Michelle Troconis trial shown bloody clothes and tools dumped after Jennifer Dulos murder
Prosecutors allege Ms Troconis was with Fotis Dulos as he tossed bags of blood-soaked items just hours after Jennifer vanished
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A blood-soaked bra recovered from trash bins along with zip ties, gloves and a razor – also splattered with a “blood-like” substance – were presented in court as evidence that prosecutors say links Michelle Troconis to the alleged murder of Jennifer Dulos.
Ms Troconis, 49, is charged with conspiracy to commit murder, tampering with evidence and hindering prosecution. She’s accused of helping her then-boyfriend Fotis Dulos cover up the 2019 killing of Dulos, his estranged wife, whose body has never been found.
The grim evidence was the focus of the trial on Tuesday, which is on its eighth day in Stamford, Connecticut.
State Police Sgt. Kevin Duggan testified that the items were pulled from trash bins in Hartford where, according to prosecutors, surveillance video shows Ms Troconis sitting in a black Ford Raptor truck with Dulos as he tossed the bags just hours after Jennifer vanished.
Other items that were stained with a “blood-like substance” included a woman’s Vineyard Vines shirt, a large white towel, two sets of gloves and at least two ponchos.
According to Ms Troconis’ arrest warrant, DNA from both Dulos and Jennifer was found on items in the trash and Ms Troconis’ DNA was found on some of the trash bags. That evidence is expected to come later in the trial.
The surveillance videos were recorded the evening Jennifer disappeared but not discovered for six days. They were filmed in a city about 75 miles from her home in New Canaan, Connecticut, where prosecutors allege she was killed in May 2019 after dropping their five children off at school.
The video footage also showed Dulos placing what police say resembled a vehicle cargo mat near a building and dropping an envelope down a sewer drain on Albany Avenue.
Prosecutors on Monday showed jurors what they said were altered license plates found in an envelope in the sewer drain.
Ms Troconis, who is not seen handling the trash in any of the videos, has pleaded not guilty and denied any involvement.
During cross-examination on Tuesday, defence attorney Jon Schoenhorn suggested that just as law enforcement was not able to determine that a blood-soaked bra was inside the black plastic bag Dulos disposed of until it was brought to a lab and cut open, his client wouldn’t have been able to see what was inside.
“You couldn’t see through that,” Mr Schoenhorn asked Sgt Duggan, who agreed.
Jennifer Dulos, 50, was declared legally dead in October. She was a member of a wealthy New York family whose father, the late Hilliard Farber, founded his own brokerage firm. She also was a niece by marriage to fashion designer Liz Claiborne.
Fotis Dulos, a luxury home builder originally from Greece, died by suicide in January 2020 after being charged with his wife’s murder.
At the time of her disappearance, the pair were going through a contentious divorce and child custody proceedings.
Jennifer Dulos had moved out of the family home in Farmington, Connecticut, and Fotis Dulos was living there with Ms Troconis and her daughter.
Ms Troconis’ trial is expected to last until March.