0:02

I. Don't know why it took

0:05

this long to get justice for

0:07

Sarah Lynn Colucci. But. After

0:09

learning more about Sarah in the

0:12

details of the case that the

0:14

prosecution left out during the Twenty

0:16

Eighteen trial, I am hopeful

0:19

that the trial this brain. Will.

0:21

Finally, do her justice. My

0:23

name is merely matney. This.

0:26

Is True Sunlight a podcast

0:28

exposing crime and corruption previously

0:30

known as the Murdoch Murders

0:32

podcast. True. Sunlight is a

0:34

Lunar shark production written with journalists

0:37

lists feral. Well

0:56

hello, Today is a good

0:59

day for justice. We. Just

1:01

got back from the third Annual

1:03

Victims Matter Rally presented by Sarah

1:06

Ford in Se van it with

1:08

empowering to stand in solidarity with

1:11

those who have lost in those

1:13

who deserve justice. I did not

1:15

speak this year but Cod Smith

1:18

David, Eric Bland and I stood

1:20

in the crowd and cheered others

1:23

on. Cnd. Even met Attorney

1:25

General Alan Wilson and we will talk

1:27

about that at the end of the

1:29

episode real quick. Thank you to all

1:31

of the fans who showed up today!

1:34

I know nine am on a Thursday

1:36

is tough but it was so important

1:38

to see our army an action Special

1:40

thanks to the man who drove all

1:42

the way from Charlotte. Just a meet

1:45

us, you made our day and I'm

1:47

sorry I didn't catch your name. Now

1:49

I have to share a few parts

1:51

of the rally with the all like

1:53

they did with me. Hopefully these words

1:55

will leave you ready to fight the

1:57

good fight and take on this system.

2:00

Here is Attorney Sarah Ford reminding

2:02

us of the mission at hand.

2:05

We must continue to create and enforce

2:07

a system where victims' rights and defendants'

2:09

rights are both delicately

2:11

protected. Victims

2:14

deserve this system, a system

2:16

that works for them and with them. I

2:19

look forward to the day when judges no longer say

2:21

they've never seen a victim represented by

2:23

counsel in the courtroom and it becomes

2:25

commonplace. In victims asserting

2:27

their rights, it is normalized as a

2:29

defendant's right to have an attorney or asserting

2:32

their rights to be found. Victims

2:34

and survivors are counting on all of this to center

2:37

their rights and their voices in a

2:39

system where they're often pushed to the side of things. That

2:42

is not the case today. Victims are

2:44

at the heart of who we are and what

2:46

we do and why we are here.

2:49

The event focused on a case we

2:51

have been covering for a year now,

2:53

to Rod Price, the convicted murderer who

2:55

was released from prison 15 years early,

2:59

thanks to a secret deal

3:01

between solicitor Byron Gibson, state

3:03

representative Pott Bruthaford and judge

3:05

Casey Manning. David Pascoe,

3:07

the man who prosecuted Price and

3:10

put him behind bars, spoke at

3:12

the victim's rally Thursday. In

3:15

December of 2002, Carl

3:18

Jr. was gunned down in an

3:20

horrific act of violence on our streets right

3:22

here on our streets right here in Richland

3:24

County. The

3:26

murderer was and is

3:29

a high ranking member of a national

3:31

street gang. His name is,

3:33

you heard, Gerard Price. I

3:37

was the prosecutor while Mr. Rice

3:39

was murdered. And to give

3:41

you an example of how

3:43

dangerous he was and still is, he

3:47

is the only person of hundreds of violent criminals

3:49

I've ever tried. He's the only one where I

3:52

had to have a police escort to and from

3:54

my car at court. He

3:57

is so dangerous that witness.

4:00

witnesses were so fearful of him to

4:02

testify, they fled the state even though

4:04

they were under subpoena to testify and

4:06

went to jail for contempt of court. The

4:10

jury convicted Price to murder. The

4:13

judge sentenced him to 35 years, a

4:15

day-to-day sentence with no parole. And

4:19

Carl O'Lanley on that day during that

4:21

trial in 2003, at

4:23

least for Mr. Price, thought they had some

4:25

closure that Price couldn't get

4:27

out of prison until at least 2038. As

4:33

for Mr. Price in the Department of Corrections,

4:36

he was so bad in

4:38

such a nuisance in our prisons that

4:41

they had to transfer him to

4:44

New Mexico to go to prison.

4:48

And yet, despite his violent

4:50

racket, despite his leadership in

4:52

a national gang, despite

4:54

his nuisance in our prisons, he

4:57

was able to have his

5:00

attorney, a lawyer or legislator, go

5:03

back into judges' chambers and

5:05

have a judge sign a secret sealed

5:09

order releasing Gerard

5:11

Price from prison 15 years early. Carl

5:17

O'Lanley didn't know about Gerard Price's

5:19

release until about two

5:21

hours before he was released from that New

5:23

Mexico prison. So

5:26

the nightmare began again. This

5:29

is the most outrageous thing I've

5:31

ever seen occur in our system of justice in

5:33

South Carolina. And they didn't know what

5:35

to do. They called

5:37

the governor's office no help. They called the

5:39

solicitor's office no help. And

5:42

no one knew what to do because no one

5:44

even knew why Gerard Price was

5:46

released from prison or who released him because

5:48

it was all sealed. It

5:50

was secret. It

5:53

was about a month after Price's release that

5:55

a police officer, a good friend of mine, called me to

5:58

ask me why is Gerard Price a lawyer? Three,

6:00

I thought he was joking. He.

6:03

Wasn't joking and Pascoe knew

6:05

this would be a nightmare

6:07

for the small family whose

6:09

son Corals Most Jr was

6:11

murdered by Price Curls father

6:13

also named Carl spoke on

6:15

Thursday morning and I swear

6:17

to cement of the State

6:19

House shook. His words were

6:21

so powerful Snows reminded the

6:24

crowd help victims are often

6:26

maligned in reduced by people

6:28

who just don't understand. He

6:30

talked about how cruel people

6:32

can be. With their insulting

6:34

cutting comments. The.

6:41

Media have been great to or for for

6:43

your story. Out of spades a folding the

6:45

throw your job is. Also.

6:48

We know that body ale

6:50

the day we were either.

6:52

this family is being used

6:54

for political purposes. well if

6:56

you feel that way you

6:58

got we have you'll be

7:01

a chart just know there

7:03

will be and blindly laid

7:05

around. We

7:09

see you. Defeat. See

7:11

you Thought receives you. Lied

7:15

always overcome darkness and of this

7:17

case can be used to shine

7:19

through will explode wrong door of

7:21

here you go We'll go. Built

7:24

off. This absolute

7:26

travesty of justice was brought

7:28

to a lotta alla fall

7:30

foul of get to rather

7:32

Third and many. Did

7:41

ya hear that? He

7:43

called Dan. Out.

7:46

On. The statehouse steps that

7:48

is. A big deal. Before.

7:52

An embarrassment to state of South

7:54

Carolina and a black eye. Age.

8:00

Not appropriate to convey to maybe

8:02

one in the safe that this

8:04

lot just about the hall. the

8:06

small family but all about a

8:08

family. a victim. Of

8:11

valley any one of us would gladly

8:13

give any day now to be a

8:15

pile. Is about these

8:17

two on a law abiding citizen

8:19

who go about their daily business

8:21

and respect the law and each

8:23

other. We. Are

8:26

here that a small Finally the lead.

8:28

You know that you're hurt and your

8:30

brain is our heard and been. Affected

8:34

with the system the level of

8:37

this deal with is it do

8:39

that is heavily tilted towards hello

8:41

instead of you. We

8:44

know what you want to, especially

8:46

if you love the low, Want

8:48

to vomit and leave his own

8:50

old daughter? Is

8:52

of this society where they their families

8:54

lead to won't here at all the

8:56

time to move on a matter of

8:58

the car. In

9:01

a cave is been told to me too.

9:03

he is. What Did you? See.

9:09

In your. That

9:11

to watch been born without a what

9:13

must have been born reason for doing

9:15

to you now light an attack is

9:17

that you have to pick. Friday

9:20

at on the side. Then we can

9:22

talk. You. See we only

9:24

have no read lived. We

9:27

want one and will they would be. We

9:31

hold onto those special more than

9:33

memory. Or had

9:35

one of those moments about a year

9:37

ago. They.

9:39

Found that my satellite called

9:41

at thousand Mile. He

9:44

would always say to me that he didn't see

9:47

daddy. I don't know why, but I did like

9:49

this all. They. Become I

9:51

hate us all. It brings me back to him.

9:54

Lassie. All of a job in down a

9:56

road s all came on the radio and believe it

9:58

or not. I had to pull

10:01

over to the thought of the road to to

10:03

let myself and it's been able to do you.

10:06

Trust. Me: I. Would

10:08

want that thousand miles to see my town

10:10

again. I would get

10:12

my life for his. You may

10:14

look is due to. This.

10:17

Is our burden to bear across

10:19

the carry and to and to

10:21

begin always proud of you know

10:23

how annoyed or offended by people

10:26

who just don't seem to get

10:28

all would respectfully you need to

10:30

get over. We

10:38

chat and we want. We

10:40

move forward because we have to

10:43

like that stuff was. But.

10:45

We will continue to carry on. Loan

10:47

was whether. He. Concluded

10:49

his speech with words. it's

10:51

inspiration. And. Yes, It

10:53

was Stephen Smith he was talking

10:55

about. As he was pointing to sandy.

10:58

One. Is it still can? Really

11:00

A convicted murderer in Aqaba? Darkness?

11:03

The. Authority is seventy. you one

11:05

who's been displaced from all

11:07

over thirteen years and. He

11:10

just doesn't look right or would have all

11:13

account have and Rob Adam. Killed.

11:15

Any. Or. So he wrote.

11:18

Lastly, Yeah other go while

11:21

watching the Sun the political show

11:23

I happened upon a wise man

11:25

by the name of know the

11:27

William Raspberry. Talking

11:29

about crime, He's is. Sometimes.

11:32

I wonder if it's better to bill

11:34

of sale at the age. Of.

11:37

Put an avalanche in the valley. The.

11:41

Justice System has to be that fifth at

11:43

the end of this list. That

11:46

fans have to be a high

11:48

been built on a rule of

11:50

law accountability for was as you

11:52

would the knowledge that they will

11:55

be. Taught a

11:57

quarter for unlawful behavior. The

12:07

new victims of will have those

12:09

who argue the prize hadn't had

12:12

to act as a bulwark. You

12:14

those who are appointed to execute

12:16

alone would again Odyssey and rules.

12:20

Hobbled. Was told that when you

12:23

go to hell he going again.

12:25

When you go to when you

12:27

go to hell, just keep going.

12:29

Don't stop. Keeping

12:32

be an hour if we all love on. Ever

12:35

was left the usual. You.

12:38

Have the usual the Stephen. You.

12:41

Have the usual for Jimbo. Yes,

12:45

You can lead addiction to. A

12:48

Yes, you must that up Valera. We

12:50

must say I love other a d board

12:53

what we are we going to way I

12:55

would sit still and then the proudly that

12:57

we would bill but we have to keep

12:59

on. We

13:01

have to keep going because

13:03

I love one man and

13:05

we know. You

13:08

gotta say, motivated. We.

13:10

Got to educate out. They'll know

13:12

all right. We'll. Have

13:14

to know who we are electing

13:17

to public offer. We got the

13:19

story now and the kids to

13:21

their only L M A hotly

13:23

know who you are, blue who

13:25

they are. We

13:27

must have faith in Almighty God to

13:30

help us who are praise God or

13:32

the answer for a hail let your

13:34

boy Do Dealer would yield with a

13:37

lot of your love. Want an assistant?

13:40

And latterly out the. The.

13:42

Apu. Now for post we all

13:45

node three. Until

13:47

something happens. And

13:50

still have something happens. But

13:53

also, while we're premiering. We.

13:56

Gotta keep pushing. Until

13:58

thought did happen. Well, we

14:01

all know within two feet without

14:03

where is this the we have

14:05

the key books you until Coffin

14:07

happen once again or thank? A

14:10

powder as. For. A small

14:12

family. Along with my daughter

14:14

and grandchildren back in Charleston. And we

14:16

do we we are Paul Will proudly.

14:20

Enough we feel comfortable here.

14:22

We are my family Lf

14:24

keep pushing Lefty Boy! Thank

14:26

you very much. Not.

14:40

Said this rally serves as

14:42

an important reminder that our

14:45

justice system needs to prioritize

14:47

distance. Prosecutors.

14:49

Need to prioritize? did you?

14:52

Police need to prioritize

14:54

victims. Reporters.

14:56

Podcast years journalist.

14:59

All. Of us

15:01

need to prioritize the

15:03

students. Only. Then

15:05

will the scales of justice kids

15:08

to the point where powerful descendants.

15:10

No. Longer have automatic leverage.

15:13

I've. Been thinking a lot about this as

15:15

I've been spending all my nights and

15:17

days watching the Two thousand and. Eighteen.

15:19

Color to Trial. It. Is

15:22

a frustrating trial to watch for

15:24

a lot of reasons. I

15:27

want say that I know, I

15:29

know. hindsight is twenty. Twenty. In,

15:31

it is so much easier to critique

15:34

a prosecutor than it is to build

15:36

a case in convince a jury. That.

15:38

A defendant is guilty beyond a reasonable

15:40

doubt. It is a tough

15:42

task. In a More Than A

15:45

Watch Prosecutors. And action. The. More

15:47

grateful I am for the work

15:49

of Day Creighton Energy Waters. And

15:51

his team. Creighton. Brought.

15:54

The murder case to the

15:56

jury with passion, dedication. And.

15:58

An immense amount. Well researched,

16:02

He was convinced. That Alec Murdoch

16:04

murdered his wife and son in cold

16:06

blood. And. You could feel that

16:08

in his voice. Day in and

16:11

day out. From. Beginning to

16:13

end. Creighton. Build a

16:15

case out of bricks. Leaving.

16:18

No room. For the jury to

16:20

see reasonable daryl. But. If Creighton

16:22

built this case out of bricks,

16:25

Then. Megan Birch Dead end job

16:27

Cosac, The Prosecutors and the Two

16:29

Thousand and eating hello to trial.

16:32

Built. Their case against Michael Colucci

16:34

out of sticks. In. My

16:36

goal was represented by Andy

16:38

Savage. A big bad

16:41

wolf that makes Dick Harpootlian. Look.

16:43

Like one of the three little pigs, but

16:45

a lot meaner. And.

16:48

Will be right back. If.

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19:04

One of the biggest similarities and

19:06

major differences between the Calucci case

19:08

and what we saw go down in Ehrlich Murdoch's

19:11

murder trial is how the

19:13

defendant was defended. Shortly

19:15

after his arrest in early May

19:17

2016, almost a full year after

19:19

Sarah's death, Michael Calucci

19:22

hired Charleston attorney Andy Savage.

19:25

According to public records that reporter Beth

19:27

Braden obtained for us from the Berkeley

19:29

County Clerk of Court's office, Andy

19:31

wasn't Michael's first attorney in the case.

19:33

Michael started off being represented by a

19:36

partner of another Charleston law firm that at

19:38

the time was representing him in a case

19:41

that he and Sarah had brought against

19:43

their daughter's private school. The

19:46

school had erroneously sent information about

19:48

their financial status to another family

19:50

which, according to testimony, was

19:52

connected to their non-payment of tuition.

19:55

We'll talk more about that in a few minutes because it

19:58

potentially speaks to Michael's frame of mind. the

20:00

time of Sarah's death. Initially Michael

20:02

was denied bond. It's

20:04

a little confusing how this works though. Because

20:07

Michael was charged with murder, a

20:09

violent crime that carries a potential

20:11

death penalty sentence or life in

20:13

prison sentence, he was also

20:15

able to have a bond hearing in

20:18

circuit court. So he

20:20

was denied bond in magistrate court where

20:22

bonds are usually set under his first

20:25

attorney. Then days later his

20:27

bond case moved to circuit court where

20:29

his new attorney, Andy Savage, was able

20:31

to successfully argue that because Michael

20:34

had not skipped town after Sarah's

20:36

death, he deserved to be

20:38

released from jail while he awaited

20:40

trial. Now predictably Judge

20:43

Markley Dennis, the judge from Bowen

20:45

Turner's Sweetheart plea deal agreed. He

20:48

told the prosecution which was arguing for

20:50

no bond that he could not ignore

20:52

the fact that Michael had not tried

20:55

to run away from law enforcement in

20:57

the year leading up to his charge.

21:00

But hello, the guy

21:02

had just hired his criminal defense

21:04

attorney. He clearly hadn't been planning

21:06

to be charged with murder, at

21:08

least not practically speaking. So

21:10

what exactly was he fleeing from? As you'll

21:13

remember, Alec Murdoch had Dick and

21:15

Jim nailed down from day one

21:18

after Maggie's and Paul's murders. Dick

21:20

and Jim were doing the absolute

21:22

most for Alec in trying to

21:24

manage his way out of murder

21:26

charges. Many, obviously

21:28

including us, believe that

21:31

Alec should have and would have been

21:33

arrested at the scene that night had

21:35

he been any other person with any

21:37

other set of attorneys. And

21:39

if not at the scene, then at least by

21:41

August 11, 2021,

21:43

at the meeting he had with Sled

21:45

with Corey Fleming right by his side,

21:48

when Sled agent David Owen asked him point

21:50

blank, did you kill Maggie and did you

21:53

kill Paul? The sole reason

21:55

Alec wasn't charged earlier than he was

21:57

is because of state Senator Dick Harpoulin.

22:00

Sled and the AG's office spent over a year

22:02

preparing their case before serving Alec

22:05

charges to him, basically room

22:07

service style on a silver platter

22:09

with a sprig of parsley. As

22:11

soon as they lifted the lid on that

22:14

dish, Sled and the AG's office knew that

22:16

Dick and Jim would be in there with

22:18

their noses inspecting every little morsel on the

22:20

plates to find any parts that were over-seasoned

22:23

or undercooked.

22:26

The big-time attorney didn't come into

22:28

play until after he was charged.

22:30

Why? Because Michael Kalushi wasn't

22:32

anticipating this outcome as an eventuality, at

22:34

least not the same way Alec was.

22:37

Now that we're almost nine years out from

22:39

Sarah's death and eight years out from Michael's

22:41

arrest from her death, you can see what

22:43

money has bought Michael. Had he

22:46

not been out on bond, we promise

22:48

you this case would have been retried

22:50

a long time ago. We're

22:52

going to hammer that point home a

22:54

lot, by the way, because nine and

22:56

eight years, plus it's been six years

22:58

since his first trial. Sarah

23:01

Lynn's family has had to live with zero

23:03

resolution and with this case hanging over their

23:05

heads for almost a decade. Her daughter Bishop

23:07

has spent almost a full third of her

23:10

life waiting for the justice system to retry

23:12

this case alone. It's shameful. The

23:15

only person that a delay like this benefits is

23:17

a defendant who can afford the money it takes

23:19

to make it happen in the first place. Now

23:22

we've told you over and over about

23:24

Andy Savage and his brief but irritating

23:27

and not unsuspicious role in Stephen Smith's

23:29

case in 2021 where his chief accomplishment

23:31

was keeping Stephen's mother from sharing Stephen's

23:33

story with the media at a time

23:35

when she needed all eyes on her

23:37

son's case. The only other

23:40

thing that we knew about Andy before

23:42

this, other than his reputation as a

23:44

star attorney, was that he had represented

23:46

Michael Slager, the North Charleston police officer

23:49

whose account of killing an unarmed black

23:51

man was thrown into question when a

23:53

video emerged showing the man, Walter Scott,

23:56

running away from Slager at the time he was

23:58

shot. Andy was hired after

24:00

the video came out contradicting Slager's

24:04

first attorney quit. Andy

24:06

was hired in 2016 after the video came out contradicting

24:10

Slager's account which is when Slager's

24:12

first attorney quit. Andy was able

24:14

to get Slager a federal deal in which

24:17

he pleaded guilty to deprivation of rights under

24:19

the law and his charges of obstruction of

24:21

justice and use of a firearm and crime

24:23

of violence got dismissed. But

24:26

much to Andy's disappointment, Slager

24:28

was still sentenced to 20

24:30

years in prison. According to a

24:32

post and career story in 2018,

24:34

Andy considered this the loss of

24:37

a lifetime and fell into a

24:39

deep depression afterward. Anyway,

24:41

that's a very short history on

24:43

Andy. Anything

24:46

we didn't know about him before we've now

24:48

learned by watching Michael Kukuchi's first trial which

24:50

was held in May 2018 and is available

24:53

on courttv.com. To understand

24:56

how Andy conducts himself in the courtroom, I'm

24:58

going to need you to first

25:00

picture Dick Harpouian. Picture

25:04

his arrogance, his entitlement,

25:07

his rudeness, his feigned

25:10

audacity at what he's hearing when he

25:12

wants to make a point to the

25:14

jury that this response from the state's

25:16

witnesses not only an affront to his

25:18

client but to society at large. But

25:21

remove Dick's sputtering and his afternoon chair

25:23

naps in the courtroom. Okay,

25:25

take all of those things but

25:27

now place this distilled version of

25:30

Dick in a room with the

25:32

case files and sit him down

25:34

at the desk and picture him

25:36

actually reading the files and taking

25:38

notes and not relying completely on

25:40

his ability at ad living and

25:42

a gross miscalculation of his own

25:44

charm. Now take

25:46

this new version of Dick after he

25:48

studied the case beat for beat and

25:51

imagine him popping in his well-worn

25:53

copy of Silence of the Lambs

25:55

into his dusty old VCR

25:58

and picture him watching it over

26:00

and over and over as he

26:02

practices saying, well Clarice,

26:04

have the lamb stop screaming in

26:07

the mirror. Then take

26:09

that new version of Dick Harpovian

26:11

and dip him into a vat

26:14

of marshmallows a few times. Pop

26:16

some glasses on him, give him a belly-first

26:19

posture, and there you

26:21

have Andrew John Savage

26:23

the third. Oh, one

26:25

more thing you need to know about Andy. It

26:28

would not surprise either of us one bit

26:31

if we found out years from now that

26:33

when he entered law school his name was

26:35

actually Andy Smith and the Savage part

26:37

came later. Like a weird

26:40

surname transformation or some Mandela effect

26:42

thing that occurred after the universe

26:44

saw how he handles witnesses in

26:47

the courtroom. Because Andy

26:49

Savage actually is Savage.

26:53

He is more calculating, quicker

26:55

on his feet, smarter, more

26:58

terrifying, and far more effective

27:00

than Dick Harpovian in a

27:02

courtroom. He speaks

27:05

quietly, giving you a false

27:07

sense of decorum. He doesn't

27:09

pace, he stands in one

27:11

place and just asks questions that

27:13

are meticulously designed to misdirect and

27:16

confuse the jury and make the

27:18

state's witness look like they took

27:20

the afternoon off from their shift

27:22

at McDonald's to investigate

27:24

a murder and present their

27:26

findings to the jury. Then

27:28

when you and the jury are lulled

27:30

into a sleepiness that can only be

27:32

solved by a nap, BAM! Andy

27:35

pulls out a bag of evidence and wraps a

27:37

hose around his neck until his face turns color

27:39

and his voice is constricted by a lack of

27:41

oxygen while he continues to grill the witness. He

27:44

did that by the way. He wrapped his

27:46

neck in the hose that Michael says Sarah

27:48

used to kill herself in daylight while he

27:50

sat in their car facing her mere feet

27:53

away. And that wasn't even the most gross

27:55

thing that Andy did during the trial. One

27:57

of his court offenses of Michael is that Maybe

28:00

Sarah tripped into the hose when, instead of

28:02

using the gate to enter the side of

28:04

the building, she squeezed between the fence post

28:06

and the building where she tripped and fell

28:08

into the hose, which was wrapped around the

28:11

post. When

28:13

a forensic pathologist testified that she was

28:15

around the same height and weight as

28:17

Sarah and could not physically squeeze herself

28:19

through the fence post, Andy

28:21

appeared to pick a random woman out of

28:23

the courtroom to ask her height and

28:25

weight, and yes, it was that awkward. The

28:28

prosecution objected. The jury was

28:31

sent back, and lo and behold, we find

28:33

out that this random woman is actually an

28:35

employee of Andy's law firm. To

28:38

be specific, she is the only attorney who

28:40

works with him and his firm, and she's

28:42

a former U.S. Army attorney with three bronze

28:44

stars, according to the Post and Currie-Gart newspaper. Andy

28:47

successfully argued for the opportunity to present

28:50

her to the jury after the woman

28:52

testified to her height and weight, which

28:54

was about seven inches taller than Sarah,

28:56

and only 20 pounds heavier. I

28:59

don't have to tell you that the shape of a

29:01

165-pound woman who is 5'11'' tall can be

29:06

very different from the shape of a woman who

29:08

is 145 pounds and barely 5'4'' tall, right? But

29:13

Andy was setting something up here. There

29:15

seemed to be a video of this decorated

29:18

former U.S. Army attorney successfully

29:20

squeezing herself past the 6'

29:22

fence post and the building.

29:25

And Andy wanted the jury to see it. In

29:28

service of that, in front of the jury,

29:30

he asked the forensic pathologist

29:32

to guess at whether Sarah's

29:34

chest was bigger or smaller

29:36

than the chest of the

29:38

woman. His female employee, the

29:41

decorated former U.S. Army attorney

29:43

who was standing there for

29:45

all to examine her body.

29:48

It was stunning. Not

29:51

only did it create this sort of

29:53

scandalous moment, it forced the

29:55

witness to repeatedly bring up Sarah's breast

29:57

implants, and maybe that was the point.

30:00

point. And

30:04

y'all, that wasn't even the grossest

30:06

thing he did. One

30:08

of the videos Andy appears to

30:11

have at the ready was of

30:13

women squeezing themselves between the fence

30:15

post and the building is

30:17

of his wife Cheryl, who

30:20

sat second chair to him during this

30:22

trial. Like Sarah, Cheryl

30:25

is a blonde. Cool,

30:27

right? The jury could

30:30

see Cheryl squeezing through the fence post

30:32

and easily picture Sarah doing it that

30:34

night and maybe, you

30:37

know, asphyxiating herself accidentally on

30:39

a loop of a stiff

30:41

industrial hose. But

30:43

that wasn't enough for Andy

30:45

and Cheryl. No, no,

30:47

no. They somehow

30:50

thought it would be a great idea

30:52

to go buy the same dress Sarah

30:54

was wearing the night that she died

30:56

and put Cheryl in that

30:59

dress. And then,

31:01

film Cheryl, who is

31:03

presumptively sober, squeezing through a

31:06

defense post in that dress. That's

31:08

right. Sarah's friends

31:10

and family had to watch a

31:13

video of Andy Savage's wife dressed

31:15

like Sarah Lane Kaluchi on the

31:17

night she died acting

31:19

out the defense's theory on how Sarah

31:21

could have died that night, which

31:23

is frankly ridiculous. Sarah

31:26

had a BAC of

31:28

.229 when she died, more

31:31

than twice the legal limit to drive. If

31:34

she did die by accident,

31:36

as Michael's team proposed, alcohol

31:39

and the cocaine in her system

31:41

could have played a factor. But

31:44

it's important to note, asphyxiation by

31:46

accident by tripping over a

31:49

hose is uncommon. And

31:51

how could she trip over

31:53

a hose and choke to death as

31:55

her husband sat in the car a

31:57

few feet away? Most

32:00

importantly, what exactly

32:02

does Andy's wife wearing Sarah's same

32:04

dress squeezing through her fence at

32:06

the crime scene actually prove to

32:08

the jury? Even

32:11

if Sarah did go through the

32:13

fence that night, is that proof

32:15

that she tripped and fell and

32:17

hung herself on a hose while

32:19

her husband sat a mere few

32:21

feet away? Regardless

32:23

of what Andy was trying to prove,

32:26

it was one of the

32:28

sickening moments we have ever seen during a

32:30

trial and we are saying

32:32

this as people who experienced Alex Murdoch

32:35

sit on the witness stand and

32:37

give baby nicknames to everyone in

32:39

his life in an attempt to not sound

32:41

like a murderer. Luckily,

32:43

the judge, Judge Deidre

32:45

Jefferson, did not allow

32:47

it. We will get into

32:50

that mess in a later episode. After

32:53

a mistrial was declared, Andy

32:55

was interviewed on his way out of the

32:57

courtroom and told him a

32:59

reporter that he was disappointed in the

33:02

outcome. But from where we sit,

33:04

the outcome was pretty ideal given the

33:07

circumstances that Andy had to work with,

33:09

meaning Andy did a

33:12

great job. In

33:14

short, Sarah's body was cold

33:16

to the touch when EMTs arrived and

33:19

her body was showing signs

33:21

of liver mortise, meaning

33:23

she had been dead for longer

33:25

than Michael's timeline of events would

33:27

allow for. She was

33:29

found lying sort of on her side against

33:31

a building, meaning she wasn't

33:33

flat on her back the way

33:35

one would be if one's husband

33:37

were administering CPR as he told

33:40

the 911 operator

33:42

he was doing. The car,

33:44

where Michael said he waited for Sarah

33:46

in while she was using the bathroom,

33:49

was a mere few feet from where

33:52

Sarah died, facing her

33:54

with a clear view. Michael

33:56

not only had a fat lip, which

33:59

he said he got from the CPR

34:01

he doesn't appear to have administered

34:03

on Sarah, he had additional signs

34:06

of a physical altercation on his

34:08

body. He had bruises

34:10

and scratches, including on

34:12

his upper right and left arms.

34:15

He had abrasions on the knuckle of one

34:17

hand and skin was

34:20

peeled off on the inside of one

34:22

of his arms near his wrist. Sarah

34:25

had abrasions on both knees

34:28

and on top of one of her feet, the

34:31

foot where her strappy high heel had

34:33

fallen off and was hanging

34:35

on by her ankle. Meaning,

34:38

according to at least one expert's

34:40

testimony, she looked as if

34:43

she had been dragged. Sarah

34:46

also had what appeared to be a

34:48

black eye and was missing the

34:50

tip of her left pinky nail. In

34:53

the car, on the floor

34:55

passenger seat, police found that pinky

34:57

nail. On the driver's

34:59

seat was the arm of

35:01

a pair of broken sunglasses still

35:04

attached to a strap. On

35:06

the passenger side was the rest of

35:08

those broken sunglasses. So

35:22

the fact that Andy was able to

35:24

convince some jurors that Sarah didn't die

35:26

at Michael's hands seems to

35:29

be an accomplishment. And Michael certainly

35:31

got his money's worth because Andy burned down

35:33

Sarah's village in an attempt to save his

35:35

client. He dehumanized her

35:38

at every turn through humiliation,

35:40

stereotype, belittling her,

35:42

and frankly all women, and bringing in

35:45

details of her life that he wanted

35:47

the jury to believe added up to

35:49

alleyway suicide. Worse than

35:51

that, the prosecution let him do

35:53

this. Again, it's

35:55

super predictable that a high-priced defense attorney is

35:57

going to take dynamite to a good place.

36:00

victim's life in order to free his client, right?

36:02

It isn't just about using the law to

36:04

defend their client at that point. It isn't

36:06

just about holding the state accountable to the

36:09

evidence. It becomes about something else. So

36:12

it's the prosecution's job to, you know, show

36:15

some enthusiasm for a case and actually

36:17

try hard. Remind the jury

36:19

of the human life that was lost

36:22

here and why justice is so important

36:24

in this case. Again,

36:26

that's not what happened here. We're

36:28

not just talking about technical stuff here either,

36:31

like the dozen or so times that

36:33

the prosecution allowed Andy to testify for

36:35

the witnesses without objection. And we're

36:37

not even talking about the unprofessional stuff like

36:40

Megan Burchstead rolling her eyes and snickering at

36:42

the prosecution table. We mean

36:44

basic stuff. Like giving the

36:46

jury a story to understand about who

36:48

Sarah was and who

36:50

Sarah was with Michael in

36:52

her life. So we want

36:55

to take you through some things that we

36:57

think the jury should have heard over those

36:59

two weeks back in May, 2018, starting

37:02

with Michael's financial problems. Early

37:05

on in testimony, the prosecution called to

37:07

the stand a local used car salesman,

37:09

and he was also a bar owner who

37:12

knew Sarah and Michael. His

37:14

primary purpose seemed to be to show

37:16

the jury that Michael was possessive

37:19

of Sarah. He wouldn't let

37:21

her go to the bathroom alone at this

37:23

guy's bar and he was protective against people

37:25

talking to Sarah, which it's really

37:27

hard to judge that right without knowing

37:29

how shady this bar was. For instance,

37:32

you heard me say the part where he was a

37:34

used car salesman, so there's no telling there. But

37:37

also the state wanted to use

37:39

his testimony to hint to the jury that

37:41

Michael had financial issues. The used

37:43

car salesman slash bar owner testified

37:46

that shortly after Sarah's death, Michael had

37:48

asked him to borrow $50,000. Great, right?

37:52

Now we're on to something. Maybe.

37:54

Again, it's hard to judge what that means

37:57

without more context, which we did not get

37:59

from the court. the prosecution. Instead,

38:01

we got Andy coming in with

38:04

both marshmallow barrels blazing and his

38:06

best Hannibal Lecter voice. He

38:08

was basically like, you're suggesting Michael had

38:11

financial issues with that testimony? Did

38:13

you know Michael comes from family affluence? You

38:16

know who I am, right? Well, he

38:18

could afford me, so... No. Neither

38:22

of us are prosecutors, but holy hell, we

38:24

would have taken that as a challenge. You

38:27

better believe that when Andy put his wife

38:29

Cheryl on the stand, which he did by

38:31

the way, we sure would have

38:33

asked her as the office

38:35

manager of her husband's law firm to

38:37

tell us how much Michael has paid for

38:40

his defense so far and

38:42

whether Michael used his own money there.

38:45

Would that question have ever been allowed? Probably

38:48

not, but man, would

38:50

we try to get there. Why? Because

38:52

Michael had long-standing financial problems at the

38:54

time of Sarah's death and, according to

38:57

sources, was bolstered by his mother and

38:59

his stepfather. Even

39:04

absent the ability to ask Cheryl

39:07

that question, the prosecution

39:09

had at its fingertips several

39:12

ways to show financial stress as

39:14

a potential motive in the murder

39:17

they say Michael committed.

39:19

Despite Michael's

39:21

status as a Charleston jewelry store

39:23

owner, which according to

39:26

our sources, he only attained with

39:28

his family's help, he

39:30

had a chaotic financial

39:32

history for decades that

39:35

appeared to be getting increasingly

39:37

worse. While the prosecution

39:39

did point out some of

39:41

Michael's financial problems, like

39:44

the fact that Michael and Sarah were

39:46

so far behind on tuition for their

39:48

two daughters that the girls received do

39:50

not return notices from the school in

39:52

March 2015, they didn't attempt to make

39:56

a strong connection between

39:58

the stress of those problems. the

40:01

already existing toxicity in their

40:03

marriage and Sarah's death

40:06

which again they contend

40:09

he caused. During

40:11

trial we also learned that Sarah

40:13

Colucci's parents made the down payment on

40:15

the house that they were living in

40:18

and they did this years before Sarah's

40:20

death but the couple was

40:22

several months behind on paying the

40:24

mortgage and taxes on the house.

40:27

What we didn't hear in trial was

40:29

that Michael had a history of

40:32

not paying mortgages and somehow

40:34

of aiding consequence. We

40:37

are still digging through his financial

40:39

records and wow there are so

40:41

many but we found several

40:44

records of Michael getting

40:46

enormous loans and not

40:48

paying them back. In 2008

40:51

Michael and his ex-wife

40:53

Camilla owed 1.5 million

40:55

dollars on a loan

40:58

for example. In

41:00

2009 we found another

41:02

foreclosure where Michael owed

41:05

over a hundred thousand dollars to

41:08

a different bank, a sum that

41:10

was settled on after the bank said

41:13

he failed to pay back a large

41:15

short-term loan of $550,000. He

41:19

seemed to chaotically move from loan

41:22

to loan with few

41:24

repercussions. Does

41:26

that remind you of someone? From

41:28

all appearances of his financial

41:31

records Michael never seemed to

41:33

dig himself out of debt. In

41:36

June 2016 the month

41:38

after he was charged with murdering his

41:40

wife and after he hired

41:42

Andy Savage to represent him Michael's

41:45

stepfather Evo filed

41:47

a claim showing that Michael owed him

41:49

a whopping $700,000. Yikes!

41:55

We have seen from the Murdoch case and

41:58

from many others that increasing

42:00

financial pressure can drive a

42:02

man mad. Creighton

42:05

Waters did an excellent job of

42:07

laying this out for the jury.

42:10

The pieces of Elick Murdock's financial

42:12

history that built into a perfect

42:14

storm he could no longer control,

42:17

which led him to do the unthinkable on

42:19

June 7th, 2021. I

42:23

can still hear Creighton's opening statement.

42:27

And you're gonna hear some

42:29

of what was going on in Alex Murdock's

42:31

life leading up to that day. Stuff that

42:33

happened that very day, stuff that was leading

42:35

up, a perfect storm that

42:38

was gathering, much

42:40

like the storms that are coming outside today.

42:45

Listen for that evidence. Listen

42:48

to that gathering storm that all

42:50

came to a head on

42:53

June 7th, 2021. Today, the evidence

42:55

will show he killed Maggie

42:58

and Paul. This

43:01

has been a long, exhaustive

43:03

investigation. It's

43:06

gonna be a fairly long trial because

43:09

it's complicated. It's

43:11

a journey. There's a lot

43:13

of aspects to this case. There's a lot of factors to

43:15

this case. Good

43:17

life, a lot of things that are complicated.

43:20

When you start to put them all together, piece them

43:23

together like a puzzle, all

43:25

of a sudden the picture emerges and it's really funny. The

43:31

jury in the Kaluchi cases should

43:33

have heard a very similar narrative

43:36

with Kaluchi about his

43:38

mounting debts that he could no longer pay

43:40

back. In the land deal,

43:42

he was relying on to fix all

43:44

of his problems falling through. And

43:47

the wife who was ready to leave

43:49

him and the divorce he couldn't afford.

43:53

The image that Kaluchi so badly wanted

43:55

to obtain, the family

43:57

man, the business man, the

43:59

money man. maker was slipping away

44:01

from him on May 20th, 2015. But

44:06

the jury didn't hear much about that. There

44:10

is so much to talk about

44:12

with this case because of how

44:14

many twists and turns and unexpected

44:16

sets of circumstances there are

44:18

attached to it. But before

44:20

we get into all of that in

44:22

future episodes, we wanted to start

44:24

with the parts of the story that did

44:26

not get told. And

44:30

yes, again, we're going hard on the

44:33

prosecution here. In Alec Murdock's

44:35

trial, we got to see the state rise to the

44:37

occasion. The same thing didn't

44:39

happen here. Not only

44:41

did the prosecution drop the ball with sharing

44:44

a narrative that the jury could grasp, they

44:46

didn't seem to prepare their witnesses enough or

44:49

rather they didn't seem to anticipate some

44:51

of the very obvious avenues that Andy

44:53

would go down with their witnesses. And

44:55

there were simple things they didn't appear to follow

44:57

up on. For instance, we

45:00

were curious about Michael's story about

45:02

Sarah being upset that day at

45:04

the cemetery where her previous husband,

45:06

the father of her daughter, was buried. Michael

45:10

told law enforcement and people in his life

45:12

that Sarah was upset that the cemetery was

45:14

allowing other people to be buried between

45:17

her deceased husband and the water.

45:20

So upset, ostensibly, that she killed herself right

45:22

in front of him. Now,

45:24

Michael Vieira, who Sarah was married

45:26

to before Michael Colucci, is

45:28

buried in Charleston at Magnolia Cemetery.

45:31

His burial plot is in a remote

45:33

section of the cemetery on a dirt

45:35

road and near the water with trees

45:37

surrounding the area. The state

45:39

did not present GPS records of the trial,

45:41

so we are unsure of where the stop

45:44

fell during Michael and Sarah Colucci's afternoon and

45:46

evening together and how long they

45:48

stayed there. Because we

45:50

were curious, though, we had reporter Beth

45:52

Braden look into the story to find

45:55

out where exactly Michael Vieira is buried

45:57

and whether the cemetery had gone back on its

46:00

were to Sarah in 2015 by

46:02

burying people between Michael Vieira and

46:04

the water, like Michael Colucci said

46:06

happened that day in May 2015. So here's

46:08

what Beth found. On

46:11

May 20, 2015,

46:14

no one was buried between Michael Vieira

46:16

and the water. Shortly after

46:18

that, one person did get buried between

46:20

Michael Vieira and the water. That

46:23

person was Sarah Lynn Colucci.

46:26

According to a woman Beth Braden spoke

46:28

with at the cemetery, Sarah

46:30

remains the only person buried

46:33

between Michael Vieira and the

46:35

water to this day. Like

46:37

we said, there were simple

46:40

follow ups the prosecution seemed to have

46:42

missed. So much was

46:44

said about Sarah during the trial. Her

46:47

life was turned inside out by

46:49

the defense and further

46:51

and dignified by the prosecution. In closing

46:55

arguments, prosecutor Megan

46:57

Birchstead did Sarah no favors in

46:59

convincing the jury that she was

47:01

a person that they should care

47:03

about. In fact, she

47:06

mentioned several times that Sarah

47:08

did drugs, drank and

47:10

was quote unquote mean. She

47:12

used that word to describe Sarah

47:14

twice in her closing argument. One

47:17

of the last things she said was

47:19

Sarah was mean, but she didn't

47:21

deserve to die. Why

47:24

would she think that would

47:26

help convince the jury of

47:28

anything outside of

47:30

her abusive relationship with Michael

47:33

as documented by the hundreds of text

47:35

messages that we will talk about on

47:37

a later episode. The

47:39

jury didn't get to learn a

47:42

whole lot about who Sarah actually

47:44

was, especially before

47:46

she met Michael in 2009.

47:48

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47:50

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47:55

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48:55

week, Liz spoke with one of

48:58

Sarah's friends, Stephanie Merrill,

49:01

who told us about what Sarah

49:03

was like and how it was

49:05

ultimately Sarah's relationship with Michael that

49:08

became her downfall. Sarah

49:10

and I became friends in high school.

49:12

We went to high school in the

49:15

early 90s at Stratford High

49:17

School in Goose Creek, South Carolina. We

49:21

were friends in high school. We

49:23

didn't run in the same group, but sometimes

49:26

we just hung out by ourselves, a few

49:28

parties here and there. We had some classes

49:30

together, but we

49:33

reconnected at our 10-year

49:35

high school reunion and

49:38

started hanging

49:40

out a little bit more then, but really

49:43

connected after her husband,

49:46

Michael Vieira, passed away.

49:49

When she was single, we

49:52

hung out a great deal

49:55

for several years until

49:57

she started dating. Michael

50:00

Colucci. While

50:02

Megan Birchstead decided the jury should

50:04

understand Sarah as a mean person

50:06

who didn't kill herself, Stephanie

50:08

and others in Sarah's life saw

50:11

her differently. Sarah

50:13

is very bubbly and kind

50:16

of vivacious. She's super

50:18

cute. She always had this really cute,

50:21

short, super curly, blonde

50:24

hairstyle. And she just

50:27

dressed really cute. She

50:29

was just one of those people that would talk

50:32

to anybody. And I

50:34

just thought she was just a fun, easygoing

50:37

personality. But she was like mischievous,

50:40

I guess. She was

50:43

pretty sassy and

50:45

just funny. And she

50:47

had a kind of a dry sense of

50:49

humor too. And so

50:52

she caught on to jokes pretty quickly

50:54

and always had

50:56

a little comeback here and there. So

50:58

she had a good personality. Sarah

51:00

was definitely one of those people that

51:03

would just hang out with who she wanted

51:05

to hang out with or really

51:08

just talk with whoever she wanted to

51:10

talk with in that moment. She

51:13

was also somebody who would

51:16

listen and not try to

51:18

talk over you. Sometimes that happens,

51:20

especially crowds and whatever. It

51:24

seems like she always paused before she

51:26

said something. And

51:29

so, yeah, I just remember that.

51:32

And she enjoyed being

51:34

around people. So she enjoyed listening to what

51:36

they had to say. In

51:39

high school, Sarah was named most

51:41

mischievous. And that aspect

51:43

of her personality carried on through adulthood.

51:46

Well, as the 10 year reunion,

51:48

I was

51:51

actually staying because I was coming from out

51:53

of town and I was staying at the

51:55

hotel that the reunion

51:57

was at. And my son was. with

52:00

me at the time and

52:02

he would have been about

52:04

nine. And so

52:06

she wanted to meet him. So at

52:08

some point, you know, her and I

52:10

went to the hotel room and

52:13

hung out with my son and

52:15

then her husband came

52:18

up and then he decided

52:20

they wanted to order, I

52:23

guess you could order like a Nintendo or something

52:25

on the TV. And so they ordered that for

52:27

my son too. My son's name is

52:30

Hunter and they ordered that for Hunter to play

52:33

video games while we hung

52:35

out downstairs. After

52:38

their 10 year reunion, Stephanie and Sarah continued

52:41

to hang out together along

52:43

with Sarah's daughter, Bishop Vieira, who is now 19

52:45

years old. After

52:48

Michael passed away, Michael Vieira

52:50

passed away. You know,

52:52

we were both single. We both had younger

52:55

children. So sometimes we did things

52:57

together. We took Bishop horseback

52:59

riding. I

53:01

had a friend who had some horses. So we

53:04

went out to her place and went horseback riding.

53:06

I was playing rugby at the time and Sarah

53:08

would come to my rugby games, just

53:11

different events like that. Sometimes really because

53:13

we had small kids, a lot of times we

53:15

just like hung out at the house and fucked. Stephanie

53:18

told us that Sarah was always

53:21

impeccably dressed, that aesthetics

53:23

were important to her, including

53:25

the way her home looked. So

53:29

she had this like hot pink velvet embossed

53:31

twall wallpaper in one

53:35

area of her house, if that

53:37

makes sense. And it

53:39

looked really good with everything. It wasn't like,

53:42

you know, gaudy or tacky or anything.

53:44

It wasn't too much. It was just

53:46

like a pop of this like amazing

53:48

texture color. You know, she had this

53:51

way, like even if she wasn't wearing any

53:53

other makeup, she would wear like bright red

53:55

lipstick and then like her sunglasses and she

53:57

would look like very chic. She...

54:00

always looked put together pretty

54:02

much like 99% of

54:04

the time. You

54:07

know, she always looked put together and

54:09

chic and kind of like effortlessly put

54:11

together, if that makes sense. Like she,

54:13

one time she

54:15

met her at the jewelry store and she

54:18

was wearing like these white sort of billowy,

54:22

I guess you would call them like sailor pants that had

54:24

a high waist and they were, I'm sorry, they weren't white,

54:26

they were navy blue. They had a high waist and they

54:28

had these big gold

54:31

buttons and then she wore like a white shirt

54:33

sort of tucked into it and

54:35

it was just like a super effortless

54:37

sort of put together,

54:39

you know, look like essentially

54:42

a t-shirt and a pair of

54:44

pants. But, you know, then she

54:46

had her red lips and she had her

54:48

gold jewelry and, you know, she just looked

54:50

great every time, you know, she went out

54:52

like I feel like I could spend a

54:54

lot of time trying to put together an

54:56

outfit and just end up wearing like, you

54:59

know, athletic yoga pants and, but she

55:01

could just throw something on and, you

55:03

know, everything looks great. She just had

55:06

a great style. We

55:08

talked to Stephanie about how Sarah was

55:10

presented during the first trial by the

55:12

defense as someone who is

55:14

so heartbroken and destroyed over her

55:16

previous husband's death that eight

55:18

years later, she took her own life

55:20

outside a warehouse with her current husband

55:23

sitting mere feet away. The thing

55:25

we learned from Stephanie is that Sarah knew

55:27

how to pick herself up off the ground.

55:30

At the time she was killed, Sarah

55:32

was reportedly putting together a plan to

55:34

take Bishop and leave Michael once

55:37

and for all. She'd expressed this

55:39

plan to her family. She

55:41

was within days of executing it.

55:44

I mean, listen, everybody has struggles

55:46

in their life and, you know, Sarah

55:48

had gone through many, you

55:51

know, awful things. So

55:53

it's no wonder

55:55

that she had some troubles.

56:00

But, you know, there were some other just

56:02

really great things about her and like, you

56:04

know, she was funny. She was

56:07

to be very kind. You

56:10

know, I always, I've gone back just because

56:12

all this has come up and just sort

56:15

of looked at different Facebook messages she would

56:17

send me and send other people. And,

56:19

you know, it was always so sweet and

56:22

just funny or quirky or just something like

56:25

off the wall that I couldn't even remember

56:27

now what she was talking about. But

56:30

she was, you know, just one of

56:32

those people. She was just thoughtful. So

56:35

there was just a lot of things about her.

56:39

I don't think there's too

56:41

many people from our high school experience

56:44

that would have, you know,

56:46

anything bad to say about her. Although,

56:49

you know, everybody faces challenges and at

56:52

some point she was a single parent and

56:54

she went through a lot of things that

56:56

she was extremely resourceful. She always

56:58

found a way. And so,

57:00

you know, once she had Bishop

57:02

and then when Michael Vieira died, she knew

57:05

she had to pick up

57:07

the pieces and create a

57:09

good life for Bishop. And

57:12

so she was very resourceful. She had,

57:15

there were some things that happened with her, the

57:17

business that her and Michael had after he

57:19

passed away. And so that was

57:23

not great. And then she had to

57:25

get past that and find other sources

57:27

of income and other ways to just

57:29

move on. So she was very, very

57:31

much a resourceful person, a survivor, just

57:35

kept plugging along. You know,

57:37

every time she spoke of Michael Vieira,

57:39

it was always like a positive thing

57:42

about him or whatnot,

57:44

but she wasn't, you know, wallowing

57:47

and self-pity about

57:49

it at any

57:52

point that we were together. At

57:55

the time of her death, Sarah had a

57:57

dependency on drugs and alcohol. She

58:00

was also being treated for ADHD,

58:02

depression, and anxiety. The

58:05

idea of Sarah taking her own

58:07

life wasn't entirely far-fetched to Stephanie,

58:09

who lost touch with

58:11

Sarah after Sarah got involved with Michael Colucci.

58:15

Meaning just hearing that Sarah might have

58:17

died by suicide wasn't enough to

58:19

arouse suspicions on its own. What

58:21

stuck out to Stephanie was how Michael

58:23

said it happened and where

58:25

Michael said it happened. When

58:29

I first heard it was suicide

58:31

but no details, I

58:33

essentially pictured her in her house and sort

58:37

of like the

58:42

wallpaper background, that beautiful hot pink,

58:44

and just like I think sort

58:46

of like how beautiful she looked

58:48

like in that moment. And

58:52

then when I found out

58:54

that her death occurred in

58:56

like that dirty alleyway,

58:59

I was like there's

59:03

no way on earth she would have committed

59:05

suicide in an absolutely, I mean it

59:08

was just like 100% in

59:10

my mind impossible. That

59:15

would have mattered to her, you know,

59:18

how she presented herself to

59:20

the public, how she would present herself

59:23

to her family, her mom especially, I

59:26

think would have been extremely important to

59:29

Sarah. And

59:32

I just don't, I mean really

59:35

there's just no way. I don't even know

59:37

what else to say about it, there's just no way. About

59:40

a month before Sarah's death and years after

59:42

she lost touch with Sarah, Stephanie

59:44

was at a gas station in

59:47

North Charleston when she ran into

59:49

Michael Colucci. So just,

59:51

you know, a few weeks prior

59:54

to her death, I

59:57

was at a gas station on my way to, I

59:59

was in a pool. and I was on my

1:00:01

way to rehearsals. And so I was kind of in

1:00:03

an area that I'm not typically in. So it was

1:00:05

a little shocking when I was pumping

1:00:07

my gas. And Michael Kluchey approached me

1:00:10

at the gas pump and

1:00:13

kind of, you know, startled me and exchanged

1:00:16

a few words with me. And I

1:00:18

don't know, he just made me uncomfortable.

1:00:20

And so I asked him if Sarah

1:00:22

was in the car. And

1:00:25

he said, yes, she was. So I

1:00:27

walked over to the car. She's in

1:00:29

the driver's side seat. And

1:00:32

I walked over to the car and she rolled the window

1:00:34

down. And I just

1:00:37

said hi to her. And she kind of

1:00:39

stuck her head out of the window. And

1:00:41

we just like gave each other

1:00:43

like a kiss on the cheek sort of thing.

1:00:45

And then she got, you

1:00:48

know, her head back in the car and said

1:00:51

goodbye and we left. And that was, I

1:00:53

got my car and left to rehearsal. And I'm

1:00:56

assuming Michael got back in the car and they left.

1:00:59

And that was the last time I saw her. So it was like, you

1:01:02

know, very shocking a couple of weeks later.

1:01:05

But I was really glad to have that

1:01:07

moment because, you know, Sarah and I had

1:01:09

not talked since before they had

1:01:11

gotten married. And so it was

1:01:15

just a nice moment to have. We

1:01:18

asked Stephanie if Sarah's relationship with Michael

1:01:20

played a role in her drift from

1:01:22

Sarah. Oh, yes,

1:01:24

definitely. You know, they

1:01:26

were all together and toxic.

1:01:31

And, you know, it was

1:01:33

like Michael

1:01:36

was very much a person that like, you

1:01:40

know, he would do things for you, but it was

1:01:42

never just like out of the kindness of his heart.

1:01:44

It was like a running list that

1:01:46

he would keep of favors. He did

1:01:48

for you and then sort of like

1:01:50

throw them in your face or, you

1:01:54

know, didn't I do this for you sort of

1:01:56

tit for tat kind of a thing. And.

1:02:00

And I don't know, they just—it just ended

1:02:03

up being a very

1:02:06

toxic sort of relationship

1:02:09

between the two of them. And

1:02:11

so that was essentially the end

1:02:13

of our friendship. If

1:02:15

the state's theory of Sarah's death is

1:02:18

that she was killed as a result

1:02:20

of this volatile and toxic relationship, and

1:02:22

that is their theory, then the

1:02:25

story of Sarah and Michael is one that

1:02:27

needed to have been told in a much

1:02:29

more clear and cohesive way during Michael's first

1:02:31

trial. It needed to be told

1:02:33

in a way that connected the dots between Michael's

1:02:35

position in their marriage, as a man

1:02:38

about to be abandoned by the wife he accompanied to

1:02:40

the bathroom and bars, and

1:02:42

his position financially, as a man who

1:02:44

was in trouble, whose financial

1:02:46

salvation repeatedly lay in the hands

1:02:48

of his mother vis-a-vis her husband,

1:02:51

his stepfather. We'll talk more

1:02:53

about that in the future. Remember, a year

1:02:55

after Michael was charged in Sarah's murder, Michael

1:02:58

Kuuchi's stepfather, who was in the

1:03:00

early stages of dementia, shot

1:03:02

and killed Michael's mother. There's a

1:03:05

whole story there that needs to be told. Back

1:03:07

to the original point. The prosecution

1:03:09

needed to better connect all

1:03:11

of that. Sarah was a woman who didn't

1:03:13

shy away from her opinion. She

1:03:16

had a sharp tongue and knew how to hit

1:03:18

where it hurt. She was also

1:03:20

a woman who was still standing after dealing with

1:03:22

so much grief and struggle. In

1:03:24

the face of all of that, she knew there

1:03:27

could be light at the end of a very

1:03:29

dark tunnel, and as such, she was planning a

1:03:31

better future for her and her daughter. In

1:03:34

the face of a failing marriage and

1:03:36

failing finances, and on the day when

1:03:38

the woman he loved was grieving over

1:03:40

another man, a man he could

1:03:43

not possibly compete with, did Michael

1:03:45

experience the sharper part of

1:03:47

Sarah's personality, the part that

1:03:49

could ignite a temper? Here's

1:03:51

Stephanie. Sarah was not

1:03:53

a meek, you know, weak

1:03:56

woman. You know, she definitely,

1:03:58

I mean, she was a weak woman. She definitely would have

1:04:00

given what she got. It

1:04:04

would have been, so it would

1:04:07

have been like a back and

1:04:09

forth situation. She would just not have

1:04:11

taken something and then that was that.

1:04:16

It is a little surprising some of the things

1:04:19

that you think about and

1:04:21

with her personality being such a

1:04:24

strong personality and her being a

1:04:26

survivor, I do often

1:04:28

wonder like why she stayed in that

1:04:30

relationship so long. But

1:04:33

I think just like most

1:04:35

people, she's just a very

1:04:37

complicated person and she

1:04:39

has X personality and Y personality

1:04:43

and you can be so many

1:04:45

things and you can

1:04:47

present yourself to the world one way and you

1:04:49

can feel another way or behind closed doors

1:04:51

it's another way. So

1:04:54

although it is surprising that

1:04:57

she stayed in that relationship for

1:04:59

so long, being that she

1:05:01

is such a strong

1:05:03

willed person or

1:05:07

she was a strong willed person, you

1:05:13

don't know why everybody makes choices that they

1:05:15

make. So I'm not

1:05:17

really sure. There

1:05:20

were a lot of things about Sarah that was

1:05:22

the sort of Southern and

1:05:28

I think a lot of that comes from her mom and

1:05:30

her wanting to please her mom.

1:05:34

For instance, the double name Sarah Lynn and

1:05:36

if you notice like I call her Sarah

1:05:38

because that's always what her, a

1:05:40

lot of people call her Sarah Lynn but

1:05:44

and that's a very,

1:05:46

very, very Charleston Southern thing and

1:05:50

then also exactly like what we were

1:05:52

saying with Bishop, Bishop always had the

1:05:54

big bows in her hair and always

1:05:56

dressed so cute and Sarah

1:05:58

was always put together. But you

1:06:01

know, I think that Sarah

1:06:03

had a lot of, you

1:06:06

know, qualities that, you know, if you

1:06:09

kind of think of Scarlett O'Hare,

1:06:11

that would be a little

1:06:14

bit more of an accurate sort

1:06:17

of Sarah, you know,

1:06:19

very strong willed, but

1:06:22

always beautiful, sort of

1:06:24

that, that

1:06:26

would be more of the

1:06:28

personality. Before

1:06:33

we go, we wanted to again

1:06:35

remind listeners who knew Stephen Smith

1:06:37

or new people who knew Stephen

1:06:39

Smith to continue sending

1:06:42

any photos or video of

1:06:44

him so that we can share them with

1:06:46

his family. We are continuing

1:06:48

to dive deep into the evidence in

1:06:51

his case, and we are

1:06:53

getting close to being able to share

1:06:55

our next significant discovery with you. Also,

1:06:59

we've gotten a lot of questions

1:07:01

about the Grant Solomon case. We

1:07:03

are continuing to go through the

1:07:06

immense amount of documents we have,

1:07:08

and we are still waiting for some of the

1:07:10

FOIAs we filed last summer and fall. We

1:07:13

plan to visit Tennessee in the next

1:07:15

few months to do some

1:07:17

on-the-ground reporting there, so we

1:07:20

should be able to get you some updates

1:07:22

soon. Now,

1:07:27

to wrap up, I thought it would be

1:07:29

important for you all to hear from Sandy

1:07:31

Smith herself, who was front row at the

1:07:34

Victims Matter rally wearing her Justice for Stephen

1:07:36

shirt. I asked Sandy how she

1:07:38

felt after the rally. It's

1:07:41

amazing just to see the support

1:07:45

and the people like

1:07:47

thanking me for still

1:07:49

speaking, and

1:07:52

I have taught them how to speak

1:07:55

and not be quiet

1:07:57

anymore because that's what we need to

1:07:59

do. We need to start raising

1:08:01

hell until we get

1:08:03

the justice we need

1:08:05

for our families. Sandy

1:08:08

was sure to get FaceTime with Attorney

1:08:10

General Allen Wilson, whose office is in

1:08:12

charge of prosecuting Stevens' case. While

1:08:15

their interaction was brief, it was a

1:08:17

step in the right direction. It

1:08:20

was really good. It was kind

1:08:23

of awkward, you know, because I wanted to

1:08:25

ask questions, but he was in a hurry,

1:08:27

hurry, hurry. But at

1:08:30

least we will have an opportunity to set

1:08:32

up an appointment so we can

1:08:36

actually talk face-to-face. And

1:08:38

they were so helpful, and they sent us to the right

1:08:42

directions that we needed to get to. So, that's

1:08:44

what we're going to do next. We

1:08:47

especially appreciated the employees of the Attorney

1:08:49

General's office, who encouraged Sandy

1:08:51

to sit down with Allen Wilson and

1:08:53

told her that they would help her set

1:08:56

that up. We look forward to hearing about

1:08:58

what that meeting will bring. In

1:09:00

the meantime, Sandy is begging

1:09:03

everyone to continue to share Stevens'

1:09:05

story and to continue

1:09:07

to keep the pressure up on

1:09:09

Sled, on the AG's office,

1:09:12

on every person who knows

1:09:14

what happened to Stevens Smith. Well,

1:09:17

the main thing I want is

1:09:19

if you know something or you

1:09:22

know somebody who knows something, to

1:09:25

please. I'm

1:09:28

begging. Just please, send in a tip. Going

1:09:33

on nine years, and

1:09:37

let's just try to keep this from happening again, you

1:09:42

know, because if it could happen to me, it could happen to you.

1:09:46

So, if you know something or you know

1:09:49

somebody that doesn't know anything, please just turn

1:09:51

in a tip. Stay

1:09:57

tuned. Stay pesky.

1:10:00

and stay in the sunlight. True

1:10:19

Sunlight is a LunaShark production created

1:10:22

by me, Nanny Matney, and co-hosted

1:10:24

by journalist Liz Farrell. Learn more

1:10:26

about our mission and membership at

1:10:29

lunasharkmedia.com. Interruptions provided

1:10:31

by Luna and Joe Pesky. For

1:10:56

the membership you'll get double fuel points and

1:10:58

free delivery. So shop and save big at

1:11:00

Kroger today. Kroger, fresh for

1:11:02

everyone. Savings may vary by state.

1:11:04

Restrictions apply. See site for details.