http://usnews.msnbc.msn.com/_news/2012/04/06/11049946-self-declared-mega-millions-winner-mirlande-wilson-i-lost-the-ticketSelf-declared Mega Millions winner Mirlande Wilson: I lost the ticket
A mother-of-seven who claimed she was one of the winners of the $656 million Mega Millions lottery told NBC News on Thursday that she has lost the ticket.
Mirlande Wilson, 37, claims she bought the winning ticket at a 7-Eleven in Baltimore, but so far none of the three winners -- the two others were in Illinois and Kansas -- has actually come forward to claim the money.
Asked by NBC Washington’s Shomari Stone whether she was going to ask for her share, Wilson said, "if I find it [the ticket]."
Stone then asked Wilson if she had lost the ticket and she replied, "I misplaced it."
She was reportedly responsible for a McDonald's employee pool of Mega Millions tickets, but has said that the winning ticket wasn’t part of the pool.
On Wednesday, Wilson’s lawyer Edward Smith Jr., asked the press to leave her alone. Journalists gathered in his office and were then told to go away.
"That's really it … to ask you to go back to your places," Smith said.
Woman who claims to be Mega Millions winner: Leave me alone
Wilson, a Haitian immigrant, told Stone that her situation was "really stressful."
Amid continuing doubts about her story, Stone asked her if she had made it up.
"I didn’t make up the story," Wilson told him. "I did not make up no story to get no attention."
Maryland Lottery director Stephen Martino said the winner has until Sept. 28 to claim the prize. The winner has to do so in person, but doesn't have to make their identity public. Two other winning tickets were sold in Illinois and Kansas.
Martino said the winning ticket was sold at approximately 7:15 p.m. on March 30 -- less than four hours before the drawing -- at the 7-Eleven on Liberty Avenue in Baltimore. It was a Quick Pick ticket, and was the only one purchased at that time.
Martino said that officials have looked at surveillance tape at the 7-Eleven, but that there is an issue because the timestamp on the tape does not exactly match the timestamp of the lottery ticket machine, so they can't be exactly sure who bought the ticket from that video.
Because of all of the rumors swirling around who possesses the ticket, Martino is urging people who bought tickets at the 7-Eleven to check their tickets again to make sure they don't have the winner. He said he hopes that people haven't thrown out their tickets thinking that someone else won, only to have had the winning ticket all along.
