Michelle Troconis

Michelle Troconis appears in court in Stamford for day 16 of trial

Michelle Troconis, right, appears in court with her attorneys Jon Schoenhorn, left, and Audrey Felsen, center, on day 13 of Troconis’ criminal trial at Connecticut Superior Court in Stamford, Conn. Tuesday, Jan. 30, 2024. Troconis is on trial for charges related to the disappearance and death of New Canaan resident Jennifer Dulos.
Tyler Sizemore/Hearst Connecticut Media/ Pool

Michelle Troconis appeared in court in Stamford Friday for the 16th day of the trial. She has been charged in connection with the disappearance and presumed death of Jennifer Dulos.

The court adjourned for the week just before 1 p.m.

On Thursday, the jury heard from forensics experts and saw evidence, some of which was graphic, that was collected during the investigation.

They also heard from the woman who supervised Fotis Dulos during a designated visit to Jennifer’s home to see his children on May 22.

Jennifer disappeared two days later. She was last seen on May 24, 2019, after dropping her children off at school in New Canaan.

Police believe Fotis Dulos, killed her in the garage of her home in New Canaan after she dropped their children off at school and then cleaned up the crime scene.

Troconis, 49, was dating Fotis Dulos when the mom of five disappeared and is accused of helping Fotis Dulos cover up the killing of his wife, whose body has never been found.

She has been charged with conspiracy to commit murder, tampering with evidence and hindering prosecution and has pleaded not guilty and denied any involvement.

During the investigation, police obtained surveillance video from along Albany Avenue in Hartford where Fotis Dulos was seen dumping trash bags into several bins along the road.

On Thursday, forensics experts went over evidence collected along Albany Avenue, as well as evidence from Jennifer Dulos’ New Canaan home and in the red Toyota Tacoma that police believe Fotis Dulos was driving in the day that Jennifer disappeared.

State police investigators tracked the movement of that Tacoma going both toward New Canaan on the morning of May 24, 2019, and back from New Canaan later that morning.

The truck was captured on surveillance video from cameras at rest stops in New Canaan and Fairfield.

This forensic expert, Christine Roy, a retired employee of the state Forensic Lab, could only testify about the processing of the material evidence collected and the confirmation of blood on certain pieces of evidence.

“I did the glycophorin-a test and it was positive, so therefore I could say human blood was detected,” Roy said, describing testing done on a striped shirt that was pulled from the trash along Albany Avenue in Hartford.

She confirmed the presence of blood on the shirt and a bra, as well as on a hard white material that was also collected from the same location.

Roy explained to the jury the process of testing for blood and pulling samples for later DNA testing. She was only able to testify to the confirmation of blood, though.

She also spoke about samples taken for further testing from license plates pulled from the storm drain along Albany Avenue, license plates pulled from the Toyota Tacoma and the door panels and seat from the Toyota Tacoma. But we are waiting on the results from that testing.

Troconis’ defense attorney, Jon Schoenhorn. won't dispute the presence of confirmed blood but believes going through each item that came back negative or was never confirmed is a waste of time.

“Testing everything else, having it test negative for blood or not confirmed as blood, is kind of a in my view … it’s just taking up a lot of unnecessary time,” Schoenhorn said.

Sidnee Streater, the parenting supervisor who was in charge of supervising Fotis Dulos during his May 22 designated visit to Jennifer’s home to see their kids, also testified.

Jennifer and Fotis were going through a divorce and Streater described interactions between the splitting couple as amicable but said they never shook hands, hugged or physically touched in any way.

She also noted that Fotis never entered Jennifer Dulos’ home during that visit.

“The interaction was cordial as far as you observed?” Schoenhorn asked.

“Yes,” Streater replied.

How to watch the trial

Our daily special, airing weekdays at 9 a.m. on the NBC Connecticut free streaming channel is available on Roku, Samsung TV plus, Freevee, and a number of other platforms. Here is more on how to watch.

Watch full episodes of "Inside the Trial of Michelle Troconis"

Watch the full episodes of "Inside the Trial of Michelle Troconis" here.

NBC Connecticut and Associated Press
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