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Lucky Lotto Win

According to WECT, 49-year-old Michael Todd Hill stopped at a convenience store in Leland, North Carolina, in August 2017 and bought an Extreme Million scratch-off Lottery ticket. Since that ticket wasn’t a winner, he decided to buy an Ultimate Millions ticket instead.

He got the shock of his life when he won a $10 million jackpot.

He chose the $6 million lump-sum payment over the annuity which would have paid him $500,000 a year for 20 years. He received $ 4.1 million after taxes.

According to WRAL, the nuclear plant worker told the media he would pay off debt and financially assist his wife’s business.

Looks can be deceiving

As Hill held his giant check and smiled with his wife, he looked like a family man who would do right with the money, but in reality, he was a convicted felon with a criminal history in North Carolina dating back to 1988.

He had convictions for breaking and entering, larceny, receiving stolen goods, writing worthless checks, and armed robbery, and served several prison stints, including 9 years from 1996 to 2005.

He was a man of low character, and that continued once he got rich.

Affair Turns Deadly

Even though Hill was married, he started seeing Keonna Tavangela Graham on the side sometime in early 2019, and by July 2020, they had been together for 18 months.

The relationship was not ideal, as, according to FindLaw, the relationship was volatile, and at least one person heard Hill threaten to kill Graham. Another issue was that Graham was seeing another man, Jalen Brown.

Things came to a head when they were at a SureStay hotel in Shallotte, North Carolina, on July 19th, 2020. Hill would later tell authorities that Graham lay down to go to sleep. He said he got up, turned off the light, reached into his bag, pulled out a gun, and fired one shot at Graham, then he got dressed and left. He claimed he didn’t know where she was hit and didn’t check to see if she was dead.

He returned home, got some more guns, switched vehicles, and drove around.

According to WECT, a maid discovered Graham’s body the next day at around 12:30 pm. Hill was located and arrested later in the day.

Legal Proceedings

He pleaded guilty to possession of a firearm by a felon but was not guilty to the murder. He went to trial in 2022. The evidence was overwhelming as Hill had confessed and was the only one seen entering or leaving the room where the body was found. According to WRAL, the jury only deliberated for one hour before they convicted him of first-degree murder.

According to Findlaw, he was later sentenced to life without parole for the murder and a concurrent 22 to 36 months for the gun charge.