One day you have it all, the next day you don’t.
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.
“Surveillance 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, “Hill 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, “The 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.”