Michelle Troconis was found guilty of conspiracy in the complicated case of the murder of Jennifer Dulos (50), wife of her ex-boyfriend Fotis Dulos and whose body has not been found since she was last seen in May 2019 in the midst of an acrimonious divorce. in Connecticut.
A six-member jury returned its verdict yesterday in Stamford Superior Court after more than two full days of deliberations. Troconis, who has dual Venezuelan and American nationality, sobbed when the guilty verdicts were announced and now faces a maximum sentence of 50 years in prison. The sentence is set for May 31, reported NBC News.
Troconis (49) had pleaded “not guilty” and denied any involvement in the dramatic crime. His ex-partner, Fotis Dulos, died on January 30, 2020 after dying for two days in a hospital in The Bronx (NYC) due to self-poisoning with carbon monoxide in the garage of his home in Farmington (Connecticut) after being accused of kill his wife.
“She is innocent of all the charges for which she has been convicted… and I know that time will prove it to her.”
Today’s verdict is a crucial attribution of responsibility, not a victory. “There can be no victory when five children grow up without their mother.”
Although the Dulos spouses were embarked on a bitter battle for divorce and custody of their five children, no one imagined the rugged end of both of them, opening up a still unsolved mystery.
Before committing suicide he left a handwritten letter proclaiming his innocence and wrote: “I want it to be known that Michelle Troconis had nothing to do with Jennifer’s disappearance. And neither did Kent Mawhinney,” his former lawyer.
Troconis is a psychologist (UCV 1988) and athlete, she had lived in several countries and at one point was host and producer of an ESPN program from Argentina. Yesterday she was found guilty of conspiracy to commit murder, tampering with physical evidence and hindering prosecution, among other charges.
After reading the verdict, state prosecutors asked that Troconis’ $2.6 million bail be revoked or increased, and the judge agreed to increase it to $6 million. If she meets that amount she will be required to wear an electronic monitoring device and will be subject to home confinement while she appeals the verdict. Otherwise she will be sent to the York Correction Institution prison in Niantic, Connecticut.
“I am really disappointed with this verdict. I don’t think it was the right verdict,” defense attorney Jon Schoenhorn said outside court Friday. “I’m not going to criticize this jury that went through six or seven weeks of evidence and reached its determination. “I simply do not agree with their determination.”
Troconis’ family also said they were devastated by the guilty verdicts. “This is definitely a devastating day because my sister is innocent of all the charges she has been convicted of. And we are sure that she is innocent, and I know that time will prove it to her,” Claudia Mármol told reporters outside the court. “I know everyone wanted answers. “I know that maybe the State is happy that she was finally convicted, or that someone is paying the price, but she is not the one.”
After the verdict, the victim’s friend, Carrie Luft, issued a statement on behalf of Jennifer’s family and friends: “Today’s verdict is a crucial attribution of responsibility, not a victory. There can be no victory when five children grow up without their mother. This verdict represents the meticulous collection, analysis and presentation of evidence to illuminate a series of unconscionable crimes. That immense body of evidence also serves to highlight the gaps that remain in this case; the most important is that Jennifer Farber Dulos has not yet been found. We have lost a mother, a daughter, a sister, a cousin and a dear friend. “Jennifer’s loved ones cannot bury her next to her father.”
The couple’s five children, whom the father could not see by legal order, went to the hospital to say goodbye before he was taken off life support in 2020. The children remained living in Manhattan (NYC) in the custody of their maternal grandmother, Gloria Farber.
Mawhinney, a close friend of Dulos who represented him in the $2.5 million civil lawsuits brought by his mother-in-law, has also been charged with conspiracy in incidents related to the dramatic case, he recalled. Stamford Advocate.
Mawhinney is awaiting his own trial for conspiracy to commit the murder of Jennifer Dulos and did not testify at Troconis’ trial.
Police believe Dulos, 52, attacked his estranged wife at their elegant home in New Canaan, Connecticut, on May 24, 2019, after she dropped the children off at school. Then, according to authorities, he took his body away in the victim’s truck.
In May 2020, Troconis broke his silence for the first time in the case, to profess his innocence in a statement released by NBC News. “I don’t know anything about the whereabouts of Jennifer Dulos or what may have happened to her (…) It is possible to err in judging others. I don’t know if Fotis Dulos was capable of doing the things that the police and prosecutors accused him of doing. But based on what I learned in the last year, I think it was a mistake to have trusted him.”
- Missing mother, suicidal father, Latina girlfriend and 5 orphans: open tragedy in New York and Connecticut
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