Cyanide killed $1M lottery winner, authorities confirm

Cook County medical examiners in Illinois announce findings in the mysterious death of lottery winner Urooj Khan confirming his death was a homicide due to cyanide toxicity.

By Erin McClam, Staff Writer, NBC News

Medical examiners in Chicago have confirmed that cyanide poisoning killed a man just as he was about to collect on a $1 million instant lottery ticket.

Additional tests on the blood of the man, Urooj Khan, confirmed the earlier finding, Cook County Medical Examiner Dr. Stephen Cina told reporters Friday. He said that coronary artery disease was a contributing factor.

Authorities dug up Khan?s remains last month, but Cina said that the body tissue had decayed and yielded no further clues.

Cina said that the additional examination could not determine how the cyanide was administered.

Illinois Lottery via Reuters

Urooj Khan of Chicago is pictured holding his winning $1 million lottery ticket in this photo from the Illinois Lottery.

Khan, 46, died last summer the day after the state of Illinois issued a $425,000 lump-sum payout check for his $1 million ticket. The check wasn?t cashed until Aug. 15, possibly by a member of his estate.

An autopsy was not performed last summer because medical examiners believed Khan died from natural causes. At the urging of a family member, they took another look and discovered he had been poisoned. The death was ruled a homicide.

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This story was originally published on Fri Mar 1, 2013 12:34 PM EST

Source: http://usnews.nbcnews.com/_news/2013/03/01/17148201-cyanide-poisoning-killed-1-million-lottery-winner-authorities-confirm?lite

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