In his play King John, William Shakespeare wrote, “There is no sure foundation set on blood; no certain life achieved by others’ death.” It’s a shame the killer in today’s story didn’t get the memo on that. Money is one of the oldest, most common motives for murder, and in our opinion, one of the coldest. It requires the killer to look at a living, laughing, vital human being and break that life—all the likes and loves and pet peeves, all the dad jokes and kindnesses and little heartbreaks—into dollars and cents. I mean, most of us like money. Most of us daydream of scoring big someday so we can live out our passions, support the people we love, see the world, not have to worry any more. But a sudden change in fortune often brings more trouble than it’s worth. Most people would never consider hurting anyone else just to add some zeros to their bank balance. But for one kindhearted man, all his sudden windfall did for him was put a target on his back.

Sources:

Book, Unlucky Number by Deborah Mathis
CNBC's "American Greed," Episode "The Lady Killer"
ABC's "20/20," Episode "Lotto Hangover: Big Money, Big Problems"

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