Photo: Brunswick County Sheriff’s Office
More than four years after winning a $10 million lottery, a North Carolina man has been convicted and sentenced for the murder of his girlfriend.
Michael Todd Hill, 54, was convicted of first-degree murder for fatally shooting Keonna Graham, whom he had been dating for more than a year, in the summer of 2020,News & ObserverandWECTreport.
Graham, 23, was first reported missing on July 20 of that year and was found with a “gunshot wound to the back of the head” at a SureStay Hotel near Wilmington, the 15th Prosecutorial District of North Carolina said in a release, perNews & Observer.
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Prosecutors added that Hill admitted to killing Graham after he found out she was text messaging other men at the hotel,CBS Newsreported.
Per WECT, Graham’s mother is the one who reported her missing.
“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, perNews & Observer. “The hard work of these officers ensured a just result in this case.”
It is not clear if Hill has a lawyer to comment on his behalf.
The North Carolina Judicial Branch did not immediately respond to PEOPLE’s request for comment.
Hill’s sentencing comes more than four-and-a-half years after he won a $10 million lottery from purchasing a scratch-off ticket at a local gas station. He opted to take his payments in a lump sum of $6 million, and was ultimately paid $4,159,101 after federal taxes, he toldNC Education Lottery.
“This is life changing,” Hill told the site at the time. “Wow! Just wow!”
source: people.com
