SC Attorney General’s Office Doesn’t Appear to Know Where Accused Murderer Michael Colucci Lives While Awaiting Trial

Court documents obtained by Luna Shark Media show that Michal Colucci —the 54-year-old former jewelry store owner from the Charleston, SC area — is apparently not following his bond conditions.

The Colucci case is one of many examples that show South Carolina’s system for tracking defendants accused of violent crimes while out on bond and awaiting trial proves itself to be ineffective and deeply broken. 

Michael Colucci was arrested in May 2016 after authorities say he killed his wife, Sara Lynn Moore Colucci, and allegedly staged the scene to look like a suicide by hanging via rubber hose. 

His 2018 trial, which was prosecuted by Megan Burchstead and Joel Kozak of the South Carolina Attorney General’s Office, ended in a hung jury after Colucci’s expensive defense team led by Andy Savage dominated the courtroom and confused the narrative enough to get a hung jury. 

Colucci has mostly been out of jail on bond since he was initially charged for murder in 2016, though it appears that his bond conditions are being treated as merely suggestions.

Luna Shark Media, as a part of our Colucci series on True Sunlight Podcast, reached out to Robert Kittle, the public information officer with the South Carolina Attorney General’s office in March. According to Kittle, Colucci is on house arrest at “his parents’ home.”

Except both of his parents are deceased, and their properties were sold years ago.

The initial 2016 bond put Michael under house arrest at a home on Murray Boulevard in Summerville, the residence of his mother and stepfather, Doris and Ivo Colucci.

11 months later, 80-year-old Ivo reportedly shot and killed Doris in April 2017 at their North Charleston jewelry store. Charges were later expunged due to Ivo Colucci’s well-documented dementia. The Murray Boulevard home was then sold in 2018, according to Dorchester County property records.

In May 2017, the state filed a motion to revoke Colucci’s bond, saying that they had information he wasn’t living at the Murray Boulevard home and that he wasn’t abiding by the rules that he stay home other than work, religious services, and medical or appointments.

Instead of revoking his bond, Judge Kristi L. Harrington amended the conditions, and put Colucci on house arrest on Legare Road in Edisto— at another home owned by the Colucci family.

In early 2018, Michael Colucci was apparently evicted from the Legare Road home by other Colucci family members so the home could be sold to settle Ivo Colucci’s estate. According to an incident report filed by Colleton County Sheriff’s Office Lt. Ruben Carter, family members reported that they had evicted Colucci but he was still driving by the property.

Just 10 days later, Colleton County authorities found themselves at the Legare Road home again. This time, Colucci family members were reporting it had been broken into and vandalized.

It is unclear where Michael Colucci lived after his eviction from the Legare Road home in spring 2018. During his trial in late 2018, he was ordered to wear an ankle monitor and live in a hotel with his attorney, Andy Savage.

It is also unknown where Michael lived after trial, and there are no updates to the terms of house arrest in the public index, meaning that Michael is officially on house arrest at a home that the Colucci family no longer owns — the Legare road home was sold in 2019, according to Colleton County Property records.

An address for Michael doesn’t appear in a public record until late 2023 when a court filing listed his address as Osceola Street in Edisto, an address that is not on any of the bond paperwork.

In November 2023, attorneys representing Michael in a civil wrongful death suit filed by Sara’s estate withdrew as counsel. Michael signed the paperwork using the Osceola Street address in Edisto Island, South Carolina.

Two months later, in January 2024, Edisto police officers took a report from a man who said he was walking near the same Osceola Street address when a German Shepherd dog purportedly owned by Michael Colucci attacked his terrier.

In late March, Luna Shark Media reached out to Kittle with SCAG again to ask for clarification in an attempt to reconcile information from court records with information from our sources.

“The only information I have is what I told you,” he said.

Luna Shark Media continues to file Freedom of Information Act requests and pore over hundreds of pages of documents as we prepare to stream the Michael Colucci trial live for our Soak up the Sun premium members beginning on May 13.

Please sign into your Premium account then refresh this page to view this content.