A North Carolina man who won a $10 million lottery prize nearly three years ago was arrested Tuesday in connection with the death of a woman who was found in a hotel room a day earlier.
A housekeeper at the Sure Stay Hotel reportedly discovered Keonna Graham, 23, dead in a third-floor room Monday morning. Hotel manager Vee Patel told WECT that blood was also found in the room.
According to Star News Online, the Shallotte Police Department said Graham was in an on-and-off relationship with Michael Hill, 52, who’s been charged with her murder. A friend of Graham’s told WECT that Hill had gotten married recently.
Patel said Hill checked into the hotel alone on Sunday morning, and that none of his employees ever saw Graham.
Reports indicated that Graham worked as a correctional officer at a prison in Burgaw.
In 2017, Hill won a $10 million prize after purchasing an Ultimate Millions scratch-off ticket at a gas station. Gas station employees told WECT that Hill returned to give the clerk who sold him the ticket $2,000.
The Star Online reported that Hill has felony breaking and entering convictions for incidents that occurred in 1988 and 89. He has convictions for misdemeanor breaking and entering, which transpired in 1988, 1989, 1991.
Hill also committed an armed robbery in 1992, according to the news outlet.
Shallotte Police said on Facebook that the Brunswick County Sheriff’s Office and the North Carolina State Bureau of Investigation assisted in apprehending Hill, who remains jailed without bond.
Authorities have not yet disclosed a motive in this case.
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[Featured image: Michael Hill/North Carolina Lottery; Keonna Graham/WWAY video screengrab]
