Tonda Dickerson was waiting tables at a Waffle House in Grand Bay, Alabama, when a regular customer named Edward Seward left her something different as a tip: a lottery ticket. It was March 6, 1999. Days later, that crumpled piece of paper was worth 10 million dollars.
What should have been a happy ending was only just beginning. Four coworkers sued her, alleging a verbal agreement to split any prize won with tickets given away at work. Seward himself took her to court, demanding the pickup truck he claimed had been promised to him. The courts ruled in his favor both times, but the IRS opened a tax investigation that ended with a debt of more than one million dollars.
None of that was the worst part. Years later, Stacy Martin, her own ex-husband, kidnapped her to demand a share of the money. The tip that changed her life ended up becoming the reason she nearly lost it.
