Medical examiner will have to see if remains are Shakespeare's

The search for missing Lotto winner Abraham Shakespeare may be over.

On the third day of a dig at a property between Plant City and Brandon, authorities found and removed human remains. Beneath a concrete slab that authorities said had been poured since Shakespeare disappeared, they sifted through dirt 4 inches at a time and carried bucket after bucket away to sift for clues.

"It's clearly a human body," said Hillsborough County Sheriff David Gee, who appeared alongside Polk County Sheriff Grady Judd at a news conference at the scene. "We have a presumption that it's him.''

The "him'' is Shakespeare, who won about $30 million in lottery jackpot in 2007. The 43-year-old last was seen alive in April, though he wasn't reported missing until November.

The discovery of the remains was something Cynthia Johnson, a cousin of Shakespeare, had dreaded.

"I just hope he didn't suffer,'' she said. "He was a good person. He was just used. They manipulated him because they know he didn't know any better.''

The remains unearthed Thursday were buried about 5 feet deep under a concrete slab that measured 30 feet by 30 feet some 100 yards behind the building at the address. The slab looked out of place at the scene, authorities said.

After ground-penetrating radar showed something might be under the slab, the concrete was broken up by heavy equipment into chunks so the ground could be searched underneath.

Using sifters, hand tools, brushes and buckets, investigators began the painstaking process of searching for evidence and removing the remains. Gee compared the work to that of an archaeological dig.

Representatives from the Hillsborough County Sheriff's Office, Polk County Sheriff's Office, the Hillsborough County Medical Examiner's Office and the University of South Florida's anthropology department remained at the scene late Thursday.

It will be up to the medical examiner's office to identify the remains and determine the cause of death. Officials there should be able to determine by the level of decomposition how long the remains have been buried there.

As workers excavated the remains, Judd dispatched deputies to the Polk County home of Shakespeare's mother to tell her of the find.

"We cannot identify it to be Abraham Shakespeare,'' Judd said. "We can only tell you we found human remains. It's painfully obvious he didn't get there by himself.''

Gee said investigators would remain at the scene as long as Saturday to collect evidence in the case.

"It's definitely a murder investigation," the Hillsborough sheriff said. "Somebody put that in that hole ... We are going to get to the bottom of it."

A day earlier, Judd had announced that the search at 5802 State Road 60 E. was related to the Shakespeare case.

"I would much rather find Abraham Shakespeare alive and well on his favorite Caribbean island sipping his favorite drink," Judd said. "Unfortunately, our investigation leads us to believe he may have met a sinister death by sinister means."

No suspects have been named, but authorities are investigating Dorice Donegan "DeeDee" Moore's dealings with Shakespeare. Authorities have said in the past that she moved some of Shakespeare's money to her accounts after April.

The property being searched is owned by Moore's boyfriend, Shar Krasniqi. It houses a law office rented by D. Howard Stitzel.

The case has taken an abundance of twists and turns. Earlier this week, Lakeland police officer Troy McKay Young was accused of accepting money from Moore in exchange for information from law enforcement databases.

When asked what she hopes happens to the person or persons who committed the crime, if the body turns out to be Shakespeare, his cousin said: "I hope they rot in hell.''