Authorities searching for missing lottery winner find body near Fla. home; ID not confirmed

Body found during search for missing lotto winner

PLANT CITY, Fla. — Human remains have been found near a home where investigators were searching for the body of a missing man who won millions of dollars in the lottery nearly four years ago, Florida sheriff’s officials said.

Abraham Shakespeare, a 43-year-old truck driver’s assistant, has been missing since April — though he wasn’t reported missing until November. He had won a $31 million lottery jackpot in 2006, opting for a lump sum payment of nearly $17 million.

“We have recovered some human remains and turned them over to the medical examiner’s office,” Debbie Carter, a spokeswoman for the Hillsborough County Sheriff’s Office, said Friday. “We still have not made positive identification, and that may be a while.”

The remains were found at a home owned by the boyfriend of Dorice Moore. Polk County Sheriff Grady Judd has previously called Moore a “person of interest,” though she has not been charged. Judd has characterized the case as a homicide.

On Dec. 5, Moore told The Ledger newspaper that she helped Shakespeare disappear, but now wants him to return because detectives were searching her home and car and looking for blood on her belongings.

Judd has said Moore transferred more than $1 million from Shakespeare’s bank account into hers. She said the money was a gift.

Shakespeare had a criminal record that included arrests and prison time for burglary, battery and not paying child support. He used his winnings to buy a Nissan Altima, a Rolex from a pawn shop and a $1 million home in a gated community — but the money quickly caused him more problems.

A former co-worker sued him in 2007, accusing Shakespeare of stealing the winning ticket from him. Six months later, a jury ruled the ticket was Shakespeare’s. And his mother, Elizabeth Walker, has said others were constantly asking Shakespeare for a piece of his fortune.

Not long after he bought the million-dollar home in early 2007, he was approached by Moore, family and sheriff’s officials have said. She became something of a financial adviser, and property records showed that her company bought Shakespeare’s house in January 2009.