Alternate juror dismissed after ‘Gone Girl’ reference
Testimony continues on DNA testing, blood-like stains in home and vehicles
An alternate juror in the Michelle Troconis trial at Stamford Superior Court was dismissed Friday morning after admitting to making a reference to the movie “Gone Girl” in the presence of other jurors.
The sixth day of the trial resumed briefly Friday morning before the jury was quickly asked to leave the courtroom after Judge Kevin A. Randolph received an unsigned note from a juror. The note alleged that one member of the jury was talking about the case and mentioned the novel and movie “Gone Girl.”
The Gillian Flynn novel and film starring Ben Affleck and Rosamund Pike follows the plot of a woman who fakes her own disappearance and her husband becomes a suspect.
A court marshal handed Randolph a note from a juror that reportedly said: “One of the jurors discussed something about the case and it was all over social media.”
“Said it was like ‘Gone Girl,” the note continued. “A brief mention. Several other jurors said ‘Don’t discuss this.’”
Randolph then called a brief recess. While the courtroom was closed, Randolph said he discussed with lawyers how to proceed with determining “whether one or more jurors” needed to be excused.
The juror who authored the note was questioned, then the juror who allegedly made the comments, Randolph said. That juror “indicated that the comments were made,” according to Randolph.
Randolph said he told the juror that the “Gone Girl” reference and a comment about the case being all over social media may have influenced other jurors. He said that if any other juror was familiar with the film, the comment may have influenced
them to start to hear the evidence through the lens of what they knew about the movie’s plot.
During the closed court proceedings, every remaining juror was questioned about whether that juror’s comments would impact their ability to consider only evidence presented at trial. They all said they would not be impacted by the comments, according to Randolph.
No other jurors were dismissed.
Though the courtroom was closed during these lines of questioning, Randolph said an expedited transcript of the proceedings should be available by Monday morning.
Fotis Dulos’ former attorney Norm Pattis had previously alleged that Jennifer Farber Dulos, Dulos’ estranged wife, faked her disappearance, prompting Flynn to criticize the theory.
A movie produced by Lifetime based on the Dulos case was titled “Gone Mom.”
A newly released Netflix show based on another case called “American Nightmare” has also brought forth “Gone Girl” theories. The show, now trending on Netflix, follows the true story of a couple accused of staging a kidnapping.
Earlier this week, another alternate juror was dismissed after he admitted to shouting “OK but we love you,” to prosecutors who declined to ride the elevator with him, another juror and a marshal following a lunch break.
Friday’s dismissal left three alternate jurors and the six regular members of the jury.
After the recess Friday, Troconis’ defense attorney, Jon Schoenhorn, finished his cross-examination of forensic examiner Kristen Madel, who testified for hours Thursday about the results of DNA testing done on samples that were collected from Farber Dulos’ New Canaan home and vehicles.
The state then called in two investigators to testify: One who walked the jury through bloodstain pattern analysis and another who told the jury about how investigators ended up looking for surveillance footage from Albany Avenue in Hartford.
Lt. Colonel Mark Davison from Connecticut State Police answered questions about bloodlike stains found in Farber Dulos’ garage at 69 Welles Lane and on her two SUVS.
He said the analysis of the blood pattern showed that there were at least two instances of bloodshed at the minimum.
Davison said at least 26 bloodlike stains were found in one part of the garage and walked the jury through different types of “altered stains,” including stains that had been swiped and wiped or transferred from other objects.
Davison, who testified that he has more than 600 hours of training in examining blood stain pattern analysis, said the process of analyzing blood patterns is to examine the size, shape and pattern of blood stains to determine what made them, where they came from and whether they have been altered. That analysis can then be used “to support certain testimony or eliminate certain circumstances.”
The jury was, once again, shown multiple photos of bloodlike stains on the floor of Farber Dulos’ garage as Davison testified as to what direction he thought those stains came from.
He pointed to different parts of a photograph in which strings were strung between an SUV and the ground of the garage. The strings mapped out the “flight path” of presumptive blood droplets that landed on the floor, creating a blood spatter stain.
Investigators examined Farber Dulos’ Chevrolet Suburban, later found parked by Waveny Park, and her Range Rover, which was found parked in the garage. Davison said the Suburban was likely parked in the garage at the time of the “bloodshed event.”
Investigators allege that Farber Dulos was attacked by Dulos in her garage after dropping their five children off at school that morning.
Davison also walked the jury through another blood stain that had a pattern of “hash marks” and “linear type markings” that were comparable “to a footwear pattern.”
He said it wasn’t confirmed that the pattern was a footprint, but that it was “suggestive of a footprint.”
Just after 4 p.m., the state called their next witness, Sgt. Kenneth Ventresca from Connecticut State
Police, who testified as to the location of Dulos’ phone on the night Farber Dulos disappeared. Ventresca said he was called to the scene of the New Canaan garage in May 2019.
Around 7 p.m. that evening, location data showed that Dulos was in the area of Albany Avenue in Hartford. Ventresca said investigators took interest in that location for two reasons: “There’s a missing person, we’re 48 hours into this, we haven’t located (Farber Dulos),” he said. And Albany Avenue is “a rather high crime area in the city of Hartford.”
Investigators started looking into whether Dulos, a luxury home builder, would have had business in that area. At this point, Ventresca testified, he and other investigators were trying to piece together a missing person’s case.
On Sunday, did a cursory canvas driving down Albany Avenue.
“We’re just looking, mainly for any video cameras in the area, we’re looking for a missing person as well,” he said.
Ventresca, another CSP detective and a New Canaan Police Department officer went back to the area of 304 Albany Avenue the next day.
Ventresca began to walk the jury through photos from the Albany Avenue area. Surveillance footage from the area is expected to be a major part of Troconis’ trial, as she is alleged to have been in a vehicle seen in the Hartford area following Farber Dulos’ disappearance.
Court adjourned around 4:45 p.m. Friday and the trial is set to resume Monday morning in Stamford.