Northeast
88-year-old Connecticut mother testifies about daughter's disappearance in murder conspiracy trial
The 88-year-old mother of Connecticut mother-of-five Jennifer Dulos testified at a murder conspiracy trial Wednesday that she has not seen or communicated with her daughter since she disappeared and was presumed by police to be murdered in 2019.
Dressed in a gray suit with scarfs, Gloria Farber didn’t show much emotion as she told the jury that her daughter was supposed to meet her at her New York City apartment on May 24, 2019, after a doctor’s appointment, but never showed up. She suggested Dulos would never abandon her children.
“She was always there for them,” Farber testified about her daughter in the sixth week of the trial against Michelle Troconis in Stamford Superior Court in Connecticut.
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Ever since Dulos vanished, Farber has had custody of her five grandchildren, who at the time ranged in age from 8 to 13.
Troconis denies allegations that she helped Dulos’ estranged husband, Fotis Dulos, cover up the killing of Jennifer Dulos. At the time, Troconis was dating Fotis Dulos and living with him in Farmington, after Jennifer Dulos and the children had moved out and were living about 70 miles away in New Canaan.
Jennifer Dulos’ body has never been found. Farber’s testimony was part of the prosecution’s effort to show her 50-year-old daughter was killed by Fotis Dulos in an attack at her New Canaan home on May 24, 2019. A state probate court declared Jennifer Dulos legally dead in October.
Fotis Dulos died by suicide in January 2020, weeks after being charged with murdering Jennifer Dulos. He denied the allegations. At the time of her disappearance, they were battling each other in contentious divorce and child custody proceedings.
Troconis has pleaded not guilty to conspiracy to commit murder, hindering prosecution and tampering with evidence.
The case drew widespread attention and was the subject of a made-for-TV movie, Lifetime’s “Gone Mom.” Jennifer Dulos 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 was a luxury home builder originally from Greece.
Troconis, a dual American and Venezuelan citizen, has described herself as a co-founder of horse-riding therapy programs in different parts of the world who once had her own TV production company in Argentina and hosted a snow-sports show for ESPN South America.
This undated contributed photo courtesy of the Farber family shows Jennifer Farber Dulos. Gloria Farber, the 88-year-old mother of Connecticut mother-of-five Jennifer Dulos, testified at a murder conspiracy trial Wednesday, Feb. 21, 2024, that she has not seen or communicated with her daughter since she disappeared and was presumed by police to be murdered in 2019. (Courtesy of the Farber Family via AP)
Prosecutors Sean McGuinness and Michelle Manning rested the state’s case Wednesday morning after Farber’s testimony. Troconis’ lawyer, Jon Schoenhorn, immediately made a motion for an acquittal, which was denied by Judge Kevin Randolph.
Schoenhorn argued there was no evidence that Troconis knew about Fotis Dulos’ alleged plans for the killing beforehand, or afterward when she accompanied him on trips that prosecutors said were intended to destroy evidence in the case.
McGuiness disagreed, and Randolph ruled there was enough evidence for the jury to make their own conclusions on the charges.
Police alleged Fotis Dulos drove his employee’s pickup truck to a New Canaan park that morning, rode a bicycle to Jennifer Dulos’ house, attacked her in the garage and drove off with her in her Chevy Suburban, which was later found abandoned at the park.
Later the same day, Troconis accompanied Fotis Dulos to Hartford, where he disposed of several garbage bags in random locations — a trip partially recorded by surveillance cameras.
Police found some of the bags and said they contained clothing, zip ties and other items containing Jennifer Dulos’ DNA. Some of the items, including a shirt and bra, had blood-like stains on them. Some items had Fotis Dulos’ DNA on them, and one bag tested positive for Troconis’ DNA, a state forensics expert testified at the trial.
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Schoenhorn said Troconis had no idea what was in the bags. He also said the match with Troconis’ DNA was found on a microscopic sample, and Fotis Dulos could have touched her and later spread her DNA to one of the bags.
Police also said Troconis helped Fotis Dulos write up a timeline of their activities to prepare for potential questioning by police. Troconis told police she only did that at the request of Fotis Dulos and his lawyer. And she also went with him when he had the employee’s truck cleaned and detailed at a car wash, prosecutors said.
And on the morning of Jennifer Dulos’ disappearance, Troconis answered Fotis Dulos’ cellphone, which he had left at his Farmington home. Prosecutors suggested that was part of the murder conspiracy to give Fotis Dulos an alibi. Schoenhorn denied the allegation.
Police interviewed Troconis three times in 2019. They said she initially lied that Fotis Dulos was home the morning of May 24, but acknowledged that wasn’t true in a subsequent interview and said she didn’t see him that morning.
Also charged in the case is Kent Mawhinney, a friend and former lawyer of Fotis Dulos. He pleaded not guilty and awaits trial on a conspiracy to commit murder charge.
The defense began to present its witnesses Wednesday. Testimony in the trial is supposed to finish on Friday or Monday.
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Boston, MA
When will the big nor’easters return? Boston in midst of second-longest streak without hefty snowfalls. – The Boston Globe
Have you noticed a lack of major snowstorms over the past several winters here in New England? Perhaps you’re wondering if this is a new permanent pattern. Snowfall across New England is highly variable, particularly here in the Boston area and the rest of Southern New England, where we lie on the southern edge of consistent snowfall.
First, let’s look at how radically different winter snowfall can be. On Feb. 25, 2022, Boston received 8½ inches of snow. That was the last time the city saw a 6-inch snowfall, which is meteorologically considered a “major snowfall” in New England (accumulation of at least 6 inches of snow). Roughly 1,414 days later and counting, we are now in the midst of our second-longest streak devoid of 6-inch snowfalls, since data was first recorded in 1872. You have to go back to 1988-92 to find a similar “major snow” drought. That streak lasted 1,772 days.
As a side note, the Boston area would have to make it through this entire winter without a major snowstorm to move into the No. 1 spot. Will we do it?
These gaps in significant snowstorms might be considered mini snow droughts, but when they end, the winter weather pattern tends to shift in the other direction. For example, when that streak ended in 1992, it ushered in three of four blockbuster winters, including one that dumped over 107 inches of snow in the winter of 1995-96.
This very snowy mid-’90s was followed by highly variable snowfall seasons with as little as 15 inches of snow in 2001-02 and as much as nearly 87 inches of snow several years later during the 2004-05 winter season.
Snowiest decade on record (2008-18) vs. least snowfall (2015-present)
Then, starting in 2008 and lasting until 2018, we experienced the snowiest decade on record in Greater Boston with a total of 543 inches of snowfall.
If you move the starting point to winter 2015-16 and conclude through 2025, we received only 333 inches of snow, marking the lowest 10-year period of snowfall on record. This is where we currently sit, and it makes sense with the lack of major nor’easters nearing New England over the past several winters.
Even winter storm warnings issued by the National Weather Service have fallen. Check out the chart below, and you’ll notice that the past several years have seen fewer than six winter storm warnings issued.
All of this should not lull you into a false sense that we are in some new paradigm without major coastal storms or that it’s not going to be snowy again. On the contrary, nor’easters are actually getting stronger and are generating more precipitation than they used to. According to research published last summer on the intensification of the strongest nor’easters, noted climate scientist Michael Mann and five of his colleagues at the University of Pennsylvania looked at how our famous coastal storms have changed over the past several decades.
“Our analysis of nor’easter characteristics reveals that the strongest nor’easters are becoming stronger, with both the maximum wind speeds of the most intense nor’easters and hourly precipitation rates increasing since 1940,” the researchers said.
The reason why I’m mentioning this while also talking about the lack of snow in our region is that both can be true. As we have seen, snowfall itself is very cyclical. That cycle is occurring amid a backdrop of a warming climate. With more and more anthropogenic CO2 — carbon dioxide emissions resulting from human activity, primarily the burning of fossil fuels — average temperatures have increased, and that rise has led to an availability of more energy for coastal storms.
‘Climate change has made crippling snow and flooding rain more likely despite the recent dearth of these types of storms locally. ’
As the oceans warm, they provide more latent heat or fuel for these nor’easters. Additionally, with warmer temperatures and still an availability of cold air to the north, there’s an increase in temperature contrast, or what meteorologists call “baroclinicity.” This is a critical feature and aids in the rapid intensification or bombogenesis of low-pressure areas east of the Atlantic Seaboard.
The Perfect Storm back in 1991, the Storm of the Century in 1993, the so-named Snowmageddons in February 2010 and winter 2015, and the January 2018 blizzard are all examples of unusually strong nor’easters.
The trend in maximum wind speed in nor’easters has increased since the middle of the last century. You can see from the Mann paper some of the actual data used to reach this conclusion.
In addition, hourly precipitation has also increased in these coastal storms. This means that crippling snow and flooding rain are becoming more likely in spite of the recent dearth of these types of storms locally.
In the same way that we haven’t had a hurricane reach the shores of New England since 1991, so too are we overdue for a major nor’easter. Both are in our future. It’s just a matter of when.
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Pittsburg, PA
Curtain Calls: Pittsburg Community Theatre unites behind powerful musical ‘The Color Purple’
Based upon Alice Walker’s novel, this epic tale with book by Marsha Norman follows Celie, a young woman who despite unbelievable hardship embarks on an intense personal journey over the course of 40 years.
Thanks to composers Brenda Russel, Allee Willis and Stephen Bray, the musical enjoys a dynamic score of jazz, ragtime, gospel, blues and African music.
Tanika Baptiste directs the musical with Jon Gallo as music director and Carla BaNu Dejesus creating the choreography.
For a complete cast listing, go to pittsburgcommunitytheatre.org/color-purple.
“The Color Purple” runs Jan. 30 through Feb. 8 at the California Theatre on 351 Railroad Ave. in Pittsburg, then Feb. 13-22 at the Campbell Theater on 636 Ward St. in Martinez. To purchase tickets, go to tickets831.com (California Theatre) or campbelltheater.com (Campbell Theater).
Berkeley: An improbable love story, not to mention music that pulls you in and won’t let you, go highlights February at Berkeley Playhouse.
Whether you’ve seen the movie (which won the 2007 Academy Award for Best Original song) or the Tony Award-winning musical, you know how mesmerizing and just plain fun “Once” can be. As the musical captivates your heart, you are reminded how powerful music can be and how complicated relationships often are.
Set in Dublin, an Irish busker and a Czech immigrant, who is an accomplished pianist, meet and find a connection through their love of music. Over the course of one week, both sparks and chords fly.
As their friendship evolves into a complicated love story, their chemistry leads them to a new level of songwriting. The gorgeous melodies played throughout add another level to their relationship and a love that only happens once.
“I’ve always loved ‘Once’ because it digs into something I think about a lot: what music really is and how it connects us as human beings,” said Director Josh Marx. “I loved the movie ‘Once’ when I first saw it — and then the Broadway production pulled me in even deeper, especially the way it evoked a sense of community; similar to drinking a pint of Guinness in an Irish pub while patrons play music together. For Berkeley Playhouse’s production, we’re looking to put something truly special together; each actor plays their own instrument (sometimes more than one!), and we want to create an unforgettable experience that capitalizes on the amazing talent that we’re bringing into the room.”
Jake Gale (Guy) and Gillian Eichenberger (Girl) play the lovestruck couple calling upon their instrumental skills as well as acting talents. Other cast members include Michael Barrett Austin (Billy) and Dyan McBride (Baruska).
“Once” runs Feb. 20 through March 8 at the historic Julia Morgan Theater on 2640 College Ave. in Berkeley. For tickets, call 510-845-8542×351 or go to tickets.berkeleyplayhouse.org.
Orinda: Vacant for the past year without the hustle and bustle of various performing arts events, the Bruns Memorial Amphitheater in Orinda finally has a new tenant. East Bay Municipal Utility District (EBMUD) announced a 15-year lease of the nine-acre property at 100 Gateway Blvd. to the nonprofit Siesta Valley Foundation (SVF)
SVF hopes to preserve the EBMUD watershed and revitalize its impressive amphitheater. According to the foundation’s website, they will program projects that “reduce fire risk, restore habitat and protect water quality” while also offering live music, theater, film and dance events. The agreement lists approximately 40-50 events, which in addition to the performing arts would include an EBMUD native plant and bird garden and Watershed Community Center for public education and environmental literacy.
“EBMUD looks forward to seeing this agreement preserve the watershed, revive a regional arts landmark and generate sustained community and financial value,” said EBMUD Board President Marguerite Young. “This unique site will once again be a vibrant East Bay destination.”
I, for one, hope Young is right. I’d love to be back in that beautiful valley enjoying a live performance.
The foundation’s operating partner Siesta Valley Bowl plans to run the facility as a mixed-use performing arts center with a tentative date of April for its first events. Ultimately, the group hopes to build an indoor facility that will allow programming year-round.
For more information, go to siestavalley.org.
Martinez: Onstage Theatre is auditioning for the outrageously fun “The Rocky Horror Show” Feb. 27 and 28 at The Campbell Theater on 636 Ward St.
Dianna Schepers directs with Shelly McDowell as choreographer and Adam Green as musical director. Rehearsals begin in late August with performances Oct. 30 through Nov. 22.
For more information, go to campbelltheater.com/auditions.
Reach Sally Hogarty at sallyhogarty@gmail.com, and read more of her reviews online at eastbaytimes.com/author/sally-hogarty.
Connecticut
Nestled Along Connecticut’s Coast Is A Walkable Village With Mini Cottages And A Calm Beach – Islands
New England is full of atmospheric, storybook villages — particularly along the Connecticut coast, where changing seasons shape the romantic shoreline. Quaint houses, stone walls, historic churches, and harbors create picturesque scenes. Towns like cozy Stonington blend classic New England charm with eclectic boutiques, while Branford boasts a beautiful shoreline with its historic town. In a corner of Branford sits Stony Creek, a quiet coastal enclave listed on the National Register of Historic Places. This small village is dotted with charming historic homes running the gamut of architectural styles, many of them small, Queen Anne-era cottages with stick-style motifs that define the New England coastal aesthetic. At less than a mile long, threaded by a paved path, a stroll here or along the tiny village-front beach is not only scenic but easy. As New England Magazine describes, “You could probably throw a Frisbee farther than the length of Stony Creek Beach.”
Stony Creek was Branford’s first shoreline community, settled in the late 1700s around pink granite quarries that supplied many of New York and D.C.’s ornate buildings and iconic landmarks including the Statue of Liberty, and parts of the George Washington Bridge and Smithsonian buildings. Today, visitors can see historic exhibits and artifacts at the Stony Creek Museum, or schedule an appointment to visit the still-operational quarry. As the gateway to the 365 Thimble Islands (only 23 inhabited), spending time on the water in Stony Creek is a great option. Catch a Thimble Island cruise along the Long Island Sound to hear tales of pirates who hid in the area’s coves, or book a sunset cocktail sail. Rent kayaks or canoes from Thimble Island Kayak, which delivers right to Stony Creek, or take a paddle tour around the Thimble Islands (named for the thimbleberry, a rare cousin of the blackberry).
Stony Creek has plenty to explore
History, coastal aesthetic, and quiet charm live on in Stony Creek — the perfect Connecticut getaway. One summer-only attraction you’ll find in this village is the Stony Creek Fife & Drum Corps, a group of re-enactors who work to preserve historic music and perform seasonally in historic costumes — a quintessential New England vacation vibe. Year-round, Stony Creek Market offers breakfast or lunch with views of the harbor, and stays open later for pizza in summer. The Thimbleberry serves ice cream you can enjoy while strolling through Madeira Park or on the beach. The historic Legacy Theatre was once a silent movie theater, then a parachute factory, and is now a live performance venue, and a fun place to catch a show. While the Branford Historical Society remains a source of information on Branford and Stony Creek; the organization also owns the historic Harrison House and grounds which includes a museum, open June through September. Stony Creek also offers ferry service to the Thimbles with regular seasonal schedules and off-season availability.
Visitors can also enjoy the area’s vibrant nature trails: The Stony Creek Quarry Preserve, a 480-acre tract around the old quarry, has plenty of pathways. Meander along the Stony Creek Loop, one of several comprising the Branford Trail, a 30-mile network winding through the region. You can also explore the Trolley Trail, a marshy walk retracing old trolley tracks with beautiful views.
Stony Creek is roughly 13 miles from New Haven and its closest airport, though Bradley International Airport in Hartford, 55 miles away, might offer more flight options. Stony Creek’s also just 90 miles from New York City, making it ideal for weekend getaways. The village sits delightfully just off the Route 146 scenic drive and is 8 miles away from Guilford, another charming seaside town with historic sites and serene beaches.
Stony Creek’s once-thriving resort town now has limited lodging
Though it’s so tranquil now it’s hard to believe, by the time of the Civil War, Branford and quiet Stony Creek had evolved into a resort destination, partly because of its granite industry but also thanks to “no mosquitoes, flies, or malaria,” per Branford’s official website. Steamships, the train, and trolley also made it accessible. By World War I, it was attracting celebrity guests like Greta Garbo and Sinclair Lewis, where Harbor View Hotel and Shoshone Inn on Money Island, one of the Thimbles — became landmarks. Yet once the automobile equalized travel in the early 20th century, local hotels couldn’t accommodate mass tourists now flocking to the area. By the Great Depression, many notable Stony Creek hotels had shuttered, burned, or transformed into different enterprises, though today in Branford proper, the historic Owenego, or the “O,” built in 1847, still operates as a hotel and tennis club. Additionally, many of the Queen Anne cottages with Stick-style motifs that housed local workers and defined 1800s coastal Connecticut remain.
There are limited lodging offers available in Stony Creek itself. Stony Creek Depot offers two suites on Airbnb, and the modern Money Island Home on Vrbo offers water views and kayaks just a short ferry ride away. There’s just one bed and breakfast in Stony Creek itself — Thimble Islands B&B. With only two sea-facing rooms, the B&B still offers a charming, exclusive experience with modern amenities, home-cooked breakfasts, and afternoon charcuterie. “The private setting is breathtaking, with stunning views of the Thimble Islands,” wrote one reviewer on Tripadvisor. “It was a wonderful trip from start to finish.” Another wrote: “The property is right on the water with walking trails nearby and serene surroundings. It’s the perfect getaway.”
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