$10 Million Lotto Winner is Sent to Prison for Murdering His Girlfriend, He Was Accused of Texting Men

Officials in North Carolina announced that a man who won $10 million in the lottery in 2017 was sentenced to life imprisonment without parole for the 2020 murder of his girlfriend. 

Michael Todd Hill, 54, was found guilty of first-degree murder in the fatal shooting of his girlfriend, 23-year-old Keonna Graham, who was reported missing on July 20, 2020, the News & Observer reported. According to authorities, she was later found dead in a hotel with an injury to her head from a gunshot. 

Surveillance footage showed Hill in the hotel room alone with Graham. Hill later admitted that he shot the footage after Hill claimed that she had allegedly sent other men messages, according to the 15th Prosecutorial District North Carolina in a news release.CBS News.  

Graham was found lying on her stomach on the left-side of a bed at the SureStay Hotel, Shallotte by maid staff. WECT-TV reported2020. A news station obtained an autopsy report that stated she was asleep prior to the shooting.  

Hill was taken into custody the day after Graham’s body was discovered. 

He was sentenced Friday to life imprisonment without parole, and 22 to 36 month in prison for possessing firearms by felon. This sentence will run concurrently with his life sentence. the News & Observer reported. 

Hill won $10,000,000 on a scratch-off lottery ticket in August 2017. Hill chose to receive a lump sum of his winnings. This was $4,159,101 after taxes. Hill was at a nuclear power facility when he won. WECT-TV reported on the incident at the time.