From the San Francisco Chronicle

Carole Warner said Friday that she won $85 million in the California Lottery but isn't sure if she will claim the money.
That's if she can find the ticket.

The Benicia resident said she doesn't want the cash -- and a trailing pack of instant friends, long-lost relatives and hangers-on to disturb her family's "simple" life.

Warner said she had last seen the ticket shortly after the Wednesday night drawing of the SuperLotto Plus numbers.

Lottery officials say that no one has stepped forward claiming to have the winning ticket, which was purchased at a Quik Stop Market in Vallejo. The losers list now may include Warner.

"I can't find my ticket," the 44-year-old Costco employee said Friday night outside the apartment she shares with her husband, Steve, and their 10-year- old son. "We've been looking all over for it."

Not surprisingly, Steve Warner isn't happy.

"He's extremely ticked off right now at the fact that I misplaced the ticket," Carole Warner said.

Even if she finds the lucky ducat, Warner said, she doesn't know if she'll keep it. Money changes things. And she doesn't want to be changed.

"I'm very simple," Warner said. "I like quiet and calmness and doing the things we do as a family."

While everybody talks about what they would do if they won the lottery, Warner said, "It's a lot different story when it actually goes down. It's overwhelming."

Already people have been acting weirdly around her, and she hasn't won anything yet. She told just one of her fellow employees at the Vallejo Costco outlet, "and it spread through every Costco in the county." Soon, people were coming up to her just to touch her -- which she found weird.

If she eventually finds the ticket, Warner said, she might give it to charity.

"I have six months to think about it, and I'm going to," Warner said. "I'm overwhelmed right now. I guess I'm not used to the 15 minutes of fame."

Refusing a jackpot would be a first in California.

Fifteen jackpots have gone unclaimed in the 17-year history of the California Lottery, "but we always assume it's because somebody lost their ticket," said Cathy Doyle Johnston, a lottery spokesperson. "But even if she didn't want it, she could give it to charity."

According to lottery rules, California's public schools may be the big winners if the prize isn't claimed. Johnston said the state's general education fund could get $31 million after taxes if Warner -- or whoever -- bypasses the jackpot.

The Quik Stop where the winner was purchased will get its $425,000 share regardless.