Michelle Troconis sentenced to 14-and-a-half years in Jennifer Dulos disappearance – NBC Connecticut

Michelle Troconis has been sentenced to serve 14-and-a-half years in jail for her function within the disappearance and presumed homicide of Jennifer Dulos.

Decide Kevin Randolph sentenced Troconis on Friday to twenty years, with execution suspended after 14-and-a-half years.

Her sentencing comes 5 years and one week after Jennifer Dulos disappeared after dropping her 5 youngsters off in school, on Could 24, 2019.

Troconis, 49, confronted as much as 50 years in jail. Her protection staff requested for probation throughout sentencing on Friday.

Troconis spoke throughout her sentencing, crying.

“Your honor, I’m deeply saddened by this tragedy that has affected so many lives. I discovered issues earlier than and through trial a few man, Fotis Dulos, I assumed I knew and liked,” she stated.

You’ll be able to watch Troconis’ full assertion right here.

“I deeply remorse ever being in a relationship with Fotis Dulos and bringing my daughter,  my household and myself into his life. I’m an individual of profound religion and I’ve been praying  and can proceed to wish for individuals who suffered and nonetheless undergo.”

It was an emotional day in courtroom because the household and mates of Jennifer Dulos, who disappeared from her New Canaan house in 2019, supplied emotional testimony Friday forward of the sentencing for her estranged husband’s former girlfriend for serving to to plan and canopy up her killing.

Earlier than the sentencing, the courtroom vacated one depend of conspiracy to commit tampering with bodily proof.

“Now this courtroom finds that there is usually a conviction on just one depend of conspiracy to commit tampering with bodily proof as a result of every incident of tampering follows just one illegal settlement,” Randolph stated through the sentencing listening to.

The prosecution then requested for permission to enchantment the courtroom’s ruling and it was granted.

Prosecutors say Dulos’ husband, Fotis Dulos, killed her at her house in New Canaan and drove away together with her physique, which has by no means been discovered. He died by suicide in 2020 shortly after being charged with homicide. He had denied killing his spouse.

Troconis was Fotis Dulos’ girlfriend and was dwelling with him on the time Jennifer Dulos vanished.

Troconis was convicted by a jury in March of conspiracy to commit homicide, hindering prosecution and proof tampering.

She insists she is harmless and intends to enchantment her convictions. She is detained on the state girls’s jail.

About 80 individuals packed the courtroom, with Jennifer Dulos’ household and mates on one facet and Troconis’ supporters on the opposite.

All 5 of Dulos’ youngsters, in addition to Jennifer’s mom, Gloria Farber, attended. They spoke of their heartbreak and anger.

Farber stated she knew “one thing horrible had occurred” when her daughter didn’t return calls or texts on that day. Farber stated her daughter “solely needed to provide and get love and be a loving mom” to her youngsters, who are actually 13 to 18.

On Friday, Michelle Troconis can be sentenced on a number of expenses linked to the disappearance and presumed homicide of Jennifer Dulos.

The oldest little one, Petros, 18, stated his mom’s demise has left him with “a gap inside me that I do know I’ll by no means fill.”

Petros Dulos stated he had been near his mom however had struggled throughout his mother and father’ divorce.

“The defendant’s actions imply that I’ll by no means be capable to inform my mother how sorry I’m for not being a greater son when she wanted me,” he stated.

Lauren Almeida, the Dulos household’s nanny, stated she and Dulos’ mates had been afraid for the protection of themselves and the youngsters after her disappearance.

Almeida requested Troconis, “The place is she, Michelle?,” referring to Dulos’ physique.

Jennifer’s longtime good friend Carrie Luft, who has grow to be the spokesperson for the Farber household and the Dulos youngsters since Jennifer’s disappearance, additionally spoke in courtroom Friday.

Luft launched a press release on behalf of Jennifer’s household and mates after the sentencing, thanking Decide Kevin Randolph.

“For us, there may be some aid in understanding the defendant will serve substantial time for her crimes, beginning now. This painful chapter has come to an in depth, however the authorized course of continues, and none of it is going to convey Jennifer again. The brave, eloquent, and powerfully loving statements from her 5 youngsters as we speak made that achingly evident. We are going to proceed to honor Jennifer’s reminiscence and spirit in each method we are able to, day-to-day,” the assertion learn.

The state’s lawyer for the Stamford/Norwalk Judicial District launched a press release after Friday’s sentencing:

“After listening to the victim-impact statements, particularly from Jennifer’s youngsters, we had hoped for a extra stringent sentence, but we settle for Decide Randolph’s choice and respect it,” State’s Lawyer Paul Ferencek stated. “Though Jennifer’s household and mates will in all probability by no means expertise full closure from the trauma Troconis has thrust upon them, hopefully as we speak’s sentence will afford them not less than some sense that justice has been achieved.”

Ferencek praised the prosecutors who tried the case and thanked the numerous regulation enforcement businesses and investigators who’ve labored on the case for the previous 5 years.

“Most significantly, we thank Jennifer’s 5 courageous youngsters who got here to courtroom as we speak to talk about their mom and to face the girl who conspired to homicide her,” he stated. “Our hearts exit to you, particularly, and as we’ve stated prior to now, we are going to by no means cease searching for your mom.”

The case was the topic of stories documentaries and a made-for-TV film, Lifetime’s “Gone Mother.”

Jennifer Dulos was a member of a rich New York Metropolis household.

Her father, the late Hilliard Farber, based his personal brokerage agency, Hilliard Farber & Co., after working Chase Manhattan Financial institution’s bond buying and selling desk. She additionally was a niece, by marriage, of clothier Liz Claiborne.

“We miss her day-after-day, in each method,” a few of her family members and mates stated final week in a press release launched by Dulos’ good friend, Carrie Luft. “For us, 5 years is just not a milestone however a marker of cumulative loss and longing. Life goes on, but grief goes on alongside it, a shadow, a present, the presence of absence.”

Troconis, a twin American and Venezuelan citizen, has described herself as a co-founder of horse using remedy packages who as soon as had her personal TV manufacturing firm in Argentina and hosted a snow-sports present for ESPN South America. Fotis Dulos was a luxurious house builder initially from Greece.

Troconis’ household and mates described her Friday as an upright and caring particular person.

Her pastor, the Rev. Christopher Solimene of Avon Congregational Church, stated Troconis attended Bible research and cooked for the church soup kitchen.

“Empathy and compassion are on the heart of her being, in my estimation,” stated the Rev. Christopher Solimene, her pastor at Avon Congregational Church. “I’ve heard her prayers for Jennifer and her youngsters and all her anxieties associated to this harrowing ordeal.”

Solimene stated his testimony on Friday comes at nice threat for him and his church.

“I had nothing to realize and maybe, on many ranges, a lot to lose by providing any pastoral counseling to Michelle or opening the doorways of my church to her,” Solimene stated.

“However as we speak I can truthfully say earlier than God and certainly the world, Michelle Troconis is a lady of not solely substantive character however with an ethic and kind-heartedness that’s nearly singular.”

Troconis’ mom, Marisela Arreaza, stated her daughter was a loving mom to her teenage daughter and was not the homewrecker portrayed by Dulos’ mates.

“When Michelle met Fotis Dulos, he introduced himself as a family-oriented man going by means of an amicable divorce,” Arreaza stated. “Michelle believed Fotis and had no purpose to doubt him. Nevertheless, we had been all deceived by Fotis.”

Troconis’ lawyer, Jon Schoenhorn, stated in March when his consumer was convicted that he could not perceive how the jury reached responsible verdicts.

Troconis’ household, together with her mother and father and sisters, expressed the identical disbelief.

“Selecting and placing my sister because the responsible particular person is just not the precise factor to do as a result of she is harmless,” Claudia Troconis-Marmol stated tearfully outdoors the courthouse shortly after the convictions.

Authorities recommended Fotis Dulos killed Jennifer Dulos due to his rising frustration with their divorce and little one custody proceedings.

On the time, Jennifer Dulos was dwelling with the youngsters in New Canaan whereas Fotis Dulos stayed within the household’s 10,000-square-feet house about 70 miles away in Farmington.

Hours after Jennifer Dulos was final seen alive, Troconis was recorded on surveillance video accompanying Fotis Dulos on a visit to Hartford, the place he discarded trash baggage from the again of his pickup. Police later discovered a number of the baggage after seizing Fotis Dulos’ cellphone, taking a look at its location knowledge and acquiring the surveillance video from the places.

In one of the crucial jarring moments in Troconis’ trial, the prosecution and state forensic specialists confirmed a shirt, bra and zip ties with blood-like stains on them that had been present in one of many trash baggage. Testing confirmed that DNA on the gadgets was extremely possible that of Jennifer Dulos.

Troconis informed police she didn’t know what was within the baggage or why Fotis Dulos was dumping them in Hartford.

Prosecutors additionally stated Fotis Dulos left his mobile phone at his house on the day Jennifer Dulos vanished and Troconis answered a name to it from his good friend that morning.

They stated that was proof Troconis was in on the plot and tried to assist him create a bogus alibi. She denied the allegation.

One other defendant within the case, Kent Mawhinney, a good friend of Fotis Dulos and his one-time lawyer in a civil case, is awaiting trial on a homicide conspiracy cost. He has pleaded not responsible.

Though Jennifer Dulos’ physique has by no means been discovered, a probate decide declared her legally lifeless final 12 months.

The Dulos youngsters have been within the custody of Jennifer Dulos’ mom in New York Metropolis since she vanished.

The fees

She was discovered responsible of the next expenses. The sentences are to run concurrently.

• Rely 1: Conspiracy to commit homicide: 20 years, execution suspended after 14.5 years. 5 years probation
• Rely 2: Conspiracy to commit tampering with bodily proof (Could 24, 2019 occasions): 5 years, execution suspended after 4 years. 5 years probation.
• Rely 3: Tampering with bodily proof (Could 24, 2019 occasions): 5 years, execution suspended after 4 years. 5 years probation.
• Rely 4: Conspiracy to commit tampering with bodily proof (Could 29, 2019 occasions) – this conviction was vacated.
• Rely 5: Tampering with bodily proof (Could 29, 2019 occasions): 5 years, execution suspended after 4 years. 5 years probation.
• Rely 6: Second-degree hindering prosecution: 5 years, execution suspended after 4 years. 5 years probation.

Be taught extra concerning the expenses and the potential sentencing right here.

Get extra background on the investigation into the disappearance of Jennifer Dulos right here.

How one can watch ‘Contained in the trial of Michelle Troconis’

Watch full episodes of “Contained in the Trial of Michelle Troconis” right here.