A Michigan man who won the lottery tragically died before he could cash in — with the winning ticket still in his pocket.
Gregory Jarvis, 57, who won the $45,000 jackpot a week and a half ago, was discovered when his body washed up on a beach in Caseville, along the Saginaw Bay, on Friday.
Jarvis had attempted to cash his ticket before his death but was turned away after he didn’t have a Social Security card that was in “good shape,” ABC12 reported.
A Social Security card and a photo identification are required for winnings over $600 in the state of Michigan, according to the Michigan Lottery Commission.
Jarvis was certainly at the inn on Sept. 13 when he played the Michigan Lottery game Club Keno, a draw-style game wherein a player wagers an amount between $1 and $20.
Club Keno numbers are drawn “every few minutes” from six in the morning until just before two in the morning, the lottery notes, with a jackpot size that frequently increases apace over time. Jarvis hit the jackpot at a high point. He won $45,000 by matching eight of eight spots.
Jarvis frequently visited the Blue Water Inn in Caseville. “Very nice guy, he was here every day,” Blue Water Inn owner Dawn Talaski told ABC 12.
She also mentioned that he was back at Blue Water Inn on September 19 but had not claimed the $45,000 jackpot. Talaski said the following day he didn’t come into the establishment, “sometimes he’s up north working, he wasn’t here all week and we thought, something is wrong.”
It wasn’t until Friday, September 24, that his body was found near his boat.
“We are thinking that he was tying up his boat, slipped and fell, hit his head, and that’s where he ended up in the water, no foul play suspected,” Caseville Police Chief Kyle Romzek said.
The winning lottery ticket was discovered during the police investigation, making them a little suspicious. “At first, we were concerned about it, but after the autopsy, and we interviewed people at the bar, he was well-liked around here, he was nice guy, that took it off the table,” says Romzek.
Talaski said Jarvis planned to use the jackpot money to visit his dad and sister in North Carolina, but because you need a photo I.D. and a social security card to claim your winnings in Michigan, he never received the cash.
The winning ticket has now been given to Jarvis’s relatives.
Watch the video report below for more details: