide in January 2020, after leaving a note insisting that he was innocent.
“This is a mother who is separated from her children, in life or in death,” Assistant State's Attorney Sean McGuinness said in his closing statements Tuesday in Connecticut Superior Court. “She is about [Jennifer’s children] Petrus, Theodore, Christiane, Constantine and Noël, who went to bed on May 24 without knowing where their mother was. And she hasn't arrived yet. “That's what this case is about.”
88-YEAR-OLD CONNECTICUT MOTHER WITNESSING HER DAUGHTER'S DISAPPEARANCE IN MURDER CONSPIRACY TRIAL
Michelle Troconis, right, consults with her defense attorney, Jon Schoenhorn, on the ninth day of her criminal trial at Connecticut Superior Court in Stamford, Conn., Wednesday, Jan. 24, 2024. (Tyler Sizemore/Hearst Connecticut Media via AP)
Authorities have not yet recovered Jennifer's remains, but a judge declared the mother of five dead just days before Troconis' trial began.
Police suspect Fotis Dulos violently attacked Jennifer in her New Canaan garage and then left with her body. Prosecutors say Troconis sat in the front seat of his truck while he dumped trash bags containing Jennifer's bloody clothes and a glove with her DNA on it throughout Hartford.
Prosecutors also argued that Troconis then helped create alibi scripts with Fotis so they would be on the same page about their agenda the day Jennifer disappeared.
JENNIFER DULOS CASE: MAIN MOMENTS OF THE MICHELLE TROCONIS TRIAL
Jennifer Dulos' estranged husband, Fotis Dulos, 52, and his girlfriend, Michelle Troconis, were charged in connection with her death in 2019. Fotis committed suicide shortly after being charged and Troconis went to trial. (Photo by Patrick Raycraft/Hartford Courant/TNS/Sipa USA and FOX News)
“I ask you this question: do any of you doubt that Fotis Dulos is responsible for the death of his wife?” McGuinness said. “Do any of you doubt that he was in New Canaan on May 24, 2019, murdering his wife? How else could he have found her bloody bra, her bloody shirt, blood all over the bags, her DNA on a glove inside the garbage? How?”
McGuinness later noted Troconis' alleged role in Dulos' death, saying he “hated” the New Canaan mother of five and “referred to her as a bitch who should be buried next to the dog.”
JENNIFER DULOS CASE: JURY FIRED AFTER TELLING THE PROSECUTOR: 'WE LOVE YOU'
Police believe Jennifer Dulos was attacked at her New Canaan home on May 24, 2019, after dropping her five children off at school. (FoxNews)
Meanwhile, defense attorneys argued that there is no evidence to show that Troconis had motive to kill Dulos. They also pointed the finger at Fotis, saying he killed his ex-wife, allegedly motivated by money, and that Troconis was not involved at all.
“She didn't know that Fotis Dulos was planning to harm her. Everything suggested that things were going well, and… she didn't know that Fotis was capable of doing something like this,” defense attorney Jon Schoenhorn said in his closing statements. “A man who is devoted to his five children had been in court for years trying to get custody. The state has made what I would suggest are unfounded and unfair assumptions… that Michelle Troconis had to know what was going on, that… because she was romantically linked to Fotis, who was somehow involved in this nefarious and murderous plot.”
MICHELLE TROCONIS, SUSPECTED IN THE COVER-UP OF THE MURDER OF JENNIFER DULOS, SEEN TRANSPORTING PEOPLE TO THE AIRPORT DURING THE TRIAL
Michelle Troconis appears in court in Superior Court in Stamford, Connecticut, on Friday, January 12, 2024. Troconis went on trial for allegedly covering up the murder of her boyfriend Fotis Dulos' ex-wife in 2019. (Rashid Umar Abbasi for Daily Mail/Pool)
Despite a mountain of evidence presented to the court, Schoenhorn said, it is still unclear what exactly happened to Jennifer, and therefore it is unclear what Troconis' alleged role in Jennifer's death might have been.
“There [were] surveillance cameras. There were multiple interviews. There were arguments in family court. There were the interrogations. You listened to eight or nine hours of interrogations of Michelle Troconis. Even in retrospect, even now, big questions remain about what happened, and it's still unclear. It is not clear what happened. And unfortunately, this trial will not solve that puzzle,” she said, adding that jurors “must find beyond a reasonable doubt that Michelle conspired with Fotis Dulos not only to harm Jennifer Dulos, but to murder her.”
JENNIFER DULOS CASE: POLICE BODYCAM IMAGES SHOW POSSIBLE BLOOD IN GARAGE DURING MICHELLE TROCONIS TRIAL
Fotis Dulos committed suicide in 2019, shortly after being accused of murdering his ex-wife, Jennifer Dulos. (Kassi Jackson/Hartford Courant/TNS/Sipa USA)
The defense attorney later noted that “everyone wants closure,” but “Michelle is not the remaining half of an intriguing plot.”
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Troconis' family, including her sister, who testified on her behalf, has supported the Venezuelan citizen since the beginning of her trial.
