November 25, 2022 • 7 mins
Tonda Dickerson found herself with a winning lottery ticket but the events after were anything but lucky. Sources: https://www.the-sun.com/news/3866467/tonda-dickerson-lottery-win-from-hell/amp/ https://www.mirror.co.uk/news/world-news/how-waitress-tipped-7million-lottery-25249059.amp Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices
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(00:05):
What would you do if someone gaveyou a lottery ticket for millions of dollars
and you actually won and everyone inyour life started coming after you one by
one. This is Murder Squared,the true crime podcast. I am your
(00:25):
host, MICHAELA. And this isthe story of Tonda Dickerson. In March
of nineteen ninety nine, Tonda foundherself working at a waffle house in Green
Bay, Alabama. Now, Iknow not everyone knows what a waffle house
is. I'm pretty sure they're alongthem. They're in the South and end,
(00:51):
I believe the East Coast. Sofor everyone who doesn't know, waffle
house is a chain of diners andthey serve every thing short of waffles,
eggs, and bacon. They're justa breakfast diner. And they're very popular
because they're open twenty four to sevenand they're most of the time located off
(01:11):
of interstate exits. So Tonda wasworking at this waffle house as a waitress.
And Tonda had recently had a trainof bad luck come her way.
She was recently divorced. This happenedin ninety seven, and she was just
having a bit of a hard time. On March seventh, in nineteen ninety
nine. Tonda started her day likeshe would any other, getting up,
(01:34):
going to work, and going onabout her day. And her day ended
like most others, except for onelittle significant incident. A customer that she
had waited on left her a lotteryticket and wished her the best of luck
with it. This man was namedEdward Seward, and it was a weird
(01:55):
tip, to say the least,but not as weird as when six days
later the numbers were drawn and thatlottery ticket one Tonda seven million dollars.
Tonda did what many of us woulddo, and she quit her job at
the waffle house. She decided totake the two hundred and seventy five thousand
(02:16):
dollars paid over the course of thirtyyears. Now, I know this is
the happy ending we want, andthis is where we want the story to
end. But after all, thisis a true crime podcast, and I'm
nowhere close to being done. Tonda'sescaped from the waffle house wasn't as fast
(02:36):
and easy getaway as she would haveliked. Her co workers took her to
court, saying that Tonda said thatif she won, she would split her
winnings with them. So these fourladies took her to court and in forty
five minutes it was ruled that Tondaactually had to split her winnings with them.
And one of the main reasons thatthe judge swayed in the other waiters
(03:00):
his way was the fact that acouple had testified that they heard Tonda say
that in the days leading up tothe drawing for the lottery that she would
split her winnings if she won withher coworkers. But a year later,
in the year two thousand, thecase was brought before the Supreme Court and
(03:20):
the decision was overturned, and thereason for this was it was illegal gambling
between the waitresses. But this wasn'tthe last legal battle that Tanda had to
fight. Edward, the man thattipped her the ticket, decided it was
his turn to take Tonda to court. Edward claimed that Tonda promised that if
she won that she would buy hima new truck, and Tanda and her
(03:45):
lawyer argued that was just a throwawaycomment, that was just something in passing
that she said. This claim wasrejected and the case was thrown out.
So now she has won two legalbattles, but it was far from over.
So In that same week that thejudge threw out Edwards case, Tonda's
ex husband, Stacy Martin, kidnapsher. So Tonda and Stacy had been
(04:09):
divorced now for almost six years atthis point, and Stacy had been arrested
for a string of things, includingbreaking and entering into Tonda's home in December
of two thousand and one. Sonow it's February of two thousand and two
and he's just been released from jail, but he has other warrants out for
(04:30):
him, including felony charges, afelony of false pretense, and failure to
appear. So on this particular day, Stacy had found Tonda leaving work.
She had put her money into afamily business, and she was getting into
her truck and Stacy confronts her andpulls out a gun and makes his way
(04:51):
into her truck. He held herat gunpoint, and they drove into Jackson
County and made their way to aboat ramp. The area of this boat
ramp is pretty secluded. The entiretime they're driving into Jackson County and into
this boat ramp, and even oncethey get on the actual ramp, Stacy
tells Tonda over and over again.I'm going to kill you. I'm going
(05:15):
to kill you. And while allof this is happening, Tonda's phone has
been ringing off the hook, sofinally she tells him, if you don't
let me answer my phone, they'regoing to come looking for me because I
always answer my phone and be youjust carjacked me so someone could have seen
you. He finally agrees to lether answer her phone. She takes her
(05:36):
hand, reaches into her purse,pulls out a twenty two, and shoots
her ex husband in the chest.This shot wouldn't kill him, however,
she was able to call for helpand they rushed him to the local hospital
and he actually lived. And oddlyenough, there is nothing ever charged against
(05:58):
him for this kidnapping or to Tondawho shot her kidnapper. So after all
of this, it seems like thingsjust fizzled out about this bizarre attack,
But that wouldn't stop people from comingafter Tonda again and again in court,
and this time it's someone with alittle more authority than just a few waitresses
(06:21):
and a man that tipped her aticket. This time HiT's the irs,
and they're taking her to court forone million dollars in gift taxes and they
want to tax it as income tax. So in two thousand and two a
court ruled that she had to paytaxes on her winnings. So they asked
(06:42):
for one point two million dollars andtold her to pay it, and reluctantly
she had to. Tonda passed mostof her money along to family, and
most recently the last known whereabouts ofher is she is working at a casino
in Mississippi. I hope you allfound that case interesting. I know it
(07:05):
should stay a little bite size episodefor Patreon this month, but yeah,
so, I don't know why Ilove looking at people that have won the
lottery and all the crazy things thathave happened. I know we have talked
about the Abraham Shakespeare case that wasa very unfortunate case, but this one
(07:26):
is just No one will leave thiswoman alone with her money, and I
guess the moral of the story reallyis, if you are going to play
the lottery, don't promise anyone anything, and don't tell anybody if you win.
But until next time, stay squareand I'll see you next Murder
What would you do if someone gaveyou a lottery ticket for millions of dollars
and you actually won and everyone inyour life started coming after you one by
one. This is Murder Squared,the true crime podcast. I am your
(00:25):
host, MICHAELA. And this isthe story of Tonda Dickerson. In March
of nineteen ninety nine, Tonda foundherself working at a waffle house in Green
Bay, Alabama. Now, Iknow not everyone knows what a waffle house
is. I'm pretty sure they're alongthem. They're in the South and end,
(00:51):
I believe the East Coast. Sofor everyone who doesn't know, waffle
house is a chain of diners andthey serve every thing short of waffles,
eggs, and bacon. They're justa breakfast diner. And they're very popular
because they're open twenty four to sevenand they're most of the time located off
(01:11):
of interstate exits. So Tonda wasworking at this waffle house as a waitress.
And Tonda had recently had a trainof bad luck come her way.
She was recently divorced. This happenedin ninety seven, and she was just
having a bit of a hard time. On March seventh, in nineteen ninety
nine. Tonda started her day likeshe would any other, getting up,
(01:34):
going to work, and going onabout her day. And her day ended
like most others, except for onelittle significant incident. A customer that she
had waited on left her a lotteryticket and wished her the best of luck
with it. This man was namedEdward Seward, and it was a weird
(01:55):
tip, to say the least,but not as weird as when six days
later the numbers were drawn and thatlottery ticket one Tonda seven million dollars.
Tonda did what many of us woulddo, and she quit her job at
the waffle house. She decided totake the two hundred and seventy five thousand
(02:16):
dollars paid over the course of thirtyyears. Now, I know this is
the happy ending we want, andthis is where we want the story to
end. But after all, thisis a true crime podcast, and I'm
nowhere close to being done. Tonda'sescaped from the waffle house wasn't as fast
(02:36):
and easy getaway as she would haveliked. Her co workers took her to
court, saying that Tonda said thatif she won, she would split her
winnings with them. So these fourladies took her to court and in forty
five minutes it was ruled that Tondaactually had to split her winnings with them.
And one of the main reasons thatthe judge swayed in the other waiters
(03:00):
his way was the fact that acouple had testified that they heard Tonda say
that in the days leading up tothe drawing for the lottery that she would
split her winnings if she won withher coworkers. But a year later,
in the year two thousand, thecase was brought before the Supreme Court and
(03:20):
the decision was overturned, and thereason for this was it was illegal gambling
between the waitresses. But this wasn'tthe last legal battle that Tanda had to
fight. Edward, the man thattipped her the ticket, decided it was
his turn to take Tonda to court. Edward claimed that Tonda promised that if
she won that she would buy hima new truck, and Tanda and her
(03:45):
lawyer argued that was just a throwawaycomment, that was just something in passing
that she said. This claim wasrejected and the case was thrown out.
So now she has won two legalbattles, but it was far from over.
So In that same week that thejudge threw out Edwards case, Tonda's
ex husband, Stacy Martin, kidnapsher. So Tonda and Stacy had been
(04:09):
divorced now for almost six years atthis point, and Stacy had been arrested
for a string of things, includingbreaking and entering into Tonda's home in December
of two thousand and one. Sonow it's February of two thousand and two
and he's just been released from jail, but he has other warrants out for
(04:30):
him, including felony charges, afelony of false pretense, and failure to
appear. So on this particular day, Stacy had found Tonda leaving work.
She had put her money into afamily business, and she was getting into
her truck and Stacy confronts her andpulls out a gun and makes his way
(04:51):
into her truck. He held herat gunpoint, and they drove into Jackson
County and made their way to aboat ramp. The area of this boat
ramp is pretty secluded. The entiretime they're driving into Jackson County and into
this boat ramp, and even oncethey get on the actual ramp, Stacy
tells Tonda over and over again.I'm going to kill you. I'm going
(05:15):
to kill you. And while allof this is happening, Tonda's phone has
been ringing off the hook, sofinally she tells him, if you don't
let me answer my phone, they'regoing to come looking for me because I
always answer my phone and be youjust carjacked me so someone could have seen
you. He finally agrees to lether answer her phone. She takes her
(05:36):
hand, reaches into her purse,pulls out a twenty two, and shoots
her ex husband in the chest.This shot wouldn't kill him, however,
she was able to call for helpand they rushed him to the local hospital
and he actually lived. And oddlyenough, there is nothing ever charged against
(05:58):
him for this kidnapping or to Tondawho shot her kidnapper. So after all
of this, it seems like thingsjust fizzled out about this bizarre attack,
But that wouldn't stop people from comingafter Tonda again and again in court,
and this time it's someone with alittle more authority than just a few waitresses
(06:21):
and a man that tipped her aticket. This time HiT's the irs,
and they're taking her to court forone million dollars in gift taxes and they
want to tax it as income tax. So in two thousand and two a
court ruled that she had to paytaxes on her winnings. So they asked
(06:42):
for one point two million dollars andtold her to pay it, and reluctantly
she had to. Tonda passed mostof her money along to family, and
most recently the last known whereabouts ofher is she is working at a casino
in Mississippi. I hope you allfound that case interesting. I know it
(07:05):
should stay a little bite size episodefor Patreon this month, but yeah,
so, I don't know why Ilove looking at people that have won the
lottery and all the crazy things thathave happened. I know we have talked
about the Abraham Shakespeare case that wasa very unfortunate case, but this one
(07:26):
is just No one will leave thiswoman alone with her money, and I
guess the moral of the story reallyis, if you are going to play
the lottery, don't promise anyone anything, and don't tell anybody if you win.
But until next time, stay squareand I'll see you next Murder
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