Jennifer Farber Dulos’ loved ones: Michelle Troconis wanted to ‘replace’ and ‘erase’ her
At an emotionally charged sentencing hearing in Stamford Superior Court, loved ones on both sides of the courtroom painted very different pictures of Michelle Troconis’ relationship with Fotis Dulos and the events that led to Jennifer Farber Dulos’ death and disappearance in 2019.
Farber Dulos’ five children, whom she shared with Dulos, joined family, close friends and their nanny in recounting how they allegedly watched as Troconis meticulously try to take over Farber Dulos’ life — dating her husband, moving into her home, touring her children’s school for her own child and eventually trying to “erase” her from the picture altogether.
“She wanted to erase and replace Jennifer Farber Dulos and she very nearly succeeded,” said Farber Dulos’ close friend Carrie Luft, also a spokesperson for the Farber family.
Senior Assistant State’s Attorney Michelle Manning, who prosecuted the case, said at the Friday sentencing that Troconis thought she could do just that, moving in her mansion and hopefully having all the children under one roof.
“But in order for that to happen Jennifer would have to die,” Manning said. “The defendant thought she could build her life on Jennifer’s death.”
A jury on March 1 found Troconis guilty of conspiring with Dulos, who she was dating and living with, to kill Farber Dulos and cover up the crimes.
Investigators believe Farber Dulos was killed when she went missing on May 24, 2019, her violent death planned by Troconis and Dulos, but dozens of heartfelt statements on Friday made it clear that Farber Dulos will never be forgotten.
“She cannot be replaced even though the defendant tried,” said Manning. “She tried in the most evil and heinous way.”
Farber Dulos vanished after dropping the children off at school and her body, to this day, has not been found. Evidence of a violent killing was found in her New Canaan garage, and her blood-soaked clothes were found discarded in Hartford trash bins. The same trash bins that Dulos was seen dropping trash bags filled with evidence of the crimes in bins along Albany Avenue while Troconis rode in the passenger seat.
Troconis’ attorney Jon Schoenhorn called the claims of a plot to replace Farber Dulos a “false narrative” and that there was no truth or evidence to support that idea. Troconis and her defense team have adamantly maintained her innocence.
Troconis’ family and attorneys say she was tricked by a manipulative man. They told the judge that Dulos convinced Troconis that his divorce was amicable, that his estranged wife was fine with Troconis moving in, that he saw a happy family in their future.
Three months after her conviction, the judge on Friday handed down a series of sentences to run concurrently, meaning Troconis will spend a total of 14 1/2 years behind bars for conspiracy to commit murder, conspiracy to tamper with evidence, two counts tampering with evidence and hindering the prosecution. Dulos was charged with murder but died after attempting suicide in 2020.
The children left behind
Friday marked the first time the five Dulos children spoken publicly about their parents, and each gave an account of lifelong heartache, grief, fear and trauma they all said were directly the result of Troconis coming into their lives.
One of the couples’ children said he remembered meeting Troconis at a water skiing event in Miami in 2016. Right after that trip, Farber Dulos told their nanny that Dulos was having an affair with her.
Not long after, Farber Dulos began slowly moving out of their Farmington mansion. Dulos was not alone in the near-empty mansion for long, as Troconis and her daughter moved in from Miami.
Luft said Farber Dulos began to express “overt fears for her physical safety” as Dulos became more physically aggressive and defiant after that. Farber Dulos’ friends recounted acts of aggression by Troconis, like visits she made to her children’s schools.
“We saw you then and we see you now for what you are,” Farber Dulos’ friend Caroline Buckley said told Troconis on Friday.
The couple’s split started a years-long divorce and custody battle that prosecutors say was the motive for the killing plot.
During the Dulos’ custody battle, Troconis was barred from spending time with the children. But one after another, the five children recalled Friday that she was always there, violating the order, encouraging them to lie to their mother about her presence until, eventually, Dulos was only permitted to see them with a court supervisor.
“Michelle’s presence in our lives, even before May 24, was overwhelming and invasive,” Christiane told the judge.
Her brother Constantine told the judge that his father’s “personality was poisoned” when Troconis was around.
Many of Farber Dulos’ friends turned to Troconis in court on Friday and asked her how she could have inflicted so much pain on the children she once claimed to care for.
“You skied with them, you lived with them, you fed them, you tucked them into bed,” said Laurel Watts, who had been friends with Farber Dulos since they were 4 years old.
“How could you, as a mother?” she asked Troconis, who sat beside her attorneys in a prison-issue outfit.
“You coveted her life and you effectively took it as your own,” Watts said, adding that Troconis “planned to erase Jennifer and take her kids”
Lauren Almeida, the children’s nanny, showed the court a photo of Farber Dulos smiling brightly, her face lit by the flame of candles on a birthday cake as her children happily huddled around her. Her last birthday.
She said she saw first hand what a dedicated, loving, patient mother Farber Dulos was. She sang to her children, talked to them for hours, and was present for every moment she could be.
“You Michelle, you have helped take all of this away,” Almeida said. “And for what? To take Jennifer’s place? You could never.”
Gone but never forgotten
Investigators believe Farber Dulos was killed, or nearly killed, in her garage where they say Dulos was laying in wait when she arrived home that May morning in 2019..
Farber Dulos was not declared legally dead until October 2023. The family revealed Friday that they held a secret memorial service with no body and an empty grave with a tombstone.
They also gave a glimpse into the harrowing days after Farber Dulos disappeared. The children questioning whether their mother was coming back.
Troconis played a role in “making those kids wonder day in and day out what happened to their mother,” Manning said.
Farber Dulos’ mother, Gloria Farber, took custody of the children. She told the court Friday that after the divorce proceedings began, her daughter “lived in fear of her life and fear that her husband might abduct her children.”
When Farber Dulos did not answer calls and texts and did not show up to appointments on May 24, “I knew something terrible had happened,” Farber said.
Luft said that not long before her death, Farber Dulos asked her to be her medical proxy should anything happen to her. Luft said as her mind drifted to the worst-case scenarios that would ever lead to that, she never could have fathomed this reality.
The children were further traumatized by a narrative that Farber Dulos had made herself disappear in an attempted recreation of the Gillian Flynn novel “Gone Girl.”
The suggestion that the dedicated mother would abandon all five of her children was unbelievable and cruel, the family said.
Michelle Troconis’ father Carlos Troconis leaves the courthouse after the sentencing for Michelle Troconis at Stamford Judicial District Courthouse on Friday, May 31, 2024. (Aaron Flaum/Hartford Courant)[/caption]
They shared stories of her volunteer work, cooking meals with the homeless in Hartford, volunteering in the Amazon as her father, cardiologist Dr. Carlos Troconis, provided children with medical care; and her passion for equine therapy for disabled adults and children.”
Troconis’ mother, Marisela Arreaza, said Dulos tricked them all.
“When Michelle met Fotis Dulos, he presented himself to all of us as a family-oriented man, going through an amicable divorce. He convinced all of us his good intentions,” she said.
“Michelle believed Fotis and had no reason to doubt him,” her mother added, noting that Troconis had seen her own parents go through a friendly separation. “This trial revealed a man vastly different from who we thought we had met.”
Troconis’ sister Daniela begged for mercy for a sister she described as dedicated to helping and serving others.
“The trial has taught all of us that Fotis Dulos, the man we met and through was a good man and worthy of my sister was not what he portrayed to us. We all feel lied to, we all feel betrayed,” she said.
Manning argued that the voices of support came from people who “did not stand in Michelle Troconis’ way.”
“Jennifer (Farber) Dulos is the only person who stood in Michelle Troconis’ way. And look what happened to her,” she said.
Ahead of the sentencing, Manning noted that Dulos is no longer here to pull puppet strings, yet Troconis has still not expressed remorse or accountability and still “will not let Jennifer rest.”
Schoenhorn countered that she can’t be remorseful or accountable for something she did not do.
He said that he felt the heavy publicity of the case played a role in the charging, prosecution and verdict. He said a notice of appeal will be filed in the next couple of weeks and that he plans to challenge a long list of things he thinks are grounds for reversal.
“I still believe there was not sufficient evidence presented to prove that Michelle knew anything about what Fotis Dulos was planning with his wife,” Schoenhorn said.
Troconis remained in custody on Friday in lieu of a $6 million bond.
Prosecutors on Friday vowed to never stop looking for Farber Dulos’ remains, as the children implored Troconis to reveal her whereabouts.
Watts said that despite the fear Farber Dulos felt because of her husband, she “was deeply, truly content in her life.”
She thrived when caring for her five kids, she said, and “delighted in them wholly.”
“That should have continued, growing, changing, evolving,” she said. But because of Troconis, she said, it did not.
Watts said it should be Farber Dulos, not her friends, who are reading school newspaper articles, going on college tours and cheering at volleyball games.
“Every moment that’s good, every moment that’s bad, Jennifer desperately wanted,” she said. “Jennifer’s sentence is forever.”