Michelle Troconis trial live: Nanny says Jennifer Dulos suspected husband’s affair years before murder

Ms Almeida said that Fotis Dulos was a role model to her, and had pushed her to pursue a career in luxury development.

However, the dynamic between Dulos and Jennifer changed when she found out about his affair in 2017, Ms Almeida told the court.

While on vacation in 2017, Jennifer reportedly told her mother and Ms Almeida that she believed her husband was having an affair.

“At the time I believed Fotis was an honest man, and that he couldn’t have been having an affair with five kids and a wife,” Ms Almeida said. “I told her, ‘I don’t think that’s true.”

Ms Almeida said that she worked at Fotis Dulos’ construction company, but continued to be a nanny for their children.

Ms Almeida said she saw Dulos as a mentor who had given her an opportunity to advance her career.

However, when questioned about how Jennifer Dulos felt about her husband, Ms Almeida said Jennifer had confided her husband had a bad temper.

“He was harsh and she didn’t like conflict,” Ms Almeida testified.

Ms Almeida began babysitting for the Dulos in September 2012, when the Dulos’ oldest set of twins were six, the other twins were four and their youngest daughter had just turned one year old.

Ms Almeida took a full-time position as the nanny for the Dulos in 2013 after graduating college.

Ms Almeida told jurors that while the five children always followed their father’s orders, they had a “silly” relationship with their mother. Jennifer always took the children on activities, went water skiing, pumpkin picking and drew with them.

“They always wanted to be next to mommy,” Ms Almeida recounted. “She never raised her voice, never got angry. She was just so nurturing.”

The defence is arguing that Judge Randolph is giving more “leeway” than appropriate to prosecutors who admitted evidence about presumptive blood testing taken from Jennifer Dulos’ home and vehicle.

Lauren Almeida, who worked as a nanny for Jennifer’s five children and first alerted police she was missing, is the next witness expected to take the stand.

Mr Schoenhorn asked Det Reilly whether he was sent back to the scene in October 2019, five months after Jennifer went missing, to obtain biological material from the home.

The defence is trying to build the case that some of the evidence found during the October search was ultimately not tested – despite having been collected with that intention.

We’re back from recess and Det Reilly says that the SUV was processed three times.

Det Reilly is now cross-examination by the defence.

Trial will resume after lunch.

Det Reilly tells the jury that Luminol also reacts to bleach and other substances.

The court is shown pictures taken of the SUV’S truck area glowing after being sprayed with Luminol.

Det Reilly said he personally used Luminol up to twenty times while processing the SUV’s trunk area.

The retired detective said that the substance is used by investigators to find blood stains that are not visible to the naked eye. Det Reilly added that Luminol identifies the iron in blood.

Mr Schoenhorn objected that Luminol detects iron – not blood.

Det Reilly tells the jury that dots on the garage floor are actually vegetative matter.

A presumptive blood test on a large blood stain near a garbage can also came back negative.

However, stains under an SUV parked in the garage did test positive for blood.

The garage door was also dusted for fingerprints, Det Reilly said.