Trust was costly for Shakespeare

For Abraham Lee Shakespeare, who could barely read or write but knew his way around the Bible, Nov. 15, 2006, was just another Wednesday.

Until he pulled into the Town Star convenience store in Frostproof.

Shakespeare and co-worker Michael Ford were taking a break from delivering supplies to Arby's and Checkers. Ford went into the store and bought, among other things, two Florida Lottery tickets at Shakespeare's request.

One ticket spit out six numbers - 6, 12, 13, 34, 42 and 52. It was every lottery player's dream: The big one, an estimated $30 million jackpot.

Less than three years later, Shakespeare was dead, the victim of "homicidal violence," according to the Hillsborough County Sheriff's Office. He had already gone through most of the nearly $13 million he received in a lump-sum payment after taxes.

According to relatives, Shakespeare was miserable early on from his newfound fortune.

Even before Shakespeare could pick up his winnings, the lottery ticket became a curse, said his cousin, Cedric Edom.

Word quickly filtered throughout Shakespeare's Lakeland neighborhood that the tall, thin man in the little wooden home on Pear Street had come into a tremendous fortune.

Instantly, Edom said, people began approaching Shakespeare, asking for money.

Edom said he found out his cousin was a wealthy man when a local businessman came over to his house and told him he no longer needed to worry about money because Shakespeare had won a bundle.

Then the man said something troubling.

Shakespeare was taking people with him to Tallahassee to pick up his winnings.

'Being pressured'

The next day, Edom said, he found out Shakespeare was taking a man from the neighborhood and the man's children. By the time Shakespeare got back, he had agreed to give the man $1 million for himself and another $1 million for the children, Edom said.

Shakespeare was driving back from Tallahassee when he called, Edom said.

He said that from Shakespeare's voice, he knew that just hours into being a multimillionaire, his cousin was miserable.

"You could tell he was being pressured," Edom said. "You could tell he was uncomfortable."

Edom said there seemed to be no end to people who wanted to latch on to Shakespeare for his money.

"Shakespeare and Associates," Edom called them.

Investigators say one of those people - Dorice Donegan "Dee Dee" Moore - helped cover up his killing.

Moore is sitting in a cell at Orient Road Jail, charged with being an accessory after the fact to first-degree murder. She is being held on $1 million bail.

At her bail hearing Wednesday, prosecutors said that Moore made many statements about Shakespeare's death, blaming it on her 14-year-old son, an unnamed lawyer, an unnamed cousin of Shakespeare and also on herself, saying she killed him in self-defense.

Deputies in Hillsborough and Polk counties are trying to unravel how Shakespeare managed to run through more than $11 million in less than three years and how he wound up buried on property owned by Moore and her boyfriend in Turkey Creek, under 5 feet of dirt and about 4 inches of concrete.

A man of much trust

As people glommed on to Shakespeare, he had troubles on other fronts.

Michael Ford, who purchased the winning ticket, sued him in April 2007, claiming it was his.

The lawsuit was decided in Shakespeare's favor that October, but that wasn't the end of his troubles.

Financial advisers and real estate agents latched on, Edom said.

Shakespeare was giving out loans he was never able to collect on, Edom said. He was giving away cars and trucks.

"He trusted people," Edom said. "They knew he couldn't read or write, but he trusted them to do the right thing. But they never did the right thing."

Shakespeare even bought Edom a house, at 1418 W. Lake Parker Drive in Lakeland, which he purchased in June 2008 for $103,000, according to Polk County records.

Then Moore entered the picture.

In an interview in her home Monday, Moore said she first met Shakespeare toward the end of 2008. She said she wanted to write a book about his life and that by the time she met him, he had run through most of the money.

Polk County records show that Shakespeare bought a two-story, 6,500-square-foot home for more than $1 million in January 2007 and sold it to American Medical Professionals - a company owned by Moore and her boyfriend - in January 2009 for $655,000. About the same time, AMP purchased Edom's home for $102,000.

The millionaire disappears

Edom says he remembers the last time he saw his cousin: April 3.

Shakespeare and Moore arrived at Edom's house with a burgundy Cadillac that Shakespeare wanted to give Edom. Edom said it was too old and, besides, he didn't want Shakespeare to give the man he was buying the car from more money.

Moore, Edom said, agreed and said they would buy a newer car at an auction. Then they left. The next day, Edom said, he talked to Shakespeare again by phone about the car. It was the last conversation they would have.

Sometime around May, he said, he started to worry. He put fliers up at black churches in Lakeland, but no one knew where Shakespeare was, Edom said.

He continued putting fliers up and talking with Elizabeth Walker, trying to keep her spirits up, trying to help her hold on to the dream that her son, Shakespeare, was still alive.

Near the end of September, Edom said, Moore approached him with an offer.

She knew he needed money. He and his wife had been arrested for driving with suspended licenses and his son was about to go to college.

So for $5,000, he agreed to give Shakespeare's mother a birthday card, purporting to be from Shakespeare, he said.

Edom said he did nothing wrong. He took the money and delivered the card but never said it was from Shakespeare.

In November, he called the Polk County Sheriff's Office and reported Shakespeare missing.

The mystery ends

There is a good reason why Edom couldn't find his cousin, investigators say.

Shakespeare was killed April 6 or 7 at 5732 S.R. 60, just outside Plant City, according to a probable cause affidavit.

Edom said Moore eventually told him what happened.

Shakespeare was set up for a robbery in the house. He pulled his gun out, but there were no bullets. Then he was shot twice.

Tuesday night, Hillsborough County Sheriff David Gee released the arrest affidavit for Moore.

It offers a chilling account of what investigators say Moore did to help cover up Shakespeare's slaying.

By November, investigators were well aware of the slab and the likelihood that Shakespeare was under it, said Richard Land and Bernard Thomas, two men who say they spoke with investigators.

According to an affidavit:

By late December, Moore began covering her tracks.

Between Dec. 28 and Jan. 21, Moore approached a source asking whether he knew anyone awaiting sentencing to prison who would admit killing Shakespeare in return for $50,000.

For the money, that person would have to dig up Shakespeare's body and move it to another location.

On Jan. 25, Moore met with the source and gave him a .38-caliber Smith & Wesson she said was the weapon used in the slaying. Then she showed the source the concrete slab at 5802 S.R. 60, placing a steel bar to mark the spot where he should remove the body. She said she would leave a white Ford F-150 with an enclosed trailer. Inside the trailer, there was a galvanized steel trough, bleach, gloves and plastic sheeting.

Moore later told deputies she bought a bag of lime to place over Shakespeare's body when it was buried.

On Jan. 28, deputies recovered Shakespeare's remains from under the slab.

Investigators and prosecutors say that in the coming weeks, they expect more arrests.