Almost nine years after 38-year-old Sara Lynn Moore Colucci was found dead outside her jewelry business in Summerville, South Carolina, her family is getting another chance at justice soon. On May 13, 2024, the South Carolina Attorney General’s Office, known for prosecuting the Murdaugh Murders, was going to tackle another complex Lowcountry murder case involving power, corruption, money, and mysterious deaths. But the retrial for Michael Colucci, the Summerville jeweler accused of killing his wife in 2015, has been pushed back from its originally scheduled date.
Colucci was supposed to be back in court on May 13th, but communications director for the South Carolina Attorney General’s Office Robert Kittle said they will keep everyone updated.
Kittle said the reason for the delay was over the potential length of the trial. The judge and staff would not be available the week after May 13.
In May 2016, the South Carolina Law Enforcement Division (SLED), the same agency that investigated the Murdaugh Murders, charged Charleston-area jeweler Michael Colucci with the murder of his wife, Sara Lynn Colucci. Michael, like other well-connected defendants in South Carolina, has benefitted from a justice system often skewed in favor of the wealthy and powerful.
Michael Colucci (Berkeley County Detention Center)
During the 2018 trial, Michael Colucci’s defense, led by top-tier attorney Andy Savage, managed to confuse the narrative so effectively that the result was a hung jury, despite substantial evidence against him. Now, journalist and author, Crime and Cask, credited with solving the Murdaugh family’s case in his debit book, Defending Alex Murdaugh, will be investigating the Colucci case. The goal is to follow the evidence, wherever it may lead.
Crime and Cask began investigating the Alex Murdaugh case after the media narrative didn’t match the actual evidence. Colucci will be one of the most deep dive stories we have investigated since Murdaugh.
Michael Colucci’s defense attorney, Andy Savage, is a well-known figure. TikTok followers of Crime and Cask might remember Savage for representing Sandy Smith, the mother of slain teen, Stephen Smith of Hampton, SC, before she let him go for communicating with the media about her son’s case without her consent. No stranger to cameras or controversy, Savage surprised few familiar with his career when he agreed to represent Officer Michael Slager in a shooting that added fuel to the national outcry over police conduct in encounters with black men.
The story Michael Colucci told police about his wife’s death changed multiple times. His defense claimed that Sara stopped to go to the restroom at one of their warehouses and either hanged herself with a hose or tripped on it and accidentally strangled herself, while Michael was just a few feet away in his car. The state, however, believes that the couple, on the brink of separation and possible bankruptcy, got into a fight, and Michael strangled Sara, attempting to stage it as a suicide or accident.
Will the South Carolina Attorney General’s Office be able to present a stronger case this time and secure a conviction? Or will the defense prevail yet again? Prosecutors Joel Kozak and Kinli Abee will be handling the case.
Stay tuned to Crime and Cask for continued coverage and in-depth analysis of the Colucci case.