Small town buzzing over identity of its $1B Powerball winner: ‘Like a murder mystery’

A small-town gas station in Illinois is trying to solve a burning mystery: Who holds Wednesday night’s winning $1.04 billion Powerball lottery ticket that was sold in the store? Jon Marshall, 47, manager of Hy-Vee Gas Fresh & Fast convenience store in Quincy, Illinois, told Fox News Digital he views the waiting "like a murder mystery." "It was about 3 a.m.

I got a phone call from the other gas station manager in town.

He ... woke me up, and he said, ‘You sold the winning ticket.’ SMALL-TOWN DINER PRODUCES 5TH LOTTERY WINNER IN 2 YEARS AS CUSTOMER HITS $2M JACKPOT "I was like, ‘Wow.’" "'Your store sold the winning ticket,'" the other manager said, Marshal recalled.

He was shocked, Marshall said.

He ran to his kitchen because he personally bought a Powerball ticket from the Fast & Fresh convenience store.

LAS VEGAS PRICES SQUEEZE EVERYDAY TRAVELERS AS POPULAR CITY EMBRACES EXPENSIVE MAKEOVER "I’m like, ‘I better check my ticket before I worry about anything else.’ And, of course, I wasn’t a winner," he said.

As of late Thursday afternoon, the identity of the winner was still a mystery.

Curious residents have come by to inquire, he said.

But the winner hasn't been identified thus far.

Quincy is a historic river city in Illinois on the Mississippi River.

It has about 39,000 residents; Marshall said most of his customers are "regulars." The town has "an old-school feel.

We still have a lot of great people that would give their shirts off their backs for you," he said.

Marshall’s store will receive a $500,000 cash bonus for selling Wednesday’s winning ticket, Powerball rules state.

CLICK HERE TO SIGN UP FOR OUR LIFESTYLE NEWSLETTER The jackpot is the second-largest lottery prize ever won in Illinois and the eighth-largest in the game’s history.