Posted on 11/26/2005 10:24:25 PM PST by LibWhacker
NEWPORT, Ky. (AP) -- A woman who won a $65.4 million Powerball jackpot with her husband five years ago was found dead at her home overlooking the Ohio River, where she had apparently been for days before anyone found her, police said.
Virginia Metcalf Merida's son discovered her body Wednesday. Police were awaiting autopsy and toxicology results before announcing a cause of death.
When the woman and her husband, Mack Wayne Metcalf, won the jackpot, they told lottery officials they were going their separate ways to fulfill their dreams. Merida planned to quit her job making corrugated boxes and buy a home. Metcalf, a forklift operator, wanted to start fresh in Australia. He never did.
Metcalf died in 2003 at age 45 while living in a replica of George Washington's Mount Vernon estate built in Corbin, Ky. His death followed multiple run-ins with the law, including a child-support dispute from a previous marriage and a drunken driving charge filed before he hit the jackpot.
Neighbors said Merida stayed out of public view until last December, when a body was found in her 5,000-square foot, custom-built geodesic dome house. Campbell County Deputy Coroner Al Garnick confirmed that the man died of a drug overdose. Official records of the case were unavailable because of the Thanksgiving holiday weekend.
Merida used part of her winnings to buy a second home, but when she tried to evict the resident, the renter sued. A hearing was scheduled for Wednesday.
Carol Terrell Lawson, who is still renting the home, said that she never met Merida in person and only learned of the death after reporters began calling her.
Well, it ain't the ex-husband.
Of course, the way the article reads, you'd think the disgruntled tenant did it, but I don't think so.
But of course.
Arghhh, lots more info too, thanks. :-(
The way the article reads, makes you think she might not be dead. She's overlooking the River?
Good point
I mean, I can understand that some rich guy, born with a silver spoon in his mouth, might not be deliriously happy at his good fortune. He may not appreciate how lucky he is and how good he has it. But man, you'd think someone who'd had such a hard life as these two had would be veeeeeeeery happy, at least for a few years after winning their $65M! Sad.
Money will buy you a fine dog but only love can make him wag his tail ;o)
It is wrong of the government to give such a fortune to people at random.
Wrong and disgraceful for a government to do such a thing--
The government doesn't care about setting a good example.
The government just cares about getting the money from lottery sales that it keeps for itself.
Wow, it's like that old story, "The Monkey's Paw," isn't it? Be careful of what you wish for ....
The Cursed Middle Name strikes again!
Okay, John Wayne Gacy...John Wayne Bobbit.....??????
Large windfalls like a lottery jackpot will bring you a temporary increase in happiness, and conversely a severe financial setback will depress your mood for a time, but in a few months you will return to your baseline.
And as this case shows, if you don't play your cards right, you'll end off much worse than you were before you won the jackpot.
-ccm
You win the lottery and die the next day.
Isn't it Ironic ?
alanis morrisette.
It's a running feature in the syndicated column, "News of the Weird." Every month or so, they list all the thieves, murderers, rapists, etc., who have the middle name Wayne. It's strange how many there are.
For example:
Arrested recently and charged with murder: Kenneth Wayne Keller, Denton, Texas (August); Ronald Wayne Lail, Burke County, N.C. (September); Timothy Wayne Condrey, Caroleen, N.C. (September). Sentenced for murder: Tyler Wayne Justice, Alice, Texas (September). Committed suicide while suspected of murder: Michael Wayne Baxter, Edgewater, Md. (October). And in February, convicted double-murderer Russell Wayne Wagner was found dead in his cell in Jessup, Md., of an apparent heroin overdose, but in July, at the request of a sister, he received an official military burial at Arlington National Cemetery because he had been honorably discharged after his Army service in Vietnam. (Current law blocks from national cemeteries only criminals with death sentences.) [Dallas Morning News, 8-13-05] [Charlotte Observer, 9-22-05] [Daily Courier (Forest City, N.C.), 9-22-05] [Alice (Tex.) Echo-News Journal, 9-15-05] [The Capital (Annapolis), 10-8-05] [Washington Post, 8-5-05]
It is wrong of the government to give such a fortune to people at random.
Wrong and disgraceful for a government to do such a thing--
"The government doesn't care about setting a good example.
The government just cares about getting the money from lottery sales that it keeps for itself."
Why does the government not spread the lottery money around to more people when the pot grows that big? Why not give 6 people 10 million, rather than to give one person 60 million?
"but in a few months you will return to your baseline."
Reminds me of what I was told many years ago.
If you redistribute all of the wealth in the world, it will take only a short time for it to return as it was.
Excellent points! I had never thought about it in just that light, but it sure seems to hold true when I do a cursory examination of the lives of people in my circle of acquaintances.
What about Bruce Wayne?
The stories of big lottery winners is a fascinating topic. The tragedies that afflict the vast majority of these people is mortifying.
Seems that so much money just amplifies the problems already existing in their lives. They just buy a bigger hammer for life to smash them with.
This must be why some, including myself, call the lottery.... the "stupid tax"
Ah, yes, the stupid tax.
A tax on people who don't know math!
A Wayne in gain falls vainly from their fame...
LOL That is the way I read it too, she's dead but still looking at the river. Badly written in several places. She stayed out of sight UNTIL a man was found dead in her home? Was that what she was waiting for so then she could come out? Or I guess the police dragged her out to question her about it? Oh well, I don't really care.
Because the higher the prize, the more publicity and greater the frenzy of buying.
If the lotteries were harmless fun, then a ticket would cost a dollar and the most someone might win would be fifty or a hundred bucks.
And there would be lots of winners.
But this business of giving millions to just anyone, even child molesters, is insane.
Government should be in the business of encouraging people to work for their money, and not in the business of giving fortunes away for free.
Lest the work ethic be eroded, as it has been.
This is why I always say that if I win the lottery, I'll keep on working....until the first time somebody really pi$$es me off....
Exactly correct.
Those that haven't earned the money, will not have learned the proper value and use of money.
Such wisdom comes from struggle and hard work.
Just like giving technology to third world countries that haven't developed it from scratch, as did the West.
Those Third World countries the West gives technology to, too often wind up using that technology to act out their medieval fantasies upon the world.
Apu: You see, whether igloo, hut, or lean-to or a geodesic dome, there's no structure I have been to, which I'd rather call my home.
That's not completely true. One can understand the value of money through working (but not making a lot of money,) taking a longer view of financial prospects and desires and subordinating the excess of consumerist impulsiveness to longer-term goals.
Meaning: If I won the lottery, even though I don't have a large income, I would be set for life and would be living responsibly and morally after I did so.
Don't forget, there are also those who've been irresponsible with wealth and status after EARNING it.
It's all what the person brings to the table beforehand and how much the desire for money was a function of a design on security vs. a hunger for status.
"Seems that so much money just amplifies the problems already existing in their lives"
As the old axiom states: "money only makes of you more of what you already are"
Here's where you can read the last few months' columns:
http://www.newsoftheweird.com/archive/index.html
I guess it's every couple of months they do the "Classic Middle Name" update.
No, you're not cursed. I hope. We used to bug our boss about it as his middle name was Wayne--but a more straight-laced, law-abiding, prim-and-proper guy you'll never meet.
Here's a partial list of the Waynes:
http://www.newsoftheweird.com/wayne.html
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