N.J. man hits jackpot: He's engaged to lottery winners' daughter

Mar 22, 2007, 11:00 am (8 comments)

Mega Millions

N.J. man will wed the daughter of a New Jersey couple who won half the record $390 million Mega Millions jackpot. 

A Titusville, New Jersey, man has close ties with a New Jersey couple who claimed half of the record $390 million Mega Millions jackpot Monday.

Tyler Sampson, a 1996 graduate of Titusville High School and owner of investment properties in the city, is engaged to the daughter of lottery winners Elaine and Harold Messner, sources said. The woman's name was not available for publication.

Elaine and Harold Messner chose the cash option for the prize from the March 6 drawing in the multi-state game. They will receive $116,557,083 before the 25 percent federal withholding tax.

"We feel very fortunate and blessed," Harold Messner, 57, a general contractor who bought the winning ticket. "This is that early retirement we've always dreamed of. Now we can do all those things we said we would do once we retired."

A truck driver in Georgia had the other winning ticket and claimed it within hours of the drawing.

Messner and his wife, who is 56, live in Cape May County, at the state's southern tip, not far from the liquor store where they purchased the winning ticket. They let a state lottery machine randomly select numbers for them.

Messner said he and his wife didn't sleep for the rest of the night after they realized the ticket he had purchased at a liquor store in Woodbine had all the winning numbers.

"I checked the last number twice, called for my wife and told her we won," he said in a statement through their lawyer, Richard King. "She had a very hard time believing it."

King said the couple would not speak with reporters or hold a news conference to discuss their prize.

Neighbors said they suspected something was amiss when they saw the Messners erect "No Trespassing" and "Beware of the Dog" signs outside their home over the weekend.

"They don't own a dog," neighbor Rosemary Trout said.

"In a lot of ways, we're still recovering from the shock of winning all this money," Messner said in the statement. "I know this means we're officially a retired couple, but past that, Elaine and I are still sorting all of this out. We have some ideas about what we want to do with this big win, but haven't made any big decisions yet."

The previous largest U.S. lottery jackpot was $365 million in 2006, when eight workers at a Nebraska meatpacking plant won the Powerball drawing. The Big Game, the forerunner of Mega Millions, paid out a $363 million jackpot in 2000.

Mega Millions tickets are sold in California, Georgia, Illinois, Maryland, Massachusetts, Michigan, New Jersey, New York, Ohio, Texas, Virginia and Washington state.

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CA LotteryGuy

The article states "sources said" that Simpson was engaged to the daughter of the lottery winner.  The vast majority of the article is just a rehash of the lottery winner's story.  Looks like the media was just looking for something to print about these people.

To me this is a small example of what is wrong with the media.  The story really isn't newsworthy.

DoubleDown

Quote: Originally posted by CA LotteryGuy on Mar 22, 2007

The article states "sources said" that Simpson was engaged to the daughter of the lottery winner.  The vast majority of the article is just a rehash of the lottery winner's story.  Looks like the media was just looking for something to print about these people.

To me this is a small example of what is wrong with the media.  The story really isn't newsworthy.

I Agree!   Which is exactly why they do not want a press conference .

CA LotteryGuy

Quote: Originally posted by DoubleDown on Mar 22, 2007

I Agree!   Which is exactly why they do not want a press conference .

This winner did what a lot of us think is the right thing to do, no press conference and have a spokesperson.  Yet still a neighbor blabs they don't have a dog and someone else blabs about their daughter's upcoming wedding.

Raven62's avatarRaven62

Six degrees of separation at work...

RJOh's avatarRJOh

Quote: Originally posted by CA LotteryGuy on Mar 22, 2007

This winner did what a lot of us think is the right thing to do, no press conference and have a spokesperson.  Yet still a neighbor blabs they don't have a dog and someone else blabs about their daughter's upcoming wedding.

Maybe he should have moved before claiming his prize then his old neighbors would have had nothing to blab about and neither would his new neighbors.

justxploring's avatarjustxploring

Quote: Originally posted by RJOh on Mar 22, 2007

Maybe he should have moved before claiming his prize then his old neighbors would have had nothing to blab about and neither would his new neighbors.

I'm wondering if that's the only thing a person can do to keep curious neighbors and other nuisances away.  They are trying to provide some kind of security for themselves, and then someone announces to the press that they don't even have a dog. 

Questioning the neighbors is something the media has been doing a lot lately.  You read about a murder or an arrest and then see a neighbor being interviewed on the 6:00 news.  Most of them probably never met the people, but they always have an opinion.

BTW, I love dogs, so I don't think they should be used as security guards. Burglars will just poison or shoot them if they want something badly enough.  However, they do work well as alarm clocks.

pumpi76

I thought that the N.J man that was going to marry the daugther of the couple that won the 390 million dollar, won the lottery...

i was ready to say what were the odds....

And why did i know that a general contractor was going to win the lottery...Of all the professions i was praying that it wasn't a "contractor".....Same thing with Withaker, and another person who was a "contractor" and won one of the biggest jackpot of powerball/megamillions...What are the odds....

 

 

"Laura Simpson from Great Lakes, Illinois deserves to be rich...."              "She is so rare..."

Prob988

Another problem with this story is that there is no such thing as "Titusville High School."

I live near Titusville. 

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