Final juror selected in case against Michelle Troconis; trial to begin in new year
The final juror was selected Thursday in the case against Michelle Troconis, who is charged in connection with the 2019 disappearance — and presumed death — of New Canaan mother Jennifer Farber Dulos.
Attorneys selected the 12th and final juror — a local businessman — on Thursday afternoon, completing the three-week process of choosing the jury that will decide whether or not prosecutors can prove that Troconis is guilty of conspiring with her former boyfriend, Fotis Dulos, to kill Farber Dulos and tampering with evidence.
Troconis will return to Stamford Superior Court on Jan. 8, 2024, and her case will be heard by a jury of six with six alternate jurors. According to Judge Kevin Randolph, the trial is expected to last until about March 1, 2024.
Troconis, who has been out on bond, is charged with conspiracy to commit murder, tampering with evidence, conspiracy to tamper with physical evidence and hindering prosecution, court records show.
Troconis’s defense attorneys Jon Schoenhorn and Audrey Felsen and state prosecutors Michelle Manning and Sean McGuinness began questioning a pool of prospective jurors in Stamford Superior Court on Oct. 4. They asked prospective jurors whether they had previously read about Farber Dulos’ disappearance, whether they had formed opinions about Troconis’ role in the crimes and whether or not they could avoid talking about or viewing media coverage of the high-profile case over the next six months, including during the holiday season.
Farber Dulos, a writer and mother of five, vanished after dropping off her children at school in New Canaan on May 24, 2019. Investigators say they found evidence of a bloody murder in her home and a truck used by her estranged husband, but her body was never found despite exhaustive search efforts.
Troconis was living with Fotis Dulos at his Farmington mansion at the time of his estranged wife’s disappearance and, according to investigators, allegedly helped Dulos dispose of evidence. Farber Dulos and Dulos were in the midst of a contentious divorce and custody battle.
Investigators said in an arrest warrant affidavit that they found “a large quantity of physical evidence” at her home in New Canaan, including blood stains on the garage floor and evidence that someone tried to clean those stains and other parts of the crime scene. Traces of blood were also found in a truck Dulos used, according to the affidavit.
Fotis Dulos and Troconis were reportedly seen on traffic camera videos driving along a four-mile stretch of Albany Avenue in Hartford and stopping to place multiple garbage bags “into various trash receptacles” following her disappearance, police and court records show.
Dulos was charged with murder in January 2020 but died in a New York City hospital a month later after poisoning himself with carbon monoxide in the garage of his Farmington home.
Troconis faces up to 20 years in prison if convicted.
The court adjourned for the day around 3 p.m. on Thursday. The trial is set to begin at 10 a.m. on Jan. 8, 2023.
Judge Randolph said the jurors will be contacted by the court clerk’s office ahead of the start of the trial.
The judge said the clerk’s office would not check in with jurors about their availability at that time. If any of the selected jurors are no longer available, the judge said, the court clerk’s office will handle that accordingly when they return to court for the trial.