The murder trial for Venezuelan socialite Michelle Troconis has been delayed for the second time after a note cited a rogue juror likening the case to the plot of the movie Gone Girl.
Troconis is accused of helping her boyfriend, deceased Fotis Dulos, in carrying out the killing of his wife and Connecticut mom Jennifer Dulos and then covering it up.
On Friday morning, the judge revealed he received a note from a juror, reporting a fellow juror for likening the case online to the movie ‘Gone Girl’ – which depicts a woman faking her own death to frame her husband.
According to the judge, the note read, ‘One of the jurors discussed something about the case and it was all over social media. Said it was like Gone Girl.’
The judge added that several other jurors interacted with the post, according to WTNH, however it was decided after a brief pause that the note would not affect the jury’s ability to become impartial.
It comes after another pause on Wednesday, where an alternate juror was dismissed when they were caught in a bizarre interaction with an attorney, telling them ‘We love you’ during a lunch break.
Michelle Troconis, with her parents behind her, enters Stamford Superior Court on day six of her trial on Friday, January 19, 2024
The sixth day of the socialite’s trial was delayed after a juror noted that the case was like ‘Gone Girl’, a movie where a woman fakes her own murder to frame her husband. It was decided the violation would not cause the jury to become impartial, and the trial restarted
Jennifer Farber Dulos vanished in May 2019. Her remains have never been found, but police believe she was murdered by her husband Fotis Dulos, and that his new girlfriend Michelle Troconis conspired with him to help him cover up the crime
Troconis – who is accused of helping lover Fotis Dulos kill his wife in 2019 – is currently free on a $2million bond. Dulos killed himself in January 2020, and Troconis faces up to twenty years in prison if convicted
Troconis is facing 20 years in prison after being accused of conspiring to murder Jennifer Dulos, whose remains have never been found after she vanished in May 2019.
Police believe she was murdered by her husband Fotis Dulos, and charged both Dulos and Troconis – his new girlfriend at the time – with her murder in June 2019.
Dulos killed himself in January 2020, leaving Troconis to face the music alone. In his suicide note, he claimed Troconis had nothing to do with his wife’s disappearance.
Prosecutors have argued that Troconis helped Dulos dispose of evidence.
The pause on Friday came during cross-examination of a forensic scientist, when a marshal was handed a note from one of the jurors informing on another.
Interviews were carried out with the note writer, the alleged movie fan, and other members of the jury, where it was decided the violation would not cause the jury to become impartial, the trial resumed after around an hour’s wait.
A ‘red stain’ on the grill of Jennifer Dulos’ Range Rover on May 24, 2019, the day she vanished. Police searching the house said it stood out to them and did not appear to have been from a deer strike. The state alleges Fotis Dulos killed his wife either in the home or the garage, injuring her so badly that she bled profusely, and then removed her body
Jennifer’s car was sitting in the house when police arrived. It was not the vehicle she used to drop off the kids earlier in the day – that car was later found discarded. The garage has a door that leads into the house
Troconis has pleaded not guilty and maintained her innocence throughout her case.
Jennifer Dulos, a mother of five, was last seen on May 24, 2019, when she dropped her children off at school.
The Connecticut mother was reported missing by that evening, and a full-scale investigation was launched.
The state claims Fotis lay in wait there for his wife and pounced on her when she returned from dropping their five kids off at school.
On the second day of her trial, the court was shown bodycam footage of police searching Jennifer’s New Canaan home on the day she vanished.
They discovered what looked like blood on the grill of her Range Rover, and ‘bloody footprints’ on the floor.
‘There appeared to be red blood on the front of the vehicle. A red mark on the grill of the vehicle.
‘We looked at the vehicle, didn’t observe any damage, we discussed it possibly could be a deer strike… there was no hair or damage indicating any such collision with a deer,’ the officer giving evidence said.
Forensics teams later found huge patches of blood that someone had attempted to clean in the same garage.