Dozens of family members and friends turned out to remember Abraham Shakespeare at his funeral Saturday, often cheering whenever anyone mentioned bringing to justice those responsible for the lottery winner's slaying.
"The Bible says the love of money is the root of all evil," said Polk County sheriff's Maj. Joe Halman Jr., one of the speakers and the man in charge of the detectives working on the case. "This is the hour we live in."
Shakespeare, 43, won an estimated $30 million Florida Lottery jackpot in late 2006, taking a lump-sum payment of nearly $13 million after taxes.
He disappeared in April but wasn't reported missing until November. His remains were found Jan. 28 buried behind a home in the Plant City area.
Shakespeare was a victim of "homicidal violence," according to the Hillsborough County Sheriff's Office. He was killed sometime between April 6 and 7 at 5732 State Road 60 E. just outside Plant City, according to a probable cause affidavit.
His former business associate, Dorice Donegan "Dee Dee" Moore, was arrested this week. She is charged with being an accessory after the fact of a first-degree murder and is being held on $1 million bail.
Moore has denied killing Shakespeare.
Although the funeral at New Bethel AME Church was typical in many ways, including a gospel rendition of "Amazing Grace," it also featured a part-dance, part-mime performance representing the transition to an afterlife.
No family members spoke at the funeral, but a poem penned by Shakespeare's brother was read by a female mourner.
"In these streets nothing is cheap,'' the woman read. "At all times we must watch our back and if not they'll lay us flat as a mat."
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