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NC lottery winner sentenced to life in prison for killing his lover

A North Carolina lottery winner was sentenced to life in prison Friday after he was found guilty of killing a woman he was involved in a romantic relationship with for 18 months.

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Michael Hill
SHALLOTTE, N.C. — A North Carolina lottery winner was sentenced to life in prison Friday after he was found guilty of killing a woman he was involved in a romantic relationship with for 18 months.

Micheal Hill, from Brunswick County, was convicted of first-degree murder in connection with the death of Keonna Graham, who was found dead in July 2020 in a hotel room in Shallotte, N.C., after her mother reported her missing.

According to the Brunswick County District Attorney’s Office, Hill was arrested by law enforcement officers in Southport, N.C. They said he confessed to shooting Graham after learning she had been texting other men while she was in the hotel room.

An investigative report from the autopsy reveals Graham's body was found by maid staff. According to the report, Graham was lying on her stomach on the left side of the bed, with a gunshot wound to the lower left side of her head.

Hill won $10 million in a scratch-off lottery ticket in 2017, according to Brunswick County authorities. He dated Graham for 18 months leading up to the murder.

Hill was sentenced to life in prison without the possibility of parole Friday by a jury after only an hour of deliberation.

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