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 checked the new ticket, he discovered his “life-changing” jackpot win.
Hill was convicted of first-degree murder for the 2020 shooting death of Keonna Graham.
The 15th Prosecutorial District of North Carolina said that Graham was found dead in a hotel room with a “gunshot wound to the back of the head” after she was reported missing in June 2020.
Graham who was 23-year-old Graham at the time of her death was reportedly in a relationship with the then 52-year-old Hill for over a year.
Michael Hill, 10 Million Dollar Lottery Winner, Gets Life Sentence for Murder of Keona Graham https://t.co/BEgJuyGi7A, see more https://t.co/hF8tMd4e7U
— Graham Hill News (@TT_GrahamHill) May 30, 2022
More details of this story from a CBS report:
A North Carolina man who won a $10 million lottery prize in 2017 has been sentenced to life in prison without the possibility of parole in the 2020 fatal shooting of his girlfriend.
The News & Observer reports that Michael Todd Hill, 54, of Leland, was convicted of first-degree murder and sentenced Friday in the killing of 23-year-old Keonna Graham of Navassa. Graham was reported missing on July 20, 2020. She was later found dead in a hotel with a gunshot wound to the back of the head.
In a news release from the 15th Prosecutorial District of North Carolina, prosecutors said surveillance footage from the hotel showed Hill was the only person in the room with Graham. They said Hill later confessed to shooting Graham after she had been texting with other men while at the hotel.
Hill won $10 million from a scratch-off ticket in August 2017, local news outlets reported.
Here’s the tweet back in 2017 that celebrated his win:
Michael Hill of Leland, North Carolina is $10 million richer after claiming a lottery prize on Friday.https://t.co/A30ilLUT1N
— ABC11 EyewitnessNews (@ABC11_WTVD) August 26, 2017
Now take a look at his mugshot:
Today, a Brunswick County jury convicted Michael Hill of First-Degree Murder in the shooting death of Keonna Graham after an hour of deliberation. https://t.co/D7xVlFKPgS
— WWAY News (@WWAY) May 27, 2022
Hill lived in Brunswick and was an employee at a nuclear power plant at the time of his 2017 win.
Hill will serve an additional “22-36 Months in Prison for Possession of Firearm by Felon to run concurrent with his life sentence,” officials said, according to the outlet.