Covington, Ky. – For Mack Metcalf and his estranged second wife, Virginia Merida, sharing a $34 million lottery jackpot in 2000 meant escaping poverty at breakneck speed.
Years of blue-collar struggle and ramshackle apartment life gave way almost overnight to limitless leisure, big houses and lavish toys.
Metcalf bought a Mount Vernon-like estate in southern Kentucky, stocking it with horses and vintage cars.
Merida bought a Mercedes- Benz and a modernistic mansion overlooking the Ohio River, surrounding herself with stray cats.
But trouble came almost as fast. And though there have been many stories of lottery winners turning to drugs or alcohol, and of lottery fortunes turning to dust, the tale of Metcalf and Merida stands out as a striking example of good luck – the kind most people only dream about – rapidly turning fatally bad.
Metcalf’s first wife sued him for $31,000 in unpaid child support, a former girlfriend wheedled $500,000 out of him while he was drunk, and alcoholism increasingly paralyzed him.
Merida’s boyfriend died of a drug overdose in her hilltop house, a brother began harassing her, she said, and neighbors came to believe her once-welcoming home had turned into a drug den.
In 2003, just three years after cashing in his winning ticket, Metcalf died of complications related to alcoholism at the age of 45.
On the day before Thanksgiving, Merida’s partly decomposed body was found in her bed. Authorities said they have found no evidence of foul play and are looking into the possibility of a drug overdose. She was 51.
Merida’s death remains under investigation, and large parts of her and Metcalf’s lives remain wrapped in mystery. But some of their friends and relatives said they thought the moral of their stories was clear.
“Any problems people have, money magnifies it so much, it’s unbelievable,” said Robert Merida, one of Merida’s three brothers.
When Metcalf won the jackpot in July 2000, he and Merida were barely scraping by, he by driving a forklift and she by making corrugated boxes. But they walked away with a cash payout of $34 million, which they split 60-40: He received about $14 million after taxes, while she got more than $9 million.
There were moments of happiness. Shortly after winning the lottery, Metcalf took his child from his first marriage, Amanda, shopping in Cincinnati, giving her $500 to buy clothing and get a manicure.
“I had never held that kind of money before,” Amanda Metcalf said. “That was the best day ever.”
Pledging to become a good father, he moved to Corbin, Ky., to be near Amanda, buying a 43- acre estate with a house modeled after Mount Vernon for $1.1 million. He collected all-terrain vehicles, vintage American cars and an eccentric array of pets: horses, Rottweilers, tarantulas and a 15-foot boa constrictor.
Metcalf’s drinking apparently became worse, and he became increasingly afraid that people were plotting to kill him, installing surveillance cameras and listening devices around his house, Amanda Metcalf said.
Then in early 2003, Metcalf spent a month in the hospital to be treated for cirrhosis and hepatitis. After being released, he married for the third time but died months later, in December.
When Merida’s son found her body Nov. 23, she had been dead for several days, the county coroner’s office said. There was no evidence of a break-in or that she had been attacked, officials said.
Toxicological studies on her remains will not be completed for several weeks.