A North Carolina man who won a $10 million lottery prize in 2017 was sentenced to life in prison without the possibility of parole for the fatal shooting of his girlfriend in 2020.
Michael Hill, 54, was convicted of first-degree murder and sentenced on May 27, 2022, for the killing of 23-year-old Keonna Graham. On July 20, 2o20, Graham was reported missing, and was later found dead in a hotel with a gunshot wound to the back of her head.
Here are some things you might not know about Hill and Graham.
Hill almost missed out on his $10 million lottery prize
Hill stopped by the Maco Depot on Maco Road in North Carolina and bought an Extreme Millions scratch-off ticket, but didn’t win. He then decided to try again, but this time switching to Ultimate Millions. Back in 2020, the clerk who worked at Maco Depot said that Hill was a regular at the store, and was stunned to see him on the news.
Graham cared for people with special needs
Graham was a correctional officer at a Burgaw, North Carolina, prison, and before that worked at a rehabilitation center, assisting the mentally disabled.
Hill and Graham were indeed in a relationship
In fact, they had reportedly been in a relationship for more than a year before the killing. Hill confessed to shooting Graham after she had been texting other men while at the hotel.
The DA says Hill claimed he was financially unable to pay for a lawyer
When Hill won the money, he took home over $4 million in a lump sum payment. What happened to all the money?
