LAKELAND, Fla. -- In 2006, Abraham Shakespeare - a truck driver's assistant who lived with his mother - won $30 million in the Florida lottery. His good fortune may have cost him his life.
Shakespeare vanished months ago. His mother hopes he is somewhere in the Caribbean, lying on a beach and enjoying the good life away from all the hangers-on who were constantly hitting him up for money.
The sheriff has a more ominous theory: Shakespeare was killed.
"There are a lot of odd and bizarre circumstances in this case," Sheriff Grady Judd said. "We fear and are preparing for the worst. We're working this case as if it were a homicide."
Shakespeare, 43, won the big jackpot after buying a lottery ticket at a convenience store in a town called Frostproof, claiming later that he gave the last $3 in his pocket to a homeless man just before the winning numbers were announced.
Shakespeare - who had a criminal record that included arrests and prison time for burglary, battery and not paying child support - took a lump-sum payment of $16.9 million instead of annual installments.
He bought a Nissan Altima, a Rolex from a pawn shop, a $1 million home in a gated community. He talked about starting a foundation for the poor and insisted the money wouldn't change him.
"I'm not a material person," he said in 2007. "I don't let material things run me. I'm on a tight budget."
The money quickly caused him problems.
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