*A North Carolina lottery winner of $10 million back in 2017 has been sentenced to life in prison over the fatal shooting of his girlfriend.
Michael Todd Hill, 54, was convicted on Friday of the first-degree murder of Keonna Graham, 23, who was reported missing on July 20, 2020. Her body was eventually found in a hotel with a gunshot wound to the head, NBC News reports.
Hill had reportedly been dating Graham for more than a year at the time of the killing, News & Observer and WECT report.
“Surveillance footage from the hotel showed Hill as the only individual in the hotel room with Graham,” prosecutors said in the release, according to the publication, noting that the former nuclear plant worker “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.”
OTHER NEWS: Why Proposed Gun Measures Won’t Stop Killers Like Salvador Ramos
A North Carolina man who scored a $10 million lottery prize is now convicted of first-degree murder. In August 2017, Michael Hill said he bought a non-winning ticket before deciding to try his luck on another scratch-off game. When he… https://t.co/Pk3D4QXnTz
— News & Record (@NewsandRecord) May 30, 2022
Hill reportedly admitted to killing Graham because she was text messaging other men, CBS News reported.
On Friday, Hill was sentenced to “life in prison without the possibility of parole and 22-36 months in prison for Possession of Firearm by Felon to run concurrent with his life sentence,” said officials, 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,” added Assistant District Attorney Shirley Smircic in the prosecutors’ news release, per News & Observer. “The hard work of these officers ensured a just result in this case.”
Five years ago, Hill won a $10 million lottery from a scratch-off ticket he purchased at a local gas station. He received a lump sum of $4,159,101 after federal taxes, he told NC Education Lottery.
We Publish News 24/7. Don’t Miss A Story. Click HERE to SUBSCRIBE to Our Newsletter Now!
