Abraham Lee Shakespeare | |
|---|---|
| Born | April 24, 1966 Lakeland, Florida |
| Died | c. April 7, 2009 (aged 42) Plant City, Florida |
| Cause of death | Homicide |
| Body discovered | January 26, 2010 |
| Occupation | Truck driver's assistant |
| Known for | Florida Lottery winner and murder victim |
| Children | Two sons |
Abraham Lee Shakespeare (April 24, 1966 – c. April 7, 2009) was a casual laborer from the US who won a $30 million lottery jackpot in Florida, receiving $17 million in 2006. In 2009, his family declared him missing, and in January 2010 his body was found buried under a concrete slab in the backyard of an acquaintance. Dorice "Dee Dee" Moore was convicted of his murder and is now serving life in prison without the possibility of parole.[1]
The Florida Lotto winning ticket worth thirty million dollars was sold at a Town Star convenience store in Frostproof, Florida, on November 15, 2006.[2] On that day, Abraham Lee Shakespeare and co-worker Michael Ford were headed toward Miami when they stopped briefly at the convenience store in Frostproof to buy drinks and cigarettes. Ford got out of the truck and asked Shakespeare if he wanted a soda. Shakespeare instead asked Ford to buy him two lottery tickets. Shakespeare said that he paid Ford $2 for the tickets out of the $5 he had on him that day.[3]
Ford later approached Shakespeare demanding a share of the jackpot of no less than $1 million, which Shakespeare refused to pay, prompting Ford to sue Shakespeare and alleging that Shakespeare stole lottery tickets out of Ford's wallet.[3] The jury did not believe Ford's stolen lottery tickets story and Shakespeare prevailed in the courts. Shakespeare had chosen a one-time, lump sum cash payment of $17 million.[4] He moved out of his working-class neighborhood in Lakeland, Florida and into a gated community.[5] Several months after his lottery win, apart from a $1 million home, his only other major purchases included a Nissan Altima and a Rolex watch from a pawnshop.[6] By late January 2010 the sheriff involved in the investigation of Shakespeare's disappearance told AP that the lottery money "is gone now."[7]
Friends stated Shakespeare had grown frustrated with the apparently constant appeals for money from both hangers-on and strangers. He told his brother, "I'd have been better off broke," and told a childhood friend, "I thought all these people were my friends, but then I realized all they want is just money."[1] One of these was Dorice Donegan "Dee-Dee" Moore, who launched a business with Shakespeare, Abraham Shakespeare LLC, giving herself control of the firm's funds. Moore subsequently withdrew $1 million and bought herself a Hummer, a Chevrolet Corvette and a truck before going on vacation. She later claimed that the money was a gift from Shakespeare.[5]
On November 9, 2009, Shakespeare's family reported him missing, stating that they had not seen him since April of that year. Family and friends had originally hoped that he had taken his money and was living on a beach in the Caribbean Sea. A tip-off led investigators to the backyard of a home purchased by Moore, where Shakespeare's body was found buried under 9 feet (2.7 m) of dirt under a newly constructed concrete slab.[1] Shakespeare was 42.[5]
Hillsborough County detectives say Shakespeare died April 6 or 7 in the single-story ranch home in Plant City.[8] Police took Moore into custody on February 2, 2010, in connection with the murder of Shakespeare. A judge set a $1 million bond. The police stated Moore had tried to convince an acquaintance to unearth the body and move it a week after the death, and had continued to try to convince others that Shakespeare was still alive.[9] On February 19, 2010, Moore was formally charged with first degree murder.
Dorice Donegan "Dee Dee" Moore (born July 25, 1972) was the prime suspect in the death of Abraham Shakespeare. She was married to James Moore in 1992, and has a son born in 1995. In 2001, Moore was convicted of insurance fraud[10] and falsely reporting a crime; she served a year of probation. Moore filed for bankruptcy in 2002.
Before police found Shakespeare's body, Moore said Shakespeare had decided to leave town and had gone to Texas, Jamaica, Puerto Rico, or Orlando, Florida, or was sick in a hospital. Moore also said that Shakespeare was tired of people asking him for money, so she helped him leave town.[5] After police found his body under a concrete slab, in the backyard of the home she put in her boyfriend's name, Moore told police different versions of what happened to Shakespeare. Moore in turn blamed drug dealers, a lawyer and her 14-year-old son.[11] She later said she killed Shakespeare in self-defence.[9] Soon after the disappearance of Shakespeare, Moore, who was living in Shakespeare's house, kept using his cell phone and sending text messages to his friends and relatives, pretending she was Shakespeare. Recipients thought they did not sound like him and were suspicious because Shakespeare was illiterate.[5][11] When people texted Shakespeare's phone back with questions that could not be answered by Moore, no response was given.[11]
During the same time that Moore was trying to make it appear as though Shakespeare was alive, she tried to find a person who would take the blame for Shakespeare's death for fifty thousand dollars. She also offered to pay someone to dig up and move Shakespeare's body to another location.[12] Property records show that Moore's company, American Medical Professionals, bought Shakespeare's house.[1] Moore told investigators she paid Shakespeare $655,000 for his home and paid $185,000 for outstanding loans (which were actually worth much more) to others; however, there is no evidence showing she paid Shakespeare anything.[5] Moore offered the mother of one of Shakespeare's two sons a $200,000 home if she would lie to detectives and tell them she had seen him recently. She also paid $5,000 to a relative of Shakespeare's to give his mother a birthday card and imply it was from him.[5]
Through the investigation of Moore, it was learned that she had once staged a scene to fraudulently keep a vehicle which was in danger of being repossessed after falling behind on the payments. She had someone store the car in a garage and then pretended she was kidnapped, sexually assaulted and carjacked. Investigators claimed she taped her own wrists and threw herself from someone else's car. She even took a rape exam. She later pleaded no contest to the charge and received probation.[13]
On December 10, 2012, Moore was convicted of first degree murder for the killing of Shakespeare and was sentenced to life in prison without the possibility of parole, with an additional minimum sentence of 25 years for possessing a gun in the course of a violent felony.[14]
The difficulties Shakespeare experienced as a result of winning the lottery and his subsequent murder were the focus of the American E! television program Curse of the Lottery,[15] part of an episode of Lottery Changed My Life, and a 2013 episode of American Greed. A July 2013 episode of Deadly Women also profiled the case, focusing on Dorice Moore's role in his murder. A September 2013 episode of Snapped focused on Moore's murder trial. Moore was also featured in a 2011 episode of the television show Lockup while in the Hillsborough County Jail in Tampa, Florida awaiting her trial. She stated that she planned on selling the rights to her story in order to pay $200,000 to a lawyer who could get her out. Moore denied all charges.
In 2023 the story of Shakespeare's murder and Moore's arrest was the subject of the first episode of Hulu's Web of Death series. During this year, his case and trial were also explored on Peacock's Buried in the Backyard.