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Million Dollar Slot Winner Jumps from Pier

May 25, 2011

A sad story out of New Jersey tells of the suicide of a one-time slots winner, 43-year-old John Leatherman, who jumped to his death of a pier this week. The Neptune and Bradley Beach police answered a 911 call about a curios man in the water near Ocean Grove Fishing Pier who the caller thought was in some sort of trouble. As it turns out, the man in the water was decapitated Leatherman who had apparently hung himself off the bridge. No motive has been revealed, nor has any foul play been suspected.

What makes this story even more disturbing is that back on New Year’s Eve 2001, Leatherman had hit a slot jackpot for $1,018,861 at the Trump Taj Mahal Casino in Atlantic City when he casually dropped $20 in the slot machinge. Leatherman, a carpenter, was on vacation with his girlfriend at the time when he played the game on the way to a nightclub. He took the annuity payment deal of $50,943 a year for 20 years, which means he still had nine years of payments coming to him.

At the time he won the slot jackpot, it was reported that, “Leatherman said he will invest some of the money, help family and friends who have helped him, and donate some to charities.”

It is also believed that he bought a winter home in Florida with some of his money, though he lived with step mother. Leatherman worked as a union carpenter and was described by his stepmother as being “very smart, very focused. He had a good sense of humor and was a hard worker.”

Written by Bea · Filed Under Poker News 

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