Michelle Troconis trial updates: Fotis Dulos’ lover in court over wife Jennifer’s murder

Following Fotis Dulos’ arrest over the disappearance and death of his wife Jennifer Dulos in 2019, his attorney Norm Pattis threw out a wild theory about what had happened to her.

In insisting his clients’ innocence, Mr Pattis – who went on to represent conspiracy theorist Alex Jones – claimed that the mother-of-five actually orchestrated her own disappearance in a Gone Girl-style plot to frame her estranged husband.

Mr Pattis said that the defence had found a “very dark” novel written by Jennifer which mirrored the plot of the Gillian Flynn novel turned movie, where a woman faked her own death to frame her husband for his infidelity.

“We don’t know what had become of Jennifer but the Gone Girl hypothesis is very much on our mind,” he said in a statement at the time.

He later claimed she had the “imagination, means and motive to disappear”.

Jennifer’s family and friends slammed his theory, calling it “false and irresponsible” and pointing out that her novel had been written 17 years earlier.

“Jennifer’s novel is not a mystery. It’s a character-driven story that follows a young woman through relationships and self-discovery over a period of years. Like all of Jennifer’s writing, it expresses a deep longing for human connection and the need to be accepted as one’s true self,” friend Carrie Luft said in the statement to CNN at the time.

“Trying to tie Jennifer’s absence to a book she wrote more than 17 years ago makes no sense. Evidence shows that Jennifer was the victim of a violent attack in her New Canaan home. This is not fiction or a movie. This is real life, as experienced every single day by Jennifer’s five young children, her family, and her friends. We are heartbroken. Jennifer is not here to protect her children, and these false and irresponsible allegations hurt the children now and into the future.”

Ahead of the start of Michelle Troconis’ trial, Jennifer’s family released a statement.

“It is hard to believe that almost four and a half years have elapsed since Jennifer disappeared, and she still has not been found.

“Every day, we miss her voice, her laugh, her gentle demeanor, her inner and outer strength, her insight, her guidance, her determination, her way with words, her love, her faith, her goodness. Many thanks to all who have helped to keep Jennifer’s memory alive.

“We are relieved that the trial process is underway, and we are endlessly grateful to the Connecticut State’s Attorney’s office for their commitment, diligent work, and support.”

Michelle Troconis, 49, is facing charges of conspiracy to commit murder, two counts of conspiracy to tamper with physical evidence, two counts of tampering with physical evidence and second-degree hindering prosecution.

She has pleaded not guilty, with her trial set to begin on 11 January.

The judge said it could last through 1 March.

Just weeks before the trial was set to begin, the judge ruled that prosecutors may not use evidence obtained from a warrantless search of her phone, the Stamford Advocate reported.

Her phone had been seized on 31 May 2019 without a warrant during a search of Fotis’ Farmington home. Connecticut State Police Sgt Mike Beauton Jr testified that police needed to seize it to prevent the owner from manipulating or deleting any potential evidence on it.

But state Superior Court Senior Judge Kevin Randolph granted a motion filed by Ms Troconis’ defense seeking to have it thrown out.

While this marked a win for Ms Troconis, the judge also refused to have her taped interviews with police thrown out.

In the interrogation video, Ms Troconis gave investigators her version of events on the day of Jennifer’s disappearance.

She said she dropped her daughter off at school, ran errands and had lunch with Fotis at his Farmington home.

They then went to one of Fotis’ properties to clean it, and went for coffee in West Hartford, she claimed. On the way there, she said Fotis dumped trash bags while she was in the truck. Ms Troconis said she didn’t know what was in the bags.

Her attorney Jon Schoenhorn argued that the tapes should be inadmissible as she was pushed to answer questions while tired and was denied her basic rights – including repeatedly asking for her attorney, while struggling with a language barrier.

The judge disagreed, paving the way for the evidence to be presented in court.

After his arrest for murder, Fotis Dulos pleaded not guilty and denied having anything to do with Jennifer’s disappearance.

His defence attorney, Norm Pattis, even suggested Jennifer may have staged her disappearance to frame Fotis – in a Gone Girl style plot.

Two days after his arrest, Fotis walked free from prison after posting $6m bond.

But, he was summoned back to Stamford Superior Court for an emergency bond hearing after the company that posted the $6m bond learned that two properties offered as collateral were subject to foreclosure and a third was overvalued.

At the hearing – 28 January 2020 – Fotis likely would have been sent back to jail.

But Fotis failed to show up in court.

Officers went to his home and found Fotis unresponsive. He was rushed to hospital, where he died two days later. His death was ruled a suicide.

Fotis left behind a suicide note, in which he continued to insist his innocence.

In the note, he “declared his innocence of the infamous and heinous crimes that the state has accused him of and claimed his lawyers have the evidence to prove it,” his lawyers wrote in a court filing.

Jennifer Farber Dulos, the mother-of-five who vanished from her Connecticut home over four years ago, has officially been declared dead.

The declaration was revealed just days before her estranged husband’s lover is set to stand trial on conspiracy murder charges in connection to the case.

Jennifer was last seen on 24 May 2019 after dropping her children off at school in New Canaan where she had been living in the wake of her contentious divorce and child custody battle with Fotis Dulos.

A little over a week after Jennifer Dulos was reported missing, Fotis Dulos and his then-girlfriend Michelle Troconis were arrested and charged with tampering with evidence and hindering prosecution.

Investigators said that Fotis had been spotted on surveillance footage driving to and from New Canaan on the day Jennifer went missing, in a pickup truck belonging to one of his employees.

Footage later captured Fotis – this time with Ms Troconis riding in the front seat of the vehicle – stopping in Hartford, with Fotis seen tossing garbage bags into more than 30 trash bins in the area.

Inside the trash bags, investigators found clothing belonging to Jennifer and plastic zip ties that tested positive for her DNA.

A blood-like substance with Jennifer’s DNA was also found in the pickup truck, according to a warrant released by the Connecticut State Police in September 2019.

The owner of the truck told police Fotis had later told him to replace the seats in the truck and got “pushy” and angry when he didn’t.

Ms Troconis, who was living with Fotis in his Farmington home at the time, told investigators that he had the vehicle cleaned “because the body of Jennifer at some point was in there”, according to a warrant. She has denied knowing what was in the bags Fotis dumped.

Then, on 7 January 2020, Connecticut state police charged Fotis with murder, felony murder and kidnapping.

Ms Troconis and Fotis’ friend Kent Mawhinney were also charged with conspiracy to commit murder.

Investigators said they believed Fotis had been“lying in wait” for Jennifer when she returned to her home after taking the children to school.

Police believe that Fotis attacked his estranged wife in her garage and then drove off with her body.

Jennifer, a 50-year-old New York native, was last seen alive on 24 May 2019.

She and Fotis, who had been married for 13 years, were in the midst of a contentious divorce and child custody battle.

In the 2017 divorce filing, Jennifer wrote that she was “afraid” of her estrangedh husband and feared that he might “retaliate by trying to harm me in some way”.

She went on to say her husband had shown “irrational, unsafe, bullying, threatening and controlling behavior”.

On the morning she was last seen alive, she had dropped the couple’s five children off at school in the wealthy enclave of New Canaan – where she had moved with them since leaving the family home.

Fotis Dulos died by suicide in 2020 just weeks after being charged with his wife Jennifer Dulos’ murder

She was reported missing by her friends about 10 hours later, after she failed to show up for appointments and stopped returning calls and texts.

Her 2017 Chevrolet Suburban was later found at a park near her home.

“I am afraid of my husband,” Jennifer Dulos wrote in 2017 court documents as she filed for divorce from husband Fotis Dulos.

“I know that filing for divorce and filing this motion will enrage him. I know he will retaliate by trying to harm me in some way.”

Two years later, the mother-of-five’s ominous prediction appeared to come true.

On 24 May 2019, Jennifer dropped the former couple’s five children off at their elite, private school in New Canaan, Connecticut.

She hasn’t been seen or heard from since. Her body has never been found.

Here’s what we know so far:

Follow live as Michelle Troconis’ trial gets under way in Connecticut