She dreamed of the perfect life – then vanished without a trace: New book explores Jennifer Dulos’s life before her disappearance
When Jennifer Dulos vanished on May 24, 2019, in the middle of a contentious custody battle, the story focused on her estranged husband Fotis Dulos and his socialite girlfriend Michelle Troconis. Journalist Rich Cohen tells Andrea Cavallier that his new book Murder in the Dollhouse: The Jennifer Dulos Story delves into her past, using her own writings, along with court documents and interviews, in an effort to return Jennifer to the center of her own story
Jennifer Farber Dulos was more than a headline. She was a writer, a daughter, a mother of five, and a woman who believed in a dream of the perfect life.
It became a nightmare — Jennifer now missing and presumed dead, her husband Fotis Dulos, suspected of her murder and dead by suicide, and his new partner, Michelle Troconis, in jail for her role in the murder.
Rich Cohen, a journalist who covered the case for Air Mail, knows the details all too well. But he wanted to know more about Jennifer, and the life she lived before she vanished.
This week, Cohen released a new book on the case, Murder in the Dollhouse: The Jennifer Dulos Story, in which he turns the lens away from the bloody crime scene and the gory details, and back to Jennifer.
As a young girl, Jennifer spent hours playing with a dollhouse she had begged her parents for. It was the perfect house with a perfect little doll family inside – an exact replica of the life she wanted when she grew up.
In what she described in one of her writings as “window shopping for a life,” Jennifer wrote about her hunt for a husband, three kids, and the perfect life in New York.
From living a playwright’s New York City dream in the 1990s to the affluent town of New Canaan, Connecticut, Jennifer was seemingly living the life she had wanted for so long.
But when she disappeared on May 24, 2019 after dropping off her five children at school, media coverage quickly framed her as a missing suburban mom, and then turned the focus on her estranged husband, Fotis Dulos and his socialite girlfriend, Michelle Troconis.
As a longtime resident of Fairfield County, Cohen ran in the same social circles as Jennifer, and felt a connection to her simply through their similar lives.
“I hesitated when I was asked to cover the case – it was too close, too painful,” he said. “We’re the same age, both writers, and we both made this big move from Manhattan to Connecticut for the suburban dream.”
But like so many others who followed the case, Cohen became fixated on it.
Police believe Fotis was lying in wait for her when she returned home from dropping their children off at school and later disposed of her body with help from Troconis. He was charged with her murder, but died by suicide before going to trial leaving Troconis to take the fall.
In 2024, Troconis was sentenced to 14 years in prison for her role in the murder following an eight-week trial that transfixed the public, where prosecutors repeated the gory details and held up the stiff bloody Vineyard Vines shirt found in a trash bin after Dulos and Troconis were seen on video dumping trash bags in various places around Hartford.
Even after Troconis was sentenced, Cohen knew there was more he could write, especially after noticing a change in the true crime world.
“There’s been a disturbing trend in true crime, which has shifted focus from the victims to the killers,” Cohen explained. “With everyone so focused and fascinated by the blood and gore, it’s almost as if the victims are turned into props and there’s a threat of them being erased from their own story.”
So he decided to write a true crime book that was less about death and gore and more about life. The book, he said, is an attempt to “give Jennifer her story back.”
“I didn’t want this book to add to the suffering of her family,” Cohen added. “It became such a sensational story, I didn’t want her to be reduced to just a prop. I just want to try to return her to the center of the story.”
Digging through a plethora of documents, including Jennifer’s own writings — essays, plays, and personal columns – along with court filings, Cohen learned more about Jennifer, her longing for connection and stability, and how she wound up in her tumultuous relationship with Dulos.
“I didn’t want this book to add to the suffering of her family,” Cohen added. “It became such a sensational story, I didn’t want her to be reduced to just a prop. I just wanted to try to return her to the center of the story.”
He spoke to multiple people who knew Jennifer years before she even met Dulos, including classmates from Brown, her playwright friends from Manhattan and a man who fell for her when they met on vacation after college.
They described her as a funny, poetic, sensitive, intelligent person whose life was complicated by her beauty and her childhood dream of perfect matrimony.
Cohen learned that Jennifer couldn’t wait to have her own family and a perfect home — in her first adult apartment were a stair master and a baby crib, inspiration for her next step in life.
She traveled everywhere and dated the most handsome men, but became worried when she reached the age of 35 and was still without a family of her own. That’s when she reconnected with Dulos on a ski trip.
They had five children, which included two sets of twins, lived in a 10,000-square-foot house, and traveled first class all over the world.
“From the outside, she had the perfect life and lived in the picture perfect dollhouse she dreamed of as a child,” Cohen said. “But inside, it was a far different story.”
Cohen said his book about Jennifer’s life is a “cautionary tale about privilege, trust, and these myths we build about safety,” he said. “If someone sets out to hurt you, no amount of money or court orders can protect you.”
In November 2019, Jennifer’s mother, Gloria Farber, was granted custody of the children. A family statement released at the time stated that they were “safe and surrounded by love and support.”
Six years have passed since Jennifer vanished without a trace. Her body has never been found.
On Saturday, Jennifer’s friend Carrie Luft, released a statement on behalf of the family.
“Saturday, May 24, marks six years since Jennifer Farber Dulos was murdered and disappeared. She lives on in our hearts and through her five incredible children, now young adults, who have grown up without both parents. We miss her love, grace, and strength; her laughter, brilliance, and wisdom; her gentle voice and comforting presence.
In Jennifer's honor, we encourage those who can do so to donate to community organizations that support survivors of family violence, such as Interval House Hartford, the Rose Brooks Center, and many others; as well as to groups such as the Black and Missing Foundation and Missing/Murdered Indigenous Women and Relatives. These organizations—and the people they support—need your help now more than ever.
We remain deeply grateful to the Connecticut state's attorney's office and the Connecticut State Police for their ongoing commitment to finding Jennifer. As we continue to mourn her loss, please respect the privacy of Jennifer's children, family, and loved ones. Thank you.”