Second juror dismissed from Michelle Troconis trial after comparing case to ‘Gone Girl’
In 2019, Fotis Dulos’ attorney alleged Jennifer Dulos faked her disappearance, which is the plot of the psychological thriller Gone Girl
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A second juror in the Michelle Troconis murder conspiracy trial has been dismissed after reportedly comparing the high-profile Jennifer Dulos death case to psychological thriller Gone Girl.
Ms Troconis is standing trial on charges in connection to the murder of her ex-boyfriend Fotis Dulos’ estranged wife Jennifer Dulos, who disappeared on 24 May 2019. Investigators believe Dulos killed Jennifer in the garage of her home and that Ms Troconis helped him cover up the murder. Her body has never been found but she has since been declared dead.
On Friday, Judge Kevin Randolph revealed to the Stamford, Connecticut courtroom that he had received an anonymous note claiming that a fellow juror had posted comments on social media about the case.
“One of the jurors discussed something about the case and it was all over social media. Said it was like Gone Girl,” the note written by another juror said.
“A brief mention. Several other jurors said, ‘Don’t discuss this,’” the note added.
Gone Girl is a thriller written by Gillian Flynn about a woman who fakes her own death to frame her husband for his infidelity. It was adapted into a film in 2014 starring Ben Affleck and Rosamund Pike.
After another pause in the trial, Judge Randolph told the court he had dismissed Juror 186 and questioned the other jurors to be sure they could continue to be fair and impartial in the case.
It’s not the first time the case has been compared to the Gone Girl story.
In 2019, Fotis’ attorney Norm Pattis threw out a wild, alternate theory about what happened to Jennifer – claiming that the mother-of-five actually orchestrated her own disappearance in a Gone Girl-style plot to frame her estranged husband.
At the time of her disappearance in May 2019, Jennifer – whose remains have never been found – was in the midst of a bitter divorce and custody battle with her estranged husband Fotis Dulos.
Investigators believe Fotis killed her in the garage of her home and that Ms Troconis, Fotis’ then-girlfriend, helped him cover up the murder.
Ms Troconis faces charges of conspiracy to murder, tampering with evidence and hindering prosecution. Fotis killed himself in 2020 after being charged with murder.
“It absolutely sickens me that a work of fiction written by me would be used by Fotis Dulos’s lawyer as a defense and as a hypothetical, sensationalized motive behind Jennifer’s very real and very tragic disappearance,” Gillian Flynn told WTNH in response to the theory at the time.
The dismissal on Friday marks the second time a juror in Ms Troconis trial that only just got underway a week ago.
Earlier this week, an alternate juror was also dismissed after he admitted to shouting “We love you” to the prosecution at the elevators in the courthouse, leaving only three alternates. The trial is expected to last until 1 March.