Winner turns down 14.3 million dollar lottery prize

In December of 2010 someone stopped by a Des Moines gas station and picked up a lottery ticket. It turned out that slip of paper was worth over 14 million dollars.

Hours before the ticket would have expired a legal firm from Iowa approached lottery workers to claim the prize. That's where things get weird.  "This one of the strangest of not the overall strangest story that any of us can remember happening in the lottery industry" said Iowa lottery worker Mary Neubaur.

“We believe it’s the first time anyone came in and claimed a multi-million dollar jackpot and then ultimately ended up walking away from the money” Neubaur added.

77 year old attorney Crawford Shaw from New York turned down the money rather than name the owner of the ticket or explain how he came about having it. Shaw had shipped the winning ticket to a firm in Des Moines and asked them to represent him and his client Hexham Investments Trust of which he claims to be the only trustee.

Listen to Neubaur talk about the case with a click here.

Shaw has offered no explanations and refuses interviews on the subject.

Neubaur is still scratching her head. “I don’t know if we’ll ever get to the bottom of it” she said almost giggling. But that doesn’t mean anyone is giving up.

“But I know we certainly hope we will and I know everybody who has been fascinated by this story would like to know what the final answer is.”