Lotto winner search zeroes in on concrete slab

DOVER - Detectives brought in the heavy equipment, using an excavator to rip away newly poured concrete.

Investigators now believe Abraham Shakespeare may have been here all along, buried beneath it.

"It is tough. I was on my way home from work and just thought let me go by there just to see if it's true. Is it true," said Shakespeare's friend Hozanna Cannon.

She and several others watched in disbelief as detectives carried away large bags of evidence.

They also found, what appeared to be an oriental rug, buried in the backyard.

"We're here looking for Abraham Shakespeare based upon information our homicide detectives developed. We're working with the Hillsborough Sheriff's Office and the State Attorney's Office," says Sheriff Grady Judd, Polk County.

Just a few years ago, Shakespeare won the $30 million lottery jackpot and took home a $17 million dollar lump sum.

Then last April, Shakespeare vanished.

Investigators named Dee Dee Moore a person of interest.

Her one time boyfriend owns the property, where investigators are now searching.

"Any time you do an excavation, it's a slow process and it's not something that's easily done or done in haste, so it'll take some time," said Sheriff David Gee, Hillsborough County.

Sheriffs from two counties are now involved, along with forensics experts from USF.

They used ground sonar to search for bones.

Now, they're digging. Investigators say they won't stop, until they finally know what happened.

"It just doesn't even seem real. You're used to seeing him two or three days a week. And then not see him for nine months or something like that? Its not real," Cannon said.