Jurors have been shown a clip of Michelle Troconis telling cops ‘I’m, like, so innocent’ days after her boyfriend at the time killed his estranged wife Jennifer Dulos.
Several hours of footage showing police interrogating Venezuelan socialite Troconis, 49, were shown at Stamford Superior Court on day 10 of her trial on Thursday.
Police believe Fotis Dulos killed Jennifer at her New Canaan home on May 24, 2019, before Troconis helped him dispose of the evidence in Hartford, CT.
Fotis was charged with murder on June 1 while Troconis was accused of conspiracy to commit murder, evidence tampering and hindering prosecution. But Fotis killed himself in January 2020, leaving his lover to face the music alone.
At Troconis’ trial on Thursday, jurors were shown footage of her breaking down in tears when she was interrogated by cops on June 2, 2019, and insisting she was innocent during hours of questioning in the custody room.
Meanwhile in the courtroom, a similar scene unfolded as Troconis sobbed while detectives picked apart her alibi. She denies knowing anything about Jennifer’s death.
Troconis placed her hands on her head in a moment of anguish as she broke down in Stamford Superior court on Thursday, the tenth day of her trial over the disappearance of Jennifer Dulos
Michelle Troconis sobbed in court as a detective dismantled her apparent lie about having showered with her boyfriend the morning he murdered his estranged wife
At the end of the interview, Troconis hugged her lawyer, then sank to the floor and reached out to him, appearing to plead with him to help her
Michelle Troconis told cops two contradictory stories about what she was up to on the morning her boyfriend allegedly killed his ex Jennifer Dulos, jurors have heard. (Pictured: Troconis’ interview with police on June 2, 2019)
Jennifer Dulos (left) vanished on May 24, 2019, amid a divorce from her husband Fotis (right), who was later charged with her murder. Fotis killed himself in January 2020, leaving his new lover Michelle Troconis to face trial alone for allegedly helping him conceal the killing
Michelle Troconis (left) and Fotis Dulos (right) were living together in his Farmington CT home at the time of his ex-wife Jennifer’s disappearance on May 24, 2019
In the footage, cops told Troconis she was ‘a shambles’ and ‘in tears’ when they arrested her the previous day, and asked her why she had such a strong reaction if she had nothing to hide.
‘You were a shambles, you were in tears, you were upset, you were hunched over. Why would you be upset if was only what you told us today?’ an officer asked her.
‘I’m upset about the whole situation,’ Troconis said. ‘Why is it me that’s happening, this, when I haven’t done anything? I’m like, so innocent’.
The cops spend hours attempting to pry information about Fotis and where Jennifer’s body might be from Troconis to no avail.
At the end of the interview, Troconis hugged her lawyer, then sank to the floor and reached out to him, appearing to plead with him to help her.
One of the officers who interviewed Troconis, former Connecticut State Police Detective John Kimball, appeared in court as a witness.
He said they spoke with the American-Venezuelan socialite on three occasions – June 2, June 6 and August 13, 2019, and pointed out a discrepancy in what she told cops the first time versus later.
Jurors were shown footage of Troconis telling cops she woke up on the morning that Jennifer disappeared, headed to the bathroom and then ‘Fotis jumped into the shower with me’, during the June 2 interview.
State prosecutors paused the footage to ask Kimball whether Troconis ‘always maintained her account that she showered with Fotis Dulos’ that morning.
‘She did not,’ Kimball said.
Troconis spoke with her lawyer Jon Schoenhorn as they approached the court building
Troconis conferring with her lawyer Jon Schoenhorn in the courtroom on Wednesday
Earlier in the interview, the detectives told Troconis that Fotis had been described to them as controlling and manipulative, and they they were concerned for her safety.
‘We understand, having learned some things about Fotis, we understand that he has been described to us as a person who has a very strong personality and he has a tendency to control people and manipulate people,’ one of the cops told her.
‘We believe there’s a possibility that he could manipulate you and that’s one reason you guys are physically separated now, and you are safe.
‘We are concerned for your safety if you get out of here and he’s out of here… we don’t want anything bad to happen to you.’
The court previously heard from several other detectives in the force, who described finding blood-stained items in Jennifer’s home where it is alleged Fotis killed her.
State prosecutors also presented several blood-soaked items including a bra, long-sleeved shirt, zip ties and razor which were retrieved from several trash cans around Hartford, CT.
Detective Matthew Reilly said investigators found traces of blood in Jennifer’s Chevy Suburban, which were illuminated by a test for blood and other substances called luminol.
Zip ties that were covered in blood were also recovered from a local trash can
A blood-soaked bra that cops recovered from a trash can that the State alleges Fotis Dulos, with the help of his lover Michelle Troconis, disposed of evidence in
Former Connecticut State Police Detective Matthew Reilly giving evidence in court
Prosecutors allege that Fotis brutally attacked Jennifer in her rented New Canaan property when she returned from the school run for their five kids, who were then aged between eight and 13, on the morning of May 24, 2019.
The state claims he cleaned up the evidence at her home before putting her body in her Chevy and driving around three miles away, where the SUV was found abandoned. Jennifer’s body was never found.
Fotis and Troconis are accused of dumping garbage bags containing bloody evidence, including the bra, t-shirt and razor, into various trash cans around Hartford in his Ford Raptor.
Jurors were presented with some of the blood-stained items in the court room, while the Chevy Suburban was shown on screen along with surveillance footage of Fotis and Troconis disposing of the items on Albany Avenue in Hartford.
Jennifer’s heartbroken friend Carrie Luft described seeing her blood-soaked clothing in a statement she issued on behalf of her family.
Almeida previously said Jennifer was an ‘incredibly nurturing mother’ to her five kids, who were aged between eight and 13 when she disappeared on May 24, 2019
Jennifer’s heartbroken friend Carrie Luft (pictured) described seeing her blood-soaked clothing as it was shown to jurors the previous day
‘Witnessing Jennifer’s blood-soaked clothing, knowing that was the shirt, the bra, she wore on the last day of her life, made us imagine, again, what she must have endured on May 24, 2019,’ Luft said.
‘We hope that seeing this evidence in three dimensions can put an end to any suggestion that Jennifer is “missing”.
‘She died a tragic death, and her loss is felt beyond what words can express. We are grateful to the prosecution and the investigators for their meticulous collection and presentation of evidence in this case.
‘Above all, we trust in justice, and we hope that this trial will help provide answers to, and accountability for, what was done to Jennifer that day.’
Troconis denies all charges leveled against her – conspiracy to commit murder, evidence tampering and hindering prosecution. The trial continues.