The body of Jennifer Farber Dulos, a stay-at-home mother of five who vanished after she dropped off her children at school in 2019 in the wealthy town of New Canaan, Connecticut, has never been found. But prosecutors are convinced she is dead, and on Thursday, the girlfriend of her estranged husband is at long last going on trial for conspiring to kill her. 

Absent from the courtroom for Michelle Troconis’ trial will be Jennifer’s husband, Fotis Dulos, who died days after a suicide attempt two weeks after being charged with her murder. In his suicide note, he declared his innocence and said Ms. Troconis had nothing to do with Jennifer’s death. Prosecutors disagree.

At the time of her presumed death, Jennifer was mired in a very ugly custody battle with Fotis, a high-end residential contractor whom she met in college at Brown in the 1990s. On May 24, 2019, Jennifer left her rented home at New Canaan where she and her kids had been living since her separation from Fotis, and dropped her kids off at school in a Chevy Suburban. She missed several appointments later in the day and that evening, her friends declared her missing. 

According to a court filing that led to Jennifer’s official declaration of death on Oct. 24, 2023, New Canaan police went to her home after she was reported  missing and found “blood trace evidence” indicating that large amounts of blood had recently been cleaned up around a Range Rover parked in her garage. They also found more blood trace evidence in Jennifer’s Chevrolet Suburban, which she’d used to drop off her kids and which was found abandoned in a New Canaan park, but they found no concrete signs of Jennifer’s whereabouts. The amount of blood trace evidence in the garage, however, indicated that she’d suffered a grievous wound there.

“The overwhelming evidence submitted to the Court supports the claim that Jennifer sustained non-survivable injuries,” Judge William P. Osterndorf’s ruling states. “Extensive efforts have been made by local and State Police authorities to locate her body. To date, more than four years have passed and the body of Jennifer has not been located. Neither Jennifer’s mother, children or other family members and friends have been contacted by Jennifer since May 24, 2019. The inescapable conclusion is Jennifer is dead.”

Investigators were working to crack the case when Fotis was arrested and charged with felony murder, murder and kidnapping in early January of 2020. A few weeks later on Jan. 28, 2020, police found Fotis unresponsive in the garage of his Farmington home after he missed a scheduled court appearance where a judge was expected to send him to jail to await trial. The air in the garage was thick with exhaust, and he was found not breathing in front of a running Chevy Suburban. Police grabbed Fotis to perform CPR and were eventually able to regain a pulse, but he never regained consciousness and died in a Bronx hospital two days later. His five children were brought to say goodbye before he was taken off life support.

“I refuse to spend even an hour more in jail for something I had NOTHING to do with,” Fotis wrote in a note found in his garage. “I want it to be known that Michelle Troconis had nothing to do with Jennifer’s disappearance. And neither did Kent Mawhinney.”

Mr. Mawhinney, Fotis’ lawyer and friend, is the only other person who’s been charged in the case surrounding Jennifer’s presumed death. But before we get into his alleged role in Jennifer’s disappearance, let’s explain how Ms. Troconis fits into all of this.

Ms. Troconis has been charged with conspiracy to commit murder, tampering with evidence and hindering prosecution. The mother of one (from a previous relationship) and former South American TV host has pleaded not guilty to all the charges against her, but prosecutors will likely be presenting recordings of  Ms. Troconis’ interviews with investigators, among other things, as evidence that she played a role in Jennifer’s death.  

One such interview concerned  alleged “alibi scripts” – written schedules, or alibis, from the day of Jennifer’s disappearance that were found in Fotis’ Farmington home. 

Missing from these “alibi scripts” is a trip the couple took to Albany Avenue in Hartford where city surveillance cameras showed Fotis putting 30 trash bags into various garbage bins and a storm drain. After painstakingly searching a nearby landfill, investigators found altered license plates, household items such as a kitchen sponge with a blood-like substance on it, clothes belonging to Jennifer and plastic zip ties that tested positive for her DNA.

In Fotis’ suicide note, he said: “My attorney can explain what happened with the bag on Albany Avenue. Everything else is a story fabricated by the law enforcement.”

When asked about the alibi scripts, Ms. Troconis explained that the two made the timelines simply to document where they had been that day, adding that some were written by her and others were written by Fotis. She also said that she was mostly on her phone during the trip to Albany Avenue and she would not have tagged along if she knew what her partner was doing at the time. In response, investigators explained that the alibi scripts and her inconsistent recollections of what happened that day were problematic while urging her to come forward with any possible information.

“Nobody in the world believes that you didn’t know what was going on,” investigators reportedly said. “You’re probably the most hated woman in America right now.”

The six-person jury that will convene in a Stamford courtroom for Ms. Troconis’ trial will be allowed to consider DNA evidence and recordings of her interviews with investigators. But a days-long suppression hearing led Judge Kevin A. Randolph to rule that the jury would not be allowed to see or hear evidence from Ms. Troconis’ phone due to “the greatest of privacy concerns.” This was because a detective “did not review the search warrant” before searching the home she shared with Fotis and seizing the phone on May 31, 2019.

There’s a list of about 250 potential witnesses who may be called to testify against Ms. Troconis including Jennifer’s wealthy Manhattan mother and the current guardian of the Dulos children, two of the Dulos children, the children’s babysitter, state troopers, police and investigators, but it’s unclear how many people will end up testifying.

One person who is expected to take the stand is Pawel Guimenny – a former Fotis employee and the owner of a red pickup truck investigators allege was used by Fotis in the killing of Jennifer. He has been issued a subpoena to take the stand, but he has also been granted immunity from any criminal charges.

“He’s not happy about it,” Pawel’s attorney, Lindy Urso, said of the subpoena. “He just wants to put this behind him and get back to his work and family.”

Ms. Troconis will be the first person to face a jury in Jennifer’s presumed death, but Mr. Mawhinney is also awaiting trial after being charged with conspiracy to commit murder. Fotis’ former lawyer and longtime friend, has been accused of trying to give Fotis an alibi when Jennifer went missing on the morning of May 24, 2019, but he has pleaded not guilty. Back in October of 2022, he was sent back to prison after being out on bond after allegedly tampering with his electric monitor, but Mr. Mawhinney’s lawyer said the marks discovered on the device were caused by normal use. He then posted bond and was subsequently placed on house arrest until May. 

Mr. Mawhinney’s lawyer filed a motion in early September to have his GPS ankle monitor removed because it was causing “undue embarrassment,” but Judge Gary White recently denied the motion.

The Mawhinney trial has yet to be scheduled, but prosecutors have previously hinted that he could testify against Ms. Troconis.

Throughout the preceding years, both Ms. Troconis and Mr. Mawhinney are believed to have refused multiple offers of plea agreements and lighter sentences if they would reveal the location of Jennifer’s body. They have refused to do so, claiming ignorance. 

Jennifer’s and Fotis’ five children, now orphans, moved to Manhattan to live with their grandmother after Jennifer’s disappearance.