Drowning victim had winning lottery ticket

HURON COUNTY, Mich. (WJRT) - A Caseville antheral wins a Club Keno jackpot, but ne'er gets a accidental to currency the winning ticket.

The assemblage of 57-year-old Gregory Jarvis was recovered on a backstage formation on the Saginaw Bay Friday morning.

An autopsy confirms helium drowned, but constabulary were acrophobic aft they discovered helium had a winning lottery summons successful his wallet.

Jarvis tried to currency the summons earlier his death, but helium didn’t person a societal information paper that was successful bully shape.

He applied for different but earlier it arrived successful the mail, helium was recovered dormant on that backstage beach.

“Very bully guy, helium was present everyday,” says Blue Water Inn proprietor Dawn Talaski.

Jarvis was astatine the Blue Water Inn successful Caseville connected September 13th erstwhile helium was playing the Club Keno adhd connected crippled “The Jack”. He deed the jackpot.

“$45,000. Somebody said idiosyncratic conscionable won “The Jack” and helium said, great, and idiosyncratic asked him was it you and it was, truthful helium was ace excited,” says Talaski.

She says connected the nighttime of the 19th, Jarvis was backmost astatine the Blue Water, buying rounds of drinks, but astatine that clip helium inactive had not cashed the $45,000 ticket.

“He couldn’t currency it due to the fact that helium didn’t person a societal information paper astatine all, it wasn’t immoderate good, truthful helium applied for a caller one,” she says.

That mightiness helium walked retired of the Blue Water Inn and it was the past clip anyone is believed to person seen Jarvis. Talaski felt thing amiss the adjacent time erstwhile helium didn’t travel into the bar.

“Sometimes he’s up northbound working, helium wasn’t present each week and we thought, thing is wrong,” she says.

She says Greg’s brag came into the barroom the pursuing Wednesday saying Greg had not shown up for work. Then connected Friday morning, a nonmigratory on a backstage formation successful Caseville called constabulary saying a assemblage had washed ashore adjacent a boat. It was Gregory Jarvis’s boat.

“We are reasoning that helium was tying up his boat, slipped and fell, deed his head, and that’s wherever helium ended up successful the water, nary foul play suspected,” says Caseville Police Chief Kyle Romzek.

Romzek says erstwhile his section learned astir the winning lottery ticket, they did immoderate further investigation.

“It did, astatine first, we were acrophobic astir it but aft the autopsy, and we interviewed radical astatine the bar, helium was well-liked astir here, helium was bully guy, that took it disconnected the table,” says Romzek.

The autopsy shows Jarvis had caput injuries accordant with hitting his caput connected the vessel and helium drowned. Dawn Talaski says Jarvis had made immoderate plans for the money.

“He was readying to instrumentality that wealth and spell spot his sister and his dada successful North Carolina,” she says.

The Michigan Lottery Commission confirms that winners of prizes of much than $600 person to supply a photograph recognition and their societal information card, the existent card, to cod their winnings.

Greg Jarvis’s relatives present person the winning ticket.

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