Chicago lottery winner poisoned after collecting $425K - Fox 2 News Headlines

Urooj Kahn was jumping and shouting for joy back in June when he scratched off a million dollar Illinois Lottery ticket.

It came on a day when he bought three scratch-off tickets from a convenience store near his North Side home. But on July 20th, the day after he collected his lump sump winnings, he became violently sick at home, was rushed to the hospital and died.

"In this case, the initial investigation had no indication of foul play, there were no suspicions, he didn't have any obvious injuries or trauma," explains Cook County Medical Examiner Dr. Steve Cina.

But within days, a family member called the medical examiner's office with a tip that changed everything.

"They suggested there may have been something more to it than a natural death, which prompted the doctor in the case to reopen it," says Cina.

We tried to reach Kahn's widow at one of the family's dry cleaning stores, but she was unavailable. No one answered the door at the Kahn's home either, but we noticed a car parked in the driveway with the license plate Kahn 777.

The Medical Examiner's office has conducted a series of toxicology tests and they proved the early suspicions. Kahn's death was not an accident.

"In Late November, the final blood levels came out and there was a lethal level of cyanide," Cina says.

A member of the State's Attorney's office was waiting to meet with the medical examiner Monday as police and prosecutors try to solve a murder, which may require that Kahn's body be exhumed.

At the 7-11 where Kahn bought his fateful ticket, they are waiting and hoping for the truth to come out, wondering who would have had the motive for murder.