Michelle Troconis sentenced to more than 14 years for helping boyfriend murder his wife (2024)

Michelle Troconis, the Connecticut woman convicted of helping her boyfriend murder his estranged wife in 2019, was sentenced to 14½ years in prison Friday following an emotional, hours-long hearing.

Tronconis, 49, was convicted this year on six criminal counts, including the top charge of conspiracy to commit murder in connection to the death of Jennifer Dulos, aNew Canaan mother of five.

She was sentenced to 20 years, a term that will be suspended after 14½ years when she'll then serve five years of probation, under the sentence handed down by Stamford Superior Court Judge Kevin Randolph.

The defense had pleaded for probation in stark contrast to the prosecution's request of 45 years.

"There are some questions that are age-old," Randolph said from the bench. "When does retribution turn into revenge? What’s the role of empathy? Should the court exercise sympathy for one side or another? These are age-old questions."

But with good time credit, Troconis could be eligible for parole after spending just 7¼ or 12 ⅓ actual years behind bars, Hartford attorney James Bergenn said.

The emotional testimony of both sides was tough to hear on Friday, Bergenn said, but the judge came down with a proper ruling.

“He was more moved by his duty,” Bergenn told NBC Connecticut.“He explained it in the most succinct and logical way that you could.”

Prosecutors said they were disappointed their 45-year request wasn't enforced but they accept Randolph's ruling.

“After listening to the victim-impact statements, especially from Jennifer’s children, we had hoped for a more stringent sentence, yet we accept Judge Randolph’s decision and respect it,” State’s Attorney Paul Ferencek said in a statement.

“Although Jennifer’s family and friends will probably never experience full closure from the trauma Troconis has thrust upon them, hopefully today’s sentence will afford them at least some sense that justice has been achieved.”

Carrie Luft, a friend of the victim and spokesperson for the family, said Dulos' loved ones are satisfied with the punishment meted out by the judge.

“For us, there is some relief in knowing the defendant will serve substantial time for her crimes, starting now," Luft said in a statement. "This painful chapter has come to a close, but the legal process continues, and none of it will bring Jennifer back."

Prior to sentencing, Randolph vacated Troconis' conviction on one count of conspiracy to tamper with evidence. That ruling didn't impact the ultimate the sentence, as her punishments run concurrently.

Troconis’ boyfriend, Fotis Dulos, a luxury home builder and suspect in his estranged wife’s disappearance,died in 2020, two days after attempting suicide.

The man was suspected of killing Jennifer Dulos at her home before driving away with her body, which has never been found.

Fotis Dulos denied killing his wife, who vanished May 24, 2019. She’s been since declared dead by a probate court.

Troconis helped Dulos dispose of the victim's blood-stained clothes, cleaned a car police believed was used in the crime, burning evidence and tried to help her boyfriend create a false alibi, prosecutors said.

“I’ve been left with a hole inside of me that I will never be able to fill," the victim's son Petros Dulos, who was 13 when his mother was killed, told the court Friday. "My mother was everything to me."

As his parents were in the midst of divorce, the teen said he'd often lashed out at his mother.

"The defendant’s actions mean that I will never be able to tell my mom how sorry I am for not being a better son when she needed me," he said.

"I will never be able to tell mom how proud of her courage I am (and) most importantly how much I love her. This fact haunts me every day."

Troconis mounted a rigorous defense at sentencing, pushing back at allegations that she schemed to displace Jennifer Dulos and become a wealthy suburban mother.

“Your honor, I am deeply sorry by this tragedy that has affected so many lives," a tearful Troconis told the court. "I found out things before and during trial about a man, Fotis Dulos, I thought I knew and loved. I deeply regret ever being in a relationship with Fotis Dulos and bringing my daughter,my family and myself into his life. I am a person of profound faith and I have been praying and will continue to pray for those who suffered and still suffer."

Family and friends painted Troconis, a native of Venezuela and Spanish speaker who listened to proceedings through an interpreter, as an animal lover and selfless advocate for people with intellectual disabilities.

"Empathy and compassion are at the center of her being, in my estimation," said the Rev. Christopher Solimene, her pastor at Avon Congregational Church. "I've heard her prayers for Jennifer and her children and all her anxieties related to this harrowing ordeal."

Solimene said his testimony Friday comes at great risk for him and his church.

"I had nothing to gain and perhaps, on many levels, much to lose by offering any pastoral counseling to Michelle or opening the doors of my church to her," Solimene said.

"But today I can honestly say before God and indeed the world, Michelle Troconis is a woman of not only substantive character but with an ethic and kind-heartedness that is almost singular."

The victim's mother, Gloria Farber, said the family still holds hope of finding the body. Every year on the victim's birthday, Sept. 27, the family releases purple balloons in Central Park with messages to the victim.

"For years, we search for her remains, tracking down every year. This search continues," she said. "Jennifer filled her children with love, wisdom and humor. Jennifer would have been very proud of her children's accomplishments. They will always have their memories of her, as do I."

The victim's longtime friend, Laurel Watts, said Jennifer Dulos' loved ones are still suffering.

"I gave a eulogy at a memorial without a body. Her mother put a headstone over an empty grave," Watts said. "Because Troconis assisted (Fotis) Dulos in the disposal of Jennifer's body, all we do have is a bloody bra and a shirt stiff with Jennifer's blood sliced up the center and all the horror engenderedby these, our only artifacts, that's what the kids have left of their beautiful, gentle mother."