June 8, 2022 — There could be more than meets the eye in the police investigation surrounding last week’s broad-daylight murder of Motown’s “ice king,” Dan (Hutch the Jeweler) Hutchinson, the man responsible for outfitting some of the area’s biggest names in hip hop and sports with their high-end custom-made jewelry. Police have a man in custody, however, sources at the scene of the killing dispute that the man charged for the crime pulled the trigger.
Hutchinson was gunned down last Wednesday behind the wheel of his GMC Denali SUV in the parking lot of an Oak Park pawn shop he had just recently purchased. Hutchinson’s killing occurred at the corner of Greenfield and Miller, a short distance down the street from his Hutch’s Jewelers flagship store.
Roy Larry, 44, was arrested less than an hour later, after Hutchinson was pronounced dead at Providence Hospital in Southfield. Charged with first-degree murder and illegal firearm possession, Larry pleaded not guilty at an arraignment in Oak Park’s 45th District Court last Friday morning and was denied bond.
Oak Park Police say Larry opened fire on Hutchinson from outside his driver’s window, spraying more than a dozen shots into his head, body and neck. Witnesses at the scene says Larry wasn’t the shooter and that another man, a 20-to-25-year old light-skinned Black man on a bicycle actually did the killing. Larry has dark skin.
“The man on the news, the man the police have in custody for this murder, wasn’t the man who committed the murder……I should know, I was there,” said one witness. “I don’t know what they are hiding or why they are trying to hide it. That Roy Larry guy though isn’t the shooter. I never saw him. The shooter was on the bicycle and was at least 20 years younger and a whole lot lighter.”
One of these witnesses says, the man on the bicycle was subsequently ran over by a car in the pawn shop’s parking lot in the seconds after he shot Hutchinson, was rushed to Providence Hospital, where, according to the witness who was at the hospital, he was arrested at his bedside following surgery.
“They have the shooter in custody, they just aren’t telling anyone,” the witness said. “Roy Larry is either an accomplice, not the shooter, which goes against what the police are telling the public or he’s a patsy and there’s a whole lot more to see here behind the scenes. It’s frustrating for loved ones who just want authentic answers, not misdirection.”
The 47-year old Hutchinson’s wife, Marissa, was seated beside him when he was shot, but wasn’t wounded in the attack. Hutchinson’s slaying was a “contract hit.” per OPD detectives. A motive for the homicide has yet to be determined by authorities.
Multiple sources tell Deadline Detroit, the murder of Hutch the Jewler might be tied to rumors floating around the streets of Detroit during the winter that DEA and IRS agents were pressing Hutch to give information on narcotics traffickers laundering their money through jewelry stores around the area. Two additional sources speculate the murder may have something to do with Hutch’s purchase of the pawn shop he was killed at earlier in the spring.
Hutchinson’s family started the Hutch’s Jewlers chain in the 1990s out of the now-shuttered Northland Mall. Prominent local rappers like Big Sean, Tea Grizzley, Sada Baby, 42 Dugg, Icewear Vezzo and Payroll Giovanni were all loyal patrons of Hutch’s Jewlers.
“I used to take all my early rap money to Hutch,” Payroll Giovanni said. “Back then, it was 100 bucks. Then, when I had the scratch, I spent $100,000 on a diamond link. It was a goal of mine. I don’t wear it much, just for special occasions. I still can’t believe he’s gone. That they would do him like that in his own city. Damn, RIP Hutch.”
Payroll Giovanni is at the forefront of the underground rap scene in Detroit. He is signed to the iconic Dej Jam Recordings label out of New York.
Big-time drug kingpins and dope boys from the area have also made stops at Hutch’s stores and purchases of his jewelry staples in their schedules and wardrobes. Hutch’s specialties were diamond-encrusted “Olde English D” Detroit symbols and Cartier “buffs,” pairs of tortoise-shell glasses known as a symbol of status in the Motor City’s hip-hop and athlete crowd.
Hutchinson’s brazen slaying made headlines around the country, with rappers and athletes from coast-to-coast sharing their memories and condolences on their social media accounts. Miami rapper Rick Ross often shouted out Hutch the Jeweler on his Instagram, including a 2019 post where he showed off several new chains and rings he had bought from Hutchinson on a trip to Detroit.
Oak Park Police detectives and the DEA didn’t respond to calls for comment to this story.
This article was originally posted here