The Heart That Broke Again: Man Who Received S-cide Victim's Heart Married His Wife & Unalived Himself A Decade Later

A stillness filled the air in the southeast Georgia home of 69-year-old Sunny Graham on April Fool's Day, 2008. A cloudy overcast muted the blue sky with a layer of dull gray and Graham had another long day at the family landscaping business ahead of him before he would take his 9-year-old stepson to the dentist.

Graham's plans changed that morning. After drinking coffee, Graham walked out the back door to the shed he'd recently built. He retrieved the 12-gauge Remington shotgun he used on his many dove and quail hunting trips, pointed the muzzle at his throat, and pulled the trigger. He was dead.

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Thirteen years earlier, Graham received a heart transplant from a man who had taken his own life, Terry Cottle. Nearly a decade later, Graham married Cottle's ex-wife. Fast forward a little more than another decade, and he'd take his life the same way as the man who gave him a second chance.

The same heart, silenced twice by suicide, and a wife heartbroken by the losses. As the story made its rounds on the Internet, speculations and theories began. People pondered the idea of organs holding a 'suicide gene,' some felt Cheryl had a bigger role in the deaths than she admitted.

In 1988, Terry was a married man with two young daughters living in an apartment he and his wife managed. His boss had a daughter, Cheryl, a sight for sore eyes, she was.

Cheryl Sweat had her three-year marriage annulled after learning her husband was married to another woman. Sweat's husband called Terry's wife and told her, "I just want you to know that your husband is seeing my wife." Terry filed for divorce. It was granted nine days later. 

In May 1989, Terry married Cheryl.

Terry adopted Cheryl's two sons, Christopher, and Timmy, and together they brought Jessica into the world. Cheryl attended nursing classes while Terry worked a 9-to-5 to pay the household expenses.

The couple relocated to Moncks Corner, South Carolina, in mid-1994. Cheryl's mother moved in with them around Christmas time.

Cheryl graduated from nursing school and found work. Terry earned a real estate license, became a certified emergency medical technician, and worked at a pest exterminating company. None of it was good enough for Cheryl. She told Terry she could not be with a man who earned less money than her.

A month after Cheryl's mother moved into the home, Terry moved out and in with his sister. Soon, Cheryl was back around, cooking for Terry and his sister and spending the night with Terry. Pregnant with her second child, 

Terry's sister told him she needed the room for the baby.

He moved back in with Cheryl. 

On March 15, the couple got into an argument. Her son Timmy said she took off her wedding ring and threw it outside over a fence. The next morning, she told Terry to leave.

Terry walked into the bathroom, aimed a gun at his head, and fired.

Cheryl told police that her 10-year-old son shouted that Terry had shot himself. She found him lying on the bathroom floor with a revolver in his hand. She changed her story later, saying she heard her son yell, "Mom, Dad has a gun!" She said she ran toward the bathroom and saw Terry holding the gun. She screamed at Terry and attempted to get to him in the bathroom as he slammed the door shut. She then heard a gunshot.

"Baby, help me, help me. I'm dying," she recalled him saying. The .22 caliber bullet entered Terry's head behind his right ear.

On March 20, Terry was taken off life support at the Medical University of South Carolina- Charleston.

The same night, 57-year-old Sonny Graham of Hilton Head received a life-changing call, one he'd hoped and prayed about for the last year. An Air Force veteran, Graham was manager for Hargray Communications and knew everyone on the island. The high school football field had been named in his honor.

Graham was an avid golfer, and a regular fixture at Heritage Golf Tournament, even after he retired from Hargray. He enjoyed hunting and fishing and was smitten with his family.

He and Elaine had been married for over three decades and shared two kids, Michelle and Gray.

Life changed in 1994 when Graham contracted a virus that damaged his heart muscle. By 1995, he was in such a bad way he could barely get out of a chair. He was added to heart transplant lists and the wait began.

He received the call he had been waiting for at 5 p.m. on March 20. Terry's heart was a perfect match.

The transplant was successful. Within six months, Graham was on an Alaskan fishing trip, joking that having the heart of a 33-year-old had "done wonders for his libido."

Friends noticed changes in Graham. He suddenly had a taste for hot dogs, one of Terry's favorite foods. He enjoyed beer and had a newfound thirst for life.

In November 1996, Graham requested a letter be forwarded to the donor's family. His children urged him to rethink sending the letter, but he wanted to thank Cottle's wife.

Something strange happened. Graham and Cheryl began exchanging letters and photographs. They spoke on the phone occasionally. By January 1997, Graham and his wife met Cheryl for dinner at a waterfront restaurant in Charleston. Graham instantly fell in love with Cheryl.

Cheryl was not interested in Graham. Months later, she married a man named George Watkins. Graham and Elaine attended the wedding. Sonny stood in for Cheryl's later father and gave away the bride. 

Cheryl and George became parents of a son in January 1999. Soon thereafter, George Watkins called Elaine and told her that her husband was having an affair with his wife. 

Cheryl and Graham moved in together in October 2001, shortly after the divorce was finalized.

The happiness didn't last long after the move.

In May 2002, Cheryl left Graham and he sued her, claiming she reneged on loans and refused to return his diamond ring. She counterclaimed saying Graham became possessive and started threatening her when she told him the relationship was over.

She married a fourth time- John B. Johnson, Jr. Johnson worked as a corrections officer at the prison where Cheryl worked as a nurse. Within a year, their marriage was in shambles. On Thanksgiving Day 2003, the couple both faced accusations of domestic violence against each other.

Johnson later recounted an incident between him and Cheryl. He claimed she began talking about suicide. She walked into the bathroom, he followed and found her clutching his .22 caliber revolver. The two wrestled over the gun, waking Cheryl's mom and kids. All rushed toward the commotion. She told the kids and her mom that Johnson had the gun threatening to shoot himself.

Cheryl and Johnson divorced in August 2004. That was fine with Cheryl; she had slipped Graham's ring on her finger long before that day. She married Graham on Dec. 8, 2004. 

Graham opened a landscaping business and hired Cheryl's two sons to work for him. Years passed; the couple seemed happy. Graham was as happy as ever.

He drew up a will in February 2008, asking his nephew Larry Lockley to serve as alternate executor. He assured his nephew that he was well and life was fine, he just needed to draft a will.

On March 20, the anniversary of his transplant, he left a message on his pastor's answering machine, asking, "Do you remember where you were 13 years ago on this day?"

The same week, he went on a fishing trip with a buddy. That friend said Graham seemed troubled, although he never spoke ill of his marriage.

Less than two weeks later, Graham had committed suicide.

After Graham's death, Cheryl complained to Tommie Hilton, a family friend, about how Graham "didn't leave me a dime."

No one knew Graham had blown through his retirement funds and ran up huge debts trying to give Cheryl the life she wanted to live.

Friends and family described her appearance as anything but a grieving wife.

She changed her MySpace name from Cheryl to PrEttY LAdy, then to "BeaUtiFuL MeSs. She posted a photo of a man soon after, identifying him as her 'new boyfriend.' a message dated March 26, six days before Graham's death, posted on the man's web page seemed flirtatious.

Investigators interviewed Cheryl's exes. Her first husband told them she had threatened to blow his brains out, leading him to obtain a restraining order against her. Her fourth husband told investigators anyone who got involved with Cheryl was in for an "emotional roller coaster ride." 

"One day she hates you and one day she loves you and the next day she hates you," he told the AP.