Two lucky tickets were the winning Powerball jackpot in the historic $500 million drawing. In an ironic twist, a woman is going to trial, charged with the murder of a different lotto winner, and prosecutors say the motive was the money. The woman says
It's a dream come true, and now, two ticket holders are celebrating their incredible good luck after hitting the historic $580 million Powerball jackpot.
One ticket was sold in a store outside Phoenix, Arizona, the other in Missouri.
But winning big can sometimes turn horribly wrong, as one multi-millionaire found out.
Abraham Shakespeare blew most of his lottery fortune, and cops say he was then murdered by his money-hungry financial advisor.
Steve Martin, the attorney who represents Shakespeare's family, said, "She was able to take about $1.3 million in cash from him."
Shakespeare, who drove a garbage truck for a living, won $17 million in the Florida lottery in 2006.
Almost overnight, he went from t-shirts and wooly hats to a sharp suit and crisp shirt-and-tie.
"He had a lot of money in his pocket, and of course suddenly he had a lot of friends he didn't have before," said Martin.
Those friends helped Shakespeare blow through a mind-boggling $16 million.
But, he was still getting $1.3 million from investments.
That's when authorities say Dee Dee Moore weaseled her way into his life, even becoming his financial advisor.
About six months later, Shakespeare disappeared.
Cops say Moore told them the lottery winner had gone into hiding to escape from freeloaders.
"She claimed he did things like he went to Jamaica. He went to Orlando. He wanted to escape the pressure of his money," said Martin.
While Shakespeare was gone, Moore was allegedly blowing through his cash.
"She spent it like water. You see trips to Las Vegas. You see a lot of cash withdrawals. You see the purchase of jewelry. There's the purchase of two Rolexes," said Martin.
Suspicion soon fell on Moore, who in those days was a blonde.
In a video, Moore said, "The money was like a curse to him, and now it's become a curse to me."
So where was Abraham Shakespeare?
Cops found his body buried in the backyard of Moore’s house in Tampa. He had been shot twice in the chest.
Now, Moore is on trial for murder. As tears ran down her face, her attorney told jurors she is innocent, and the case against her is only circumstantial.
"She's confident. She knows she is innocent. So, she has a lot of faith and trust in the legal system," said Moore's attorney.
No matter the outcome of the trial, you might want to remember the fate of Abraham Shakespeare the next time you buy a lottery ticket.
