‘So Stupid’: Florida Woman Called the ‘Most Manipulative Person’ By a Judge After Conviction for Killing $30M Lottery Winner Speaks Out from Behind Bars and She’s Still Making Excuses
Winning the lottery is everyone’s dream come true, but for a Lakeland, Florida, man, it spelled his demise.
Abraham Shakespeare went from a day laborer who never finished school to a multimillionaire overnight when he won a $30 million Florida Lotto in November 2006. Within four years, his body would be found buried under a concrete slab, and “20/20: Unlucky Numbers” (airing on ABC on April 18) takes a deep dive into the tragedy.
Dorice “Dee Dee” Moore, a bleached-blond business owner with a criminal record, was sentenced to life without parole for his murder. She befriended him with the offer of writing a book about his rags-to-riches story, and then killed him when she realized he had already spent it all. Moore, however, maintains her innocence to this day.
When Shakespeare hit the jackpot in 2006, he had been working as an assistant truck driver for $8 an hour and happened to stop for a soda at a convenience store in Frostproof, Florida, on his way to make a delivery in Miami. He had $5 in his pocket and bought two quick pick Florida Lotto, reported NBC News.
Two days later, he was holding the big check and posing for media cameras, talking about his dreams of starting a foundation to help the poor. Shakespeare opted for a lump sum payout of $17 million instead of $1.5 million a year for two decades and bought himself a $1 million home and a new car. But he was generous to a fault, freely handing out money to friends and acquaintances. He paid off people’s mortgages, gave his stepfather a cool $1 million, made loans to acquaintances, and even paid burial expenses for strangers in his community.
“Abraham Shakespeare was so generous with his money that he was known for paying for rent, groceries, funerals, anything that anybody needed,” said Merissa Green, a reporter for local newspaper The Ledger.
But in November 2009, he suddenly vanished. A cousin, who hadn’t seen him in months, reported him missing, and the police launched an investigation, but with so many complicated financial dealings — and people owing him money — investigators didn’t know if he was dead or simply took off to lie low for a while.
A break in the case came after detectives obtained Shakespeare’s phone records and saw a drastic change in phone activity. After April 9, 2009, he had contact with just one person: Dorice “Dee Dee” Moore, the owner of a nurse-staffing company who befriended him by giving him financial advice and offering to write a book about his life.
Though police were suspicious, Moore assured them Shakespeare was alive and they were in contact. In the meantime, Moore arranged an interview with local media to tamp down on the rumors that he was dead.
When Moore first entered Shakespeare’s life, she quickly took control of his assets and claimed she could get his finances under control by helping him collect from his debtors, The Ledger reported. At that point, he had already spent $11 million of his prize money.
Catching Moore in her lies proved trickier than expected. But police concocted a plan involving an acquaintance of Moore’s, someone who had done her bidding in the past, who agreed to be a confidential informant.
The informant told Moore he had a cousin headed to prison on a drug charge that would take the murder rap if she had done something to Shakespeare. Moore agreed to pay the “cousin” (an undercover officer) $50,000 and reveal key details of Shakespeare’s death in case he was ever put on the stand. When they met to discuss the deal, Moore even gave him the gun and a map leading to Shakespeare’s body. But throughout the exchange, she maintained that she was innocent and he was shot by drug dealers.
In January 2010, using the map provided by Moore, police found Shakespeare buried behind a Plant City home that Moore owned. He had been shot twice in the chest, and his grave was covered by a concrete slab.
During the trial, Moore’s manipulation continued as she pointed the finger at five other people responsible for Shakespeare’s murder, including her own son and a drug dealer named “Ronald,” according to the Tampa Bay Times.
Circuit Judge Emmett Lamar Battles called “the most manipulative person” he had seen and described the murder as “cold,” “calculated,” and “cruel,” during the sentences, reported The Ledger. She was found guilty and given life without parole.
Through the years, Moore has continued to file motions for post-conviction relief, claiming she had ineffective counsel during her trial, but she remains incarcerated.
In “20/20: Unlucky Numbers,” Moore spoke out from behind bars. “It was wrong,” she said in the exclusive interview from prison. “There was no reason for him to pass away over money but for them to lie in public and say that I took his money…the whole situation was so stupid.”
“20/20: Unlucky Numbers” airs Friday, April 18, from 9 p.m. to 11 p.m. ET on ABC and is available to stream on Hulu the next day.