Sunday September 22, 2019
Lotto Max winner Michael Gebru is believed to have been murdered in Ethiopia. (Ontario Lottery and Gaming Corporation)
Michael Gebru should have been having the time of his life.
Instead, he’s lying dead in a morgue in Addis Ababa, Ethiopia — the victim of a suspected murder.
In 2017, the former Scarborough man, 41, had just been laid off from his job at a manufacturing plant when he purchased a Lotto Max ticket.
Initially, he thought he had won $14. In reality, Gebru had actually won $10.7 million.
“I’ve always said that if I won the lottery, I’d help people in need,” he said at the time of his life-changing lottery win.
Gebru was determined to make a difference in people’s lives, particularly in poverty-stricken Ethiopia where he immigrated from.
“Going back home, he just wanted to do more for our country,” his cousin Sosuna Asefaw told CBC News.
According to Asefaw, Gebru split his time between Toronto and Ethiopia.
But something went wrong and local media are describing the homicide as a robbery attempt gone awry. So far, local cops have no suspects.
“I don’t know exactly what happened,” Asefaw said. “Everyone knew who he was in Toronto and everyone knew back home because it’s a big thing … He didn’t grow up with much.”
Meanwhile, the family of another Canadian who mysteriously vanished in Mexico is looking for answers.
Malcom Madsen was last seen in Puerto Vallarta on Oct. 28, 2018, in the early morning hours.
Fears are growing for retired jeweller Malcom Madsen who has been missing for more than a year in Mexico. (Facebook)
The Ontario man’s daughter, Brooke Mullins, told CTV News she believes her father was drugged by a friend at a bar popular with the growing ex-pat community.
She believes her father — whose image was captured by the watering hole’s CCTV camera — has been murdered.
“I can’t imagine what it would be like to be murdered by someone you love,” she told CTV from her home in Port Hope
“The Mexican authorities have three main suspects. They claim they need to make sure every ‘i’ is dotted and every ‘t’ is crossed. I need more help from Canada. “
His daughter Brooke Mullins is worried sick about her father. FACEBOOK
Madsen, 68, a retired jeweller reportedly had split his time between Canada and Mexico during the past few years.
At the time of his disappearance, Mullins said her father was accompanied by a dark-skinned woman with a medium-build and long black hair in a ponytail who was wearing a pink dress.
Despite using private eyes to discover the truth of her dad’s fate, answers are few and far between.
“Mexican authorities have still not arrested the person responsible, almost a year later,” Mullins wrote on Facebook.
In her quest for answers, she has now set up a Facebook page called “Justice for Malcom.”