Body found in Plant City identified as missing lotto winner Shakespeare

Friday morning, the mother of Abraham Shakespeare's 1-year-old son said she was convinced a body found in a hole on a Plant City property was the missing Florida Lottery winner. Hours later, the Hillsborough County Sheriff's Office confirmed her worst fears, announcing that the remains found Thursday had been identified through Shakespeare's fingerprints.

The cause of death has not been determined, and one isn't expected until Monday, Hillsborough County deputies say.

"The detectives have completed the search at the dig site and crews are working to fill the excavated area, but will remain on scene throughout the weekend," a Hillsborough County Sheriff's Office news release states.

Tori Butler, the mother of Shakespeare's 1-year-old son, said today that she's terribly sad and shocked by what deputies unearthed in eastern Hillsborough County.

She said she always pictured Shakespeare would live until he was 104 years old. Until the remains were found Thursday, she said, she had held out hope that the missing Shakespeare was still alive. She thought that all of a sudden, the man missing since April he would come out of hiding.

"But now he's really gone," she said.

"Now all of a sudden he didn't even get to witness his baby walk. He didn't get to witness his baby cut his first teeth, his first day at daycare, his first pictures he took at daycare."

Authorities found and removed the remains during the third day of a dig at a property between Plant City and Brandon. The remains were buried about 5 feet deep under a concrete slab some 100 yards behind a building at 5802 State Road 60 E.

Butler said she had an on-again, off-again relationship with Shakespeare, 43, and last saw him near Valentine's Day. He was last seen alive in April, although he wasn't reported missing until November. Shakespeare won about $30 million in the state lottery in 2007.

Her suspicions grew that something was wrong when she received text messages last year from him or someone using his number. He could read but wasn't great at it, and he wasn't the type of person who texted.

One of Shakespeare's texts was lengthy. Butler said she mentioned it to Dorice Donegan "DeeDee" Moore and that Moore told her Shakespeare was learning to read better.

On Nov. 5, their son's first birthday, Butler sent Shakespeare their son's picture. Shakespeare or someone else texted back, saying, "He's growing."

Butler said such a brief response from Shakespeare about the boy was suspicious.

One day, Butler said, she will tell her son that Shakespeare had a good heart and was a caring man.

"He just met the wrong people," she said.

Though the remains have been removed, investigators are looking for evidence to prove who put it there, forensic expert Michael Baden said.

Beyond trying to identify the body and determine a cause of death, investigators would look for anything that would help place a suspect at the crime scene, Baden said.

"Someone could have stood in the hole," he said. "There could have been evidence found under the body that was left there."

Baden recalled a crime scene he was at where investigators found a beer bottle with fingerprints that eventually implicated a killer.

"We had one case where a guy left behind his credit card," Baden said. "Like Sherlock Holmes said to Watson, 'I don't know what I am looking for, but I will tell you when I find it.'"

No suspects have been named, but authorities are investigating 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 the law office of D. Howard Stitzel. A lawyer for Stitzel said his client has nothing to do with Shakespeare's disappearance and that Stitzel is cooperating with authorities. Krasniqi could not be reached for comment.

Not long after Shakespeare bought a million-dollar home in early 2007, he was approached by Moore, said family and officials. Moore she was interested in writing a book about Shakespeare's life and became something of a financial adviser to Shakespeare, who never graduated high school.

Moore moved more than $1 million from Shakespeare's bank accounts into her own after he was last seen, Polk County deputies say.

Deputies said Moore used Shakespeare's cell phone to send text messages to his family and friends - after he was last seen in April - to make it appear he was alive. She paid one of his cousins $5,000 to hand-deliver a birthday card - with cash - to Shakespeare's mother. She also offered to turn over a house worth $200,000 to someone if that person would make a false statement to law enforcement that they saw Shakespeare alive, investigators said.

Deputies would not identify the person they say was offered a house from Moore.

But Butler said today that Moore had offered her a house to help make it appear Shakespeare was alive. Instead of lying, Butler said, she told deputies everything Moore asked her to do.

Efforts to reach Moore today were unsuccessful.

Information from the Associated Press was used in this report. Editor Howard Altman contributed to this report. Reporter Josh Poltilove can be reached at (813) 259-7691.