Man Who Won $10M Lottery Prize Sentenced to Life in Prison for Murder
A North Carolina man who won $10 million in the that state's lottery back in August of 2017 will be heading for prison without the possibility of parole. He was charged with the fatal shooting of his girlfriend in 2022.
23-year-old Keonna Graham was first reported missing on July 20, 2020. She was later disovered in a room at the Sure Stay Hotel in Brunswick County with a fatal gunshot wound to the back of the head.
Michael Todd Hill, 52, was taken into custody and charged with murder by the Shallotte Police Department shortly after Graham’s body was discovered.
Todd was convicted of first-degree murder and sentenced to life in prison this past Friday.
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.
Graham worked as a correctional officer at a prison in Burgaw, North Carolina. Prior to that, Graham worked for a program for people with intellectual disabilities, Lee said.
“She did all of this like it was second nature to her,” said her cousin Antionette Lee immediately following the discovery of Graham's body.
Graham lived in Navassa, North Carolina, with her mother, LaTrinda Graham, and a 10-year-old sister, Zoey. Lee said Graham and her younger sister had an “unbreakable bond.”
“We are hurting. We are in pain,” Lee said. “Our family is devastated.”
- Jagajeet Chiba, Gambling911.com
