Nanny details contentious relationship of Fotis Dulos and Jennifer Farber Dulos at Troconis trial
In 2012, Lauren Almeida was a senior studying psychology at the University of Connecticut when she accepted a job babysitting for Fotis Dulos and Jennifer Farber Dulos, a Farmington couple with five children.
Almeida started to spend Saturdays with the children, two sets of twins and a baby girl. Now, more than a dozen years later, she is still helping to raise their five children after the disappearance of their mother and the death of their father.
This week, Almeida was called as a witness at Stamford Superior Court in the case against Michelle Troconis, the woman charged with conspiring with Dulos to murder Farber Dulos, who disappeared nearly five years ago.
Almeida took the witness stand on Tuesday and Wednesday as the state’s seventh witness in their case against Troconis. She walked the jury through the story of how she came to work for the Dulos family, who she still works as a nanny for today.
Jury hears from Jennifer Farber Dulos’ nanny during Michelle Troconis trial
Farber Dulos disappeared on May 24, 2019, after dropping her children off at school in New Canaan. She was never seen again and her body has never been found.
At the time, Troconis was dating and living with Dulos, who was entangled in a contentious divorce and custody battle with his wife when she disappeared. He died in 2020 after attempting suicide at his Farmington home while charged with her murder.
Troconis is standing trial on charges of conspiracy to commit murder, tampering with evidence, hindering prosecution in connection to the disappearance and presumed death of Farber Dulos.
Who is Lauren Almeida?
Almeida, now 32, was raised in Newington and graduated from Newington High School. She went on to study psychology at the University of Connecticut and was working at a daycare ahead of her graduation in 2013.
While working at the daycare, she learned that the Dulos family was looking for babysitters for their five children, the youngest of whom had just turned 1 year old.
She reached out, and she and her sister were soon hired to work for the Dulos family at their home on Jefferson Crossing in Farmington in September 2012. Almeida worked Saturdays and her sister watched the kids on Sundays. Farber Dulos and Dulos were usually home when they were babysitting, she said.
In May 2013, when she graduated college, she accepted a full-time nannying position with Dulos family. Farber Dulos became her friend and confidant and Dulos became her trusted mentor.
Dulos was running Fore Group out of an office space above their garage, while Farber Dulos was working as a writer.
The children, Almeida said, had a rigorous water skiing schedule but otherwise spent their time doing puzzles, playing board games and playing pretend and dress up.
Almeida told the jury that “Fotis was gone a lot,” in those first few years she worked for the family, traveling often. But when he was home, his relationship with his wife seemed fine.
“Overall when I started working for them they seemed to get along just fine,” she said. “In the beginning, they were nice to each other. From what I saw, at least in the beginning.”
She watched Farber Dulos interact with the kids, recalling visits to pumpkin patches and Christmas tree farms with Farber Dulos and the kids.
“It was very silly, her relationship with the kids,” she said. “They always wanted to be next to mommy.”
She was quiet and kind in her mothering, Almeida said. “She was just so soft spoken she never raised her voice. She was just like incredibly nurturing.”
Almeida said she began to develop a friendship with Farber Dulos. “She was my boss but she was someone…we just connected very well,” she said.
Prosecutors asked Almeida if there came a time when, during that friendship, Farber Dulos began to talk with her about her marriage. Almeida said yes.
Dulos, she said, could be “harsh” and Farber Dulos “didn’t like conflict.”
“So she could never really express how she really felt because it kind of just got looked over,” Almeida said.
In September 2013, Almeida was also hired by Dulos to work for Fore Group. Her time became split between caring for the children and following Dulos to work sites, keeping track of items homeowners wanted to check off their to-do lists while their homes were being built.
She looked at Dulos as a mentor, Almeida said, and appreciated the opportunity to explore a new career path.
“I saw him as a like a role model and a mentor,” she said. “And I thought at the time, ‘He’s giving me this really great opportunity.’ So I considered him a friend.”
He even encouraged her to go back to school for construction management and get realtor’s license, she said.
“When I first started working he was just incredibly nice he made me feel comfortable and he was funny,” Almeida said. But then things began to change.
“The big dynamic change was in March of 2017 when Jennifer found out about his affair,” she said. “A few months after that it totally changed.”
The Miami trip
In March 2017, the Dulos children were on a two-week vacation from school. The family, along with Almeida, traveled to Aspen. Farber Dulos’ father had won a house there during a charity auction, so they stayed there for a week. Then they headed back east to Miami to water ski and stayed at the W hotel.
During this trip, Almeida said, Farber Dulos talked to Almeida about her relationship with Dulos. Farber Dulos allegedly told her mother, Gloria Farber, and Almeida, that “she believed Fotis was having an affair.”
“She was very anxious, kind of tight, she seemed upset,” Almeida recalled. “She just said she had this feeling, he’s been acting weird. I didn’t really believe her at first.”
Almeida said that at the time, she didn’t believe Dulos would have an affair.
“At that time I had a good relationship with Fotis and I believed him to be an honest guy,” she told the jury. “I couldn’t imagine him having an affair when there’s five little kids involved.”
Then, on that trip, Almeida met Troconis.
When asked to identify her in court Tuesday, Almeida pointed toward Troconis, who was seated beside her defense attorneys.
Almedia is back on the stand Wednesday, walking the jury through the rest of that trip.
Troconis has pleaded not guilty. Her trial started on Jan. 11 and is expected to continue for six weeks.
