Powerball winner dies alone and penniless in hospice at 58, 12 years after he scooped - and blew - $27MILLION jackpot

  • David Lee Edwards, 58, died Saturday in hospice care in his hometown of Ashland, Kentucky, after blowing through $27million in five years
  • Daughter says there is 'NO MONEY anywhere!!!' leftover from the lottery winnings
  • Edwards spent $12million in his first year as a millionaire
  • Bought cars, a $1.5million house and even a LearJet
  • He and wife Shawna 'contracted hepatitis from habitual drug use'
  • Shawna left him in 2008 after all of his money disappeared

By Michael Zennie

PUBLISHED: 12:38 EST, 3 December 2013 | UPDATED: 13:58 EST, 3 December 2013

A Powerball winner has died broke and all alone in hospice care, just 12 years after raking in $27million cash from a lottery jackpot.

David Lee Edwards, a convicted felon from Ashland, Kentucky, bought a mansion in a gated community, dozens of expensive cars and even a LearJet with the share of a record $280million jackpot he won in August 2001.

But drug addiction and his free-spending ways left Edwards and his wife Shawna broke and living in a squalid storage unit contaminated with human feces within five years. Shawna left him not long after and remarried.

Unhappy ending: David Lee Edwards, pictured with his new wife Shawna at their Malibu wedding shortly after winning the lottery, died Saturday in hospice at age 58

Unhappy ending: David Lee Edwards, pictured with his new wife Shawna at their Malibu wedding shortly after winning the lottery, died Saturday in hospice at age 58

Edwards bought this 6,000-square-foot mansion in Palm Beach Gardens, Florida, for $1.5million. He lost it five years later

Edwards bought this 6,000-square-foot mansion in Palm Beach Gardens, Florida, for $1.5million. He lost it five years later

Big spender: Edwards spent $1.9million on this LearJet to ferry him between his mansion in Florida and his hometown in Kentucky. He even had a personal pilot

Big spender: Edwards spent $1.9million on this LearJet to ferry him between his mansion in Florida and his hometown in Kentucky. He even had a personal pilot

In the end, Edwards' first ex-wife and her husband drove him from Florida back home to Ashland. He died in hospice care Saturday at age 58. 

Edwards' friends and family say his tragic story can serve as a parable about the corrupting influence of money. By the end of his life he had lost every last penny of his $27million fortune and died owing thousands of dollars to friends.

Both Edwards and Shawna contracted hepatitis from their needle drug use and both were arrested multiple times and had numerous run-ins with police for possession of crack cocaine, prescription pills and heroin, the Broward-Palm Beach New Times reported in 2007.

 

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Shawna bounced into and out of drug rehab for addition to OxyContin and other drugs, the newspaper reported.

Shortly after winning, Edwards bought a $1.6million, 6,000-square-foot house in a private tennis and golf community in Palm Beach Gardens, Florida. He spend $600,000 on another home nearby.

He paid $1.9million for a LearJet, bought three losing racehorses and acquired a fiber optics installation company and a limo business for $4.5million.

Neighbors complained that Edwards had so many cars in front of his house that it looked like a dealership. His purchases included a $90,000 Dodge Viper

Neighbors complained that Edwards had so many cars in front of his house that it looked like a dealership. His purchases included a $90,000 Dodge Viper (pictured)

Edwards also bought more than 200 pieces of medieval armor and weapons - all of it cheap reproductions

Edwards also bought more than 200 pieces of medieval armor and weapons - all of it cheap reproductions

He paid his ex-wife $500,000 to hand over custody of his teenage daughter Tiffani. She couldn't drive at the time, but he bought her a $35,000 Hummer golf cart to drive around the community.

He collected cars - he treated himself to a $200,000 Lamborghini Diablo super car and a $90,000 Dodge Viper.

At one point, he had $1million in vehicles parked in front of his house - so many that his neighbors complained that the upscale home in the upscale community started to look like a car dealership.


'I want this money to last, for me, for my future wife, for my daughter and future generations.'


David Lee Edwards in August 2001 after winning the lottery


He invited in an NBC News TV crew and bragged that he was wearing a $78,000 diamond-encrusted gold watch and a $159,000 ring. He showed off his $30,000 plasma screen TV.

Edwards also amassed a collection 200 swords, armor and antiques - all of it cheap reproductions.

In his first three months as a millionaire, he spent $3million. One year after his win, he had spent $12million, the New Times estimates.

He lost every bit of it by 2006.

Edwards intended to do right. On the day that he publicly claimed his winnings, he promised to use his money responsibly.

'You know, a lot of people, they're out of work. Doesn't have hardly anything,' he told reporters.

'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.

Sickly: Edwards, show left with his daughter Tiffani in 2010, reportedly contracted hepatitis from his repeated drug use. His daughter says there is no money left from his winnings

Sickly: Edwards, show left with his daughter Tiffani in 2010, reportedly contracted hepatitis from his repeated drug use. His daughter says there is no money left from his winnings

David Lee Edwards was arrested multiple times as his life spiraled down
Shawna Johnston Edwards reportedly struggled with drug addiction

Troubled: Edwards and his wife Shawna had multiple run-ins with police as their lives spiraled out rapidly down after the lottery money dried up

'I want this money to last, for me, for my future wife, for my daughter and future generations.'

Shortly after his win, he hired a financial adviser and a lawyer to look after his assets.

'If he followed my advice, he'd be pulling in about $85,000 a month for the rest of his life,' financial planner James Gibbs told the Broward-Palm Beach New Times in 2007.

Instead, Gibbs says, Edwards sold off the stocks and bonds that Gibbs invested on his behalf.

On Tuesday, his daughter, Tiffani Lee Edwards, said that her father had left her with nothing - not even a life insurance policy.

'There is NO MONEY anywhere!!!!' she wrote on Facebook.

Tiffani, whom Edwards enrolled in a private college prep academy in South Florida during his short brush with wealth, now works as a clerk at an amusement park in West Virginia.

Before he won the lottery, Edwards was unemployed and living with his then-girlfriend Shawna, who is 19 years his junior.

He had spent a third of his life in prison after he was arrested for armed robbery.

He borrowed money from a friend to pay his water bill. After he got his water turned on, he used the rest to buy a pizza and $7 worth of lotto tickets from Clark's Pump-N-Shop.

He picked the winning numbers himself and shared the $2800million jackpot with three other winners. His $41million lump sum portion came out to $27million after taxes.



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At least he had a good time, right?

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Well, unlike a lot of the DM posters, I can't take joy in insulting the dead. RIP dude, and condolences to the family. Apparently it is really common for lottery winners to spend ALL of the money. Again, I bet it is the ongoing expenses, not the initial outlay that gets people. Horse boarding...is CRAZY expensive. Jet fuel, insurance and maintenance are probably also crazy as well. Not to mention fees and taxes for the house and cars. Most people aren't totally stupid, they're just uneducated.

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He WAS stupid . All he had to do was follow the advice of his financial advisor . He could have had a very comfortable life to the end .

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Unbelievable.

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All I can say is Unbelievable. They say most of the lottery winners if they do not invest wisely lose it all in 5 years. Here is a true to live story.

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If you give a homeless guy $5 million dollars, he will eventually be broke again. If you take away all of the money from a successful, wealthy person, he will be rich again. People who are broke are that way for a reason... and people who have money got where they are for a reason. It's all in the mentality. I used to be married to a guy who blew every single penny he earned on crap, and he never saved anything. Needless to say, he is one of those people who will end up with nothing.

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If you give a homeless guy $5 million dollars, he will be broke again. If you take away all of the money from a successful, wealthy person, he will be rich again. People who are broke are that way for a reason... and people who have money got where they are for a reason. It's all in the mentality.

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If you give a homeless guy $5 million dollars, he will be broke again. If you take away all of the money from a successful, wealthy person, he will be rich again. People who are broke are that way for a reason... and people who have money got where they are for a reason. It's all in the mentality.

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I disagree. It would depend on how the rich person got his wealth and how the poor person ended up homeless.

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This happens to lottery winners a large percentage of the time but they hide it here in the states. Gambling was the business of organized crime not the government throughout history for a reason. Now with the use sophisticated ad campaigns the government preys on the citizenry through the lottery. The old time gangsters would have loved it. "What a racket!"

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Investing savings account etc should more the PAIDED for all this it's called interest

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Even with makeup for her family photo the daughter can't cover up her meth sores.

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