The Middletown Press (Middletown, CT)
Troconis’ appearance brief in case of missing mother
STAMFORD — Michelle Troconis appeared briefly in court Monday on charges related to the disappearance of New Canaan mother of five Jennifer Dulos.
The hearing lasted less than 30 seconds and she is next due in court on Sept. 20.
Fotis Dulos, 52, and Michelle Troconis, 44, have each pleaded not guilty to tampering with evidence and hindering prosecution in connection with the May 24 disappearance.
Troconis’ court hearings have typically been brief. When she appeared last month, the hearing lasted 90 seconds and was focused on issues with her GPS monitoring device when she was allowed to leave the state.
A judge had granted Troconis permission to travel to New York from June 30 to July 17, but she returned to Connecticut after just one day because her GPS device had a weak signal, her attorney said.
Troconis has met with investigators at least twice since being released on $500,000 bond. One of those times she was seen leading investigators to a wooded area behind the Farmington home she shared with Fotis Dulos.
When Fotis Dulos made his last appearance on Aug. 9, State’s Attorney Richard Colangelo revealed Troconis has not taken a polygraph exam, refuting defense attorney Norm Pattis’ claim that she had passed a lie detector test.
Pattis, who is representing Fotis Dulos, has contended that the charges against Troconis should be dropped and that she could provide an alibi for his client.
Pattis said the prosecution turned over video to him that showed Troconis grocery shopping in Farmington the morning Jennifer Dulos disappeared.
The charges stem from video surveillance footage that police said shows two people resembling Fotis Dulos and Troconis making more than 30 stops in a fourmile stretch of Hartford the night of the disappearance. Police said the videos showed Fotis Dulos dumping bags that were later determined to contain clothing and cleaning supplies with his wife’s blood, according to an arrest warrant.
Police said there were signs that Jennifer Dulos was the victim of a “serious physical assault” based on evidence found in her garage. Colangelo said Fotis Dulos’ DNA was also found mixed with his wife’s blood on the faucet of her kitchen sink.