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$10 million Lottery Winner Sentenced to Life for Fatally Shooting His Girlfriend

The North Carolina man won a $10 million lottery prize in 2017 after winning a scratch-off game.

One day you have it all, the next day you don’t.

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A North Carolina man who won a $10 million lottery prize in 2017 has been sentenced to life in prison after he was convicted of first-degree murder in the fatal shooting of his girlfriend, according to News & Observer.

In August 2017, Michael Hill tried his luck on a scratch-off game and discovered the big win. After taxes, he took home over $4,159,000. Hill was a worker at a nuclear plant and live in Brunswich county when he won the lottery in 2017.

Nearly three years later on July 20, 2020, 23-year-old Keonna Graham was reported missing and was later found dead with a gunshot wound in the back of her head. A couple of days later, 52-year-old Hill was arrested and charged with murder, according to News & Observer.

Graham was in a relationship with Hill for more than a year before being found at a hotel in Shallotte, North Carolina.

β€œSurveillance footage from the hotel showed Hill as the only individual in the hotel room with Graham,” according to a press release from District attorney’s office.

It continued, β€œHill was later arrested by law enforcement in Southport, North Carolina and confessed to shooting Graham after she had been texting other men while at the hotel.”

On May 27, a jury found Hill guilty of first-degree murder and was sentenced to life in prison without the possibility of parole. On top of that, he received two to three years in prison for possession of a firearm by a felon. Hill will serve both sentences concurrently.

Assistant District Attorney Shirley Smircic said, according to News & Observer, β€œThe District Attorney’s Office would like to thank our local law enforcement agencies for their collaborative efforts in the investigation of Graham’s death. The hard work of these officers ensured a just result in this case.”

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