The former attorney of accused killer Fotis Dulos will possibly testify against Dulos’ former mistress, in connection with the murder investigation of Jennifer Dulos.
The Hartford Courant reports that Fotis Dulos’ friend and former attorney, Kent Mawhinney, will likely be called to testify against Michelle Troconis, according to prosecutors. Troconis is facing conspiracy to commit murder and evidence tampering charges in connection with the disappearance and presumed death of Fotis Dulos’ estranged wife, Jennifer Dulos.
Troconis, who was Fotis Dulos’ live-in girlfriend when Jennifer disappeared in May 2019, pleaded not guilty to the charges against her. Mawhinney, who appeared virtually in court on Tuesday, is facing a conspiracy charge. He, too, pleaded not guilty.
“At least they said on the record that he would, I believe the word was, ‘probably’ be called as a witness,” Troconis’ attorney Jon Schoenhorn said after Tuesday’s hearing. “So I know what to prepare, I know what’s credible and not.”
Schoenhorn reportedly called Mawhinney a “jailhouse informant” with little credibility and questioned the tactics investigators used when interviewing Mawhinney. Prosecutors said Mawhinney is just one piece of a large puzzle in figuring out culpability in Jennifer Dulos’ death.
As CrimeOnline previously reported, Jennifer Dulos was last seen on the morning of May 24, 2019, dropping her children off at the New Canaan Country School in the prominent New Canaan community.
Police later found her vehicle, a black 2017 Chevrolet Suburban, parked off of Lapham Road, near her home that she shared with her five children.
Prosecutors accused her estranged husband, Fotis Dulos, of “lying in wait” for Jennifer to come home on May 24, when security footage captured her walking into her residence at around 8:30 a.m.
A 35-page arrest warrant indicated that Dulos is also accused of bounding Jennifer with zip ties to restrain her before killing her. Connecticut Chief Medical Examiner James R. Gill stated that Jennifer Dulos probably endured a “non-survivable” injury which likely included stabbing and blunt force trauma.
“It is reasonable that Jennifer Dulos was alive at the time the zip ties were attached to restrain her movements and to prevent her escape,” the warrant read.
Numerous items of incriminating evidence were previously presented against Dulos, including:
- Bags of blood-stained clothing and sponges that Dulos allegedly dropped into trash cans at businesses in Connecticut
- Stains of blood on Jennifer’s garage floor
- Blood spatter in numerous areas of Jennifer’s home
- Dulos’ DNA mixed in with Jennifer’s blood on her kitchen faucet
- Obvious attempts to clean up the scene
- Altered Connecticut license plates that belonged to Dulos
- Security footage of Dulos driving his Ford pickup to various locations, dropping trash bags into different public trash receptacles
- Security footage of Michelle Troconis “leaning out of the passenger seat of the Ford pickup and either placing something on the ground or picking up an item”
In January 2020, while facing murder charges in connection with his estranged wife, Fotis Dulos committed suicide. He was scheduled for an emergency bond hearing at the Stamford Superior Court for violating his $6 million bond condition.
On the same morning of the hearing, he placed a black hose inside the exhaust pipe of his Chevrolet Suburban, while sitting inside the car in a closed garage.
Murder charges against Fotis were ultimately dropped following his death.
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[Feature Photo: Jennifer Dulos/Handout]
