Jennifer Dulos’ elderly mother, who is now the sole carer for her five orphaned grandchildren, has testified in court during her daughter’s murder trial.
Gloria Farber, 88, used a cane to approach the stand before giving evidence on day 25 of the case at Stamford Superior Court Wednesday morning.
Her hand quivered as she raised it to swear the oath before giving evidence, describing Jennifer as a caring mother who was ‘always there’ for her five children. They were aged between eight and 13 when she vanished on May 24, 2019.
Prosecutors say Jennifer, 50, was brutally attacked by her estranged husband Fotis Dulos in her Connecticut home when she returned from dropping their kids off at school, and that his new lover Michelle Troconis helped conceal the crime.
Fotis was charged with murder but killed himself aged 52 in January 2020, leaving Venezuelan socialite Troconis, 49, to face the music alone. She denies charges of evidence tampering and conspiracy to commit murder.
Jennifer Dulos’ mother Gloria Farber, 88, used a cane to approach the stand before giving evidence on day 25 of the case at Stamford Superior Court Wednesday morning
Gloria (pictured) took to the stand for the first time on Wednesday, and confirmed that Jennifer had been due to meet her at her Manhattan home on the day she died – but she never turned up
Gloria described Jennifer (pictured) as a caring mother who was ‘always there’ for her five children. They were aged between eight and 13 when she vanished on May 24, 2019
Michelle Troconis (left) and Fotis Dulos (right) were living together in his Farmington CT home at the time of Jennifer’s disappearance on May 24, 2019
Gloria, who is the sister of the late fashion tycoon Anne Elisabeth Jane Claiborne behind the New York label Kate Spade, has heard grim details about her daughter’s demise through several weeks of hearings at the Connecticut court.
She took to the stand for the first time on Wednesday, and confirmed that Jennifer had been due to meet her at her Manhattan home on the day she died – but she never turned up.
A rogue juror was previously dismissed for likening the case to the plot of the movie Gone Girl, where the protagonist fakes her own death, and Gloria looked the remaining jurors in the eyes as she confirmed that she has not seen her daughter.
Gloria added that Jennifer was ‘always there’ for her children and ‘never’ missed a birthday or name day – a Greek custom passed down from their father Fotis.
The orphans, Petros, Theodore, Constantine, Christiane and Cleopatra Noelle – who are now aged between 13 and 17 – now live with Gloria and their nanny Lauren Almeida in Manhattan.
Almeida, 32, also gave evidence earlier in the trial. She recalled eating lunch with four of Jennifer’s children in her kitchen hours after she was allegedly murdered by Fotis in the New Canaan CT home.
She was oblivious to the horrors that had purportedly unfolded in the room and the tiny bloodstains splattered on several items in the kitchen where they ate.
Almeida said she entered Jennifer’s home twice on the day of her disappearance, once in the morning, and again to have lunch with four of the kids. The fifth was at a friend’s house.
A rogue juror was previously dismissed for likening the case to the plot of the movie Gone Girl, where the protagonist fakes her own death, and Gloria looked the remaining jurors in the eyes as she confirmed that she has not seen her daughter
Gloria’s hand shook as she raised it to swear the oath before giving evidence, describing Jennifer as a caring mother who was ‘always there’ for her five children. They were aged between eight and 13 when she vanished on May 24, 2019
Gloria added that Jennifer was ‘always there’ for her children and ‘never’ missed a birthday or name day – a Greek custom passed down from their father Fotis
Pictured: Gloria Farber arriving at aNew York hotel the day after Fotis Dulos took his own life
Jennifer Dulos (left) vanished on May 24, 2019, amid a divorce from her husband Fotis (right), who was later charged with her murder. Fotis killed himself in January 2020, leaving his new lover Michelle Troconis to face trial alone for allegedly helping him conceal the killing
Fotis was charged with murder but killed himself aged 52 in January 2020, leaving Venezuelan socialite Troconis, 49, to face the music alone
Troconis (pictured approaching Stamford Superior Court for her trial on Tuesday) denies charges connected to her allegedly helping him conceal the crime – including conspiracy to commit murder, evidence tampering and hindering prosecution
Troconis has been supported by her family, including her father, throughout the trial
Pictured: Troconis approaching Stamford Superior Court with her father and two mystery men
There were several chilling clues that Jennifer had not gone about her day as normal, according to the nanny, including her usual morning cup of tea and granola bar left untouched in the kitchen.
When asked by the state whether she noticed anything strange in the home the first time she went in, Almeida said: ‘First, her purse was on the floor between the mudroom and the kitchen doorway.
‘I thought that was a little odd because it was a really nice handbag and it was on the floor.
‘When I entered the kitchen – she always had tea in a cup and a granola bar – the tea was still full and the granola bar was still there.
Jennifer Dulos was 50 when she disappeared
‘I thought it was strange but figured she was in a rush, so I cleaned the tea and put the granola bar away.’
Almeida added that she also noticed several rolls of paper towels were missing, but she figured that one of the children had spilled something earlier that morning.
The court was earlier shown images of what appeared to be blood inside one of the remaining paper towel rolls, which detectives seized as evidence.
Almeida said she picked Jennifer’s children up from New Canaan Country Day School at around 12.30pm, and they returned to the home for a quick 20-minute lunch in the kitchen – which would be identified as a crime scene later that day.
The nanny recalled how she drove the kids to New York to meet Jennifer at the orthodontist’s office where they were due to meet – but medics said the Connecticut mom had not turned up for her appointments.
The court was shown several text messages from Almeida to Jennifer, who was her close friend, letting her know how the day was unfolding, receiving no replies.
When asked how she felt when she realized Jennifer had not attended her appointments, Almeida said: ‘Really bad.
‘The second I called Jennifer and she didn’t pick up my stomach just sank because she never didn’t answer the phone.
‘When she wasn’t there I was shocked but also had the found kids so put them into their appointments.
‘I went outside and started to call people who could have heard from Jennifer. I called my mum who tried to calm me down. Then I called her friends.’
Jennifer Dulos was ‘terrified’ of her husband Fotis in the months before she died, according to their nanny Lauren Almeida (pictured in Stamford Superior Court earlier in the trial)
Former state police detective Matthew Reilly said he spotted red stains on several surfaces in Jennifer’s kitchen, including on a paper towel roll, sink faucet, and counter-top – and in her garage
Evidence of ‘blood-like stains’ on the ground of Dulos’ garage was shown to jurors
Jennifer Dulos (pictured) lived with her five children in a rented home in New Canaan, CT
Arrest warrants link Dulos (left) and Troconis (right) to videos of trash bags being dumped in areas where Jennifer’s blood was later found on clothing and other items
After exhausting all their mutual friends, Almeida contacted New Canaan Police, who launched a missing person investigation and visited Jennifer’s home later that day.
Earlier in the trial, Almeida spoke about the collapse of Jennifer and Fotis’ marriage in March 2017 after he admitted to his affair with Troconis, a glamorous Venezuelan-American socialite they had met before on family ski trips.
She said their ‘odd’ but previously amicable marriage rapidly became ‘tense and uncomfortable’ and that Jennifer moved out of their shared Farmington home with their children to a rented house in New Canaan.
Almeida recalled one occasion when Jennifer returned to the Farmington property to collect some belongings, when Fotis ‘yelled’ at Jennifer and she hid from him behind a door with her youngest child and the nanny.
‘Fotis was yelling and she closed the door behind her and she pushed her body up against the door and he was trying to get in,’ Almeida said. ‘She was terrified.
‘He pushed the door more and he saw that his daughter and myself were in the room and his demeanor totally changed.
‘Eventually he walked away and she told me she needed to get out of the house.’
Almeida described the how Jennifer’s mental and physical health deteriorated after March 2017.
‘She was increasingly getting more afraid, her anxiety was getting really bad,’ Almeida told the court.
‘She noticeably lost a lot of weight. She was just afraid, and she expressed that a lot.’
Troconis denies charges connected to her allegedly helping him conceal the crime – including conspiracy to commit murder, evidence tampering and hindering prosecution.
Prosecutors accuse Fotis of killing Jennifer in her New Canaan, CT home after she returned from dropping their children off at school, and they allege that Troconis helped him dispose of her bloodied clothing in several garbage bags.
Jennifer’s body was never found, but Judge William P. Osterndorf declared her ‘officially dead’.