Employees at the Maco Depot in North Carolina could not believe that the lottery winner who came back to share prize money could kill a young woman.
Yet, 54-year-old Michael Todd Hill was sentenced Friday to life in prison for fatally shooting 23-year-old Keonna Graham in 2020.
“Justice delivered just in time for the Memorial Day weekend,” said North Carolina District Attorney in a Facebook post.
Hill, a former nuclear power plant employee and resident of Leland, N.C., won $10 million from an Ultimate Millions scratch-off ticket in 2017, according to WECT. First, he bought an Extreme Millions scratch off ticket, but it didn’t result in a prize.
Since he chose a $6 million lump sum rather than annuity payments, Hill eventually collected around $4.1 million from the win after taxes.
According to WECT, Hill returned to Maco Depot and gave the woman who sold him the ticket $2,000 after he received his winnings. He also planned to use the money to pay bills and invest in his instructional design business, said the outlet.
In June 2020, Hill was taken into police custody and charged with murder by the Shallotte Police Department.
“I think it’s horrible,” said Tiffany Wilson, who knew Graham through family. “I mean, he just won the lottery. I heard he just got married and you go and kill a young girl? A beautiful girl? I don’t understand.”
Sure Stay Hotel manager Vee Patel told WECT that Hill checked into the hotel alone on a Sunday morning. When his checkout time has passed the next day at 11:30 a.m., housekeeping knocked on the door and entered after there was no response. There they found Graham’s body in a hotel bed and called 911 upon realizing she was unconscious.
Graham’s mother had previously reported her missing.
The Shallotte Police Department, along with the Brunswick County Sheriff’s Office, and the North Carolina SBI worked to investigate the incident. By that Tuesday, Hill had been apprehended in Southport, N.C., for her murder.
“We are proud of the hard work by our agency, especially, that of Sergeant Cory McLamb, the Brunswick County District [Attorney’s] Office, Brunswick County [Sheriff’s] Office, and the North Carolina SBI,” said the Shallotte Police Department in a Facebook post.
Hotel staff said they never saw Graham – who suffered from a single gunshot wound to the head – alive. Surveillance footage shows Hill was the only person in the room with her. Hill confessed to shooting Graham after she texted other men while at the hotel, WWAY reported.
A Brunswick County jury convicted Hill of First-Degree Murder after an hour of deliberation, and Judge Joshua Willey sentenced Hill to life in prison without the possibility of parole. Wiley also sentenced Hill to 22-36 months in prison for Possession of Firearm by Felon to run concurrent with his life sentence.
According to Time, at least five other lottery winners have run into trouble with the law after winning big.
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