Editor’s note: the Office of the Boulder County Coroner identified the victim on Wednesday as 60-year-old Steven Craig. The cause of death was not released. 

Police arrested a man in Boulder County for allegedly assaulting his 60-year-old father-in-law with an axe in the victim’s home.

After authorities arrested 32-year-old Michael Joseph Lucky, the victim died. The Boulder County Sheriff’s Office said it is working with the district attorney’s office to amend the original charges to reflect the victim’s death.

Deputies responded to a call on Dec. 19 around midnight and a witness requested medical assistance in a single-family home on Portico Lane, a part of unincorporated Boulder County outside of Longmont. They found Craig bleeding from the head and not “breathing effectively,” authorities said. 

The caller said she shares a bed with the victim and usually sleeps without her hearing aids. She heard a loud boom in the night and thought it was thunder. She saw the man pushing something away from the bed, though it was too dark to see, according to authorities. 

She woke someone else in the house for help. They turned on the light and found the victim bleeding and not breathing, authorities said. 

The victim was transported to a nearby hospital and later flown to a level 1  trauma center with life-threatening injuries, according to the Boulder County Sheriff’s Office.

Investigators believe the attack was targeted.

Police found that the glass door in the bedroom had been shattered inward. They also found an axe with a three-foot handle in the backyard. The axe had fresh blood on the blunt side and there was a trail of blood from the bedroom to the axe, according to arrest records.

A witness — who claimed to have a relationship with Lucky — claimed that he was not in bed when she awoke around 4 a.m. and that his 2014 silver Jeep Wrangler was gone from the residence, according to authorities.

The witness said she believed Lucky kept an axe in his vehicle.

Deputies found Lucky’s Jeep empty on Plateau Road, a short distance from the victim’s home. 

Lucky later turned himself in to the Boulder County Sheriff’s Office headquarters on the morning of Dec. 19. Authorities said he had blood on the back of his left arm. 

A familial history

A warrant had been issued for Lucky’s arrest on Dec. 6 on allegations of stalking, violation of a protection order, harassment and domestic violence.

The victim’s daughter had filed a protection order against Lucky on Nov. 9. Lucky and the victim’s daughter communicated through a monitored messaging application for people dealing with joint custody. The two have a one-year-old child.

Lucky sent threatening messages to the woman, according to authorities. 

On Nov. 13, Lucky was arrested for violating the protection order. He had been blocking the driveway of where the woman was staying, according to arrest records.

Lucky — who left active duty with the Marine Corp. in 2018 — had been in a relationship with the woman for 15 years. While the woman claimed that Lucky never physically hit her, he had made various threats and damaged their house, and he allegedly tried to choke her a few years ago, according to arrest documents.

The woman claimed that Lucky would have outbursts when he drank and often felt suicidal. He also blamed her, the woman said, adding she felt like she was “walking on eggshells in her own house,” according to records.

Lucky had allegedly been sending threatening messages following a custody swap on Dec. 18, the arrest records said, though the specifics of those messages were not detailed.

The suspect was out of custody on bond for the cases when the attack occurred.

Following the attack on the father-in-law, Lucky was charged with attempted first-degree murder, attempt to commit a felony, first-degree burglary, stalking, violating a protection order, domestic violence and two counts of crime of violence. 

The victim later died from his injuries, according to the Boulder County Sheriff’s Office. 

Lucky remains in custody at the Boulder County Jail on a $1 million cash-only bond.