The co-founder of clothing company Salt Life was sentenced to 12 years in prison Thursday after pleading guilty to fatally shooting his teenage girlfriend.
Michael Hutt, 56, has pleaded guilty in Florida to pleading guilty to the murder of 18-year-old Laura Grace Duncan at the Hilton Singer Island oceanfront resort in October 2020.
He claimed he accidentally shot down a teenager during a simulated shooting game. station WPTV reported.
Hutt was later arrested in his hometown of Jacksonville, 280 miles from the scene of the crime, after he fled.
After not hearing from his daughter for several days, Duncan’s father called the police and requested a welfare check, according to the probable cause affidavit.
A father used an app to track his daughter’s phone to a Hilton hotel. There the police arrived and found her daughter’s bloodied and decomposing body with a gunshot wound to her abdomen.
The hotel room where the brutal discovery was made was rented in Hutt’s name, and his wallet and ID card were found in the room, police said at the time.
The day before Duncan was found dead, Hutt had been taken to a Jacksonville hospital after being found sitting in a car illegally parked at a St. Augustine gas station.
According to an affidavit, the businessman was reported to have “twitched, made delusional comments and cried while his eyes rolled behind his head.”
When detectives questioned Foote about his girlfriend, the then-54-year-old man told them, “Oh my god, I think I hurt Gracie,” and burst into tears.
In a subsequent interview, Hutt told police that he and Duncan were on their way to the Florida Keys to visit a friend when they stopped at the Hilton.
After spending time together on the beach, Hatto said he and his girlfriend were “playing finger and gun shooting in hotel rooms.”
Hutto said Duncan was sitting on the bathroom counter when he pointed a gun at her and it fired and one shot hit her.
Hutto then said he put the gun in an Adidas backpack, jumped in a green Dodge, and drove off until he ran out of gas.
Duncan’s father alleged Hutt was drugging and sedating his teenage daughter.
After pleading guilty to manslaughter with a firearm, Foote was immediately sentenced to 12 years in prison and was allowed to serve 79 days.
Hutto and some friends started Salt Life Apparel in 2003. The brand is aimed at boaters, surfers and fishermen who spend their time at sea. Futo is believed to have come up with the name.
In 2013, Hutto and his fellow co-founders sold the business for nearly $40 million.
