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As we reported last week, the state of South Carolina’s second attempt to secure a conviction against accused murderer Michael Colucci of Summerville, S.C. was supposed to begin today (May 13, 2024).
This high-profile retrial – which is anticipated to draw a deluge of national media and true crime aficionados to Berkeley County, S.C. – comes nearly six years after the first murder trial ended in a mistrial.
Or at least we think it’s coming … as our report noted, S.C. circuit court judge Deadra Jefferson continued the case due to its potential length. According to Robert Kittle of the S.C. attorney general’s office, Jefferson and her staff would have been unable to participate in a second week of trial had it gaveled to order this month. Parties to the case were “looking for a term in June” to conduct the high-profile proceedings – however it is not immediately clear whether such a term will be available.
Colucci, 54, was charged in May of 2016 with the murder of his wife, 38-year-old Sara Lynn Colucci. According to prosecutors, Colucci killed his wife in cold blood on the evening of May 20, 2015 following a domestic altercation – strangling her with his bare hands (or a necklace) and subsequently staging the crime scene to make it look like a suicide.
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Prosecutors pointed to the presence of various wounds on both Coluccis as being consistent with a struggle …
According to the defendant, his wife took her own life by hanging herself with a garden hose – or, in one bizarre suggested version of events, purportedly tripping into the hose and hanging herself accidentally.
All while her husband was sitting in their Toyota Prius twenty feet away smoking a cigarette …
All we know for sure is that emergency medical technicians discovered Sara Colucci’s blue, cold, lifeless body on a cement slab next to a six-foot chain-link fence – a black garden hose wrapped around her neck.
Late last month, Colucci’s attorneys – veteran Charleston lawyer Andy Savage and criminal defense attorney Scott Bischoff – submitted a flurry of motions seeking to exclude testimony and evidence that could prove damaging to their case.
Our media outlet covered those motions extensively here …
(Click to view)
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This week – on the same day the retrial was set to commence – the Horry County Police Department (HCPD) responded to our recent Freedom of Information Act (FOIA) request seeking information related to a suspicious 2007 death tied to the Colucci saga.
Sara’s first husband, 32-year-old Michael N. Vieira, died as a result of an “accidental stabbing” in Horry County in 2007. According to Michael Colucci’s attorneys, Vieira was stabbed 27 times and died as a result of his injuries. Ironically, the Collucis visited Vieira’s gravesite just hours before she herself met a violent end.
Vieira’s body was found on a roadway in Socastee, S.C. on the morning of May 18, 2007 by an individual delivering newspapers for The (Myrtle Beach, S.C.) Sun News. A baggie and vial of cocaine and more than $1,000 of cash were found on his person.
“The deceased was clothed in a pair of loose fitting blue jeans with a belt and his boxers were partially visible,” an HCPD investigatory report (.pdf) noted. “He was not wearing a shirt or shoes and was only wearing one sock on his left foot. The deceased was also wearing a gold colored necklace and had multiple tattoos. His hairstyle was a Mohawk.”
According to the report, there were 26 “puncture wounds” to Vieira’s chest and abdomen – all of them inflicted by the victim himself during what appears to have been a bad acid trip.
“All of the wounds measured 2.5 to 3 centimeters with edges opposed, all angled right to left and superior, and no hilt marks were observed,” the report noted. “Five of the wounds penetrated the thoracic cavity, lacerating the heart and-left lung.”
No defensive injuries or other evidence of trauma were reported, according to the report.
“A black handled knife was on the ground beside his right leg, it was in the open position,” the report continued.
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Swabs from the knife were analyzed by crime scene technicians with the S.C. State Law Enforcement Division (SLED). They determined the blood on the knife belonged to the victim.
Toxicology reports revealed Vieira had a blood alcohol content of 0.05 percent at the time of his death, but he also tested positive “for cocaine, cocaine degradation product, marijuana, marijuana metabolite, and LSD.”
Sara Colucci was not with her husband at the time of his death. He was with friends attending a Harley-Davidson rally in Myrtle Beach. According to interviews with those who were with Colucci on the night before he died, he “began acting violent and irrational” after consuming the LSD.
“Michael started to ‘freak out’ shortly after taking the acid,” a police report contained in the investigative file noted. “Michael was talking about Jesus and speaking in tongues while he was in this state of mind.”
The only involvement of Sara Colucci in the saga? Calls placed to her in an effort to get her to speak to her husband – and subsequently to determine how best to deal with his drug-addled state. According to witness statements, Vieira refused to speak with Sara Colucci when she was reached by telephone. She advised them to let him “walk it off” – which they did.
“The investigation into the death of Michael Vieira has revealed no evidence of foul play on the part of anyone other than the victim,” the report concluded. “At the time of his death, the victim was under the influence of a hallucinogen (LSD) and other drugs. As a result, the manner of death is best classified as accidental; the investigation is closed accordingly.”
Vieira’s family members continued to harbor doubts about the official law enforcement narrative, however.
“I do not believe the incident occurred as you surmise,” Vieira’s father wrote in an August 22, 2007 email to HCPD investigator Todd Cox. “I feel those present at the house have told conflicting stories regarding Michael’s demeanor prior to his death, who supplied the drugs, etc., which leads me to believe there is more information to be gained though these people.”
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ABOUT THE AUTHOR …
Will Folks is the founding editor of the news outlet you are currently reading. Prior to founding FITSNews, he served as press secretary to the governor of South Carolina and before that he was a bass guitarist and dive bar bouncer. He lives in the Midlands region of the state with his wife and eight children.
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