Alleged murder accomplice Michelle Troconis hires new attorney

Former girlfriend of Fotis Dulos prepares aggressive defense

Michelle Troconis, the 46-year-old Avon mother charged with conspiracy to commit murder in connection with the May 24 disappearance of Jennifer Farber Dulos, has a new lawyer.

Hartford attorney Jon L. Schoenhorn said Wednesday that he expects to put on an aggressive defense against the list of charges Troconis faces related to the death of Farber Dulos, a mother of five from New Canaan.

“Things have changed and we are going in a different direction,” Schoenhorn said. “She is innocent and we are going to be fighting these charges tooth and nail.”

Troconis, who was living with Farber Dulos’ estranged husband, Fotis Dulos at the time Farber Dulos went missing, was charged last month with conspiracy to commit murder. She also has pleaded not guilty to charges of tampering with evidence and hindering prosecution. She is currently free after posting a total of $2.1 million in bonds. Her next court appearance is Friday.

At a Feb. 13 hearing in Superior Court, Stamford/Norwalk State’s Attorney Richard Colangelo is expected to ask a judge to dismiss the murder charges against Dulos because he died last week after attempting to kill himself with carbon monoxide poisoning from vehicle exhaust inside the garage of his Farmington home.

Schoenhorn has already filed a motion seeking to have

Troconis’ criminal cases transferred from Stamford Superior Court to Hartford, where he says the crimes are alleged to have occurred. He said he will seek a bond modification for Troconis since she is currently under house arrest.

“I have no idea who agreed to have the first two cases in Stamford in the first place since the first case occurred in Hartford and the second case in Avon,” Schoenhorn said.

Troconis had been represented by Westport attorney Andrew Bowman.

Troconis, with Bowman present, agreed to be interviewed three times by state police detectives who accused her of lying. She changed her story each time she talked to them, according to court records.

During a third interview, Troconis told police that on the afternoon of May 24, the day Farber Dulos disappeared, she saw Dulos cleaning the front seat of a red Toyota truck that belonged to an employee of his home building company, according to court records.

She said he handed her a dirty paper towel that he said he used to clean up a “coffee stain” but that it didn’t smell like coffee when he gave it to her, court records said. Police later confiscated that front seat and found Farber Dulos’ DNA on it, court records said.

First arrest

The first arrest for tampering with evidence occurred after police obtained video surveillance on Albany Avenue in Hartford that shows a man police believe to be Dulos throwing garbage bags that had the bloody shirt police sources said Farber Dulos wore the day she went missing and other items with her blood on them into trash cans, court records said.

The video also shows a woman resembling Troconis getting out of the passenger side of a vehicle just before the man places a Federal Express package that contained an old, doctored license plate into a storm drain. The plate was originally on a car registered to Dulos years before, court records said.

Troconis told police she had no idea why they had gone to Albany Avenue on the night of May 24 and that she had no idea what was in the garbage bags. State police later said Troconis’ DNA was found on at least one of the trash bags recovered from the Albany Avenue trash cans and that her DNA, Dulos’ and Farber Dulos’ DNA, were all found on the opening of one of the trash bags, records said.

Troconis told police she placed one of the “coffee stained” paper towels into a black garbage bag — similar to the ones thrown away on Albany Avenue later that evening that she had brought with her to the house.

Troconis also eventually admitted that a few days after attempting to clean the Toyota truck, she followed Dulos to a car wash in Avon where he had it washed and detailed. Troconis initially denied her involvement there until she was shown video surveillance of her following him in the Toyota truck to the car wash, records said.

When state police asked Troconis why she thought he was washing the car, she replied: “Well obviously ... all the evidence says because ... you showed me the picture of the blood in the door it’s because the body of Jennifer at some point was in there,” court records said.