A babysitter caring for five children whose mother disappeared in Connecticut in 2019 recalled in court Wednesday the frantic day Jennifer Dulos disappeared, launching a search that eventually turned into a murder investigation.
The babysitter, Lauren Almeida, testified at the trial of Michelle Troconis, who was the girlfriend of Dulos’ ex-husband, Fotis Dulos. Troconis is charged with conspiracy to commit murder and other crimes over allegations that she helped Fotis Dulos cover up the murder of Jennifer Dulos.
Almeida said Wednesday that she had four of her children with her (the other was at a friend’s house) when she was supposed to meet Jennifer Dulos in Manhattan on the afternoon of May 24, 2019. She texted and called to Dulos, but he did not do it. I do not answer.
“My stomach just sank. She never stopped answering her phone,” Almeida testified in Superior Court in Stamford, Connecticut.
Almeida went to a doctor’s office in Manhattan where Dulos had a scheduled appointment, hoping to find her there.
“And then when she wasn’t there… I was shocked, but I also thought, ‘Okay, I’ve got the four kids in front of me and I don’t know what to do,’” Almeida said. “I just went out and started calling people who might have heard from Jennifer.”
Police believe Fotis Dulos attacked Jennifer Dulos in the garage of her home in New Canaan, Connecticut, after she dropped the children off at school that day. Then, authorities said, she drove off in her own truck with her body, which was never found. Fotis Dulos denied having anything to do with her disappearance. He committed suicide in early 2020, shortly after being charged with murder.
Troconis has pleaded not guilty and denies the charges, which also include tampering with evidence and hindering prosecution.
At the time she disappeared, Jennifer and Fotis Dulos were going through contentious divorce and child custody proceedings that had limited his time with the children to once-a-week visits that had to be supervised. Jennifer Dulos had moved out of the family home in Farmington, Connecticut, while Fotis Dulos continued to live there with Troconis and her daughter.
The case attracted a lot of attention and was the subject of a television movie. Jennifer Dulos was a member of a wealthy New York family whose father, the late Hilliard Farber, founded his own brokerage firm. She was also the niece by marriage of fashion designer Liz Claiborne. Fotis Dulos was a luxury home builder originally from Greece.
Almeida testified that she and Jennifer Dulos had been afraid of Fotis Dulos, after Jennifer Dulos found out in 2017 about her affair with Troconis. That year, Almeida said Fotis Dulos chased Jennifer Dulos out of the house with a piece of paper and got into a shouting match with her inside the Farmington home, where she ran into a bedroom and he tried to open the locked door.
Fotis Dulos threatened to take the children to his native Greece and never return, and accused Almeida of kidnapping the children when Jennifer Dulos took them and herself out of the home in 2017.
When Jennifer Dulos disappeared, Almeida called friends and others who might know where she was. He also called hospitals, but had no luck. She called her mother, who tried to calm her down, she testified. He then called New Canaan police.
“We told the police that a mother of five children was missing and that she was in a very conflictive divorce. And I knew that he (Fotis Dulos) had bought a gun, and that’s why I was afraid. And they got to work right away,” Almeida said.
Judge Kevin Randolph struck the gun comment from the record after prosecutor Sean McGuinness said he was not claiming Fotis Dulos had a gun. Troconis’ attorney, Jon Schoenhorn, later asked for a mistrial based on Almeida’s comment, but Randolph denied the motion.
Almeida, 32, remains a nanny for the five children, who have lived with Jennifer Dulos’ mother, Gloria Farber, in Manhattan since their mother disappeared.
Wednesday was the fourth day of the trial. During the first few days, police testified about blood evidence found in Jennifer Dulos’ garage and her truck, which was found abandoned in a New Canaan park.
Among the evidence expected to be shown to the jury later in the trial is police surveillance video of Fotis Dulos and Troconis driving through Hartford later on the day Jennifer Dulos disappeared. Fotis Dulos is seen getting out of his truck and throwing trash bags in several locations while Troconis sits in the vehicle.
Police said they later recovered some of the bags and found clothing, zip ties and other items with Jennifer Dulos’ DNA. Some items had Fotis Dulos’ DNA and one bag had Troconis’ DNA, police said.
Prosecutors are also expected to show jurors what police called “the alibi script,” a document they say Fotis Dulos and Troconis prepared that details their actions and locations on the day of the murder and the day after. Troconis told police that Fotis Dulos’ lawyer had asked them to list his activities those days.