Death Records Now

VIDEO 2 starts at 1:20 Video 3 starts at 2:10 — I put together three chronologically placed videos. The first is a raw interview with Shakespeare about his troubles after winning, the second is of the investigation and the last is the report from today.

STORY: (1/29/09)

**PLANT CITY, Fla. — A body found buried in a backyard has been identified by authorities as missing Florida lottery winner Arthur Shakespeare.

The Hillsborough County Sheriff’s office said Friday the remains were identified through fingerprints. The body was found Thursday at a Plant City home connected to a woman who had befriended him.

The house is owned by the boyfriend of Dorice Moore, who authorities have called a “person of interest.”

Moore has said she doesn’t know where Shakespeare is, but authorities say she transferred more than $1 million from his bank account into hers. She said the money was a gift. No charges have been filed.

Shakespeare — who had a criminal record that included arrests and prison time for burglary, battery and not paying child support — won $31 million in 2006 and took a lump-sum payment of $16.9 million instead of annual installments.

He bought a Nissan Altima, a Rolex from a pawn shop, a $1 million home in a gated community. He talked about starting a foundation for the poor and insisted the money wouldn’t change him.

“I’m not a material person,” he said in 2007. “I don’t let material things run me. I’m on a tight budget.”

The money quickly caused him 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.

Then there were the people constantly asking him for a piece of his fortune.

“They didn’t wait. They just came right after they found out he won this money,” his mother, Elizabeth Walker, said recently.

She said her son was generous, paying for funerals, lending money to friends starting businesses and even giving a million dollars to a guy known only as “Big Man.”

Not long after he bought the million-dollar home in early 2007, he was approached by Moore, said family and officials.

Moore said she was interested in writing a book about Shakespeare’s life. She became something of a financial adviser to Shakespeare, who never graduated high school.

Property records show that Moore’s company, American Medical Professionals, bought Shakespeare’s home for $655,000 last January. His mother said the last time she saw him was shortly afterward, around her birthday in February.

The sheriff said the last time anyone saw Shakespeare was in April — but it wasn’t until Nov. 9 that he was reported missing, by a police informant.

Duration : 0:4:37

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