Jennifer Dulos search returns to former Farmington home
FARMINGTON — As the search for Jennifer Dulos reached the two-week mark on Friday, investigators returned to her former Jefferson Crossing home.
They were joined at one point by Michelle Troconis, who spent about an hour
with investigators on the property. Troconis, who is free on bail, met with state
police investigators and the state’s attorney on Thursday for several hours at her lawyer’s Westport office.
It was not immediately known what Troconis was doing on the property, but drone footage from the scene showed investigators focusing on the wooded area behind the home that leads to the West Hartford Reservoir.
Troconis, 44, and her boyfriend, Fotis Dulos, 51, have been charged with evidence tampering and hindering prosecution in the disappearance of Jennifer Dulos, who was last seen around 8 a.m. May 24 dropping off her children at New Canaan Country School.
Fotis Dulos remains jailed at the Bridgeport Correctional Center, unable to post $500,000 bond.
New Canaan Police Lt. Jason Ferraro said an update to the investigation was not going to be released on Friday.
“She is still considered missing and, as stated previously, an active criminal investigation is occurring,” Ferraro wrote in an email.
Eugene Riccio, Fotis Dulos’ criminal defense attorney, declined to comment about Troconis’ meeting on Thursday with investigators.
"It would not be productive for me to make any statement regarding that report,” he said Friday.
Riccio also declined to comment on the motion filed Thursday by Michael Rose, who has asked to be removed as Fotis Dulos’ divorce attorney.
“Good cause exists to grant this motion because considerations other than compensation prevent the firm from continuing to represent the defendant,” the motion states. “Counsel represents that the withdrawal will have no effects on the client’s interests.”
Troconis and her daughter moved into the Jefferson Crossing home after Jennifer Dulos, 50, and her children left for New Canaan when she filed for divorce in 2017.
Investigators spent nearly all last weekend searching for clues on the property and have returned several more times. They executed an emergency search warrant there Wednesday night and were seen leaving with several boxes of evidence.
Earlier on Wednesday, state police searched a metal dumpster outside 61 Sturbridge Hill Road in New Canaan. The property is among those connected to Fotis Dulos’ custom homebuilding company, the Fore Group.
Neighbors said they heard the loud sounds of metal banging during the pre-dawn hours on May 25 — the day after Jennifer Dulos was reported missing. One neighbor said police have been to the neighborhood three times in the past two weeks.
The property of the 7,000-square-foot home, listed at $4.8 million, is still being developed. A trailer with Fore Group’s name on the side and the dumpster remain on the property.
The home is located about 10 minutes from Jennifer Dulos’ Welles Lane residence, which had an added layer of security on Friday. In addition to the police officer who has been stationed at the home, a private security guard was also there. The man said he was “securing” the home.
The Dulos children, who range in age from 8 to 13, have been staying with their maternal grandmother under the watch of an armed guard in her New York City apartment. The grandmother, Gloria Farber, is also seeking custody of them.