A lottery winner was discovered dead with his winning ticket still in his pocket.
Gregory Jarvis, 57, went on a shooting rampage while staying at Kaysville’s Blue Water Inn. Jarvis played and won an additional Club Keno game called “The Jack” during his stay on September 13, 2021.
However, in order to claim the lottery winnings, he needed his Social Security card, which he did not have with him at the time and is required for all lottery prizes over $600 in the state of Michigan.
Jarvis applied for a new Social Security card but then vanished the following week. On Friday, authorities discovered his body washed up on a Kaysville beach along Saginaw Bay, about 10 days after he won the lottery.
During his stay at the inn, Jarvis won a $45,000 lottery jackpot for his Keno game. He couldn’t get the money right away because he had to replace his Social Security card. He applied for a replacement card and then began working on his plans to visit family with his lottery winnings.
Dawn Talasky, owner of Blue Water Inn, told ABC12 about Jarvis’ bad luck and how he expressed a desire to visit loved ones with money. He even returned to the inn’s tavern to buy everyone a round of drinks after winning the September 19, 2021 draw.
Talasky, on the other hand, noticed that Jarvis had not returned. His presence as a regular was significant.
“He hadn’t been here all week, and we assumed something was wrong,” she explained.
Jarvis’ boss eventually asked him out. He went to the Blue Water Inn but couldn’t find it on September 22.
Two days later, a Kaysville resident discovered the body washed up on a private beach. Jarvis’ body was identified by police, who said he died near his boat. An autopsy on the man revealed that he had hit his head before suffocating.
Police discovered a winning lottery ticket in his wallet, which was in his pocket. Because he was the true winner of so much money, they launched an investigation to determine whether foul play was involved in his death. Following an investigation, they determined that his death was unintentional.
“We think he was tying up his boat, slipped and fell, hit his head, and that’s where he ended up in the water,” Kaysville Police Chief Kyle Romzek (below) said.
“We were worried about it (the lottery) at first, but after the autopsy and we interviewed people at the bar, he was well-liked here, he was a good guy, so that took him off the table,” Romzek added.
Jarvis’ surviving relatives received the winning lottery ticket. They will be able to collect the funds and do something to honor the man who died in the water.
“Someone said someone had just won The Jack and he said ‘Great,’ and someone asked him, ‘Was that you?’ and it was,” bar owner Talaski said during one of her last encounters with the deceased. He was overjoyed. He’s a really nice guy. He came in every day… He intended to use the money to visit his sister and father in North Carolina.