According to court records, the co-founder of the Salt Life sportswear firm pled guilty last Thursday to manslaughter in the death of his 18-year-old girlfriend in 2020 and was sentenced to 12 years in jail.
According to a probable cause document acquired by numerous sources, Michael Troy Hutto, now 56, fatally shot Lora Grace Duncan, 18, in October 2020, then told investigators it was an accident.
Duncan died as the result of a single gunshot wound to the stomach. Her father spotted her inside a hotel at the Hilton Singer Island beachside resort on Oct. 29 after her parents traced her cell phone there. According to Duncan’s father, the room was registered to Hutto, who was in a love connection with his daughter. Hutto was not present in Duncan’s room, but he had left his ID and wallet behind.
Hutto had been brought to a hospital in Jacksonville a day earlier after police discovered him in a car parked illegally outside a gas station in St. Augustine. Hutto was discovered “twitching, making delusional comments, and crying while his eyes were rolling into the back of his head,” according to the affidavit.
According to the complaint, Hutto told officers that he and Duncan were on their way to the Florida Keys to visit some of his friends when they stopped at the Hilton.
Hutto allegedly told authorities at the hospital, “Oh my God, I think I hurt my Gracie,” and then began crying.
Hutto later told detectives that he and Duncan were “playing inside the hotel room as though shooting with their finger and a gun.”
According to Hutto, Duncan was sitting on the bathroom counter when he pointed the gun at her and it fired. He is said to have exited the room with the gun.
In 2003, Hutto co-founded the Salt Life clothing line with five Jacksonville-area friends.
The majority of the company’s customers enjoy boating, surfing, and fishing. Stickers from the brand are frequently spotted in automobile windows.
The company posted on its Facebook page at the time of Hutto’s arrest that Hutto had sold his stake of the business in 2013 and was no longer associated with the brand.