Chicago lottery winner died from poisoning

This undated photo provided by the Illinois Lottery shows Urooj Khan, 46, of Chicago's West Rogers Park neighborhood, posing with a winning lottery ticket. / AP Photo/Illinois Lottery

CHICAGO With no signs of trauma and nothing to raise suspicions, the sudden death of a Chicago man just as he was about to collect nearly $425,000 in lottery winnings was initially ruled a result of natural causes.

Nearly six months later, authorities have a mystery on their hands after medical examiners, responding to a relative's pleas, did an expanded screening and determined that Urooj Khan, 46, died shortly after ingesting a lethal dose of cyanide. The finding has triggered a homicide investigation, the Chicago Police Department said Monday.

"It's pretty unusual," said Cook County Medical Examiner Stephen Cina, commenting on the rarity of cyanide poisonings. "I've had one, maybe two cases out of 4,500 autopsies I've done."

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In June, Khan, who owned a number of dry cleaners, stopped in at a 7-Eleven near his home in the West Rogers Park neighborhood on the city's North Side and bought a ticket for an instant lottery game.

Ashur Oshana, the convenience store clerk, told The Associated Press on Monday that Khan said he had sworn off gambling after returning from the hajj, a Muslim pilgrimage, in Saudi Arabia. Khan said he wanted to lead a better life, Oshana said, but Khan bought the tickets that day and scratched off the winner in the store.

"Right away he grabbed my hand," Oshana said. "He kissed my hand and kissed my head and gave me $100. He was really happy."

Khan recalled days later at an Illinois Lottery ceremony in which he was presented with an oversized check that he jumped up and down in the store and repeatedly shouted, "I hit a million!"

"Winning the lottery means everything to me," he said at the June 26 ceremony, also attended by his wife, Shabana Ansari; their daughter, Jasmeen Khan; and several friends. He said he would put some of his winnings into his businesses and donate some to a children's hospital.

Instead of the full $1 million over installments, Khan opted to take his winnings in a lump sum of just over $600,000. After taxes, the winnings amounted to about $425,000, said lottery spokesman Mike Lang. The check was issued from the state Comptroller's Office on July 19, the day before Khan died, but was cashed on Aug. 15, Lang said. If a lottery winner dies, the money typically goes to his or her estate, Lang said.

Khan was pronounced dead July 20 at a hospital, but Cina would not say where Khan was when he fell ill, citing the ongoing investigation.

No signs of trauma were found on Khan's body during an external exam and no autopsy was done because, at the time, the Cook County Medical Examiner's Office didn't generally perform them on those 45 and older unless the death was suspicious, Cina said. The cutoff age has since been raised to age 50.

A basic toxicology screening for opiates, cocaine and carbon monoxide came back negative, and the death was ruled a result of the narrowing and hardening of coronary arteries.

Cyanide can get into the body by being inhaled, swallowed or injected. Deborah Blum, an expert on poisons who has written about the detectives who pioneered forensic toxicology, said the use of cyanide in killings has become rare in part because it is difficult to obtain and normally easy to detect, often leaving blue splotches on a victim's skin.

"The thing about it is that it's not one of those poisons that's tasteless," Blum said. "It has a really strong, bitter taste, so you would know you had swallowed something bad if you had swallowed cyanide. But if you had a high enough dose it wouldn't matter, because ... a good lethal does will take you out in less than five minutes."

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[EscargencyResearchRescue]

And I wish that an artikel about Professor Strambamboli UFO in Italy, seen on You Tube will come to common knowledge, after 8 million people watched it,and on the Helicopter at Twin Towers UFO in New York, also at You Tube.
Kindly Thomas Kallmyr

[EscargencyResearchRescue]

There might be like Markov in 1978 England, that was stabbed with an Umbrella in a Bus que, on his left ankle, a political murder.
Kindly Thomas Kallmyr , North Harbour Street 11B, 45130 Uddevalla

[johnsonconnie34]

What a sad tragedy, This man didn't even get to enjoy any of this money. I do want to say the person or person's that murdered this man, Will have to answer for this, if not in this world, but on Judgment day. For the love of money is the root of all kinds of evil. And some people, craving money, have wandered from the true faith and pierced themselves with many sorrows. God tells us this in the bible,It's very sad that winning this lottery caused this man's death,

[jackdelia]

Let's take a hard look at that wonderful wife of his!

[Petercha1]

Why wasn't the toxicology test done right after the man's death? Or better yet, before he died so they could do something about it? This sounds like incompetence to me. Such tests should always be done unless the cause of death is clearly due to something else, like a car crash, old age, etc.

[nygurl1]

Did you read the story?
Death can be in 5 min!

[marine1957]

"Only a small amount of fine, white cyanide powder can be deadly, she said"
Only a small amount ... can be deadly, she said.
Does this mean that a LARGE amount of fine, white cyanide powder isn't deadly? Ha, Ha!
It would have been better to say...
Even a small amount of...

[SmBusMan]

Poor guy, it shows what some people will do for money.

[TillMidnight]

Cui bono? Follow the money.

[thatsbullcbs]

Report on CNN said he became violently ill a few minutes after eating meal served him by his wife. Case solved.

[imnho]

It takes about seven weeks before the check is ready. Most states allow the rightfull hiers to inherit the balance of the money if the person diea of natural causes. This does not appear to be a natural death.