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On November 15, 2006, 40-year old assistant truck driver Abraham Lee Shakespeare and a coworker, Michael Ford, stopped at the Town Star Mini Mart in Frostproof, Florida. Shakespeare purchased a $2 quick pick ticket with the numbers: 6, 12, 13, 34, 42, and 52. A few days later, Shakespeare learned he picked the winning ticket.
Abraham Shakespeare won a $30 million dollars mega millions jackpot.
Shakespeare, born April 24, 1966 was from Lakeland, Florida. Prior to winning the lottery, he had a lengthy criminal record with two prison sentences in his background. He fathered 2 children and was behind on child support payments.
Shakespeare opted to take the lump sum for $16.9 million, which after taxes left him around $11 million.
In April 2007, Shakespeare’s coworker, Michael Ford, sued him claiming that Shakespeare stole the winning lotto ticket from him. The dispute went to trial in October 2007. A jury decided that Shakespeare did not steal the ticket from Ford, and ruled the jackpot belonged to Shakespeare.
Ford appealed the court’s ruling.
The case was set to be heard on appeal on May 27, 2009, but Shakespeare never showed up to the court hearing. No one had seen or heard from the mega millions jackpot winner since April.
A $5,000 reward for issued for any information into his disappearance. A friend of Shakespeare’s, Eddie Dixon, came forward and said:
“One thing I know is that’s my best friend. Ya’ll need to go ask that white woman where that man at.”
That white woman was 37-year old DeeDee Moore. Moore lived on the property behind Shakespeare’s and started a business with the lotto winner in February 2009, Abraham Shakespeare LLC.
Moore also had a criminal record. She had been convicted on insurance fraud and falsifying a crime report in 2001. When police questioned Moore about Shakespeare’s whereabouts, she told police she helped him disappear because he was tired of people asking him for money.
Police weren’t satisfied with Moore’s story so they started to conduct some forensic accounting work on Shakespeare and Moore’s business dealings. The forensic account found a lot of interesting stuff.
The forensic accountant confirmed that in January 2009, the ownership of Abraham’s home was transferred to American Medical Professionals, Moore’s company.
By early 2009, more than two-thirds of Shakespeare’s assets were owned by Moore’s company.
The forensic accountant also discovered Moore made several large purchases with the company’s money. In February 2009, she purchased a 2008 Chevy Corvette for $70,000 with the company’s cashier check, containing most of Shakespeare’s money. Two weeks later she purchased a 2009 Hummer for $90,000, again, with Shakespeare’s money.
Shakespeare’s name was taken off his own business account just days after $1 million had been withdrawn from the account.
In December 2009, Shakespeare’s mother, Elizabeth Walker, received phone calls from someone claiming to be her son. No one had seen or heard from him in months.
Police traced the caller to a number belonging to a man by the name of Gregory Smith, a close friend of Shakespeare. Smith tells police that he was approached by Moore who offered him money to call and pretend to Shakespeare.
Two weeks later, Moore contacted Smith again. This time, she asked Smith if he knew anyone who would be willing to admit to the police that they were responsible for murdering Abraham Shakespeare.
Police arranged a meeting between an undercover police officer, Gregory Smith and DeeDee Moore. During the meeting, Moore offered the undercover cop $50,000 to take responsibility for Shakespeare’s death. In return, the undercover cop wanted to know where his body was buried.
Moore led the undercover police officer to a concrete slab in her backyard. The spot where Shakespeare’s body was.
DeeDee Moore was arrested and charged with Shakespeare’s murder. On January 29, 2010, Abraham Shakespeare’s body was discovered at the Plant City house belonging to Moore.
In December 2012, Moore was found guilty of first-degree murder and was sentenced to life in prison.
Moore will spend the rest of her life behind bars for killing Shakespeare.
The motive. Money.
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