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Abraham Shakespeare Wins The Lotto

On November 15th, 2006, 40-year-old Abraham Shakespeare was traveling to Miami with his co-worker, Michael Ford, when they stopped at a convenience store in Frostproof, Florida.

When Ford exited the vehicle, he asked Shakespeare if he wanted anything. Shakespeare asked Ford to buy him two lottery tickets. When Ford returned to the vehicle and handed him the two tickets, Shakespeare gave him two bucks.

Shakespeare hit a $30 million jackpot on one of the tickets and took the customary big check photo for the media. He took a lump sum of 16.9 million dollars and received 11 million after taxes.

The windfall should have been a blessing, but Shakespeare was barely literate and bad with money, and that photo put his name and face out for everyone to see. His new life became a nightmare.

The government was the first to come after him; they took $9,000 for child support he owed.

After that, Shakespeare put $1 million in a trust for his son, gave a million to his stepfather, gave $750,000 to his three stepsisters, and paid off the Mortgages for three people at $298,000. He also helped out many others who asked.

He wasn’t just giving away money; he also splurged on himself. He bought a million-dollar, 6500-square-foot home in a gated community, a Rolex, a truck, and a car.

The ladies lined up to date him, and soon, he knocked up a younger woman, leading to more child support payments.

Three months after his home purchase, his former co-worker Ford demanded a million dollars, and when Shakespere refused to give it up, Ford sued, saying Shakespere stole the ticket from his wallet. The case went to court, and the jury sided with Shakespeare.

As his bank accounts dwindled, he became frustrated and told his brother, “I’d have been better off broke.”

Meeting Dee Dee Moore

In October 2008, Dee Dee Moore approached Barbara Jackson, the realtor who sold Shakespeare his home. Moore told Jackson she wanted to write a book about Shakespeare, and Jackson put the two in contact.

Moore weaseled her way into Shakespeare’s life, telling him she could help him manage the $2 million he had left.

She lived with and isolated him by telling him he could avoid the beggars by staying home.

Soon, the two launched Abraham Shakespeare LLC together. Moore had control of the finances and transferred at least one million to herself. She purchased a Hummer, a Corvette, and a truck. She also took an expensive vacation.

Murder of Abraham Shakespeare

Abraham disappeared in April 2009, six months after meeting Dee Dee.

She told everyone he had left town, and everyone believed her. However, as the months passed, someone got suspicious and reported him missing on November 9th, 2009.

Detectives started investigating, and Moore quickly became a person of interest in the case. She had a lengthy criminal history of fraud and theft, and investigators learned that her company, American Medical Professionals, owned Abrahams’s home and other assets.

In December 2009, Shakespeare’s mother got a call from someone pretending to be her son. She reported it to police, who traced it back to Shakespeare’s friend Greg Smith.

Smith spilled the beans, saying Moore paid him $5k to make the phone call.

Detectives convinced Smith to participate in an undercover operation. As authorities recorded, Moore said he would pay someone to take the fall for Shakespeare’s death.

She eventually handed over the murder weapon to Smith and led him to a home where she claimed Shakespeare was buried six feet deep under a concrete slab.

On January 25th, 2010, authorities found Shakespeare’s remains exactly where Moore said they were.

Moore was brought in for questioning and said drug dealers killed the lottery winner, and she was forced to help cover up the crime. Her lies didn’t work, and she was charged with murder.

On December 10th, 2012, she was convicted of first-degree murder and sentenced to life without parole.