The five children of missing Connecticut mom Jennifer Dulos broke down as they gave emotional statements in court on Friday at the sentencing of Michelle Troconis, telling her that she is responsible for taking away their mother and their childhood.
Troconis, 49, who is being sentenced for conspiring with her former boyfriend Fotis Dulos to kill Connecticut mother-of-five Jennifer Dulos and cover up the crime, sobbed as she watched the Dulos children speak publicly for the first time.
“My mom was everything to me,” her son Petros Dulos, now 17, told the court. “I’ve been left with a hole inside of me I know I will never be able to fill.”
Petros was just 13 when Jennifer Dulos was killed in May 2019. Authorities suggested Fotis Dulos killed his wife because of his growing frustration with their divorce and child custody proceedings. Her body has never been found but a judge has declared her legally dead.
Troconis was Fotis Dulos’ girlfriend and was living with him at the time Jennifer Dulos vanished. Troconis was convicted by a jury in March of conspiracy to commit murder, hindering prosecution and evidence tampering. She now faces up to 50 years in prison.
Petros said he had been close to his mother but struggled during his parents’ divorce.
“During the divorce, I became very bitter with everyone around me, especially mom, because she was always trying to help me,” he said.
“This meant that I hurt the person closest to me because I didn’t know how else to voice my pain. The defendant’s actions mean I will never be able to tell my mom how sorry I am for not being a better son when she needed me. I will never be able to tell mom how proud of her courage I am. Most importantly, how much I love her. This fact haunts me every day.”
He pointed the finger at Troconis, who has a daughter the same age as him, telling her she “has desecrated” the meaning of the word mother.
His twin, Theodore Dulos, who was also 13 at the time of his mother’s death, began his statement with a jab at the defendant, a dual American and Venezuelan citizen, who had claimed in a police interview that her English was not perfect.
“Michelle, I will speak to you in English because that is the language we’ve always used,” he said. “My life now is nothing like it used to be. I no longer have my mother, my hero. I’ll never talk to her again. I’ll never do my homework with her again. I’ll never ask her for advice again.”
“Michelle, you caused this damage,” he told her. “You not only knew about, but conspired, to murder a daughter, sister, friend and mother of five kids. That day you took away five children’s source of comfort, our protector. You showed no remorse and you’ve yet to show any.”
Theodore then implored Troconis to reveal what happened the day Jennifer vanished and to give up the location of her body.
“I’ll never forgive you ... and until you give us more answers, you’ll be considered evil, violent and most definitely a coward,” he said.
He then told the judge: “An appropriate sentence would be 50 years, ten for each child who lost their mom.”
“Michelle Troconis is the reason I’ve blocked out my childhood,” Jennider’s daughter Christiane told the court. She was 10 years old when she was left without a mother.
“The reason I’ve had to sit on the floor with my little sister and try to comfort her, the reason people look at me with pity, the reason my mom is nothing more than a hazy memory.”
Noelle, the youngest Dulos child, was only eight years old when her mother disappeared.
“I’m growing up without my mother, something no child should ever do,” she said through tears in court on Friday.
She told the court that she remembers the time she spent with Troconis - who was dating her father at the time – and that at one point she trusted her.
Since that day, I am constantly worried that something will happen to the people I love the most,” she said. “I also feel betrayed by Michelle. I trusted her. Now, I’m scared to trust people.”
At the time, Jennifer was living with the children in New Canaan while Fotis Dulos stayed in the family’s 10,000-square-feet home about 70 miles away in Farmington.
Hours after Jennifer was last seen alive, Troconis was recorded on surveillance video accompanying Fotis on a trip to Hartford, where he discarded trash bags from the back of his pickup truck. Testing showed that DNA on the items in the bags was highly likely that of Jennifer’s. Troconis told police she didn’t know what was in the bags or why Fotis was dumping them in Hartford.
The Dulos children have been in the custody of Jennifer’s mother Gloria Farber in New York City since she vanished.
Constantine Dulos, who was 10 years old when he lost his mother, told the court that the “actions of Michelle Troconis drastically changed my life.”
He talked about how his father developed a new “poisonous” personality when Troconis came into their lives. And that she put “pressure on my dad to do something.”
“I can’t go home to my mom and talk to her about my school day,” he said as his voice cracked. “I can’t learn things from her. She was my favorite person in the world, my role model. She is still someplace in my heart.”
“However, I will never be the same person I was in Connecticut,” he added.
“All is lost because of Michelle Troconis.”
