Michelle Troconis proclaims innocence in Jennifer Dulos case

STAMFORD — A visibly upset Michelle Troconis offered to help detectives look for the remains of Jennifer Dulos in a video released by her attorney Wednesday in the latest attempt to have some charges dismissed in the case.

“I can spend a month with you guys. I can do whatever you want, but I didn’t do it,” Troconis told state police as she was being questioned on June 6, 2019, nearly two weeks after Jennifer Dulos went missing.

This latest motion came one day after Troconis appeared for a virtual court hearing in which the state confirmed that co-defendant Kent Mawhinney, a longtime friend and lawyer of Jennifer Dulos’ estranged husband, will likely testify if the case goes to trial.

In his most recent effort to have some of the charges dismissed, Troconis’ attorney, Jon Schoenhorn, contends that state police detectives “disregarded” facts in the arrest warrants used to charge his client with tampering with evidence and hindering prosecution.

“In particular, the defendant alleges that the Sept. 2, 2019 arrest warrant affidavit, prepared and submitted by Detective John Kimball of the Connecticut State Police, contained falsehoods, recklessly disregarded the truth, and omitted material facts, that negated probable cause,” Schoenhorn said in the motion filed Wednesday.

Schoenhorn asked Judge John F. Blawie to dismiss the charges, arguing the arrest warrant affidavits were filled with inaccuracies and omissions, citing forensic reports and his client’s statements in three videotaped interviews with state police detectives.

Troconis, 46, a former girlfriend of Fotis Dulos, has been charged with evidence tampering, hindering prosecution and conspiracy to commit murder. Fotis Dulos died from a suicide in January 2020, about two weeks after he was charged with murder in connection with his estranged wife’s death and disappearance.

Jennifer Dulos has been presumed dead, but her body has never been recovered. She vanished May 24, 2019, after dropping off her five children at school, police said. Fotis Dulos was accused of “lying in wait” for his estranged wife at her New Canaan home that morning, according to arrest warrants in the case.

Mawhinney, 55, was also charged last January with conspiracy to commit murder. He was released in October on reduced bond, a move that has drawn scrutiny from Schoenhorn, who referred to Mawhinney as the state’s “star witness.”

In excerpts of police interviews

Schoenhorn submitted with the motion on Wednesday, Troconis said she would be willing to help detectives search for Jennifer Dulos, but said she didn’t know where her remains could be found.

“If you had to get rid of a body, which was no longer in one piece ... where would you go?” Kimball asked Troconis during a June 2, 2019 interview after police said they found videos of Troconis and Fotis Dulos in Hartford the night of the disappearance. The videos also showed Fotis Dulos making several stops and dumping bags that were later determined to contain his estranged wife’s blood and clothing, arrest warrants state.

“Where would Fotis have gone to take either Jennifer or parts of Jennifer?” Kimball asked.

“Oh God, I don’t know. I mean you’re asking me something like that,” Troconis replied.

When detectives asked Troconis if Jennifer Dulos or “any part of her” could be found at Fotis Dulos’ home at 4 Jefferson Crossing in Farmington, she replied, “I mean, you guys, I can go with you, I can dig holes, I can do whatever you want,” according to documents Schoenhorn filed Wednesday.

At one point, Troconis offered again to go with police, but reiterated she had no idea where Jennifer Dulos could be found, the documents said.

“I’ll do whatever, but no, I mean, if she’s cut in pieces she’s all over,” Troconis said, according to the documents.

Schoenhorn wrote that his client on at least 18 occasions told investigators that she did not know what happened to Jennifer Dulos.

Schoenhorn challenged the statements in the warrant that said his client told police a stained paper towel handed to her by Fotis Dulos didn’t smell like coffee and he was using the item to clean up an employee’s Toyota Tacoma pickup, which was believed to have been used in the crime, arrest warrants stated.

Schoenhorn said his client never smelled the paper towel and she told police that she had no idea what Fotis Dulos was doing in the truck. Schoenhorn argues that police misled his client when they showed Troconis a depiction of blood in the vehicle highlighted by the chemical Luminol, which reacts with some materials, including blood.

“[Kimball] knew full well that no human DNA was detected on the Tacoma doors at all, let alone the blood of Ms. Dulos,” Schoenhorn said, pointing to a state crime lab report that showed no DNA profile was found inside the Tacoma.

In another transcribed police interview, Troconis said she wasn’t protecting Fotis Dulos and “I really don’t want to see him ever again in my life.”