Tonight on Dateline.

I miss her. I missed our friendship.

She's what brought us all together. Just be here for Jennifer. Because she can't be here.

A dramatic new turn in the case of the mother of five who vanished.

Who is responsible for Jennifer Dubosa's death. That's what this case is about.

Powerful evidence in court.

All of a sudden, we started to hear screaming.

It revealing new video puts you inside the investigation.

The blood spatter, very, very compelling.

His wife did something but drive first.

It was, oh, my God. He's dumping trash.

People believe you've murdered your wife.

All I can say is that there is no evidence. I have nothing to hide.

You could see a female in the vehicle, his girlfriend at the time.

They just kept pushing her, threatening her. They found nothing.

My sister, she doesn't know anything. She's innocent.

What would the verdict be?

Will the defendant, Michelle Triconis, please rise and face the jury?

A missing mother, a riveting trial. A stunning verdict. I'm Lester Holt, and this is Dateline. Here's Dennis Murphy with a life interrupted. Police arrive just before dawn, 69 Wells Lane. Their camera rolling, looking for any clues about her. Jennifer Dulos, a mother of five who vanished after dropping her kids off at school just hours earlier. In the silence of those early hours, the camera captured a moment frozen in time. For the first time tonight, a snapshot into Jennifer Dulos'last hours at home. Her kids'instruments still on the couch. The leftovers of a busy morning. The rush out the door. A life interrupted. Their camera falling on a photo of five children in happier times. Children whose lives would never be the same. We've been reporting on the case for years, seeking answers to the question on everyone's mind, what happened to Jennifer? Please be seated. Thank you. Now, five years later, in a Connecticut courtroom, the full story has finally been unfolding.

Jennifer ran through the bedroom door and her face was just. She was terrified.

Bombshell revelations.

She said that bed should be buried.

Right next to brand new evidence.

Can you please point to where the shirt is?

It's almost right down to the center.

Frame by frame, they went through never before seen photos and videos documenting so much of a complex case. A real life CSI.

It's like a puzzle, right? You take a piece, you put it in the puzle.

All culminating in judgment.

Have you agreed upon a verdict?

Yes.

But before we get there, let's start here. New Canaan, Connecticut. The Gold coast of the New York City commuter belt. It's one of those places where the very wealthiest of Americans stroll charming boutique fronted downtown streets and make their homes in lavish estates set on meticulously landscaped grounds, the most unlikely of settings for a case like this. It was Friday, May 24, 2019, a cloudy kickoff to Memorial Day weekend. Jennifer Dulos loaded her kids into her Chevy suburban and dropped them off at their exclusive private school.

And then, around eight five, she's seen in her Chevy suburban making her way back to her Wells Lane home.

NBC Connecticut reporter Shannon Miller has covered the story from the beginning.

We learned that Jennifer had a doctor appointment that she was going to be headed to in New York City later on that morning.

Around 10:25 a.m.. A neighbor's security camera captured Jennifer's suburban on the road again. The Dulo's family nanny arrived at the house around 11:00 a.m. Shortly after Jennifer's suburban left.

The nanny walks into the house and notices that Jennifer's handbag is sitting on the mud room floor leading into the kitchen. She found that a little odd. Then she notices that Jennifer appears to have left her breakfast out on the kitchen counter. She always had a cup of hot tea, granola bar, but the nanny noticed that the granola bar had not been eaten. The tea didn't look like it had been touched.

Was Jennifer in a rush to leave for her appointment in New York? The plan was for the nanny and kids to meet Jennifer later that day at Jennifer's mom's house. But Jennifer never made her doctor's appointment. And even more concerning, she didn't show up for her kids.

Some friends contacted us on the evening of the 24th and said that she had missed some appointments in the city.

Leon Krolikowski was the chief of police in New Canaan back in 2019. So what do you do? Do you go to the home? Yes.

Officers went to the home that night, started looking around, trying to investigate.

As officers made their way to the garage, it was clear to them something was missing. One of the questions early on where's Jennifer's suburban? She takes the kids to school in. Sure. What happened to it? It wasn't at the house.

We located that near one of our parks, Waverley park, and it was parked on the side of the road there.

Just a few miles from Jennifer's home. Police noted the suv was left in reverse gear. They saw the headlights were still on. Does that tell you a story? Just it being there.

It was unusual and certainly that caused us to search the park there.

Big place, a lot of acreage, about.

300 acre park, beautiful jogging trails. There's a mansion there, a lot of.

Places for your people to look.

Lots of places to look.

An exhaustive search began, but no sign of Jennifer that evening. There were also no security cameras in the park to check. So police canvassed joggers, motorists, young moms with kids in tow to see if they'd seen Jennifer or anything unusual.

Do you happen to see anything weird?

Anything like, um.

No?

News of Jennifer's disappearance spread quickly through the small town.

I mean, my heart goes out to those five kids that she has.

So it's really devastating for our town.

When Jennifer's friend and former neighbor, Rona Marie Giuliano, heard she was missing, she had a sinking feeling.

One thing about Jennifer is you don't go without your children.

She would never leave her children.

But I.

That's the part of the story that made no sense. Exactly what do you think happened to her? Let's call it your speculation.

I'm scared to just even say.

And she wasn't alone. Yeah.

It doesn't sit well with me, especially.

It's like a pattern here.

Something unthinkable seemed to have happened to Jennifer. Detectives were about to delve into her personal life.

They had what seemed to be a whirlwind courtship as they searched for answers.

He's wearing all black. He looks like the grim Reaper on a bicycle.

Piece by piece, image by image, investigators would get closer and closer to justice for Jennifer.

We think you have information.

And what would her husband say? Do you believe Jennifer is alive?

I do.

Officially, it was a missing person's case, a big one.

We leveraged every resource that we had.

The search intensified at Waveny park, where Jennifer Dulos's suburban was found. Canine units combed through the woods. Divers scoured the ponds. Helicopters crisscrossed the 300 acre park. Jennifer's smiling face seemed to be everywhere. Missing person posters, newspapers, the latest leads in the case. National newscasts.

That immediate day. After it was the lead story on every single newscast, the news stood in.

Stark contrast to the image on that missing poster. That big, beautiful smile. Jennifer. In happier days, investigative reporter Shannon Miller looked into the woman behind the picture.

She grew up in New York City, off Fifth Avenue in Greenwich Village. She lived a very privileged life.

A privileged life. But Jennifer's friend Ronna Marie says money didn't spoil her. She came from money. Did she let you know that?

No. Jennifer was not that way. I mean, Jennifer would love to just curl up on a sofa and watch tv and have french fries and Diet Coke. I love Jennifer. Who didn't love Jennifer?

Jennifer is the same person that she was in the early 90s.

Carrie Loft, one of her closest friends, met Jennifer in graduate school at NYU, where they both studied writing.

She opened the door and looked like a sort of intellectual version of Cindy Crawford. Soft spoken, intriguing, very intelligent.

What are her passions? What does she want to put on her blank piece of paper?

That's a great question. I think her writing really centers around a need to be loved and a need to be seen as one's true self.

It took some time, but she did find love. His name? Fodus Dulos.

I met him socially, and he's a charming and charismatic person.

Fotus was a citizen of the world. Born in Turkey, he moved to Greece as a teen and later to the US for school.

She and Fotus did meet when they were both at Brown. They weren't in the same social circles necessarily, but they were acquainted.

They went their separate ways. After college, Jennifer threw herself into writing, completing four plays in just five years. Fotus got his MBA at Columbia. Then, years later, happenstance in Aspen.

She and Fotus crossed paths in the airport.

And then Fotus was in the picture.

Yes. I was excited for her. She was very excited. They had what seemed to be a whirlwind courtship.

They got married in 2004, moved to Connecticut, and started their family. A big one. Five kids, two sets of twins, and a daughter, all athletic like their parents. Even as toddlers, the kids were daredevils on the scariest black diamond slopes of Aspen, Colorado. But the family's main sport was water skiing, and with their dad as coach, the boys became national champion water skiers. Impressive. Jennifer embraced her role as the mother of five and was also raped by photos aside, as he established himself as an award winning builder of custom luxury homes in some of the most upscale communities of Connecticut, appearing in online ads showing off his work.

Hi, I'm Fortis Dulos and I'm the owner of four group.

What I like about him is his.

Never ending energy and his positive way of looking into life.

Angelica Karimi is Fodis'niece. She grew up admiring her uncle's values of hard work and persistence.

He never stops trying.

He's a fighter, and I love it because it's something that he taught me to have as a characteristic while growing up.

By 2012, Fotus and Jennifer settled in Farmington, west of Hartford, living in a spectacular six bedroom, seven bathroom home built by Fotus. Life was in full swing for the dueses. Photos busy growing his company, Jennifer's hands full with five kids, and yet Jennifer still made time for her love of writing. She started a blog.

She writes a lot about her life as a mom of five in Farmington, the challenges of motherhood.

And she posted on Patch.com. In 2012, Jennifer detailed the difficulties of sleeping with her 18 month old daughter and hinted things were better when Fotus wasn't in their bed. When my husband photos was not here, I and she slept better.

Trying to start to read between the lines here that life might have been a little bit easier for Jennifer and the kids without Fodus around.

Maybe that was a sign that there were problems in their relationship. Despite what seemed like a perfect life inside the walls of their 14,000 square foot mansion, the Dulos marriage was crumbling. They filed for divorce in 2017. Jennifer eventually moved 70 miles away into this rental in New Canaan. She and Fotus shuttle the kids back and forth while they waited for the divorce to finalize.

It happens in life that sometimes couple have to take their different path.

Fodus's new path involved a new woman. And who is the girlfriend?

This is a woman named Michelle Triconis. She's a 44 year old international businesswoman working at this argentinian ski resort. This is a place where politicians go to ski celebrities go to ski. She's with the movers and shakers.

Michelle, along with her twelve year old daughter, moved into the Farmington estate with photos. Jennifer began building a new life with the kids in New Canaan. And now, two years later, on that cloudy Friday morning, she had disappeared all over the state and beyond. Police were working around the clock. The sense of urgency was palpable. They were about to discover something captured on newly released images that would send the whole case into overdrive.

A serious, violent assault occurred in the garage.

Days ticked by with no sign of Jennifer Dulos. Still, her friends and family held out hope she'd be found alive.

There was a vigil in New Canaan that we know hundreds of people showed up to to show their support and hopes of finding Jennifer Doulos.

They think she's alive still.

They're keeping the hope alive at that point.

But new cane in chief of police Kolakowski knew a lot more than the public. His officers had searched every inch of Jennifer's 6000 square foot house looking for her. No Jennifer. Did anything jump out at the officers right away? At the house? Yeah.

The officers on scene saw a substance in the garage which they believed to be blood like so.

That's a bad fact to come across. Blood in the garage.

Huge concern.

Officers noted blood on the floor and on her Range Rover.

Well, it's just strange in connection with.

The fact that we've got a missing person, their body cams rolling, officers conferred with one another. Yeah, it doesn't sit well with me.

Especially because it's like a pattern here.

You know what I mean?

It's up here, too.

Usually if you hit a deer and.

It'S blood in your car, you take.

It to the car wash and get.

It cleaned, especially a Range Rover.

The chief knew this missing person's case had become bigger than his department could handle, so he called in the cavalry. From state police to U. S. Marshals to the FBI. Extraordinary case for your department.

Quite unusual, and I think extraordinary in the state of Connecticut. I don't think anyone's quite seen something as dynamic and far reaching and complicated as this occurring.

Sergeant Kenneth Ventresca from the Connecticut State Police took charge.

Working out of the new Canaan Police Department command post, I was directed to steer the ship in the investigation.

He focused in on that blood evidence officers discovered in Jennifer's garage. What do you think happened in that garage? What are you led to believe?

My personal beliefs. Based on the blood spatter, a serious, violent assault occurred in that garage.

Ventresca pointed to not only the blood found in the garage, but also on the outside of Jennifer's suburban at Wavenee park. He believes Jennifer returned from dropping off her kids at school and parked her suburban on the left bay of the three car garage. Her Range Rover was in the center. When she stepped between the two vehicles, a bloody battle ensued.

You look at the blood spatter on the passenger side of the suburban. You look at on the driver's side of the Range Rover that was in the center bay. You could see the blood spatter underneath the vehicles, I mean, up to the drive shaft underneath the passenger floorboards. The blood spatter was very compelling, and.

When detectives looked more closely, they saw smeared blood, an obvious attempt to clean up the crime scene.

It was wiped at some point, but dried.

First Sergeant Ventresca speculated the attacker used items in the garage for the cleanup.

Can we start asking the house cleaner and the nanny for the children, can you guys identify anything missing on the shelves?

The nanny told them she'd put twelve rolls of paper towels in the pantry the day before. Now there were only two. She also noticed two camping pillows from the garage were gone.

There's a white pillows that we had on the shelves or outdoor pillows that are now missing.

The house cleaner added one more item to the list.

We're missing a red mop that was in the garage.

They also noticed blood on the knob of the door that leads from the garage into the house. What happened in that garage was coming into focus for detectives, but figuring out who attacked Jennifer would take a lot more digging.

We have detectives run databases, and we search for family members, friends, phone numbers. We try to get as much information as we can initially through various databases that we have access to.

They reached out to family and friends.

One of the people that came up to speak with was Mr. Fodus Dulos.

Fotus, the husband.

We needed his help at the time, as we did with every other family member and friend.

Fotus agreed to speak to police and arrived at the new canine police station. The day after Jennifer disappeared.

We requested his phone. He provided it to us. We requested the passcode to his phone. He provided us with the passcode. We start viewing just some data points on the phone, and we learned that on May 24, his phone just sat home all morning.

The day Jennifer disappeared. Fotus's phone records also showed he received a call from overseas and it was answered. And when police spoke to its livein girlfriend, Michelle Triconis, she confirmed photos was at home in Farmington, 70 miles away from Jennifer's house in New Canaan. He seemed to have a solid alibi. So then what was this?

It was, oh, my God, he's dumping trash.

At the start of the investigation into the missing mother of five, police focused on the blood stains and blood spatter in the garage of her lavish New Canaan home. And they scoured the park nearby where they discovered her suv. But four days after Jennifer Dulos disappeared, NBC Connecticut reporter Shannon Miller says all that changed.

This investigation takes a major turn. That's where we learn for the first time that police are really invested in the Hartford area.

Police descended on Hartford, Connecticut, 70 miles away from New Canaan.

We see state police, New Canaan police searching downtown Hartford.

Why do your investigators start concentrating on Hartford streets?

That was as a result of Mr. Dulos's cell phone that was analyzed and that identified some information that he was traveling in the area of Hartford, a.

Place not far from where Fotus Dulos lived with his girlfriend, Michelle Treconis, and her twelve year old daughter. Police knew FOtuS's cell phone was at home during the morning Jennifer disappeared.

But then around seven at night, his phone's in Hartford, and we're going scratching our heads, going, what?

Wonder what he's doing in Hartford.

We started canvassing the local businesses up there.

Following the cell phone data, Sergeant Ventresca says it appeared Fotus'phone traveled to Albany Ave. A main road through Hartford.

We had honed in on a restaurant that was on a street corner. We had sent detectives to the restaurant. They pulled video, and they said, oh, well, there's a black pickup truck. Appears to be a Ford raptor. We said, oh, well, Mr. Dulos owns a Ford raptor.

His next call was to the capital city command center, a high tech facility that captures feeds from more than 700 cameras placed on busy streets and intersections throughout Hartford. As luck would have it, some of those cameras were positioned on Albany Ave. And captured a man who looked like photostulos.

It was, oh, my God, he's dumping trash. He's got all these bags in the back. He's making stops. He's putting stuff in the public trash receptacles.

They watched him make several stops.

Then you see photos reaching down into the storm drain. It looks like he put something down there.

Sergeant Ventresca called in a pump truck to clear out the storm drain.

They stick their big tube down the thing, they suck up all the water, and then you hear clink. And you see this FedEx envelope stuck to the vacuum of this suck truck. We take the FedEx envelope, open it up, and there's these license plates. Well, the license plates had been altered.

The original license plate, five one six WDJ, had been modified with dark blue tape to read five t six wBU.

And how do you alter his license plates? Okay, so the altered plate doesn't come back to anything. And so we just run the regular license plate, and it comes back to photos.

Dulos. The plate was tied to a 2007 Chevy suburban that photos used to own. Police wondered if he'd put the doctored plates on one of his current vehicles, hoping to go undetected. As for the garbage, photos was seen dumping. Ventresca sent detectives to search the trash cans and collect the bags. Since several days had passed, they were able to get some of them, but not all.

Some of the trash was taken already, and it went to the mirror plant, where they shred and burn all the trash. So we felt it was best to go there and search through all the trash, tons of it.

But police found nothing connected to Jennifer. Law enforcement continued its massive search for the mother of five throughout the summer of 2019, and her story continued to lead the local 11:00 news.

Anyone with any information is asked to visit findjenniferedulos.com.

Every branch of law enforcement worked the case while forensics examined the blood found in Jennifer's garage. The major crimes unit carefully searched those bags of garbage dumped, police believed, by photos dulos.

They started pulling the trash out of the bags, and it was. Oh, my God. It looks like to be clothing.

In the trash, investigators found a blood soaked vineyard vines, long sleeve t shirt, and a bra, both in Jennifer's sizes, mixed along with household trash, paper plates.

Just regular household garbage mixed in with all this stuff.

Other items caught investigators attention, like zip.

Ties, a razor blade, gloves, broom. There was a red mop that was folded up with the red bloodlike substance on it.

Remember, the house cleaner told police a red mop was missing from the garage. They also found another pair of gloves and a sponge. The state crime lab added these new items to the list of things to be examined.

They were working the weekends for us on this. Know they did their analysts pretty quickly.

And when they called with the results, the sergeant wasn't surprised to learn who all that blood belonged to.

It just came back to Jennifer Dulos's DNA.

Detectives still had no clue where she was, but they were convinced her husband was involved.

He was a controlling gentleman, and it was going to be his way or no way.

Later, photos painted a different picture for us.

Never any violence, any abuse in any way. Jennifer and I didn't even really argue all these years.

While Sergeant Venturesca and his team continued to gather evidence on the case of the missing mom, Jennifer Dulos, they also did a deep dive into her relationship with her soon to be ex husband, Fotus. And what they learned shined a whole new light on this missing person's case.

There was infidelity on FOtus'part.

Ventresca learned FOtUS'relationship with Michelle Shakonis started more than two years earlier while he and Jennifer were still together. That's why Jennifer left the marriage, the children's nanny told police. After Jennifer discovered Fodus'affair with Michelle, she secretly made plans to leave, even had furniture transferred to her new house ahead of the move. Jennifer confided to her friend Carrie that she'd tried everything to keep her family together.

Being married, being a mother, being a wife were all very, very important to her. So it had to have reached a very serious point for her even to consider leaving.

On the day Jennifer packed up her kids and left, she did not tell Fotus. Her nanny said Jennifer feared he would retaliate, so she hired a security guard. That night, Fotus called 911 from his now empty house.

911, what's the location of your emergency?

I'm worried about my wife and kids.

And I haven't been able to get in touch with them.

How many kids? Five kids.

I've been texting, and I see that the texts are being delivered, but nobody's responding to.

Don't have. Okay. So I'll send an officer to speak with you.

The next day, Jennifer filed for divorce. Things quickly got ugly. There were hundreds of motions filed in court. In many of them, the vitriol from both sides jumps off the pages. Jennifer described Fodus'behavior as irrational, unsafe, bullying, threatening, and controlling. She said, I am afraid of my husband. I know that filing for divorce will enrage him. She said Fodus would retaliate and allege that he had described sickening revenge fantasies.

He was a controlling gentleman, and it was going to be his way or no way.

Jennifer's friend Ronna Marie wasn't surprised to hear the couple was splitting. And there's some things which are very tough to read. Talking about his scary revenge fantasies, how she's frightened of him. Do you hear your friend Jennifer's voice in that?

Yes, and it resonates with me.

Did he literally frighten her?

I think she was frightened of him.

The divorce proceedings dragged on for almost two years with no resolution. It was bitter and expensive. And now Jennifer was missing. Police were still not calling this a homicide, but they were convinced crimes had been committed and they were zeroing in on Fotus dulos and someone else, his girlfriend, Michelle Triconis. Detectives believe they saw her on one of those videos of fotus dumping garbage in Hartford.

You could see a female in the vehicle that you could say it's consistent with Michelle Triconis.

The passenger door opens and someone who looks like Michelle leans out.

It appears that she's reaching again. It's a city surveillance video. It's kind of far away.

Detectives didn't think the garbage dumping was enough for a murder charge, but other charges were coming. Eight days after Jennifer went missing, detectives tracked Fotus and Michelle to a hotel in Avon, Connecticut. They were staying there while Fotus'house was searched. The couple left the hotel in handcuffs.

They were arrested for hindering prosecution and tampering with evidence.

They appeared in court two days later. Michelle, still wearing the clothes she was arrested in.

She immediately comes out of the squad car with her head ducked. This is not someone who wants to be seen at all.

On camera, Fotus was in an orange jumpsuit.

Botus, do you know where your wife is? Anything to say?

They both pleaded not guilty and were held on $500,000 bond. The judge ordered them not to have any further contact with one another. Michelle put up the money that day and was released. But not Fotus.

She comes out of the courthouse wearing her ankle bracelet, sweater over her head.

What happened to Jennifer? Michelle?

Then we learned that Fotus doesn't have enough money to bond himself out.

But he's the builder of 15,000 square foot luxury homes, right? He should have a lot of money. All he needs is $50,000, right?

But apparently that was too much.

In fact, there were other signs Fotus was having money troubles. More than a year before Jennifer disappeared, her mother filed a lawsuit claiming he owed her close to $2 million. In court filings, she indicated it was money he borrowed to fund his luxury homebuilding business. So money is certainly an issue in the dynamics of this family.

Right.

While photos sat in jail, investigators saw an opening. They asked Michelle Triconis to sit down for an interview, hoping she'd tell them what happened to Jennifer and where to find her.

At that time, we were seeking help.

From her, and it appeared she wanted to cooperate with her lawyer beside her. Michelle spoke to police at the new Canaan police station.

Jennifer is still missing, and we're very concerned about the fact that she may not be missing. She may be deceased.

Detectives asked Michelle where she was the morning Jennifer disappeared. She said she was at home in Farmington, 70 miles from Jennifer's house, and got up at 06:40 a.m. And saw photos.

I turn off my alarm. That is smoothing floaties. Wakes up, too. Take a fast shower. Floppy tunes into the shower with me.

After showering with photos, she said she saw him in their home office with his lawyer, Kent Mawini.

I walk Kent. The lawyer is there. They're talking in the. Further in the table down the office.

Kept in, boss.

This was not what detectives were expecting to hear, so they pressed her.

Can you tell me with 100% certainty that you saw POTUS in the house on the morning of the 24th?

When I woke up, yes.

How long a time did you see him for?

No, just in the shower, and then I left.

Detectives moved on, showing her pictures of photos dumping the garbage bags on Albany Ave. The evening Jennifer went missing and of that woman leaning out of the truck.

Is that you, Michelle? Is that photos?

Yes.

Okay.

That's me.

Do you know what you're doing there?

Yes, I'm cleaning. Like this.

What are you cleaning the ground for?

Because I put my.

She said she and photos were on their way to Starbucks when the detective asked her if she knew why photos was dumping trash. She said she had no idea, but she thought it was OD.

He throws something on the back. Why are we here?

It doesn't make sense that he was driving in that area.

Yeah, I've never driven in that area at all.

They also showed her a screen grab of this video of a man taking a bloody pillow out of a garbage can after photos had dumped trash in it.

This gentleman comes up to the garbage can and pulls that out. What does that look like to you? What's the red stuff? That's Jennifer's blood.

Police never recovered that pillow, but suspect it was one of the ones the nanny told them was missing from Jennifer's garage. They didn't tell Michelle that. Instead they told her about what they did recover. This is very important.

The stuff you were throwing out, we have. And it's all Jennifer. It belongs to Jennifer. Do you understand?

Then they broke the news to her. Their theory about what happened to Jennifer.

Basically, here's theft. Photos killed Jennifer. Okay, this is the theft.

Despite her tears, detectives were convinced she knew more than she was telling them. After interviewing her for nearly 3 hours, they let her leave. But police weren't done with her. A few days later, she met with detectives again, this time in her lawyer's office.

This is your chance if you want to see your family. We know you were lying to us last time. We want to know who was involved and where Jennifer is.

And she was about to tell a whole new story.

Did you see him?

That word?

No, I did not see.

After her arrest and the disappearance of Jennifer Dulos, all eyes were on Michelle Triconis, the girlfriend of photos Dulos. She and Fotus had been charged with tampering with evidence and hindering prosecution. Shannon Miller scrambled to learn more about the woman at Fotus's side.

She comes from a family of sisters. They spent a lot of time together.

Raised in Venezuela and relocating to Miami, Shannon learned Michelle was no stranger to privilege. Her father worked as a cardiac surgeon.

She's kind of a daddy's girl. She loves her father. They all seem very, very tight knit.

Before finding herself in Connecticut, Michelle led a cosmopolitan life. Her social media pages are dotted with snapshots of her travels around the world. And she had a glamorous career to match. She did pr for a polo club in Abu Dhabi, taught therapeutic horseback riding around the world, and even had a brief stint as an on air reporter for ESPN in South America. Her twelve year old daughter was from a previous relationship with an argentinian Olympic skier. It was while living in Miami that she fell for FOTuS. Water skiing was their connection.

We learned that at some point that Fotus Dulos and Michelle Triconis had met at one of these private ski clubs in Miami. Things between Michelle and Fotus moved pretty quickly.

It was just a few months after Jennifer discovered their affair in the spring of 2017 that Michelle and her daughter moved into Fotus's Farmington estate. She told police in her first interview. The move to Connecticut was awful from the start.

I have a normal life, beautiful life with my daughter. And ever since I got to Connecticut, it's been like a nightmare.

Because of the contentious custody battle, Michelle wasn't allowed to be in FotuS'house when his children came to visit.

So I would go to Miami, which I was upset because I'm involved. I have to fly every four days back and forth.

And now the nightmare was getting worse. While Fotus was still behind bars, Michelle sat with Connecticut State police for a second interview, this time at her lawyer's office. Detectives were done playing. They wanted answers.

This is your chance if you want to see your family. We know you were lying to us last time. We want to know who was involved and where Jennifer is.

Michelle was adamant that she had no idea where Jennifer was. She believed Jennifer was still alive.

I think that she feels somewhere the hope hiding.

Detectives pressed Michelle about her timeline on May 24, convinced she'd made it up to give FotuS an alibi. This time, when they asked if she really saw her boyfriend the morning Jennifer went missing, her story started to change.

Are you sure that Fodus was there that morning.

When you woke up?

I believe he was. But now that you tell me he wasn't, he was.

Did you see him in the morning?

No, I did not see him.

First time you told us that you.

Were in the house and woke up.

You took a shower of focus. Now, you didn't take a shower of photos, so this is all going to come out, and it makes you look like you're not telling the truth.

She told detectives she did see photos'lawyer Kent Mowini that morning. But notice also in the office.

Did you see him? I said, no, I did not see photos.

And then detectives pulled out something they discovered while searching FoTuS's house. Handwritten timelines detailing hour by hour what Michelle and FotuS supposedly did on May 24, including taking a shower together and photos being in his office. Michelle confirmed one of them was in her handwriting and said photos instructed her to write it.

Yeah, like, write what you did so you don't forget. He kept saying that, like, write what you did so you don't forget.

The detectives pointed out not only had she lied, but one event was missing from what they called her alibi script. That drive around in Hartford, it's pretty.

Clear to be dumping trash all over a city and not having it in.

Your mind to say, no, we weren't Hartford dumping trash that is not there. And that's one thing we pushed you on after your arrest.

Hoping she'd finally cracked, they pushed her yet again.

We think you have information.

The very next day, news cameras caught Michelle walking the property of photos'estate with police. So nothing came of that? Dogs didn't get a scent or anything?

No. And we searched that property over and over and over again.

A few days after that search, Fotus came up with the cash and was released from jail. But the case against him was building. During his bond hearing, the prosecutor delivered another gut punch. He told the judge detectives discovered Fotus'dna mixed with Jennifer's blood on the faucet in her kitchen. This not only placed him at the scene of the crime, it potentially connected him to an assault on Jennifer. Is that in itself incriminating?

It's certainly a big part of the puzzle.

And the puzzle pieces continued to slowly fall into place. By the end of August, 3 months after Jennifer Doulos was reported missing, police had gathered enough evidence to arrest Fodus and Michelle, not for murder, but on another charge of tampering with evidence. They stood before a judge and pleaded not guilty for a second time. We're eager for this fight by FOtUS'aside stood his tenacious defense attorney, Norm Pattis. Pattis said his client was an obvious suspect, but the wrong one. The state of Connecticut is rushing to judgment in the face of enormous public pressure, and it's focused on but one suspect, my client. Pattis made a point to publicly raise doubts about his client's guilt, making splashy headlines that incensed Jennifer's loved ones. One claim was a narrative he says she authored herself. Jennifer was a writer, correct? Pattis said Jennifer wrote an unpublished novel echoing the plot of the popular book Gone Girl, which later became a hit film starring Ben Affleck and Rosman pike. Spoiler alert. It's a twisted tale of a woman who vanishes, leaving a trail of evidence to frame her husband for her murder.

You need to clean poorly, like he would.

We don't know where she is. She may well have killed herself.

We don't know.

We are investigating that no surprise that Jennifer's camp was outraged by the attorney's gone girl theory.

I think it's irresponsible. It's untrue.

Her friend Carrie Luft has also become the spokesperson for Jennifer's family. She says the novel is not at all what Pattis describes.

It has absolutely no parallel with the plot of gone girl. None.

Not only that, she says the gone girl scheme would be virtually impossible to carry out, and none of it comports with Jennifer's character as a mother.

There is absolutely no way that Jennifer Farber Dulos would ever have left her children. It's just unfathomable that this woman, in particular, of all people, would have disappeared voluntarily.

As the case moved forward, Carrie believed the investigators were right to focus on that messy divorce. And Fodis Dulos? If he were sitting down opposite you, as I am now, to you, what would you ask of Fodis?

Where is she?

The question everyone wanted answered. We asked Fodus Dulos himself. Do you believe Jennifer is alive?

I do.

In his only network television interview, do you expect to be charged with murder? And later, police find stunning surveillance video from the day Jennifer went missing. Guy on a bike.

He's wearing all black hoodie, black clothing.

It looks like the grim Reaper on a bicycle's. Dulos was out on bond, a media scrum trailing him at every turn. And question number one, do you know.

Where your wife is? Anything.

What did Fodas have to say for himself? We were about to find out.

We used to live there.

While under house arrest and wearing an ankle bracelet, FoTuS sat down with Dateline in his Connecticut home for his only network television interview. Do you believe Jennifer is alive?

I do.

Against all circumstantial evidence or common understanding of.

I'd like not to discuss this.

But in your mind she's alive? Yes. We asked Fodus about his life with Jennifer from the beginning. Tell me about meeting the woman who had become your wife. What was the chemistry between you?

Well, we were friends in college. Nothing more than that. She's a very attractive person. She's very intelligent. We had a lot in common. We both went to the same schools. We knew a lot of the same people.

Years later, that airport reunion in Aspen led to an engagement and not one, but two wedding ceremonies on both sides of the Atlantic.

Our wedding was small and intimate. We had a wedding in England. This is what we wanted. But I think we also wanted to please her parents. And they threw a big wedding in New York at some point.

And then those five children came along. How are you as a father?

I'm a kid myself in many ways, so I think I was a natural father because I spent a lot of the time with my kids.

You're a very athletic bunch.

Yes, but it wasn't just the sports. We did legos together, we learned Greek together, we built trains. We did all kinds of sports. Yes.

It seemed as though you and Jennifer had everything going as a couple. What happened? What went catastrophically wrong in the marriage?

Nothing went catastrophically wrong. It's just people sometimes grow apart, and I'm not putting the blame in her or me. It just happens, and it happens all.

The time during this long process, and it's very bitter. Had Jennifer changed? Do you think she did?

But again, I would rather not speak about Jennifer at this point. I think it's not respectful. I think we all are very worried about what's happening, where she is. So I think I would leave it at that.

But it never did get settled, did it, the divorce?

No, it didn't. And that was going to be an amicable divorce. And then one day, she just took the children and disappeared. She hired bodyguards and she ran to New York.

Some very harsh documents, words from her in the court records. He frightens me. His sense of revenge.

There was never, never any violence, any abuse in any way. Jennifer and I didn't even really argue all these years.

Fotus also addressed the claims in the civil suit brought by his mother in law, Gloria. She alleged he owed her more than $2 million. He said the money his in laws provided was a gift, not a loan. They say you owe them $2 million. A loan that wasn't paid back, sent the picture.

Well, that's laughable. There's no any documentation.

The divorce remained unresolved, but photos said he tried to build a new life with his girlfriend, Michelle Draconis.

I would lie to you if I told you that I didn't have a very nice life. I had a beautiful life. I was with somebody that I was completely enamored with, Michelle. And the divorce was the only thing that wasn't a positive in my life. And I couldn't wait for it to be over with. But right now, my life is a mess, and I absolutely had no desire or interest to be in this mess. They're all very nice.

A mess indeed. And now Fodus's every move was being scrutinized by law enforcement. You're now required to wear a monitoring device. What is psychologically, what does that do to you, Fodus?

I have nothing to hide. The police says that I didn't cooperate with them. I actually went there and gave them my phone willingly. They've been in my, which they got.

A lot of information, you know, now.

Yeah, but nothing that I didn't want them to have. They have all my computers, they have access to my emails, so I have nothing to hide. I'm happy that they have all this information.

After his arrest, a court barred him from having any contact with his five children, who had moved in with Jennifer's mother in New York City.

I have an incredible relationship with the kids, and I know they're suffering from all this.

Can you see your way through at this point?

Absolutely. I've always fought in my life, and I always try to do the best, and I will continue to fight, and I will continue to fight for my children. I know I will be with my children eventually.

And as for Jennifer, if your theory is right and she's out there alive, even listening, what would you say to her directly?

Come back. Come back to the world so that we can continue our lives, so that we can take care of our children.

Do you think she would respond to that?

Probably not.

Probably not. Because things were so bitter between you at the.

I think, you know, Jennifer has her own ideas and her own mind, so I don't think anything I say would change her behavior in any way.

On the advice of his attorney, Fotus would not address the criminal case against him. Do you expect to be charged with murder?

I will not speak about that. I'm sorry. These are my marching orders.

Okay. But he did answer the biggest question. Fotus, did you have anything to do with Jennifer's disappearance?

I did not, but I'd like to leave it at that.

Right, but you can say that much.

Absolutely.

Do you miss her?

Of course I do. I wish she were here to sort this mess out. And I'm still hoping that she's going.

To show up, that she's going to be at your door someday.

Maybe not at my door, but at some door, yes.

After our interview, everything changed for photos. Dulos detectives were on his trail.

You see him pulling out of the residence in the retacoma, and they were.

About to make their move. Nearly five months after we interviewed Fotus Dulos, Connecticut State police were at his door. They arrested him. He was charged with kidnapping and murdering Jennifer. Prosecutors also charged two others with conspiracy to commit murder. Girlfriend Michelle Triconis and attorney Kent Moinney. They all pleaded not guilty.

When I signed the warrant and filed it, I was ready to proceed with the case. I could have started picking a jury the next day.

Former state's attorney Richard Colangelo built what he called an airtight case before pulling the trigger on the two most serious charges against Fodis.

I wanted to make sure that we had all the information and we were able to prove the case when we went forward because I knew know attorney Pattis is a great attorney and he's going to try and attack everything that we do.

For months sergeant Ventresca and his team of investigators had been gathering more evidence, finally piecing together their theory on how photos killed Jennifer. Very early that morning, photos was captured on video leaving one of his properties in Farmington, about 2 miles from his home. He was driving a red Toyota Tacoma.

Pickup truck and you see him pulling out of the residence in the red Tacoma at five in the morning. Okay, little bit weird, right?

Why is a red Tacoma pickup interesting? This is not his vehicle.

No, it wasn't. We had spoken with his worker. He said, hey, I had FotuS's raptor with me that day and I left.

My tacoma with him. The employee was Pavel Gumier. His red Tacoma pickup truck became a major clue. The sergeant and his team searched surveillance videos for the Tacoma the day Jennifer went missing and spotted it in several places along the 70 miles stretch from Farmington to New Canaan.

We pulled school bus video which is how we're able to capture it on Lapam Road in New Cannon.

The truck was parked on Lapam Road near Waveny park where Jennifer's suburban had been discovered and 3 miles from her house. So how is he going to get theorizing from the vehicle to his ex wife's house?

So initially maybe he jogged over there.

But an eagle eyed officer spotted something that gave them a new theory. In one of the more than 200 videos the police had gathered, he noticed a bike tire in the back of the red truck. An aha moment. Photos on a bike.

So we just went back to the video and we reviewed all the houses of a path of travel we could think one would take on a bike from Lappen Road to six nen wells.

And lo and behold, a guy on a bike.

He's wearing all black hoodie, black clothing. He looks like the grim reaper on a bicycle. And keep in mind it's may and it's very warm out.

The videos continued to tell police a story. At 07:30 a.m. The man on the bike is seen headed toward Jennifer's house. Police believe photos then sneaked into the garage and lay in wait at Jennifer's suburban is captured on video returning to her home after dropping off her kids at school. What happened next? The sergeant could only speculate based on.

The blood spatter, she was bludgeoned to death standing up and then fell on the floor between the vehicles.

Ventresca thinks photos then spent close to 2 hours cleaning up the crime scene. At 10:25 a.m. Jennifer's suv is spotted again, this time leaving her house. So the body, you assume then, is moved in her suburban? Correct?

In the back cargo area?

Yes. Detectives later discovered the presence of a blood like substance in the back of Jennifer's suburban. The sergeant believes photos drove that vehicle to the park and then transferred Jennifer's body and cleanup bags into his employee's pickup truck. Did he get incredibly lucky not being seen at that point?

Incredibly lucky. Incredibly lucky.

Broad daylight, it's a park. Everybody's up doing exercise, right? Yes. And when police looked at Jennifer's cell phone data, her phone pinged at Waveny park about 10 minutes after her suburban was spotted leaving her house.

And then from 1030 to eleven nine, her phone stayed at Waveny park on Lappham Road. It stayed there, didn't move. And then at eleven nine, her phone gets powered down. And you see him traveling in his workers Tacoma north. So it's safe to say he spent about 40 minutes in that area. We don't know what he was doing in that area for 40 minutes.

Was he disposing of Jennifer's body? Investigators didn't know. Police do know. Photos was next seen about an hour later back at that property in Farmington where he started off his morning. That's an investment property he's been working on. Yes.

Owned by the four group. House was for sale at the time. I think. Luckily for us, the neighbor across the street had amazing surveillance of the property. So that's how we're able to see him get back in a 1222.

Was Jennifer's body still in the truck? Investigators combed through hours of neighborhood surveillance videos from that afternoon, and they saw something they found suspicious. There's a white jeep that seems to be cruising in and out of the neighborhood.

Yeah, that jeep is seen coming and going from FOTuS's house to the investment property the afternoon of May 24.

They couldn't tell who was driving the vehicle. But even more curious, when the white jeep was at FOTus's house, cameras caught smoke rising from the chimney. What was going on there? As investigators worked that angle, prosecutor Richard Colangelo and his team focused on motive, and a theory took shape. Not only did photos want full custody of his five children, but that lifestyle he'd built for himself, the successful business and luxury mansions, was crumbling beneath him, and he needed money.

We dug pretty deep into his finances, and in the warrant, we showed that he really didn't have much money.

With his wife Jennifer dead, how is his life? Better. At least when you're looking at the money trail.

One working theory, if you looked at the warrant, was that the children came with money.

He could access their money.

Well, that was one of our working theories, yes, sir.

With the help of a friend, Vodus posted a $6 million bond and was back home the same day he was arrested.

How are you holding up?

But the prosecutor soon learned there was an issue with Fodis's bond.

Houses that he put up for collateral were under foreclosure.

The prosecutor pushed to have his bond revoked, which meant he would be sent back to jail.

I reached out to his attorney to bring him in. I talked to the judge, and the judge wanted him brought to court that day.

But Fotus never showed. Because of his ankle bracelet, Colangelo knew he was still at his house.

I actually called the state police with his lawyer in my office to say, hey, you know what? Reach out to Farmington and do a welfare check, because he's still in Farmington. I don't know what's going on.

Police rushed over to Fodus'Farmington estate.

What in the world happened here to FoTus Dulos?

What detectives encountered would change the course of the investigation. Kenneth Ventresca got a call. His main suspect, Fotus Dulos, was a no show for his bond hearing.

Richard Calangelo called me up and said, is GPS bracelet still showing him home? Can you guys go do well being, check on him?

When police arrived, they found Fodus unconscious in the garage, slumped over in the front seat of his suv. He had attached flexible tubing to the exhaust pipe, sending carbon monoxide into his vehicle. Within minutes, paramedics arrived, and the news of Fotus'suicide attempt spread fast. NBC reporter Shannon Miller rushed to the scene after getting a tip from a neighbor.

By the time I got there, there were medical know strewn across the driveway, a blue tarp up. What in the world happened here? To photos. Dulos.

Sergeant Ventresca got a call from police on the scene saying fotus was unresponsive.

Initially, reports came in that he was pronounced deceased. But they did life saving efforts.

They got a pulse, a faint pulse. Paramedics airlifted photos to a hospital in New York. Doctors attempted to resuscitate photos, but it didn't work. Two days later, he was taken off life support and died. Do you ever think that he cheated you and the investigators by taking himself out?

Yes, he did. And war one thing, but you cheated out your kids, and you still have five children on this planet. And if you were a truly innocent person, you should have fought for your innocence.

Did the children ever get to see him?

The children did visit him at the New York hospital when he was transported over there, when he was in the hyperbaric chamber.

Back at Fodus'garage in Farmington, police recovered a letter he left in his truck. I refused to spend even an hour more in jail for something I had nothing to do with. If it takes my head to end this, so be it. With your prime suspect, your only suspect, dead. Why is that not the end of the case?

Well, there are two other individuals that were charged.

The two others were girlfriend Michelle Triconis and attorney Kent Mowini. Fotus wrote in his suicide note that the two had nothing to do with Jennifer's disappearance.

So if he didn't do it, how would he know whether they were involved or not?

Police had their eye on attorney Kent Mowini. From the start. He was part of Fotus'inner circle. What interested detectives the most was that Mowini had a pre arranged meeting with Fotus the morning of Jennifer's disappearance. And based on what Michelle told detectives, Moiny showed up. Police wondered if this meeting was a setup for FOtus's alibi.

He was actually at Mr. Dulos's house the day, May 24, when Jennifer was, based on our theory, killed.

Mooney's case took a backseat as detectives continued to gather more evidence against Michelle.

We had a lot of investigation we still had to complete.

One suspicious piece of evidence came from Michelle herself. It was that white jeep police noticed making several trips from FotuS'investment property to his house on the afternoon Jennifer disappeared. Who's driving the white jeep?

Michelle Trekonas tells investigators that she indeed was driving that white Jeep Cherokee that day.

She said she was bringing cleaning supplies to the investment property to get the house ready for a showing the next day.

The jeep is then seen going back to Fodis'house, where the chimney moments later, according to investigators, is seen with that smoke coming up.

It's Memorial Day weekend, Shannon.

Memorial Day weekend.

Let's have a toasty little fire going.

Yep.

Even shows someone else in the surveillance camera with shorts on that day.

Who's lighting the fire? And what's going up in the smoke?

Investigators believe that it's Michelle Triconis destroying evidence. Destroying evidence.

That wasn't the only suspicious vehicle connected to Michelle. Detectives focused in on that red Toyota Tacoma, the truck they suspected photos used to transport evidence or even Jennifer's body.

The Tacoma was in immaculate condition. I mean, clean, clean, spotless.

This is a construction vehicle on job sites, right? Yes.

20 year old Toyota Tacoma. So in speaking with the worker, obviously he didn't detail it.

Detectives figured the pickup truck was professionally clean, but they didn't know how to prove it. By sheer luck, the sergeant found a neighbor surveillance camera that spotted that red Tacoma on the move five days after Jennifer's disappearance.

So on May 29, around nine in the morning, you see photos pulling up, followed by his girlfriend at the time in another vehicle. And we're going, well, where's he going with the Tacoma now?

They tracked the pair to Russell Speeder's car wash in Avon, Connecticut. And what do you know?

They had purchased a $250 detail, cash.

Wow.

And then the phone number that was put on there was for the callback.

The number belonged to Michelle Triconis. Investigators said they had assembled a litany of evidence against Michelle. The alibi scripts, cleaning the Toyota Tacoma, the surveillance video of her on Albany Ave. And evidence from the forensic lab that connected her to those bags. Photos was seen dumping one of those.

Trash bags had Michelle Draconis's DNA on it. Why would that be there?

Bags that were tied to remnants of Jennifer.

Yeah.

Jennifer's bloody closed air.

Prosecutors had their theory about what happened to Jennifer. On May 24, Fotus murdered her and his girlfriend. Michelle knew about it and helped cover it up. It took four years for the case to wind its way toward trial. Now a jury would decide, was she an innocent bystander or co conspirator? Thank you. The trial of Michelle Triconis began in a Stamford, Connecticut courtroom. And every day, at least some of Jennifer's friends were there. Why was it important for you all to come to the courthouse, to come to the trial?

To remind everybody that Jennifer was a person that is loved and missed. And we wanted to be there to support her.

We wanted to show up for the kids.

I wanted to show up for the kids.

I think it was a real honor and a gift to be able to support in this way. And it was a small, but we felt very important way.

Michelle stood accused of conspiracy to commit murder, tampering with evidence, and hindering prosecution. But the ghost of Fodus dulos hovered at every turn.

He planned to hurt assault, to restrain her movement and to kill her.

To prove Michelle conspired with Fodus to kill Jennifer, the prosecution first had to convince the jury that she was murdered and showed that photos did it.

There's blood spatter throughout the garage, throughout the undercarriage of two cars, footprints and swipes of blood, her blood soaked shirt and bra thrown out in the garbage on the streets of Albany Avenue, along with zip ties, sponges and duct tape. Make no mistake, this was a deliberate, intentional murder.

As for Fodus's involvement, prosecutors played for the jury the surveillance videos showing his movements the day Jennifer disappeared in the truck, on the bike and in Hartford, dumping incriminating evidence, forensics experts presented DNA found on Jennifer's faucet and on her door handle. All of it, the experts told the jury, pointed to photos is at least.

4.3 billion times more likely to occur if it originated from photos.

Dulos.

The testimony against photos was technical and tedious. But on day three of the trial, it got up close and personal. All eyes turned to Lauren Almeida, the Doulos's nanny. After jurors listened to hours of testimony proving Jennifer was dead, prosecutors took a pause to bring her back to life. They asked the nanny to tell the jury what Jennifer was like with her five children.

It was very silly, her relationship with the kids. They always wanted to be next to mommy. It was just kind of what it was. And she would sing to them and laugh at them, and she never raised her voice. She was like so soft spoken and never got angry. And she was just like incredibly nurturing.

Lauren, who testified over two days, described Fodis and Jennifer's marriage when she first started working for them in 2012.

In the beginning, they were nice towards each other.

But she told the jury that changed in 2017 after Jennifer found out about photos's affair with Michelle. Jennifer and photos were still living together when Lawrence said she witnessed a frightening incident between them.

I was in one of the kids'rooms and we started to hear screaming, and Jennifer ran through the bedroom door. Fotus was yelling and she closed the door behind her and pushed her body up against the door. And he was trying to get in. And, I mean, her face was just, she was terrified. And then when he pushed the door more, he saw that his daughter and myself were in there and his demeanor totally changed. He went from yelling to like, jennifer, I just want to talk, like, very soft spoken. It was so weird.

The nanny painted a picture of photos as angry and volatile. During the nanny's testimony, the prosecutors asked her about Michelle Troconis.

Do you see Michelle draconis in the courtroom?

Yep.

Would you just point her out and tell us what color shirt she has on?

Beige.

She described the first time she met Michelle. It was while Jennifer and Fodis were still together. Lauren went with fotus to a private water skiing club in Miami along with the dulo's children.

So when we got there, they were calling her it's. And they hugged her, so, like, they already knew her.

The nanny said it was during that trip to Miami that Jennifer confided she thought her marriage was in trouble.

She told me she believed that Botus was having an affair.

And did she say why she believed that?

She just said she had this feeling. He's been acting weird. And I didn't really believe her at first.

I mean, you say you didn't really believe her. What do you mean by that?

At that time, I had a good relationship with Fodis, and I believed him to be an honest guy. And I couldn't imagine him having an affair where there's five little kids involved.

If jurors were asking themselves what any of this had to do with Michelle's alleged involvement in Jennifer's murder, they got an answer. During the fourth week of the trial, prosecutors call Pavel gumi Enni to the stand. He was photos'employee, the owner of that Tacoma pickup truck. Investigators believe Fotus drove to New Canaan with his bike in the truck bed on his way to kill Jennifer.

I started working as an employee in 2016.

In order to get his full cooperation, prosecutors had given Pavel immunity. They wanted the jury to hear what he witnessed the day Jennifer went missing. He said that afternoon he saw Michelle and photos together at 80 Mountain Spring Road, the property fotus owned and was trying to sell.

How did Mr. Dulis react when he saw you?

The way I can say, look.

Like.

Surprised for a second or two.

How did the defendant react when she saw you?

About the same way?

He told me they were cleaning.

Michelle was.

He told me Michelle was cleaning the windows. Something Pavel told a jury he'd never seen her do before.

And isn't it true that in all those years, you never saw her cleaning a project site?

I don't recall it. Prosecutors argued she was actually helping photos clean evidence of Jennifer's murder from the pickup truck.

Did she say anything at that point?

Yes. But perhaps Pavel's most damning testimony had to do with things Michelle said about Jennifer.

He starts to talk about times that he has heard Michelle refer to Jennifer as a bitch.

He described one time when he heard Michelle and Vodus discussing the family dog and that Jennifer refused to allow the kids to see their pet before it was put down.

What exactly did she say?

Can I use bad words?

Yes.

She said that bitch should be buried.

Right next to this dog. Let's be very clear talk of Jennifer being buried. He added that Michelle said this a month before Jennifer disappeared.

Jennifer is dead and Botus and Michelle Troponis intended that to happen.

The prosecution argued Michelle was involved from start to finish.

Look at what Michelle Troponis did, her acts and behavior before and after the.

Murder, how she repeatedly changed her story. 640 wrote alibi scripts, woke up and.

Went to room, took shower with photos.

Was in the truck while photos dumped evidence.

Don't forget the bag, the bag that contained the defendant's dna on the opening.

But the prosecution still had to prove that Michelle conspired to kill Jennifer, that she was in on the planning. They told the jury about a phone call Michelle admitted answering on FotuS'phone the morning Jennifer went missing. She said she thought it was a friend of Fotus'from, Greece named Andreas.

I picked up the phone. I know Andreas and I wasn't sure that it was Andreas.

Prosecutors argued that was a pre planned call to make it look like Fodas answered his phone at home around the time he was actually killing Jennifer.

She knew what time that call was coming, and she made sure to answer it.

As for Michelle's motive, the prosecution said it came down to that contentious divorce. Remember, the custody battle required Michelle to leave the home whenever photos had supervised visitation with the children.

Like a nightmare.

Before wrapping up its case, the prosecution called Jennifer's 88 year old mother, Gloria Farber, to the stand. She now has full custody of Jennifer's five children.

Have you seen your daughter Jennifer since she failed to meet you at your apartment in New York City on May 24, 2019? No. Have you spoken to her on the phone since that? No, I have not.

Off camera, Jennifer's children sat in the courtroom watching their grandmother testify, just a few feet away from the woman who they'd once called Mitchie on trial for conspiring to kill their mother.

Did Jennifer ever miss one of her children's birthdays? Never.

After almost six weeks, the prosecution rested. The defense was certain the state hadn't proved its case and was ready to come out swinging. Was Michelle Inonus? Did she know about it?

Absolutely not. I'm convinced that she knew nothing about doubt it.

Day after day, the Triconis family watched prosecutors portray Michelle as the girlfriend who conspired with photos Dulos to murder his wife Jennifer and cover it up. But family members say that narrative isn't true. Her sister Claudia spoke to reporters outside the courthouse.

I know that everyone wants answers, but my sister's not the right answer. She doesn't know anything and she's innocent.

Thank you.

It's all inference upon speculation upon speculation.

John Schoenhorn is Michelle's attorney. Was Michelle innocent? Did she know about it?

Absolutely not. I'm convinced that she knew nothing about it at any time. Even to this day, it's still not clear that what the police told her was the truth.

Was she helping her lover to get out of a very bad jam?

Absolutely not.

He went after Fotus'employee Pavel Gumieni, the one who told jurors he overheard Michelle say that vulgar line about burying Jennifer next to the dog. Schoenhorn argued it was taken out of context.

And you said that it was an effort. You saw it as an effort for Ms. Draconis to cheer up photos, right.

That's high understood.

So, like, as a joke, right?

I wouldn't call a joke.

Pavel Schoenhorn warned the jury not to take what Pavel said at face value. After all, he'd been given immunity in exchange for his testimony against Michelle.

He made this up for the first time. He just remembered it after five years.

You think he's singing for supper with that story?

Well, there's no question in my mind that the more he could say, the more he keeps his get out of jail free card.

Schoenhorn reminded jurors Michelle cooperated with police from the start, willingly sitting for three interviews, answering all of their questions and walking them around the Farmington estate. He said she never tried to hide any information from them.

The evidence, though, she tried as hard as she could to give those police officers whatever she knew. She kept telling them, what, 810 twelve times? She had no idea what had happened to Jennifer. She didn't know anything about that. They just kept pushing her, threatening her, and they didn't get what they want.

Well, she did more than under cross examination, a detective admitted Michelle offered to help them however she could.

Didn't she say she would dig holes? Isn't that one of the things she.

Did say that, yes.

And she would trek through the woods.

Right in the interview? Yes.

But she actually did, didn't she? Went in the woods, didn't she?

She did. And one of the most telling moments in her police interviews didn't come from Michelle, but from the state's attorney himself. Schoenhorn played jurors. A clip of a conversation between former state's attorney Richard Colangelo and detectives. Michelle had stepped out of the room. It was an off camera, hot mic moment.

You can hear him clearly say twice, she doesn't know anything. I don't think she knows.

As for Michelle's dna on that garbage.

Bag, they found three cells, three human cells, 21 trillions of a gram of DNA, of partial DNA. And that's the basis for the charge that she had. She supposedly knew what was going on on Albany Avenue.

How did she not know what was going on?

If your boyfriend says, hey, let's go out to Starbucks, you're on your phone. Suddenly you look up and you go, why are we here? Says, oh, honey, don't worry about it. This only take a minute. And he's throwing things out from the back of the flatbed of his pickup truck.

So your principal line of defense is she knows nothing about this.

Absolutely. She knew nothing. Now, she knows a lot, but she did know nothing.

At the time, the prosecution had argued that Michelle gave Fotus an alibi with all her omissions and contradictions in her May 24 timeline, like saying she took a shower with fotus. But the defense had an explanation for those inconsistencies. Michelle's memory had been contaminated by both FotuS'alibi script and the questions from police. Schoenhorn called psychologist Dr. Elizabeth Loftus to explain.

When you expose people to misinformation, they.

Can sometimes be more confident about the misinformation than they are about accurate information. These are not people who are lying. These are people who really believe in what they're saying.

People's memories can be corrupted. They can be contaminated by people in authority telling you things that doubt your own memories.

Or she's covering for a man and she's lying.

Well, that's the prosecution's theory. But even if she was covering for her boyfriend, that's a far cry from saying she knows that while he's not there, his purpose is to go murder his wife.

Look at the timing.

But what about that phone call that Michelle answered the morning Jennifer disappeared? The one prosecutor said had been pre arranged with photos? Shoenhorn said that theory made no sense.

Why have it be her? If Kent McWinnie was there, why bring him in?

Do you solemnly?

The defense's final witness was Petu Duparan, a close friend of Michelle's. Petu told jurors that she spoke with Michelle on the phone multiple times on May 24 before Jennifer was reported missing. She said Michelle didn't seem distressed or anxious at all while you were talking.

To her and texting with her. Did she seem upset? No. Or nervous or in distress? No.

She also offered an explanation for that smoke from the chimney at the Farmington house on memorial day weekend. Petu testified that Michelle routinely had fires going, even in warm weather.

It was a relaxing moment. Maybe it's not to hit the house, but it's like a good moment to share with someone.

Schoenhorn says police found nothing to suggest Michelle had burned evidence in the fireplace.

The fact that they're suggesting that something nefarious happened there, they have zero evidence.

Evidence is going up in smoke. That's the allegation.

That's pure speculation. There's nothing to that whatsoever.

After nearly three days of testimony, the defense rested its case.

Thank you.

And now both sides would have their final chance to talk to the jury to proceed.

Yes, sir.

We could bring the jury in, please.

The attorneys in the Michelle Triconis trial made their closing remarks to the jury.

Whatever Fodus Dulos'role was in the disappearance, Michelle Triconis did not know.

Defense attorney John Schoenhorn blamed Fodis.

Whatever Fodus Dulos did, it was not for or because of Michelle, and it was not with her. Fodis put up a facade until his last poisoned breath. He can't be held to answer. Everyone wants closure. Michelle is not the remaining half of a scheming plot. She was never part of the equation.

In a final flourish, Schoenhorn left jurors with that hot mic moment when the former state's attorney didn't seem sure if Michelle knew about what Fodus had done.

If he thought she didn't know, then that's reasonable doubt right there.

Prosecutor Sean McGinnis got the last word with the jury.

This defendant was undoubtedly part of this plan to kill Jennifer Dulos. There's no if, ands or buts about it.

Over and over, 30 times in all, the state presented what they snarkily called coincidences. Answering the call at FOTuS's house, following FoTus to the car wash. Is it.

Really just a bunch of coincidences?

Before sitting down, the prosecutor put up on the big screen what he called Michelle's alibi script and compared Jennifer's murder to a play in three acts.

The first act was the premeditation and killing of Jennifer Dulos. The second act was the COVID up. And now we've reached the third act. Except she doesn't get to write it. You do with your verdict. What's the ending going to be? Opening up.

After nearly two months of testimony and evidence, the fate of Michelle Triconis was in the hands of six jurors. As the jury deliberated, we spoke with six of Jennifer's friends from different chapters of her life.

We are all consumed with the trial.

Are you all prepared for the verdict? Win, lose or draw on a range of acquittal to lessers, to the whole thing?

I don't have an answer for that. I mean, we will accept whatever happens and we will keep moving.

What the friends wanted to talk about most was Jennifer.

I would have still been focused solely on the clock ticking for the jury and when that verdict is coming in. But instead, here we are today to share the beautiful human that she is. The smile. The smile.

She just had the most beautiful laugh. She was funny. She was funny.

She was a person that shows up. She would have done that for us. For me, it was important to show up for her and her kids without being prying.

But I think everybody would like to know how the children are doing in general.

They're very impressive young people and they are going to do amazing things.

Are you here for the children as much as anything else?

Absolutely.

After two days and a few hours of deliberations, the jury signaled it was ready. Michelle and members of her tight knit family entered the courthouse to hear her fate. A dramatic and somber moment had arrived.

Have you agreed upon a verdict? Yes. What say you? Missed the four person. Is she guilty or not guilty?

Guilty.

Guilty of conspiracy to commit murder and hindering prosecution and tampering with evidence. As the court clerk pulled each juror about their vote, Michelle Tricona slumped in her chair and fell forward on the defense table, quietly sobbing. Moments later, court officers put her hands behind her back, handcuffed her and led her away. The judge set a new bail, $6 million cash. Assurity outside of court, Michelle's family was devastated.

My sister's innocent. This is wrong. This wasn't a fair trial from day one.

The case of Jennifer's disappearance isn't finished. Vodus's attorney Kent Mowini's conspiracy charges are still pending. He's pleaded not guilty. A trial date has not yet been set. And for Jennifer's family and friends, it will never be over. You didn't know that it was a card that was going to be dealt to you in life, that you had to be.

No.

To carry on the memory of your dear friend.

I've thought of that, but you just put that to the side. Like, how is this my life? Well, this is my life. And I, anyway. Yeah. I guess I believe that when we lose people, they are in our hearts and they come through us. She is here right now in all of us and probably drinking a Diet Coke.

Yeah. That's all for this edition of Dateline. And check out our talking Dateline podcast. Dennis Murphy and Andrea Canning will go behind the scenes of tonight's episode, available Wednesday in the Dateline feed. Wherever you get your podcasts. We'll see you again next Friday at nine, eight Central. I'm Lester Holt. For all of us at NBC News, good night.