Photo: GoFundMe
Tiffani Hill won $2 million on a scratch-off lottery ticket in November 2020 while in California. Several months after winning the lottery, Hill married John Donato and moved to Calera, Oklahoma.
Now, the FBI is investigating after Donato allegedly shot and killed Hill before turning the gun on himself. Their one-year-old daughter was injured in the shooting and died at the hospital a few days later. Three other children in the home were uninjured in the shooting.
The FBI is involved in the investigation because the shooting occurred on tribal land. Hill was a registered member of the Choctaw Nation.
Theresa McGehee, the attorney representing the Hill family, said that the lottery winnings were a source of contention and likely led to the fatal shooting. She said that Hill's family believes she was the victim of domestic violence and that she was trying to get out of the abusive relationship.
"Tiffani never reached out to me about anything of that nature, but I did speak with her mom. And her mom wants the message that Tiffani was trying to get away from it," McGehee told KXII.
"Could that have sparked that argument? We'll never have any way of knowing. But I do know there were times it caused conflict between them."
Hill's family is working to get her other three children back to California and said that the remaining money was being put into a trust for them.
Her family created a GoFundMe page to help cover the funeral expenses.