$14M lottery mystery leaves officials baffled

[Hum]

It is too late to collect on the $14.3 million Iowa Lotto ticket, but the state's Division of Criminal Investigation is still trying to determine who owned the ticket that was claimed and then abandoned to make sure no one was killed or blackmailed, officials told ABC News.

The Lotto ticket was purchased in December 2010 at a Des Moines, Iowa, gas station, but a claim for it only emerged nearly a year later, just hours before the deadline to claim the jackpot expired.

It was claimed by Crawford Shaw, 77, of Bedford, N.Y., who said he represented a trust that owned the ticket. He sent the ticket via FedEx to a law firm in Des Moines whose attorneys tried to collect on Shaw's behalf.

When Iowa officials challenged Shaw's ownership, he abandoned the claim and the ticket became worthless because the deadline to collect the winnings had passed.

Nevertheless, the probe into who was the owner of the bonanza continues.

"The possibilities of what could have occurred here really are endless," said Iowa Lottery spokeswoman Mary Neubauer. "It could have been as serious as someone being killed, or someone being blackmailed. It's all within the realm of possibility. The whole situation is just strange."

The Iowa Lottery balked at paying Shaw because the owner would not come forward.

"Our security ran all the checks," Neubauer told ABC News. "There was no question that it was actually the winning ticket, but they couldn't answer some very simple security questions."

Neubauer said Shaw and his attorneys were unable to identify who bought the ticket, where it was purchased, and where the ticket had been for the year until the claim was made.

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[Growled Member]

Yep, something mighty suspicious going on there. People will do a lot for $14.3 million.

[Hum]

Does sound like somebody died, to get this ticket.

[Detection]

I remember hearing a story of a family who woke up to find their car broken into and the stereo stolen, on the seat was a scratch card the thief had dropped, they scratched it and won something like ?90k

[theyarecomingforyou]

I remember hearing a story of a family who woke up to find their car broken into and the stereo stolen, on the seat was a scratch card the thief had dropped, they scratched it and won something like ?90k

Sounds too good to be true but it's nice to think things like that occasionally happen.

[Growled Member]

I remember hearing a story of a family who woke up to find their car broken into and the stereo stolen, on the seat was a scratch card the thief had dropped, they scratched it and won something like ?90k

My luck would have been he dropped a rare item and it would turn out to be stolen and illegal to own and I would end up in jail.