Florida Lottery Winner's Death Leaves Unanswered Questions
You can slice and dice the story in so many ways; the fact remains Abraham Shakespeare would probably be alive today if he had not won a Florida lottery that paid him a lump sum of $17 million.
Abraham Shakespeare, an assistant truck driver, was not prepared for the glitter of the new life that sudden riches often bring. He was continuously pestered for money by people around him and was finally befriended by a con artist, who ruined him.
Abraham had bought a million-dollar home in Lakeland. The home is now owned by Dorice Donegan Moore, who is known as DeeDee Moore.
DeeDee Moore had approached Shakespeare with the pretense that she wanted to write about him. However, all DeeDee was interested was Abraham’s money. She became his financial adviser and set up a company for Abraham, in which she had signing authority for up to $1 million. She told police that she had received cash from Abraham as a gift, which she spent on luxury cars and vacationing.
When Shakespeare went missing last April, DeeDee spread the word that he was “laying low” to escape the people who pestered him for money relentlessly. She had acted to create the impression that Abraham was alive. On one occasion, she used his phone to send text messages to his relatives and friends.
On Jan 29th, police recovered Shakespeare’s body from a 5-ft. deep vault that was covered by a concrete slab in the backyard of a two-story country house in Plant City. The house is owned by 26-year-old Shar Krasniqi, a boyfriend of Moore. Police suspect DeeDee for Abraham’s murder but have yet to make any arrests.
Abraham’s brother Robert Brown told the media that his brother was not happy with all the complexities the new-found wealth had brought to his life. He would often lament to him, “I'd have been better off broke.”
This is a familiar story that has been told many times. Shakespeare did not have good education, had been on the wrong side of the law before, and was a small town man who lived with his mother, totally unprepared for the strain that accompanies sudden riches.
Perhaps, somewhere in the middle between the richness and the paucity lies a happy ground that we should all strife for. But who knows where that happy ground is?
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