Man Who Won $10 Million Lottery Sentenced to Life in Prison for Murdering Girlfriend

The 54-year-old man was convicted of shooting his then 23-year-old girlfriend after she was reported missing. Her body was later found in a hotel room.

May 31, 2022

Lottery signs shown in Brooklyn in 2018 — Image via Getty/Spencer Platt
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Michael Todd Hill, a North Carolina lottery winner who took home $10 million in 2017, has been sentenced to life in prison after being convicted of first-degree murder over the fatal shooting of his girlfriend, NBC News reports.

The 54-year-old Leland resident was convicted of shooting his then 23-year-old girlfriend Keonna Graham after she was reported missing on July 20, 2020. She was eventually found in a hotel with a gunshot wound to the head.

Hill eventually confessed to the shooting, citing that his girlfriend was texting other men at the hotel, and prosecutors uncovered surveillance footage showing that the pair were the only two in the hotel room at that time.

Hill initially won $10 million from a scratch-off ticket back in 2017, when CBS 17 described him as a nuclear power plant worker. He took home the prize after opting for an Ultimate Millions ticket at Maco Depot on Maco Road in his hometown.

He chose to take home a lump sum of $6 million, which evened out to $4,159,101 with taxes accounted for. He also returned to the store and reportedly gave $2,000 to the woman who sold him the ticket. At the time, Hill said he wanted to use the money for investing in his wife’s instructional design business.

“I think it’s horrible,” Tiffany Wilson, a friend told CBS 17. “I mean, he just won the lottery. I heard he just got married and you go and kill a young girl? A beautiful girl? I don’t understand.”