An explosive murder conspiracy trial is underway in Connecticut as jurors work to determine whether Michelle Troconis was involved in the killing of her lover’s estranged wife.
Jennifer Dulos was last seen alive in May 2019 as she waved her children off to school in the wealthy enclave of New Canaan. And while her body has never been found, she has been officially declared dead – with police finding that she died a violent death at the hands of Fotis Dulos, the man she had filed for divorce from just two years earlier.
In January 2020, Fotis Dulos died by suicide after being charged with her murder, leaving his girlfriend Ms Troconis to take the fall.
Ms Troconis insists she did not know Fotis was doing anything nefarious as she watched him toss garbage bags into random bins, or as she helped him write up a timeline of their whereabouts on the day his estranged wife disappeared.
Those actions, authorities allege, were taken to cover up the killing of Jennifer, who they say was attacked at her home on 24 May 2019, after dropping their five children off at school.
Now, more than four years later, Ms Troconis, 49, is facing trial in Stamford on charges of conspiracy to commit murder, evidence tampering and hindering prosecution. She has pleaded not guilty and maintained she does not know what happened to Jennifer or where her body might be.
Here are the key revelations from the trial so far.
Bodycam footage has revealed that police officers spotted what appeared to be blood spatter and a cleaned-up bloodstain inside Jennifer Dulos’ garage on the day she was last seen alive.
Footage played in court on the first day of trial showed law enforcement officers searching Jennifer’s home in New Canaan after she was reported missing.
The officers are seen noting that there appears to be blood spatter on the front of her vehicle in the garage.
New Canaan Police Lieutenant Aaron LaTourette testified that he “noticed what appeared to be red blood in the front of that vehicle”.
“A red mark in the grill part of the vehicle. And it caught my attention because it did not match the colour of the grill,” he said.
Lt LaTourette and the officer are heard on the video discussing the possibility that the driver may have hit a deer. But noted there was no fur.
“It doesn’t sit well with me,” one of the officers says in the footage.
The footage played to jurors also showed red specks on the concrete floor, and a pinkish-reddish area that looked smeared, as if someone had cleaned a large blood stain, he said.
Michelle Troconis’ attorneys took aim at what they described as “junk science” presented by the state as blood evidence in her conspiracy to murder trial.
Ms Troconis’ legal team questioned the science of the substance used to illuminate blood – suggesting it could illuminate certain types of cleansers or rust and is “essentially junk science”.
During a break, the judge heard the motion from the defence arguing that it should not be presented at trial.
“There’s such danger with the misapprehension or misunderstanding of what is essentially junk science,” attorney Jon Schoenhorn said.
Fotis Dulos, left, and his girlfriend Michelle Troconis, in January 2020
