Dead lottery winners: tales of how winning the lottery led to loss of life

Dead lottery winners: can winning the lottery cause your death?

Being declared a lotto winner and a short time later being declared dead is a chain of events that does not add up. This is especially so because lottery games are always associated with stories of the winners living happily ever after. Well, believe it or not, winning the lottery can actually cause your death and it has done so before for several lotto winners.

It is so unfortunate because most of the times the money, fame and power that accompanies great winnings is what drives the winners to situations that cause their death. This article is going to talk about how certain winners went through this experience.

In the month of June 1997, a Texas lottery jackpot worth $31 million was awarded to one lucky gentleman by the name of Billie Bob Harrell Jr. As expected, life for him took a turn for the better. He started off with buying a ranch and purchasing homes for himself and other family members. He was prudent enough to buy his wife and children new vehicles, made contributions to his church and was ever ready to help financially when the need arose.

In the course of time, Harrell discovered that his life was unraveling too fast and everyone around him was putting the touch on him. He became a reckless spender and lender. This strained his relationships including his marriage which 8 months down the line, broke up. The pressure from all angles eventually took him down and 20 months after winning in the lottery games, he committed suicide.

Death for some other lottery winners came as a result of murder. In the city of Florida in 2006, Abraham Shakespeare won an amazing $31 million and was as happy as any winner could have been. In a sad twist of events, 3 years later, he disappeared after having spent a lot of his fortune.

The remains of his body were found a few months later under a slab made of concrete. A writer for ‘The Plain Dealer’ wrote of a woman who had been charged with connection with his murder. Apparently, she had befriended him and conned him a whopping $1.8 million.

From the above stories it is very clear that not all lottery wins make life better. It is unfortunate when people die as a result of being lucky in lottery games they participate in. Winners need to be more careful in spending their money to avoid such sad scenarios.

Check out Some safety rules for lottery winners as well.