Two weeks have passed since the town of Zephyrhills, Florida discovered the winning Powerball ticket was sold in a local supermarket, but the winner still has yet to come forward and no one knows who it is, the Associated Press reported.

Curiosity and intrigue have driven the residents of the Tampa suburb to come up with their own theories and speculation as to who the winner of the $590 million jackpot is, where the winner is and what the winner is doing.

"Being in a small town, everybody knows everybody and in some cases, everybody's business," said Dave Walters, a veteran reporter with the Zephyrhills News community newspaper. "It's hard to keep a secret in this town, but this is one of the biggest mysteries we've had in a long, long time."

Joe Abed, a resident who owns an Italian restaurant downtown, said the winner was probably a senior citizen.

"It's a conspiracy theory," he said. "I believe it's a senior citizen that purchased the ticket and they just have no idea that they won the ticket."

Don Lawrence, another resident, does not believe such a theory. He said he thinks the winner is gathering a team of advisers.

"Lost the ticket or something like that? No, I don't think so," he said. "I think somebody's taking their time, doing it the right way."

Zephyrhills clothing storeowner Marsha Decena said she is anxiously waiting for the winner to come forward.

"I've heard so many different rumors through town, from it being a 23- or 26-year-old woman to somebody might have washed it in their pocket, the ticket is just lost and they don't know that they won," she said.

Walters said the rumors started swirling the day after it was discovered the ticket had been sold at the town's local supermarket Publix.

"Anybody who did not show up for work on that Monday was considered to be the lottery winner," Walters said. "If you had the flu and didn't show up for work, everyone thought you were the lottery winner. If you took a personal day or a sick day, they thought you had won the lottery."

The winner has until July 17 (60 days from the May 18 drawing) to claim a lump sum of the winnings and until mid-November to receive annual cash payments of the winnings.

According to the Florida Lottery website, "the funds to pay the unclaimed jackpot will be returned to the lottery members in their proportion of sales for the jackpot rollover series" if the jackpot is not claimed within 180 days.