Michelle Troconis sentenced to 20 years in prison for helping her boyfriend cover up the murder of Jennifer Dulos

Michelle Troconis was sentenced to 20 years in prison, suspended after 14.5 years, for helping her former boyfriend Fotis Dulos cover up the murder of Connecticut mother of five Jennifer Dulos.

“What Michelle Troconis decides to do today, tomorrow and the day after that is up to her,” Judge Kevin Randolph said before imposing the sentence Friday. “From what the court heard, she has a lot to offer. The court has no control over his decisions, his life belongs to him.

The court heard emotional statements from Jennifer's five children and several of her close friends.

“My mother was everything to me,” her son Petros Dulos, now 17, told the court. “I am left with a hole in myself that I know I can never fill.”

Troconis, 49, faces up to 45 years in prison after being convicted in March of conspiracy to commit murder, two counts of conspiracy to tamper with physical evidence, two counts of charge of tampering with physical evidence and one count of hindering prosecution in the second case. degree.

Hours before sentencing, Randolph dropped one of his charges of conspiracy to tamper with physical evidence, which could have led to an additional five years in prison.

The sentencing comes five years after her then-boyfriend's ex-wife, Jennifer Dulos, disappeared on May 24, 2019, after dropping their children off at school in New Canaan, Connecticut.

Although Jennifer's body was never found, she was officially declared dead – with police discovering she had died a violent death at the hands of Fotis, the man she had filed for divorce from two years earlier .

Authorities believe Fotis killed Jennifer at her home after she dropped her children off at school and then disposed of her body. In January 2020, Fotis committed suicide after being accused of Jennifer's murder.

Troconis has long insisted that she didn't know Fotis was doing anything nefarious while she watched him throw trash bags into random trash cans, or when she helped him write a timeline of their movements the day his ex-wife disappeared.

After heartbreaking statements from Jennifer Dulos' children, friends and other family members in court Friday, Troconis had the opportunity to speak out.

“I am deeply saddened by this tragedy that has affected so many lives,” she sobbed as she looked at Jennifer's family and friends sitting in the courtroom.

“I discovered things during the trial about a man I thought I knew and loved,” she continued.

“I deeply regret being in a relationship with Fotis Dulos and bringing my daughter, myself and my family into his life.”

His attorney, Jon Schoenhorn, said the prosecution has not proven any of their allegations beyond a reasonable doubt, including whether Fotis Dulos killed Jennifer Dulos or even whether he was in New Canaan that morning- there.

“She didn’t know that Fotis Dulos was planning to harm her,” Schoenhorn told the jury during the trial.

“The State made, in my opinion, unfounded and unfair assumptions and hypothesized that Michelle Troconis must have known what was going on because she was in a romantic relationship with Fotis, that she was in a manner or anyone else involved in this nefarious and murderous plot.

“But that’s not reality,” he said. “It's more like one of those cable TV movies, scripted movies. This is not based on the facts you heard at this trial.

What started as a missing persons case turned into a massive search and investigation that attracted worldwide media attention. Jennifer's disappearance inspired numerous documentaries, a Lifetime movie “Gone Mom” ​​and a law that expanded the definition of domestic violence in Connecticut.

Jennifer was a member of a wealthy New York family and the niece-in-law of fashion designer Liz Claiborne. Although her body was never found, a medical examiner concluded there was suspected blood spatter in her garage and other evidence indicated she could not have survived. A state judge declared her officially dead in October.

Gloria Farber, Jennifer Dulos' mother, told WTNH in a recent interview that she believed Troconis “absolutely” lied to investigators and that she probably knew where her daughter was.

Still, she doesn't believe Troconis will ever tell the family what happened to her body.

“I think she knows where Jennifer is,” Ms. Farber said.

She told the outlet that she still can't believe what happened to her daughter.

“I don’t know what completely derailed it,” she continued.

Ms. Farber now has custody of the couple's five children, who live with her in New York.

“I think of her every day. She put all her wisdom and all her joy into her children,” she said.

“Her life was cut short, but she became, in that short life, a wonderful person. She surprised me, she always surprised me.

Troconis has been held on $6 million bail since her conviction. Her lawyer said she would appeal the convictions after sentencing.

Kent Mawhinney, the second defendant in the case, who was an attorney and close friend of Fotis Dulos, is also charged with conspiracy to commit murder. A date for his trial has not yet been set.

Last Friday marked the fifth anniversary of Jennifer's disappearance.

Carrie Luft, Jennifer's friend who also served as her family's spokesperson, said the fifth anniversary was “not a milestone but a marker of cumulative loss and longing.”

“Life goes on, but sorrow continues alongside it, a shadow, a current, the presence of absence.”