Abraham Shakespeare won a $30 million Florida Lotto jackpot in November 2006, took a lump-sum payment of roughly $17 million, and was found buried under a concrete slab in a Plant City backyard a little over three years later. The woman convicted of killing him, Dorice “Dee Dee” Moore, is serving life in prison without parole. It is one of the most documented lottery cases in American court history, and almost none of it is about the win itself.
- Who Abraham Shakespeare Was Before the Ticket
- November 15, 2006: The Jackpot That Changed Everything
- The Lawsuit That Arrived Before the Money Settled
- Where the Money Went
- How Abraham Shakespeare Disappeared
- The Trial and the Conviction
- What the Abraham Shakespeare Case Shows
- Frequently Asked Questions
If you have ever wondered what actually happens after a jackpot, this case is a hard place to look. Abraham Shakespeare was a truck driver’s assistant from Lakeland, Florida with limited money and, by the accounts of the reporters and prosecutors who later examined his life, no real experience managing it. Within months of the win he was in court. Within three years the money was largely gone. Within a few more months he was dead.
What follows is drawn from Associated Press and CBS News trial coverage, Tampa Bay Times reporting, ABC News interviews, and Florida court and sheriff’s records. Nothing here is dramatized. Where a fact is disputed or unclear in the public record, it is described that way.
Who Abraham Shakespeare Was Before the Ticket
Abraham Lee Shakespeare was born in Sebring, Florida, and lived in the Lakeland area. According to Tampa Bay Times reporting on his life, he worked as an assistant to a truck driver, had a limited education, and had a criminal record and outstanding child support obligations before he ever bought a lottery ticket.
Those details matter to the story only because they shaped what came next. Friends and family told reporters he could not read well. He was described consistently, by people on both sides of the later court case, as someone who gave money away readily. That generosity is documented in court filings and news reports, not inferred.
November 15, 2006: The Jackpot That Changed Everything
On November 15, 2006, Abraham Shakespeare and a co-worker, Michael Ford, stopped at a Town Star convenience store in Frostproof, Florida while driving toward Miami. The winning Florida Lotto ticket was purchased at that stop. The advertised jackpot was $30 million; some outlets have reported the figure as $31 million.
Shakespeare chose the cash option rather than annual payments. Multiple news accounts, including Tampa Bay Times reporting, put the lump sum at approximately $16.9 million before taxes. Under Florida law at the time, his name became a public record — the state did not create even a temporary 90-day confidentiality window for large winners until Governor Ron DeSantis signed HB 159 in May 2022, which applies to prizes of $250,000 or more.
The Lawsuit That Arrived Before the Money Settled
In 2007, Michael Ford sued, claiming the winning ticket was his and that Shakespeare had taken it from him. Shakespeare’s attorneys argued he had given Ford money to buy tickets during the stop.
The case went to trial in Polk County in October 2007. As reported at the time, the jury took under two hours to find for Shakespeare, confirming the jackpot was his. Ford appealed. According to later reporting, an appellate hearing was scheduled for May 2009 — by which point Shakespeare had already stopped being seen.
Where the Money Went
Trial testimony and news reporting describe a steady outflow. Shakespeare bought a home valued at roughly $1 million in Lakeland. He paid off mortgages for people he knew. He gave cash to relatives, friends, and in some accounts to strangers who approached him.
He also made loans that were not repaid. By 2009, according to testimony presented at the murder trial and summarized by the Associated Press, what remained of the fortune was a fraction of the original sum — a house, a $1.5 million annuity, and debts owed to him. The public record does not support a single precise “amount left” figure, and reporting varies.
Prosecutors said Dorice Moore entered his life in late 2008, telling him she wanted to write a book about how people were taking advantage of him. Court records show that on January 15, 2009, Shakespeare signed a purchase agreement transferring assets to American Medical Professionals LLC, a company Moore had owned since 2004, for a stated price of $185,000.
How Abraham Shakespeare Disappeared
Abraham Shakespeare was last seen by family in April 2009. His family reported him missing on November 9, 2009 — a gap of roughly seven months. During that period, according to prosecutors, Moore sent text messages from his phone and told relatives he had gone away voluntarily.
Investigators used an informant who posed as a relative. As reported by the Associated Press and CBS News, Moore handed that informant a gun and a map marking where the body was. On January 27, 2010, deputies excavated the backyard of a Plant City property connected to Moore and recovered human remains buried beneath a newly poured concrete slab. The remains were positively identified as Abraham Shakespeare on January 29, 2010. He had been shot twice in the chest.
The Trial and the Conviction
Dorice “Dee Dee” Moore was tried for first-degree murder in Hillsborough County. Prosecutors presented financial records, phone evidence, and the informant recordings. Moore’s defense at trial attributed the killing to others.
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On December 10, 2012, after roughly three hours of deliberation, the jury convicted her of first-degree murder. She received a mandatory sentence of life in prison without parole, plus a mandatory 25 years for use of a firearm in a felony. The judge described her in court as “cold, calculating and cruel.” Her appeals have been unsuccessful, and in a 2025 ABC News interview from prison she continued to assert her innocence.
What the Abraham Shakespeare Case Shows
This is not a lesson list, and no one should read it as advice. But the documented sequence in the Abraham Shakespeare case is worth stating plainly, because it is unusual only in how it ended, not in how it began.
His name was public. A lawsuit followed within a year. The money moved out faster than it could be replaced, largely through gifts and loans rather than any single loss. The people closest to the outflow were people he met after the win. And the paper trail that eventually convicted someone — LLC filings, transfer agreements, bank records — existed the entire time.
Florida changed its disclosure rules in 2022, though only partially and only for 90 days. Every state handles winner publicity differently, and lottery officials in your state are the authority on how yours works. What the Abraham Shakespeare record shows is simply that the risks a large winner faces are mostly not about the odds of winning. They start the day the check clears.
Frequently Asked Questions
How much did Abraham Shakespeare actually win?
The advertised Florida Lotto jackpot was $30 million, won on a ticket bought November 15, 2006 in Frostproof, Florida. He took the cash option, widely reported as about $16.9 million before taxes. Some outlets have cited the jackpot as $31 million.
Who killed Abraham Shakespeare and what was the sentence?
Dorice “Dee Dee” Moore was convicted of first-degree murder on December 10, 2012 in Hillsborough County, Florida. She was sentenced to life without parole plus a mandatory 25 years for use of a firearm. Her appeals have been denied.
When did Abraham Shakespeare go missing and when was he found?
His family last saw him in April 2009 and reported him missing on November 9, 2009. Investigators recovered his remains from a Plant City backyard on January 27, 2010, and confirmed the identification on January 29, 2010.
Can lottery winners keep their names private?
It depends entirely on the state. Florida law now shields the names of winners of $250,000 or more for 90 days under HB 159, signed in May 2022, after which the name, city, game, date, and amount become releasable. Rules differ everywhere else — check your own state lottery’s official policy.
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Content last reviewed August 2026. If you notice outdated information, please contact us.
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