Michelle Troconis, convicted of conspiracy in Jennifer Dulos murder, was “fooled” by boyfriend, says sister

It was one of the crucial anticipated trials in latest reminiscence: the State of Connecticut vs. Michelle Troconis — a case that has haunted the household and pals of Jennifer Dulos for practically 5 years.

“I needed to be there daily as a result of Jennifer could not be there and I needed to be there for her to bear witness,” says longtime pal Carrie Luft.

Luft was in court docket daily as prosecutors Sean McGuinness and Michelle Manning introduced their case: that Troconis conspired together with her boyfriend Fotis Dulos to homicide his estranged spouse, after which helped to cowl up the crime. Fotis Dulos died by suicide  after being charged with homicide.

“This defendant was undoubtedly a part of this plan to kill Jennifer Dulos. There is not any if ands or buts about it,” McGuinness addressed the court docket.

Because the defendant listened in Spanish, her first language, her legal professional Jon Schoenhorn described her as simply one other sufferer of Fotis Dulos.

“There’s nothing to counsel that Michelle had any clue about what was gonna occur in New Canaan on Could twenty fourth, 2019. … Michelle merely didn’t know,” Schoenhorn advised jurors.

The Troconis household stays steadfast within the perception that Michelle is harmless.

“Sadly, he fooled all of us,” Troconis’ sister, Claudia Troconis-Marmol, tells “48 Hours” correspondent Erin Moriarty. “Initially, he was this superb man. Nevertheless it seems, he was this monster.”

JENNIFER DULOS VANISHES

Could 24, 2019, began like another day for Jennifer Farber Dulos, with the same old organized chaos of getting her 5 kids, ages 13 and underneath, dressed and off to high school. However shortly after 8:05 a.m., Jennifer vanished.

Sgt. Kenneth Ventresca: She was scheduled for a dentist appointment … later that morning in New York Metropolis … She by no means made it to her dentist appointment.

Then Connecticut State Police Sergeant Kenneth Ventresca would grow to be one of many lead investigators.

Sgt. Kenneth Ventresca: Individuals could not come up with her.

On the stand, the kids’s nanny, Lauren Almeida, recalled her gnawing sense of dread.

SEAN MCGUINNESS (in court docket): How had been you feeling right now?

LAUREN ALMEIDA: Um, actually dangerous. My — the second I referred to as Jennifer it is like my abdomen simply sank as a result of she by no means not answered her cellphone.

Almeida took the kids to attend on the dwelling of their maternal grandmother, Gloria Farber, in New York Metropolis. The 88-year-old Mrs. Farber says she waited for her daughter to come back get them.

MICHELLE MANNING (in court docket): Did Jennifer present up at your residence that day?

GLORIA FARBER: No.

MICHELLE MANNING: Have you ever seen your daughter Jennifer since she failed to satisfy you at your residence in New York Metropolis on Could twenty fourth, 2019?

GLORIA FARBER: No.

By 7 p.m., all-out panic set in. Almeida referred to as police.

Lauren Almeida: We advised the police {that a} mom of 5 was lacking and that she was in a really contentious divorce.

Officers rapidly found Jennifer’s deserted Suburban SUV in close by Waveny Park.

Kenneth Ventresca  (within the park): The tailgate was — was backed up towards this tree. … The Suburban was not working; keys weren’t within the ignition. … you could possibly see the cleanup of the blood-like substance everywhere in the passenger facet underneath a flashlight.

New Canaan police launched an enormous search.

CARRIE LUFT (to reporter): All I need to say is, Jennifer, we love you and we’re doing all the pieces we will to convey you dwelling.

Sergeant Ventresca says the one one that did not appear frightened about Jennifer was the daddy of her 5 kids, her estranged husband, Fotis Dulos.

Erin Moriarty: Did he assist in any respect within the search?

Kenneth Ventresca: No, no

Erin Moriarty: Did he appear involved about his spouse as time went on?

Kenneth Ventresca: No. By no means appeared involved about his spouse.

It wasn’t all the time that means. They met in school — Jennifer, a author and playwright from a rich New York household, and Fotis, a world water-skiing champion raised in Greece — each college students at Brown College. It turned romantic some 17 years later after an opportunity assembly on the Aspen airport. 

Erin Moriarty: What did she like about him, finally love about him?

Carrie Luft: Properly, you understand, he was a very … charming particular person. He was very good-looking. He was sensible and humorous.

And an formidable actual property developer and builder of luxurious properties.

Fotis Dulos and Jennifer married in 2004. Quickly there have been 5 kids — two units of twins after which a bit of daughter. Almeida says Jennifer beloved being a mom.

Lauren Almeida: She would sing to them and snigger with them and she or he by no means raised her voice. She was identical to extremely nurturing.

The rising household moved into one in all Fotis Dulos’ opulent properties in Farmington, Connecticut, a suburb of Hartford. They’d all the benefits cash affords, and an emphasis on sports activities, particularly waterskiing. However the marriage was more and more rocky, says Almeida.

Lauren Almeida: So, I used to be in one of many youngsters’ rooms and … we began to listen to screaming and Jennifer ran by the bed room door … Fotis was yelling … And she or he closed the door behind her and pushed her physique up towards the door and he was attempting to get in. And I imply her face was simply — she was terrified. … And … finally, he walked away ‘trigger myself and her daughter had been there.

By 2016, Fotis Dulos was away as many as 10 days a month, usually chasing the newest waterskiing competitors. On a visit to Miami, he met Michelle Troconis. The Venezuelan-raised single mom was Fotis Dulos’ sort — she rode horses, reported for ESPN in South America on snow snowboarding, and much more to Fotis Dulos’ liking, she was a aggressive water skier. Claudia Troconis-Marmol is Troconis’ sister.

Claudia Troconis- Marmol: He was charismatic. He was into sports activities identical to she was. He was a loving father.

Quickly Fotis Dulos and Troconis started an affair. It did not take lengthy for Jennifer Dulos to place two and two collectively.

Lauren Almeida: Via e-mail and receipts she came upon that he went on a visit to Utah with Michelle and a pal of his and his girlfriend.

Jennifer Dulos later advised Almeida she confronted Fotis Dulos and he admitted to having the affair. That was it. She devised a secret plan to take the youngsters and transfer out with Almeida’s assist.

Lauren Almeida: She was afraid of what Fotis would do to her or with the youngsters if she filed for divorce … whereas they had been dwelling underneath the identical roof.

However Jennifer Dulos did file for divorce, took the youngsters and moved right into a rental dwelling in New Canaan. Troconis and her younger daughter moved into Fotis Dulos’ home in Farmington.

Claudia Troconis-Marmol: She fell in love with him and so they had a really superb relationship.

It will turn into one of many greatest errors of Troconis’ life. 

SIGNS OF FOUL PLAY

Buddies of Jennifer Dulos confirmed as much as court docket daily, somber and respectful.

Carrie Luft: We did want to simply convey her — her presence, the love for her into the courtroom.

For Jennifer Dulos’ family members, there was no physique to mourn, no grave to go to. Her stays have by no means been discovered. For prosecutors, it added one other set of challenges to an already tough case. To show past an affordable doubt that Troconis conspired with Fotis Dulos to commit homicide, they first needed to show there was a homicide, after which, that it was Fotis Dulos who murdered her.

However, eight months after Jennifer Dulos vanished, and lengthy earlier than a trial would start, Fotis Dulos died by suicide..

Jon Schoenhorn: I all the time thought … this trial was towards a ghost.

Prosecutors primarily introduced Fotis Dulos again to life by specializing in the day Jennifer Dulos went lacking. They introduced what investigators had discovered at her dwelling.

Sgt. Kenneth Ventresca: After they go to the home, they go within the storage, they seen blood-like substance.

Sergeant Ventresca and Detective John Kimball of the State’s Main Crime Squad had been summoned to the scene.

Det. John Kimball: There was proof that somebody had tried to wash up blood. There have been … what gave the impression to be swirl marks on the edges of the autos.

Sgt. Kenneth Ventresca: A critical violent assault occurred in that storage. I imply, there’s positively some form of foul play concerned.

Inside hours of looking the home, investigators discovered Fotis Dulos had a doable motive — that contentious divorce, one thing Jennifer Dulos expressed in court docket paperwork:

“He’s harmful and ruthless when he believes he is been wronged.”

“… he should all the time win in any respect prices.”

And there was little doubt that Fotis Dulos was shedding. He had spent hundreds of {dollars} in authorized charges and court docket prices. His enterprise was floundering. And worse, he misplaced shared bodily custody of his kids.

Det. John Kimball: I do not suppose Fotis preferred to lose in any facet of his life, and I do not suppose that he preferred to be shedding in court docket by the hands of his spouse.

The day after the mom of his kids disappeared, Fotis Dulos was summoned to the New Canaan Police station.

Erin Moriarty: Did he agree to take a seat down and discuss?

Sgt. Kenneth Ventresca: No.

However they obtained one thing extra essential than an interview. Police took Fotis Dulos’ cellphone.

They tracked it to Albany Avenue in Hartford round 7 p.m. the night of Could 24 — roughly the identical time Jennifer was reported lacking. It turns on the market had been safety cameras all alongside Fotis Dulos’ route.

New Canaan Police Officer Thomas Patten could not consider his eyes.

Erin Moriarty: What are you seeing?

Officer Tom Patten: Properly, as he was driving round, he could be — he was depositing black rubbish luggage in varied receptacles.

Erin Moriarty: And is he alone?

Officer Tom Patten:  No, in a type of photos, you may see a feminine that is leaning exterior of the passenger facet of the truck.

It seems that feminine reaching for the sidewalk was Troconis. Inside days, a workforce of detectives was dispatched to go digging by the trash.

Det. John Kimball:  Properly, a number of the issues retrieved … had been used zip ties with human blood and DNA of Jennifer Dulos on them … feminine undergarments … a Winery Vines shirt within the measurement that Jennifer wore.

At trial for the primary time, they confirmed these bloody garments.

Carrie Luft:  I feel it was actually essential that they did that. … We had seen images of that proof. So I knew what it seemed like. … However being in the identical area … the identical area and time as Jennifer’s garments simply actually drove dwelling that she’s not right here.

On June 1, 2019, eight days after Jennifer vanished, each Fotis Dulos and Michelle Troconis had been arrested for tampering with or fabricating bodily proof and first-degree hindering prosecution. They nonetheless didn’t have sufficient for a homicide cost.

Fotis Dulos refused to speak to police however Troconis gave the primary of three interviews. Officers made it clear Jennifer Dulos was not simply lacking; she was murdered.

DET. CLABBY (first police interview): So principally this is a reality.

MICHELLE TROCONIS: Mm-hmm.

DET. CLABBY: Fotis killed Jennifer.

MICHELLE TROCONIS: Oh, no [crying].

DET. CLABBY: OK?

MICHELLE TROCONIS: Mm-hmm.

DET. CLABBY: It is a reality. We all know this. And we —

MICHELLE TROCONIS: OK.

DET. CLABBY: — we have to discover Jennifer …

Officers had been attempting to determine if she knew the place Jennifer Dulos’ physique was.

DET. KIMBALL: When you needed to do away with a physique, which was now not one piece —

MICHELLE TROCONIS: Mm-hmm.

DET. KIMBALL: — the place would you go?

MICHELLE TROCONIS: Me? I by no means would try this.

DET. KIMBALL: Or the place do you suppose Fotis would possibly go? OK? I am not saying you. The place would Fotis have gone to take both Jennifer or elements of Jennifer to do away with her?

MICHELLE TROCONIS: Oh, God. I do not know …

Troconis insisted she did not know something a few physique. She additionally gave Fotis Dulos an alibi. She advised  them he was together with her at dwelling that morning at 4 Jefferson Crossing.

MICHELLE TROCONIS (first police interview): Fotis wakes up, too. We — once I go to the toilet. I brush my tooth. I get into the bathe.

OFFICER: Mm-hmm.

MICHELLE TROCONIS: Fotis jumps into the bathe with me.

OFFICER: Mm-hmm.

MICHELLE TROCONIS: Most likely it is a 5-minute bathe.

That assertion would come again to hang-out her.

Each Fotis Dulos and Troconis had been launched on bond and ordered to not talk with each other. Fotis Dulos stayed in his glittering mansion at 4 Jefferson Crossing. Troconis moved into her personal residence and would ceaselessly be branded as the opposite lady.

OFFICER: I will be trustworthy with you. You are most likely one of the crucial hated ladies in America proper now.

MAKING A CASE FOR MURDER

Ten days after Jennifer Dulos disappeared, investigators discovered papers at Fotis Dulos and Troconis’ dwelling that they got here to consider had been truly “alibi scripts.” A timeline, say prosecutors, that Fotis Dulos and Troconis created to maintain their tales straight.

That timeline turned central to the State’s case — not just for what was in it, however for what wasn’t.

SEAN MCGUINNESS (in court docket): The cops requested her why wasn’t Hartford in your timeline? Oh, I used to be going to put in writing that, however I obtained interrupted. Is not that coincidence? Is not that handy?

Prosecutors got down to present what they are saying is the actual timeline, beginning within the early hours of Could 24 — the day Jennifer vanished. Surveillance footage reveals a truck leaving an empty home that Fotis Dulos had renovated on the market.

Sgt. Kenneth Ventresca: It was — a purple pickup truck was seen leaving that residence headed in the direction of Route 4 at roughly 5:30, 5:35 hours.

Sgt. Kenneth Ventresca, who thinks Fotis Dulos was driving, tracked the pickup truck heading in the direction of New Canaan the place Jennifer lived.

Sgt. Kenneth Ventresca: We finally positioned a purple Toyota Tacoma pickup truck … driving southbound.

The Tacoma was noticed two-and-a-half hours later — shortly earlier than 8 a.m. — in New Canaan, close to Waveny Park.

Sgt. Kenneth Ventresca: That is the place he had parked it. 

Investigators consider Fotis Dulos had introduced a bicycle with him,  and consider he’s seen on surveillance video biking the final three miles to Jennifer’s home.

Sgt. Kenneth Ventresca: He came to visit within the again highway over there. He waited for her to drop the youngsters off at college. She got here dwelling within the morning … she enters the storage … that is the place the violent assault occurred in the home.

Prosecutors say that whereas Fotis Dulos was killing Jennifer Dulos, Troconis was again at their home, offering an alibi.

Fotis Dulos had left his cellphone at dwelling and prearranged a name with a pal from Greece. Prosecutors consider Troconis picked up the decision to make it seem that Fotis Dulos was dwelling.

MICHELLE MANNING (in court docket): Make no errors, she knew precisely what she was doing when she answered that cellphone.

Prosecutors declare Troconis then moved it round, locking it and unlocking it to proceed to point out exercise.

MICHELLE MANNING (in court docket): Now, the one one that might have fairly manipulated Fotis Dulos’ cellphone that morning is Michelle Troconis.

MICHELLE MANNING (in court docket): That is the conspiracy.

In the course of the time prosecutors say Troconis was manipulating the cellphone,  Ventresca believes Fotis Dulos was cleansing up the crime scene —

POLICE BODYCAM VIDEO: Yeah, it would not sit nicely with me particularly as a result of there’s like a sample right here.

— after which put Jennifer’s lifeless or unconscious physique behind her Suburban and drove it away.

Sgt. Kenneth Ventresca: … after which her automobile is left about three-and-a-half miles away down on Lapham Street close to Waveny Park.

Simply 100 ft from the place police say he had parked the Tacoma.

Investigators can not account for the following 40 minutes. It is doable Fotis Dulos used that point to do away with Jennifer Dulos’ physique, however they suppose it is extra doubtless that he was transferring incriminating supplies from the Suburban to the Tacoma.

Det. John Kimball: If he had issues to maneuver, like a whole lot of bloody clothes … It might’ve taken 40 minutes.

What occurred to Jennifer Dulos, they do not know. What we do know is that the Tacoma returned to the empty home at 12:22 p.m.

After that, Fotis Dulos met Troconis for lunch.

DET. KIMBALL (police interview): Did you ask him the place he was that morning?

MICHELLE TROCONIS:  No.

That is as a result of, prosecutors say, she already knew. That afternoon, Troconis introduced cleansing provides and rubbish luggage to that vacant home on the market — 80 Mountain Spring Street. Troconis says she and Fotis Dulos had been making ready for a displaying the following day.

Erin Moriarty: So what do you suppose was occurring that afternoon at 80 Mountain Spring?

Sgt. Kenneth Ventresca: I feel that the proof that was present in Hartford … was being bagged up.

The prosecution confirmed Troconis driving forwards and backwards to the home the place she lived with Fotis Dulos. Prosecutors consider she was burning proof. 

Det. John Kimball: And there seems to be smoke popping out of the east chimney.

SEAN MCGUINNESS (in court docket): Who’s lighting a fireplace on Memorial Day weekend? Higher query, who’s lighting three fires on the Friday earlier than Memorial Day weekend on a day like that? … The surveillance reveals her going forwards and backwards repeatedly, 5 minutes at a time, 9 minutes at a time. Hearth. Hearth.

If the prosecution had a star witness, it was Fotis Dulos’ worker, Pawel Gumienny, who seems to be the proprietor of the purple Tacoma. He described a dialog he had with Troconis a month earlier than Jennifer Dulos went lacking. Troconis was upset when she discovered Jennifer wouldn’t let the kids say goodbye to the household canine earlier than Fotis had him put to sleep.

SEAN MCGUINNESS (in court docket): What precisely did she say?

PAWEL GUMIENNY: Um — can I take advantage of dangerous phrases?

SEAN MCGUINNESS: Sure.

PAWEL GUMIENNY: She stated that “b—- needs to be buried proper subsequent to this canine.”

However maybe Gumienny’s most damaging testimony involved his pickup truck — that Tacoma, which he says Fotis Dulos took with out permission. He says he confirmed up on the home the place Troconis and Fotis Dulos had been cleansing. He needed his truck again. However the keys had been gone.

SEAN MCGUINNESS (in court docket):  What did Mr. Dulos say to you?

PAWEL GUMIENNY: He says that Michelle has the important thing.

Troconis had already left the premises with the keys.

MICHELLE MANNING (in court docket): She takes the keys to the Toyota Tacoma to stop Pawel from taking the automobile for the weekend. In spite of everything they want extra time, they have not gone to the automobile wash but.

Troconis returned with the keys and Gumienny took his truck dwelling. However, 5 days after Jennifer Dulos disappeared, Fotis Dulos lastly took the previous, beat-up Tacoma to the automobile wash. Troconis met him there.

Sgt. Kenneth Ventresca: You possibly can eat off the floorboards on this truck. That is how clear it was by the point we obtained it.

However Fotis Dulos made one main miscalculation. He requested Gumienny to take away the 2 entrance seats of the Tacoma and discover replacements.

PAWEL GUMIENNY (in court docket): He was rising indignant and — and — and he carry on saying, like, “You gotta do it. You — you — you — are you able to do it?”

Gumienny, who was later given immunity, did take away the seats, however he handed them over to police. And positive sufficient —

Sgt. Kenneth Ventresca: On the passenger seat … there was a blood-like stain on the material of the seat, which was lower out, examined on the lab, and it got here again to Jennifer Dulos’s DNA blood. … And that was paramount for this investigation.

They lastly had sufficient proof to arrest Fotis Dulos for the homicide of his spouse. Troconis was arrested for serving to him plan the homicide. The 2 would by no means see or communicate to one another once more. 

MICHELLE TROCONIS’ FAMILY SAYS SHE IS INNOCENT 

Day after day, Troconis sat within the courtroom together with her household behind her. She confirmed little emotion aside from a number of tears. 

Jon Schoenhorn: Let me say one thing about not displaying emotion. … If we smile as we’re coming into the court docket … all the pieces she does … somebody is gonna touch upon that.

Troconis, out on bail, left court docket quietly every day, however her household was outspoken.

CLAUDIA TROCONIS-MARMOL (to reporters exterior court docket): She’s a mom, a daughter, a sister … and simply an incredible human being. And we all know that the reality will prevail.

Her father, cardiovascular surgeon Dr. Carlos Troconis, and sisters Claudia and Daniela spoke to “48 Hours” in 2020. Then, as now, they refused to consider that Michelle might have been concerned in Jennifer’s disappearance.

Erin Moriarty: What makes you consider that your sister had completely nothing to do with this?

Claudia Troconis-Marmol: How we had been introduced up, our ideas … simply that she’s by no means been a violent particular person.

Carlos Troconis: She would not hurt anyone.

Erin Moriarty: Generally ladies do ridiculous issues for love.

Claudia Troconis-Marmol: Not my sister.

Daniela Troconis: That is not Michelle.

Claudia Troconis-Marmol: Different ladies however not my sister.

Daniela Troconis: Michelle would by no means hurt anyone, anyway.

Michelle Troconis’ legal professional Jon Schoenhorn says she was fooled by Fotis Dulos.

Erin Moriarty: Fotis Dulos lied to Michelle?

Jon Schoenhorn: It seems that he did on multiple event.

Based on Troconis, Fotis Dulos advised her he believed his spouse had run away — one thing he claimed she had carried out previously.

MICHELLE TROCONIS (first police interview): I stated, “what, what do you imply that she disappeared?” And he stated, “do not — don’t be concerned, she’s carried out it previously. She went to Aspen and she or he modified her title 20 years in the past.”

OFFICER: That is false.

MICHELLE TROCONIS: I am telling you what he advised me.

Schoenhorn says Fotis Dulos was additionally mendacity to her that evening he was dumping bloody proof on Albany Avenue in Hartford.

Erin Moriarty:  And also you’re saying she had no thought what was in these luggage that Fotis was eliminating?

Jon Schoenhorn: She not solely didn’t know what was in these luggage … she had no thought what he was truly doing. He’d invited her to exit to Starbucks. … Virtually the complete time … she’s on both WhatsApp, texting or making cellphone calls throughout that complete time.

DET. KIMBALL (first police interview): Have you learnt what was within the luggage.

MICHELLE TROCONIS: No. Bueno. My thoughts’s all the time like development issues. Even possibly I do not know, the cleansing from the home. I do not know.

DET. KIMBALL: OK.

Troconis-Marmol, talking on behalf of her sister after the trial, says it wasn’t uncommon for Fotis to dump development particles in public trash cans as an alternative of paying for a dumpster.

Claudia Troconis-Marmol:  I had gone in 2018, and he had carried out it in my presence. So it was quite common for — for him to try this.

However prosecutors portrayed that footage of Troconis leaning out of the truck as one thing nefarious. They advised the jury she was purposely giving cowl to Fotis Dulos whereas he dumped two altered license plates down the sewer.

MICHELLE MANNING (in court docket): Whereas they opened the door at the very same time, conveniently on the proper time to dam the view from the tan automobile.

Troconis says it was an harmless gesture.

DET. KIMBALL (first police interview): You are truly leaning out at one level of the automobile.

MICHELLE TROCONIS: No. I advised him. I, I lean — I had a, a chewing gum. I took it. I spit it. I spit it.

DET. KIMBALL: OK.

MICHELLE TROCONIS: And my hand obtained, uh, sticky and I went like this (demonstrates by shifting  her hand to the ground) and like this to wash.

The state’s case was constructed on hypothesis, not information, says Schoenhorn. Take that smoke rising from the fireside.

Jon Schoenhorn: She would have fires going within the hearth on a regular basis.

Claudia Troconis-Marmol: Keep in mind my sister lived in Argentina earlier than. So it is quite common to place the fireside on and to simply sit round … have your wine. And my sister would do it.

And, in truth, says Schoenhorn, the police introduced in cadaver canine however they by no means discovered any hint of proof within the hearth.

JON SCHOENHORN (in court docket): What was she burning in that hearth? Firewood.

As for these lacking keys to the Tacoma, Troconis-Marmol says Troconis advised her that the keys had been not noted within the open, protruding of the door of the truck.

Claudia Troconis-Marmol: Culturally, we do not belief. We all the time lock doorways. We all the time lock homes. The whole lot. … So she advised me she took them … due to how we’re, that she’s simply not gonna go away keys hanging from the door.

Schoenhorn says that not solely is there an harmless clarification for each one of many State’s accusations, however his consumer’s willingness to assist speaks volumes about her involvement — or lack of it. She not solely gave three interviews, she walked the police across the grounds close to Fotis Dulos’ home to assist them search for Jennifer Dulos’ physique.

DET. KIMBALL (second police interview): We expect you might have data.

MICHELLE TROCONIS: I advised you I do not, John, however I can stroll the entire world with you if you need. … I can do no matter you need however I did not do it.

Erin Moriarty: If, in truth, your sister knew the place Jennifer’s physique was … would not she have tried to make a take care of that data?

Claudia Troconis-Marmol: In fact. … my sister is just not the person who the media has portrayed, that the police and the state have needed to painting … My sister would have stated it. She would have stood up.

In the long run, Schoenhorn says, her good intentions to assist police labored towards her. It was Troconis’ obvious contradictions in these three interviews that appeared to incriminate her. On the time, she had a distinct lawyer.

Erin Moriarty: Do you would like she had by no means talked to the police?

Jon Schoenhorn: Let — let’s put it this fashion … I’d by no means have put my consumer in that state of affairs when she was underneath arrest.

MICHELLE TROCONIS (first police interview): Fotis jumps into the bathe with me.

Keep in mind, within the first interview she stated she and Fotis Dulos took a bathe collectively the morning Jennifer Dulos disappeared. However she modified that story within the second interview. She advised officers she did not see Fotis at dwelling that morning.

DET. CLABBY (second police interview):The primary time you advised us that you simply had been in the home and awakened, you took a bathe with Fotis. Now you did not take a bathe with Fotis.

MICHELLE TROCONIS: OK.

DET. CLABBY: So, that is all gonna come out and it makes you seem like you are not telling the reality.

MICHELLE TROCONIS: That I am a liar, I do know.

That is how she later defined it:

DET. CLABBY (third police interview):  Why did you inform us issues that you simply knew had been false?

MICHELLE TROCONIS: OK, I used to be in shock. I used to be nervous.

Police and the prosecution had been satisfied Troconis had helped plan an alibi,  together with that decision Troconis picked up on Fotis Dulos’ cellphone. However Marmol says there’s an harmless clarification for that, too. It seems Fotis Dulos’ pal, legal professional Kent Mawhinney, was at Fotis Dulos’ dwelling workplace at 8:26 a.m., when Dulos’ cellphone rang.

Claudia Troconis-Marmol: She was with Kent Mawhinney within the workplace. And Kent was truly the one which signaled to her, “Aren’t you gonna reply the cellphone?” … So then she did.

However why did not Troconis point out that cellphone name to investigators?

Erin Moriarty: She by no means talked about that cellphone name within the first two interviews. She by no means mentions it till the third time. Why not? Was she attempting to maintain that from investigators?

Claudia Troconis- Marmol: No, as a result of once more, I do not keep in mind verbatim each single factor that I did … So, our reminiscence— can idiot us … and simply because she did not point out it does not imply that she was hiding it    

Schoenhorn referred to as to the stand a reminiscence professional, psychologist Elizabeth Loftus, to elucidate the altering tales.

ELIZABETH LOFTUS (in court docket): Individuals with a whole lot of life stress aren’t gonna be, their reminiscence is just not gonna be working optimally.

Subsequent he referred to as Viorica Marian, a professor who specializes within the relationship between language and reminiscence. She testified that Troconis, who you may keep in mind listened to the trial in Spanish, had solely medium proficiency in English.

JON SCHOENHORN (in court docket): Does that play a job while you’re requested to retrieve or recite one thing that you simply had encoded in your reminiscence?

VIORICA MARIAN: It could.

After three days, the protection rested. Troconis by no means took the stand. It was time for the attorneys to current their closing arguments to the jury.

GUILTY ON ALL COUNTS

When jury choice started within the trial of Michelle Troconis, Jennifer Farber Dulos had been lacking for 1,594 days. For Carrie Luft, the courtroom turned a spot to pay homage to a pal whose absence has left an insufferable silence.

Carrie Luft: I used to be there to be a presence for Jennifer.

After six weeks of testimony, it was lastly time for the attorneys to sum up their circumstances in a story. A narrative. Now not than an hour. Their probability to place all of the items collectively.

“48 Hours” met up with Jon Schoenhorn as he put the ending touches on his closing arguments.

Jon Schoenhorn: I really feel apprehensive, however I really feel that we’ve a great shot.

The next morning, Jennifer’s 5 kids, now 17, 15 and 13 and dwelling with their grandmother, sat within the gallery because the closing arguments started.

Carrie Luft: They needed to assist their mother. They needed to assist their grandmother. They usually needed to know what occurred.

Prosecutor Michelle Manning was the primary up.

MICHELLE MANNING (in court docket): This trial could be very easy. It is a few conspiracy and a few coverup. It is about Michelle Troconis’ actions, and about how she and Fotis Dulos conspired collectively to homicide the lady who was standing of their means.

JON SCHOENHORN (in court docket) : It’s, and I’ll say this a number of occasions, hypothesis. It is conjecture. It is guesswork, which isn’t the usual of proof in a legal case right here.

Prosecutor Sean McGuinness delivered a strong end utilizing one easy phrase: coincidence.

SEAN MCGUINNESS (in court docket): I need to simply pose these inquiries to you as you head into your deliberations. Is it actually only a bunch of coincidences? Is it only a coincidence that the defendant answered Dulos’ cellphone at 4 Jefferson Crossing when he was murdering his spouse in New Canaan? … Is it only a coincidence that Dulos’ cellphone is being moved and manipulated when solely the defendant is dwelling? Is it only a coincidence that the defendant travels with Dulos to Hartford as he disposes of the proof on the identical day? Is it only a coincidence that the defendant introduced black rubbish luggage to 80 Mountain and Jennifer’s shirt and bra had been discovered inside black trash luggage?

For alternate juror Patrick, who needed “48 Hours” to solely use his first title, the prosecution’s closing put weeks of testimony into perspective.

Patrick:  The place all of it got here collectively actually was in closing arguments. That is when all of it made sense to me. And actually as much as that time, I had entertained each side in my head.

As an alternate juror, Patrick was launched earlier than deliberations.

After a bit of greater than two days, the jury despatched phrase of a unanimous verdict to the decide: responsible.

Erin Moriarty: What did that really feel like listening to “responsible”?

Jon Schoenhorn: Properly, I held her arm and … I might simply really feel the vitality go away her physique. … all the pieces was lifeless silent.

Erin Moriarty: The whole lot simply stopped at that second.

Jon Schoenhorn: Sure.

Carrie Luft: And — it was actually beautiful. And I assume, I imply that within the … bodily sense of being surprised and simply, form of … Hanging on each phrase.

Patrick says he agreed with the decision, together with essentially the most critical cost: conspiracy to commit homicide.

Erin Moriarty: What makes you consider that she helped plan it?

Patrick: I feel the totality of the proof. Not solely once I thought she was misleading in her interviews, however even simply absent of that— the shifting round of Fotis’ cellphone within the morning, the answering the cellphone name … Protecting for him. … even when there was an evidence for it, that actually reveals that you simply had — some purpose to try this.

The Troconis household spoke to the press after the decision.

CLAUDIA TROCONIS-MARMOL (to reporters): And we proceed standing right here as a result of we too care to know the reality of what occurred to Jennifer, however we do not know what occurred to Jennifer. And selecting and placing my sister because the responsible particular person is just not the precise factor to do as a result of she’s harmless (crying).”

For Jennifer Farber Dulos’ household and pals, it was the decision they’d hoped for. Nevertheless it did little to ease the anguish they really feel daily that she stays lacking.

Carrie Luft:  And that is what’s essentially the most painful. We do not know. We do not know the place she is.

Erin Moriarty: Do you suppose you ever will?

Carrie Luft: I do not know.

Carrie Luft: We might like to search out her and produce her dwelling. If that does not occur, it would not change our love for her. … she’s in every of our hearts. … She’s in her 5 kids. You see her face in Gloria’s. So, you understand, Jennifer’s nonetheless right here in so some ways. However — I feel it would- convey some peace to have the ability to let her relaxation in peace.

Michelle Troconis is anticipated to be sentenced on Could 31. She faces a most of fifty years in jail.

Liza Finley, Emily Wichick Hourihane, Mary Ann Rotondi and Richard Fetzer are the producers. Mead Stone is the producer-editor. Elena DiFiore and Marc Goldbaum are the event producers. Elizabeth Caholo and Emma Steele are the affiliate producers. Mike Baluzy, Michael Vele, Chris Crater, Ken Blum and Diana Modica are the editors. Peter Schweitzer is the senior producer. Nancy Kramer is the chief story editor. Judy Tygard is the chief producer.