Brunswick County lottery winner found guilty of first-degree murder
He confessed to shooting Graham after she had been texting other men while at the hotel.
Michael Todd Hill (Photo: BCSO)
SHALLOTTE, NC (WWAY) — On May 27, 2022, a Brunswick County jury convicted Michael Hill of First-Degree Murder in the shooting death of Keonna Graham after an hour of deliberation.
Hill pled guilty prior to trial to Possession of Firearm by Felon.
Judge Joshua Willey sentenced Hill to life in prison without the possibility of parole and 22-36 months in prison for Possession of Firearm by Felon to run concurrent with his life sentence.
On July 20, 2020, Graham was reported missing by her mother and was later found dead in a hotel room at the SureStay Hotel in Shallotte, North Carolina.
Graham suffered a single gunshot wound to the back of the head, while lying in a hotel room bed.
The Shallotte Police Department, along with the Brunswick County Sheriff’s Office, and the North Carolina SBI began an investigation into Graham’s death.
Surveillance footage from the hotel showed Hill as the only individual in the hotel room with Graham.
Hill was later arrested by law enforcement in Southport, North Carolina and confessed to shooting Graham after she had been texting other men while at the hotel.
Hill, who previously won $10 million in a scratch-off ticket in 2017, stated that he and Graham were involved a romantic relationship for approximately a year and half prior to the murder.
