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A South Carolina man who received a heart transplant died in 2008 by suicide, the same cause of death as his donor.
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Eighteen years later, a new Apple TV original podcast reexamines the bizarre story in detail.
“Heart,” a podcast series on the bizarre death of Sonny Graham and his family’s search for answers, premieres Oct. 19 on the Apple Podcasts platform.
About Sonny Graham and Terry Cottle
The Island Packet based in Hilton Head, South Carolina, extensively covered Sonny Graham’s final years and his death.
He was well known on Hilton Head for directing the RBC Heritage golf tournament from 1979 to 1983 for and being one of the original employees and later plant director at Hilton Head-based company Hargray Communications, according to an archived Island Packet article.
Hilton Head High School’s football stadium is named after him, and he was an avid outdoorsman and athlete.
But his heart failed him in 1995, and he sought an organ donor. He received his new heart from Terry Cottle, a Charleston man who shot himself.
Graham found the identity of his donor through the organ donation agency, and wrote a letter to Terry Cottle’s widow, Cheryl Cottle, in 1996. Then, against the advice of his family, friends and medical professionals, Graham met Cheryl face to face. The visit sparked regular meetings between 1997 and 2004, even as Cheryl married and divorced twice.
Elaine Graham, Sonny’s wife, divorced him in 2001. Graham purchased Cheryl a home in Vidalia, Georgia, in the same year. He moved to the home in 2003, and married Cheryl in 2004.
Graham’s doctors told him he could expect to live for eight years after he received the transplant. He would end up living for 13, but it wasn’t the heart condition that killed him.
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The death of Sonny Graham
Graham took his own life on April 1, 2008, in Vidalia. He died from a shotgun wound to the throat.
Not everyone agreed with the suicide ruling. Graham’s family disputed it, and the Georgia Bureau of Investigation (GBI) kept the case open until 2010. Questions surrounding the ammunition used, Graham’s intimate knowledge of gun safety, Cheryl’s background and more lingered.
The GBI doubled down on its suicide ruling in 2010. Crime scene evidence and lack of defensive wounds on Graham’s body led the agency to its conclusion. But it acknowledged that some questions can’t be answered.
“A lot of work went into this case. It wasn’t taken lightly,” GBI’s assistant special agent-in-charge Todd Lowery told the Island Packet in 2010. “But even our best effort is going to come up short on answers.”
‘Heart’ and where to listen
“Heart” recounts Graham’s story and his family’s search for answers in the wake of his death, according to a press release from Apple TV.
The podcast draws on three years of reporting to examine the connections between Sonny Graham and Terry Cottle’s lives, and if Cottle’s heart passed his trauma on to Graham.
It’s hosted by Karen Kilgariff, the co-host of the acclaimed comedy podcast “My Favorite Murder,” according to the press release. The show will be released on the Apple Podcast app this fall.
This story was originally published October 10, 2026 at 3:35 AM with the headline “Heart transplant recipient’s death ruled a suicide. His donor died by suicide, too. New podcast revisits the story.”
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