Feelings of grievance filled the courtroom this week as the children of Jennifer Dulos , who disappeared from her home in Connecticut in 2019, spoke out for the first time about losing their dear mother as their father's girlfriend faced sentencing.
The heartbroken kids, ranging from ages 13 to 18, read aloud profound victim statements as they demanded Michelle Troconis , 49, be hit with the maximum penalty for her cruel deed of helping to plan and cover up their mother's murder. The kids blasted Troconis as "evil" while she cried as she was sentenced for her role in the killing.
“My mother was everything to me,” Jennifer’s eldest son, Petros Dulos, told the hearing. “The defendant's actions means I’ll never be able to tell my mom how sorry I am for not being a better son. I’ll never be able to tell mom how proud of her I am.”
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He added that Troconis' actions have had "irreparable effects" on his life, he was just 13 at the time she disappeared. “There are feelings and thoughts that I will never be able to express again because my mom was the key to those parts of me,” he said. Troconis was convicted of Jennifer's murder in March and broke down in tears as she was found guilty of helping her now-deceased boyfriend conceal the 2019 crime.
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The socialite was captured on video joyriding around with lover Fotis Dulos while he dumped bags of Jennifer's blood-stained clothes. The jury convicted her of conspiracy to commit murder, evidence tampering and hindering prosecution. As each count was read aloud and followed by the word "guilty," the convicted killer collapsed onto the courtroom table as her legal team attempted to comfort her to no avail.
The same was said for the 49-year-old's family who expressed the same reaction. On the opposite side of the courtroom, investigators who worked on the case shook hands as Jennifer's loved ones shed tears of their own-though not as much as the defendant.
“Today’s verdict is a crucial attribution of accountability, not a victory. There can be no victory when five children are growing up without their mother,” a spokesperson for Jennifer Dulos’ family, Carrie Luft, told the CT Post . Despite the guilty verdict, the beloved mother's body has yet to be found.
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Nonetheless, it gave the family hope that a new lead to Jennifer's remains would soon emerge. “While it’s our hope that today’s verdict brings Jennifer’s family and friends some peace, we also hope that someday we can provide resolution to the still unanswered question of where Jennifer rests,” State’s Attorney Paul J. Ferencek said in a statement.
Troconis was promptly handcuffed and escorted out of the courtroom. The judge agreed to greatly raise her bond from $2.6 to $6 million.
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