![Michelle Troconis, right, appears in court with her defense attorney, Audrey Felsen, during closing arguments of her criminal trial at Stamford Superior Court on Tuesday. (Tyler Sizemore/Hearst Connecticut Media/Pool) Michelle Troconis, right, appears in court with her defense attorney, Audrey Felsen, during closing arguments of her criminal trial at Stamford Superior Court on Tuesday. (Tyler Sizemore/Hearst Connecticut Media/Pool)](https://www.courant.com/wp-content/uploads/2024/02/st022624troconisday29-5007.jpg?w=477)
The criminal case for Michelle Troconis is in the jury’s hands after attorneys delivered their closing arguments for two hours at Stamford Superior Court on Tuesday, with prosecutors telling the jurors that the end of the story of Jennifer Farber Dulos’ disappearance is up to them.
State prosecutor Sean McGuiness ended the two hours by pulling up photos of three handwritten timelines, dubbed by investigators as “alibi scripts,” that have been at the center of this case for nearly five years.
McGuiness likened the case of Farber Dulos’ disappearance to a script with three acts.
The first act, he said, was the premeditated murder of the New Canaan mother of five. Investigators allege that Fotis Dulos, Farber Dulos’ estranged husband and then-boyfriend of Troconis, killed the mother of his five children.
The second act was the cover-up and clean-up of those crimes and the contradictory statements Troconis made to investigators who were trying to find Dulos’ missing wife.
The third act, he said, is yet to be written.
“But she doesn’t get to write it,” he said, pointing emphatically toward Troconis. “You get to write it.”
“What’s the ending going to be?” he asked the jury.
‘People have murdered for far less,’ prosecutor says during charge conference in Troconis trial
Six jurors, who heard 25 days of evidence from state prosecutors and 2 1/2 days from the defense, are deliberating whether the state proved, beyond a reasonable doubt, that Troconis is guilty of the six charges against her.
Standing just feet from the five Dulos children, who sat in the courtroom flanked by family and friends, McGuiness said that the heart of the case is “a mother’s worst nightmare” He named the Dulos’ five children and said they “went to bed on May 24 not knowing where their mother was and she still has not arrived.”
Farber Dulos disappeared on May 24, 2019, amid a contentious divorce and custody battle with Dulos. He said it is up to the jury to decide who is responsible for that.
Nearly 80 people were seated in the courtroom for closing arguments — more than have been present any day of the trial thus far — including the Dulos children, their nanny and Troconis’ teenage daughter.
Troconis, 49, is charged with conspiracy to commit murder, two counts of conspiracy to commit tampering with physical evidence, two counts of tampering with physical evidence and second-degree hindering prosecution in connection with the disappearance of Farber Dulos nearly five years ago.
During closing arguments, Assistant Supervisory State’s Attorney Michelle Manning said, “The evidence shows the defendant is guilty beyond a reasonable doubt of each and every count.”
Since Troconis’ trial began on Jan. 11, state prosecutors have built a lengthy case against her, presenting more than 150 exhibits of evidence and calling dozens of witnesses, from Farber Dulos’ 88-year-old mother to the Dulos children’s nanny to DNA experts and forensic analysts.
Prosecutors allege that Troconis plotted with Dulos to kill his wife, motivated by an ongoing divorce and custody battle so contentious that she threatened to move out of state and referred to the two years of court proceedings as “torture.”
![Prosecutor Sean McGuinness provides the state's closing arguments during Michelle Troconis' criminal trial at Connecticut Superior Court in Stamford, Conn. Tuesday, Feb. 27, 2024. Troconis is on trial for charges related to the disappearance and death of New Canaan resident Jennifer Dulos. (Tyler Sizemore/Hearst Connecticut Media/Pool)](https://i0.wp.com/www.courant.com/wp-content/uploads/2024/02/st022624troconisday29-5015.jpg?fit=620%2C9999px&ssl=1)
While Troconis’ defense has argued that that motive doesn’t stand because there was “a light at the end of the tunnel” that May when Dulos allegedly received a favorable custody report, Manning said that light was shining from a different place.
“That light at the end of the tunnel wasn’t another court hearing,” Manning said.
As of May 22, 2019, Dulos’ last visit with his children in New Canaan, the custody agreement remained the same — Dulos could only see his kids with court-ordered supervision.
“Nothing changed, so they were going to make it change,” Manning said, alleging that a toast to a more peaceful future for the family at a dinner party Dulos and Troconis held on May 23, 2019, was a toast to their plans to kill her.
“After all, why would they be toasting at a dinner party on May 23 when nothing had changed? Because they were going to change it the next morning,” she said.
Farber Dulos was allegedly killed about 8 a.m. on May 24. Her body has never been found, but she has been declared legally dead.
“Jennifer is dead. Let’s be very clear,” Manning said. “Jennifer is dead and Fotis and Michelle Troconis intended that to happen. They agreed to work together to make it happen and they were successful in making it happen, but they got caught.”
The evidence, prosecutors said, was clear and corroborated by surveillance video and forensic evidence.
Manning said evidence showed swipes of blood and footprints in the garage of Farber Dulos’ home at 69 Welles Lane in New Canaan, and pointed to sponges and duct tape found in trash bins on Albany Avenue in Hartford and bloodstains that show Farber Dulos was struck by at least two blows.
“But Fotis Dulos needed help to commit that murder, he needed an alibi, he needed the defendant,” she said.
Troconis jury to deliberate with Albany Avenue trip at forefront of Farber Dulos’ disappearance
Manning pointed to omissions and contradictory statements Troconis made during her three interviews with investigators that she said were circumstantial evidence proving that Troconis was part of the plan to murder Farber Dulos.
Troconis and her defense team have maintained her innocence. Defense attorney Jon Schoenhorn argued Tuesday that Troconis did not know what Dulos was plotting or covering up and that the state’s case is built on speculation.
“Michelle knew nothing,” Schoenhorn said in his closing argument.
His client, he argued, was not part of what the state claims was a “nefarious, murderous plot.”
“Michelle is not the remaining half of the scheming plot,” he said. “She was never part of the equation.”
Much of his defense hinged on accusations of guilt against Pawel Gumienny, the former project manager for Dulos’ company, Fore Group, who testified against Troconis after being offered immunity from the state.
Schoenhorn poked holes in Gumienny’s testimony. He urged the jury to pause to consider the timing and circumstances of his statements to police. He accused Gumienny of making up allegations after he had been given a “get out of jail pass” that pointed to Troconis hating her boyfriend’s wife.
He also brought up evidence that Gumienny researched flights out of the country after Farber Dulos disappeared and that messages and search history from Memorial Day weekend were wiped from his phone.
“Michelle didn’t do any of those things,” he said.
![Defense attorney Jon Schoenhorn delivers closing arguments on behalf on his client, Michelle Troconis, during Troconis' criminal trial at Connecticut Superior Court in Stamford, Conn. Tuesday, Feb. 27, 2024. Troconis is on trial for charges related to the disappearance and death of New Canaan resident Jennifer Dulos. (Tyler Sizemore/Hearst Connecticut Media/Pool)](https://i0.wp.com/www.courant.com/wp-content/uploads/2024/02/st022624troconisday29-5005.jpg?fit=620%2C9999px&ssl=1)
Schoenhorn said the state’s case, filled with allegations that his client intentionally lied to police, knew that Dulos was destroying evidence when they went to Albany Avenue in Hartford and an Avon carwash, sounded like a scripted cable TV movie, and was not based on evidence.
“It’s speculation, it’s conjecture, it’s guesswork,” he said.
He also repeatedly said that his client did not know what Dulos was up to as he covered his tracks. He brought up the trip to Albany Avenue and the trash bags Dulos threw out there.
“Police thought Michelle knew what was in them, but she didn’t know,” he said.
In questioning Troconis for hours, he said investigators convinced her to change what she told them.
“They threatened her, they scared her, they lied to her,” he said. “She kept saying that she didn’t know a dozen times maybe more but they didn’t let up.”
He also pointed to Dulos’ manipulation of Troconis and others in his life.
“Whatever Fotis Dulos did it was not for or because of Michelle and it was not with her,” Schoenhorn said, while he pulled up medical records that indicated Dulos’ manner of death was a suicide caused by carbon monoxide inhalation.
“Fotis put up a facade until his last poisoned breath and died without ever acknowledging his actions, or admitting his role, even to his own children,” he said.
He told the jury that the Dulos who carried out these alleged crimes was not the Dulos he said his client knew. Troconis, he said, met Dulos at a water skiing club in Miami in 2016. They had shared interests in water skiing and children the same age.
“Whatever Fotis Dulos’ role was in the disappearance and likely death of Jennifer Farber Dulos, Michelle Troconis did not know,” Schoenhorn said. “In fact, she didn’t know that Fotis Dulos was capable of doing something like this.”
Schoenhorn asked the jury to consider how they judge people they love, like a significant other.
“The people that we trust and believe in are our friends and loved ones,” he said. “People usually are who they say they are, we don’t immediately distrust them even when red flags arise. We don’t immediately decide that they are, what? About to murder somebody?”
Schoenhorn said that what happened to Farber Dulos “will remain an unfinished puzzle” and reminded the jury that this is a trial for Troconis, not Dulos. He said that to convict his client, the jurors would have to agree that Dulos murdered Farber Dulos and that Troconis was a part of that plot.
“That she knew what was in on it, knew its purpose and what she did was the same exact intent as whatever Fotis Dulos had planned,” he said.
“There’s nothing to suggest that Michelle had any clue about what was going to happen in New Canaan May 24, 2019,” Schoenhorn added.
The defense called a memory expert to the stand who testified that a person’s memory can be contaminated by “implanted” memories. She also testified that factors like sleep deprivation and stress can impact how a person processes memory.
The defense also called a linguistics expert who testified that she would evaluate Troconis’ English at a moderate proficiency. Troconis is a native Spanish speaker who grew up in South America.
Schoenhorn argued that these factors, language and repeated questioning by investigators — who told Troconis that they knew she was lying — led to inconsistent statements across the three interviews Troconis did in June and August 2019.
McGuiness brought up these experts during his argument, saying that Troconis’ “lies were so profound that the defense brought in two experts.”
He questioned why she remembered details like that she bought parsley at Stop & Shop while Farber Dulos was allegedly being killed and that she tried to order a chocolate croissant from Starbucks that night, but could not remember whether or not she saw Dulos that morning.
“Why is she so good on details that don’t matter?” McGuiness asked. “And yet when it comes to things that could incriminate her? Language gap, memory gap.”
He told the jury to consider whether that was reasonable.
“Why is someone who is innocent lying so much? That’s a question for you to answer,” he said.
Prosecutors showed the jury multiple video clips that they were shown during the trial including several clips from the recorded interviews Troconis did with investigators. McGuiness showed parts of those interviews where Troconis’ statements to police contradicted each other from interview to interview: She showered with Dulos, then she didn’t see him that day. She picked Dulos up from the carwash, then she drove there at the same time as him.
He asked the jury to consider whether those things — and a dozen other factors — were just coincidence or evidence of her guilt.
Prosecutors also showed the jury videos of smoke coming from the chimney at Dulos’ home in Farmington, accusing her of burning evidence while at that house alone on the afternoon Farber Dulos vanished. Schoenhorn asked the jury why, if that were the case, she would not have burned the garbage bags and sponge thrown out in Hartford.
Manning brought up testimony from a witness for the defense, Troconis’ hairdresser, who said Troconis seemed happy the morning after she found out Farber Dulos was missing.
She asked the jury to consider whether it was reasonable to think Troconis “was happy and excited because she thought for a brief moment they got away with it?”
After closing arguments, the jury was given their instructions by the judge and released to deliberate.
Now it is up to those six jurors to decide whether the state presented enough evidence to find Troconis guilty beyond a reasonable doubt.