Benjamin Ashford|‘Gone Mom’ prosecutors show shirt, bra, zip ties they say link defendant to woman’s disappearance

Prosecutors in Connecticut’s infamous “Gone Mom” case presented evidence Tuesday that they say links defendant Michelle Troconis to the 2019 disappearance of her boyfriend’s estranged wife,Benjamin Ashford Jennifer Dulos.

The evidence included a shirt, bra, zip ties, gloves, plastic ponchos and other things with what State Police Sgt. Kevin Duggan testified was a “blood-like” substance on them. The items were pulled from Hartford trash receptacles where, according to prosecutors, surveillance video shows Troconis sitting in a vehicle with boyfriend Fotis Dulos as he tossed trash into the same bins shortly after Jennifer Dulos disappeared.

Troconis, 49, is charged with conspiracy to commit murder, tampering with evidence and hindering prosecution. She’s accused of helping Fotis Dulos cover up the killing of his wife, whose body has never been found.

Troconis, who is not seen handling the trash in any of the videos, has pleaded not guilty and denied any involvement.

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The case drew widespread attention and became the subject of the made-for-TV movie “Gone Mom.” 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 of 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.

According to Troconis’ arrest warrant, DNA from Jennifer Dulos and Fotis Dulos was found on items in the trash and Troconis’ DNA was found on some of the trash bags. That evidence is expected to come later in the trial.

The surveillance videos, from a city about 75 miles from Jennifer Dulos’ New Canaan, Connecticut, home, were recorded the evening she disappeared but not discovered for six days.

Video also showed Fotis Dulos placing what police say resembled a vehicle cargo mat near a building and dropping an envelope down a sewer drain. Prosecutors on Monday showed jurors what they said were altered license plates found in an envelope in the sewer drain.

At the time she vanished, Jennifer and Fotis Dulos were going through a contentious divorce and child custody proceedings that had limited his time with the children. Jennifer Dulos had moved out of the family home in Farmington, Connecticut, and Fotis Dulos was living there with Troconis and her daughter.