A nanny to Jennifer Dulos’ five children recalled on the stand Wednesday the panicked day the slain Connecticut mother disappeared in 2019 — while a substitute juror was benched for saying “we love you” to a prosecutor during the ongoing trial of conspiracy charges Michelle Trokonis .
Trokonis, who was a friend of Jennifer’s estranged husband and her alleged killer Fotis Doulos, faces charges of conspiracy to commit murder and other crimes for helping her ex-boyfriend cover up the murder.
Lauren Almeida, who still cares for the Dulos children, described how her “stomach dropped” on May 24, 2019, when she texted and called Jennifer but never got a response.
Almeida, along with four of the children, were supposed to meet the 50-year-old in Manhattan.
“My stomach just dropped,” the 32-year-old recalled in Superior Court in Stamford, Connecticut. “She never answered her phone.”
The guard said she even went to a doctor’s office in the Big Apple where Dulos had an appointment, hoping to find her there.
“So when she wasn’t there, … I was shocked, but also, well, I’ve got the four kids in front of me and I don’t know what to do,” she said. “I just went outside and started calling people who might have heard from Jennifer.”
The missing person case soon turned into a murder investigation where Jennifer Fotis’ estranged husband was eventually charged with her murder. He later died by suicide in 2020 before he could stand trial.
The couple was in the throes of a bitter divorce and child custody proceedings when Dulos disappeared. The nanny said she and Jennifer were afraid of Fotis in 2017 when the marriage fell apart over his affair with Trokonis.
She recalls that he once tried to break into a room she ran into during an explosion battle that year.
After calling friends and others who might know where Jennifer was in 2019, Almeida called hospitals and finally New Canaan police.
“We told the police that a mother of five was missing and that she was in a very contentious divorce. And I knew that he (Fotis Doulos) bought a gun and that’s why I was afraid,” she testified. “And they got right down to business.”
Judge Kevin Randolph expunged the comment about buying the gun from the record because prosecutors did not allege Fotis had a firearm.
The judge also on Wednesday threw an alternate juror who allegedly said “We love you” to a prosecutor out of the courtroom during a lunch break on the fourth day of the trial.
The prosecutor is handling the evidence in the case, CT Insider reported. Marshall was initially believed to have made the comment in front of two jurors, including one who is now off the case, the newspaper reported.
Attorney John Schoenhorn, who represents Trokonis, called the male juror’s remark a mistake, the Stamford Advocate reported.
“These things happen,” he said. “I feel sorry for that guy, but you have to understand that this is a formal process and you can’t be too chatty and you can’t be too informal.”
Almeida has still been watching the five children with Jennifer’s mother in Manhattan since she disappeared.
Trokonis, 49, has pleaded not guilty to all charges and has denied wrongdoing in connection with the case.
Jennifer’s body was never found. She was pronounced dead late last year.
With pole cables