Wife of murdered jeweler Dan Hutchinson details couple's lucrative business, shooting during trial
SOUTHFIELD, Mich. (FOX 2) - Day five of the murder trial of a wealthy Oak Park jeweler who was allegedly killed after his attorney plotted to make off with the family's wealth featured gripping testimony from someone intimately close to the victim: his wife.
Marisa Hutchinson gave insight into the couple's business dealings, their work with defendant Marco Bisbikis, and the moment a man pulled up to the side of their SUV and sprayed gunfire through the window.
"I heard pop pop pop pop pop," she said from the witness stand, describing sound of gunfire coming into the vehicle. She told the jury she didn't know what was happening until she saw her husband, Daniel ‘Hutch’ Hutchinson. She describing seeing "bullet holes in my husband's chest."
Holding back tears while describing the June 1 incident two years ago, footage shows the moment bullets flew into their black SUV in front of their pawn shop in Oak Park. Roy Larry, the other defendant on trial, allegedly pulled the trigger.
The jury also heard the 911 call she made to police after the shooting.
Later on Friday, she recounted calling her attorney Bisbikis and telling him what happened. The Southfield-based lawyer now sits at the defense table in court, accused of being the mastermind of the murder-for-hire.
He supposedly had written himself into the Hutchinson's will a few months before the shooting, and planned for the couple to be ambushed shortly after leaving his nearby office.
Before Dan Hutchinson was killed, he and his wife had profited from a lucrative jewelry business. She testified from the stand they brought in $30 million a year during the pandemic - and weren't reporting large sums of cash to the IRS.
Instead, their attorney Bisbikis hatched a plan to help them launder it. This was corroborated with images showing bundles of cash stored in cabinets. The plan was to set up a trust and pay off their expenses.
He even convinced the Hutchinsons to invest $2 million in a horror film that he starred in. It was called "Skeletons in the closet" and Cuba Gooding Jr. was supposed to be in the film.
In the aftermath of the murder, Marisa hired a private investigator. She further sought millions from Bisbikis to pay off an Escalade and property taxes. He reportedly owed her $2.4 million, which she never saw.
But by then, she knew Bisbikis was involved in her husband's death.
"My family was staying really close and keeping a watchful eye," she said. "The ones that were closest knew that Marco was involved and we had to keep a very tight lip about things at that point."
The trial resumes Monday.