Lottery Winner Missing

In 2006 Abraham Shakespeare, a truck driver's assistant, won $30 million dollars in the Florida. Shakespeare, 43 won the jackpot after purchasing a lottery ticket at a convenience store in Frostproof Florida and said he had just given his last $3 dollars to a homeless man just before the winning numbers were announced. Shakespeare was sued by a fellow employee who claimed that Shakespeare had stolen the winning ticket from him but a Florida court sided with Shakespeare.

Shakespeare had a criminal record that included burglary, battery and non payment of child support took a lump sum payment of $16.9 million dollars. Shakespeare would purchase lottery tickets regularly in hopes of a big win.

Shakespeare took his winnings and purchased a Rolex watch from a pawn shop, bought a $1 million dollar home in a gated community and also bought a Nissan Altima. Shakespeare repeatedly said that the money would not change him. Shakespeare was besieged with requests for money from relatives and friends. His mother reported that he paid for funerals, lent money to friends to start business and gave $1 million dollars to a person known only as 'big man.'

Now Shakespeare has vanished and law enforcement authorities fear the worst. Sheriff Grady Judd stated, "There are a lot of odd and bizarre circumstances in this case. We fear and are preparing for the worst. We're working this case as if it were a homicide." Shakespeare was approached by DeeDee Moore who said she was interested in writing a book about Shakespeare'''s life. She also served as a 'financial advisor' for the lottery winner who never graduated from high school.

Records show that Moore's company American Medical Professionals purchased Shakespeare's home for $655,000 last January. His mother reported that the last time she saw him was shortly afterward. Police report that Moore began using Shakespeare's cell phone to text Shakespeare's friends and relatives in an attempt to make them believe it was Shakespeare trying to contact them. Moore also offered to give away a $200,000 house in exchange for a false report to law enforcement regarding a recent sighting of Shakespeare.

Moore has a history of her own. In 2001 Moore tried to defraud her insurance company saying she had been carjacked and raped. Moore has also been making transactions in Shakespeare's name. Shakespeare's mother has been hoping her son is alive and said he had talked about getting away from the numerous requests for money. For a guy that won $30 million dollars Mr. Shakespeare has been certainly having a hard time. The investigation is ongoing. Had Mr. Shakespeare purchased online lottery tickets he probably could have avoided a lot of problems.