A Connecticut woman convicted in the killing of her boyfriend’s estranged wife, whose disappearance five years ago captured national attention and whose body has never been found, was sentenced on Friday to 14 and a half years in prison.
The woman, Michelle Troconis, 49, was the girlfriend of Fotis Dulos when his wife, Jennifer Dulos, vanished amid a turbulent divorce and custody battle over the couple’s five children.
Ms. Troconis was found guilty in March of six counts related to the killing of Ms. Dulos, including conspiracy to commit murder, evidence tampering and hindering the prosecution. Mr. Dulos died by suicide in January 2020 after being charged in the killing.
On Friday, each of the five Dulos children spoke in court before Ms. Troconis was sentenced.
“I’ve been left with a hole inside me that I know I will never be able to fill,” Petros, one of Ms. Dulos’s sons said. He was 13 when his mother disappeared. “My mother was everything to me.”
His twin bother Theodore addressed Ms. Troconis directly.
“You showed no remorse, and you have yet to show any to this day,” he said, calling for her to be sentenced to 50 years in prison, 10 years each for his mother’s five children. “You expected to get away with it because you believed that you were above the law.”
Ms. Troconis did express remorse when it was her turn to address the court.
“Your honor, I am deeply saddened by this tragedy that has affected so many lives,” Ms. Troconis said in tearful remarks that lasted about a minute, adding that she regretted having been in a relationship with Mr. Dulos.
“I am a person of profound faith and I have been praying and will continue to pray for those who suffered and still suffer,” she said.
In addition to the prison term, Judge Kevin A. Randolph sentenced Ms. Troconis to five years’ probation. She had faced up to 50 years in prison.
Her lawyer, Jon L. Schoenhorn, had asked for a sentence of probation. He said on Friday that he planned to appeal his client’s conviction.
Ms. Dulos, 50, disappeared on May 24, 2019, after dropping her children off at school. Drones, dogs and helicopters scoured the state searching for her, but she was never found. A judge declared her dead four years later.
Before she vanished, Ms. Dulos had accused her husband of threatening and controlling behavior. Ms. Troconis was living with Mr. Dulos in the Dulos’s home in Farmington, Conn., at the time, and Ms. Dulos was living in a rented house in New Canaan.
Ms. Troconis and Mr. Dulos drove to Hartford the night Ms. Dulos was declared missing and dumped trash bags filled with evidence, according to prosecutors. The evidence included zip ties, clothing and a kitchen sponge stained with blood, prosecutors said.
Another of the Dulos children, Noelle, told the court that “it scares me to put my trust in other people now because of Michelle Troconis.” Ms. Troconis wiped her eyes after the girl spoke.
Friends and relatives of Ms. Troconis, including her parents, also addressed the court, asking Judge Randolph for mercy. They said Ms. Troconis was not a monster and had wrongly placed her trust in Mr. Dulos.
“My heart goes to the Dulos children who lost both of their parents,” said Ms. Troconis’s father, Dr. Carlos Troconis, adding of his daughter that “given the chance, she could continue to be a valuable member of society.”
