A man who bagged a $27million lottery jackpot ended up blowing all the money in just five years and living in a shed covered in human faeces. David Lee Edwards was a convicted felon from Ashland, Kentucky whose life should have been changed forever when he won a quarter-share of the Powerball $280m jackpot in August 2001.
Despite it being one of the biggest lottery wins in history, all of Mr Edward's money had been spent by 2006 on excessive purchases and drugs. The first thing he had done after securing his prize was marry his girlfriend Shawna Maddux in Malibu, California and then the couple sent out to splash his cash, the Mirror reports.
Just some of the lavish purchases included a mansion in a gated community, a private jet and a dozen more luxurious cars. However, the overspending soon caught up with them and only five years later, Mr Edwards and Mrs Maddux were left penniless and living in a storage shed that was allegedly covered in human faeces.
Mrs Maddux soon left to remarry and she and her new husband eventually took Mr Edwards in before finding a space for him in a hospice. His rough lifestyle had taken its toll on Mr Edwards and he died in 2013 aged just 58. By the end of his life, all of his winnings were gone and owed out huge debts worth thousands to others.
It is not difficult to understand how his fortune ran out after his string of extravagant purchases including his first $1.6m mansion which was a 6,000 square ft monster in a gated community in Palm Beach Gardens, Florida. He then went on to buy a second house nearby for $600,000 before blowing $1m on luxury cars including a $90,000 Dodge Viper and a $200,000 Lamborghini Diablo.
However, his most extortionate luxury of them all was a $1.9m private LearJet. With plans to invest, he also spent another $4.5m on a fibre optics installation company and a limo business. He even gave half a million to another ex wife and her husband over custody of Edwards' then teen daughter, Tiffani.
According to estimates, Mr Edwards splurged $3m of his $27mfortune in just three months after getting the winning ticket and a further $12m the following year. This is a huge difference to what he originally said he would do with the money that he won.
At the time, he said: "You know, a lot of people, they're out of work. Doesn't have hardly anything. And so I didn't want to accept this money by saying I'm going to get mansions and I'm going to get cars, I'm going to do this and that. I would like to accept it with humility."
"I want this money to last, for me, for my future wife, for my daughter, and future generations".
In the years before his death, Mr Edwards had multiple run-ins with the law regarding possession of illegal drugs including crack cocaine.
The late millionaire even contracted hepatitis from the use of intravenous needles.
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