Man Who Won $10M In North Carolina Lottery Sentenced To Life In Prison

BRUNSWICK COUNTY, NC — A man who won $10 million playing the North Carolina lottery was convicted of murder and sentenced to life in prison Friday, according to District Attorney Jon David.

A jury found Michael Hill, 54, guilty of the 2020 murder of Keonna Graham after just one hour of deliberation. Judge Joshua Willey then sentenced Hill to life in prison without the possibility of parole. Hill also will concurrently serve 22-36 months for a possession of a firearm by a felon charge to which he pled guilty, according to David, who serves North Carolina's 15th Prosecutorial District.

Graham, 23, was reported missing by family on July 20, 2020, and was later found dead with a gunshot wound to the back of the head at the SureStay Hotel in Shallotte, North Carolina.

Hotel surveillance footage showed Hill was the only person in the room with Graham. Hill was later arrested in Southport, North Carolina, and confessed to shooting Graham after she had been texting other men, authorities said.

Hill told authorities he had been in a romantic relationship with Graham for nearly a year and a half prior to the shooting, according to the district attorney's office.

Hill, then a nuclear plant worker from Leland, won the $10 million top prize playing the Ultimate Millions scratch off in August 2017, electing to take the lump sum of $6 million, according to a news release from the lottery.

At the time, he told the lottery he told his wife to "pack her bags because we just won $10 million."