Puzzling cliff-hanger remains in case of poisoned lottery winner

Jun 12, 2016, 9:12 am (21 comments)

Illinois Lottery

CHICAGO — With his departure from office this week, a county medical examiner leaves behind a beguiling mystery set in motion more than three years ago with his sensational declaration that a Chicago businessman who had just won a $1 million lottery prize was poisoned by cyanide.

Cook County Medical Examiner Stephen Cina's finding that Urooj Khan's death was a homicide led to the exhumation of his body, divided his family and drew flocks of international reporters to Chicago to cover the story.

Cina, whose last day in office was Sunday, said he had not heard so much as a peep from police since handing the case over to them in early 2013.

Estranged family members who had voiced vague suspicions about Khan's wife or her father have quietly gone on with their lives. Attorneys for the man's wife say they've heard nothing and believe the investigation stalled shortly after police questioned her in January 2013.

"Yeah, I think the case has become dormant," said Al-Haroon Husain, an attorney who represented Khan's wife in a bitter probate fight with her stepdaughter and late husband's siblings over his lottery winnings and the rest of his estate. He's not even convinced there was foul play, adding that he thinks "the police have just stepped away."

Over the course of nearly four years, police say they have interviewed three family members: Khan's wife, daughter and father-in-law, who all had dinner with him the night he died. No one has ever been charged. But detectives are continuing to talk with family members, police spokesman Anthony Guglielmi said Friday.

"It is still very much an open investigation," he said.

Khan, who moved to the U.S. from Hyderabad, India, in 1989, ran a dry-cleaning businesses with his wife in the West Rogers Park neighborhood on Chicago's Northwest Side.

Though the increasingly devout Muslim had sworn off gambling after a religious pilgrimage to Saudi Arabia, Khan bought a scratch-off lottery ticket at a 7-Eleven near his home in June 2012. To his astonishment, it was a $1 million winner. He was going to use the money to pay off mortgages and expand his business.

But the 46-year-old with big dreams died on July 20, 2012, after eating dinner and going to bed. It was one day after the lottery check was issued but before he received it. Initially, the medical examiner's office ruled he died of natural causes after an external exam turned up no signs of trauma. No autopsy was conducted at the time.

But the man's anguished brother had doubts. The timing of the death and tension over the lottery win made him suspicious. At his urging, pathologists tested a peripheral blood sample.

According to Cina, who became the chief medical examiner that September, the test came back positive for cyanide. He reclassified the death as a homicide, emphasizing that he did not believe the lethal dose could have been ingested by accident.

Khan's body was exhumed in January 2013 for further tests, but by then no cyanide was detectable in the badly decomposed remains.

A settlement split Khan's estate — including the lottery check — between his daughter and her estranged stepmother.

"Everybody has their suspicions and innuendos but at the end of the day at a certain point no matter what it is, you just have to move on with your life," said the wife's attorney, Husain.

News story photo(Click to display full-size in gallery)

AP, Lottery Post Staff

Comments

TheMeatman2005's avatarTheMeatman2005

Since this is, according to the medical examiner, a homicide, they will eventually find out who gave him the cyanide. Being there is no statute of limitations on murder, they just have to keep probing until they find the guilty person.

This reminds me of the  Alanis Morissette song "Ironic" Alanis Morissette - Ironic (OFFICIAL VIDEO)

"Ironic"

An old man turned ninety-eight
He won the lottery and died the next day
It's a black fly in your Chardonnay
It's a death row pardon two minutes too late
And isn't it ironic... don't you think

It's like rain on your wedding day
It's a free ride when you've already paid
It's the good advice that you just didn't take
Who would've thought... it figures

Mr. Play It Safe was afraid to fly
He packed his suitcase and kissed his kids goodbye
He waited his whole <snip> life to take that flight
And as the plane crashed down he thought
"Well isn't this nice..."
And isn't it ironic... don't you think

It's like rain on your wedding day
It's a free ride when you've already paid
It's the good advice that you just didn't take
Who would've thought... it figures

Well life has a funny way of sneaking up on you
When you think everything's okay and everything's going right
And life has a funny way of helping you out when
You think everything's gone wrong and everything blows up
In your face

A traffic jam when you're already late
A no-smoking sign on your cigarette break
It's like ten thousand spoons when all you need is a knife
It's meeting the man of my dreams
And then meeting his beautiful wife
And isn't it ironic...don't you think
A little too ironic...and, yeah, I really do think...

It's like rain on your wedding day
It's a free ride when you've already paid
It's the good advice that you just didn't take
Who would've thought... it figures

Life has a funny way of sneaking up on you
Life has a funny, funny way of helping you out
Helping you out

This post has been automatically changed by the Lottery Post computer system to remove inappropriate content and/or spam.

music*'s avatarmusic*

KHAN !!!  Screamed Admiral James T. Kirk into his communicator. Trapped in an underground cave to die, so thought his nemesis. One of the better Star Trek movies. Ricardo Montablam,spelling? 

mypiemaster's avatarmypiemaster

At times, winning the lottery is tantamount to signing your own death warrant. Especially now that some lottery officials are willing to fight for cheap publicity instead of player safety. They will rather plaster your mug all over social media rather than giving you a choice to stay anon. or to hot dog it. I KNOW THERE ARE STILL SOME IDIOTS THAT SAY,"IF YOU DON'T LIKE IT, DON'T PLAY".

LiveInGreenBay's avatarLiveInGreenBay

The guy was poisoned, this seems like a slam-dunk!  Hello lie-detector test!

Raven62's avatarRaven62

Follow the Money!

noise-gate

Estranged family members who had voiced vague suspicions about Khan's wife or her father have quietly gone on with their lives.

hearsetrax's avatarhearsetrax

Skeptical nothing like a good murder mystery, but time will spin a most curious yarn sooner or later

 

someone will squeal or do something out of character soon enough

just a matter of when

LiveInGreenBay's avatarLiveInGreenBay

Quote: Originally posted by hearsetrax on Jun 12, 2016

Skeptical nothing like a good murder mystery, but time will spin a most curious yarn sooner or later

 

someone will squeal or do something out of character soon enough

just a matter of when

Thats true hearse...Sooner or later, you'll get more business here.  Blue Angel

myturn's avatarmyturn

It is time for Washington to act, and give all US lottery winners to right to anonymity.

ArizonaDream's avatarArizonaDream

(To myturn)

 

I don't disagree with you, but this was family. It's pretty hard to hide something that big from close family.

Groppo's avatarGroppo

.

Aw, come on.

Somebody knows something about this.

Now who did it?  I really need to know how this terrible thing happened.
Not only that, but why do these acts keep happening?
(realizing this article was about something that happened a few years ago)

Somebody knows something about this.
That person should turn themselves in, or report anything they know about it.

The people involved in this poor fellow's murder will eventually be severely shamed, if not sooner.
Why don't people start behaving decently and honestly?

For me, I just want to play my numbers every week, without worrying about being murdered.

Kingofearth's avatarKingofearth

Quote: Originally posted by LiveInGreenBay on Jun 12, 2016

The guy was poisoned, this seems like a slam-dunk!  Hello lie-detector test!

No such thing exists. The closest thing to one, a polygraph, is so ineffective and prone to error that it isn't admissible in court. 

TheMeatman2005's avatarTheMeatman2005

I guess this takes the idiom of "MAKE A KILLING"  to a new level.

Someone in his family did this to him since as the story reports... "Though the increasingly devout Muslim had sworn off gambling after a religious pilgrimage to Saudi Arabia, Khan bought a scratch-off lottery ticket at a 7-Eleven near his home in June 2012".

 

According to an unrelated article, we consume cyanide every day, but not at poisonous levels.

 Cyanide in Common Foods: Should You Be Worried?

HoLeeKau's avatarHoLeeKau

Quote: Originally posted by ArizonaDream on Jun 12, 2016

(To myturn)

 

I don't disagree with you, but this was family. It's pretty hard to hide something that big from close family.

Yes, I have a sister who would kill me in a heartbeat if she thought she could get $25K by doing it.  I'm already estranged from her, so if I were able to remain anonymous, I'd have no worries.  She wouldn't find out.  But since I can't, I'd have to draft an iron clad will specifically leaving her out, and send it to her to make sure she knows she couldn't profit by my death.  She's so spiteful, she might still try to make my life a living hell, but probably not kill me.

LiveInGreenBay's avatarLiveInGreenBay

Quote: Originally posted by HoLeeKau on Jun 13, 2016

Yes, I have a sister who would kill me in a heartbeat if she thought she could get $25K by doing it.  I'm already estranged from her, so if I were able to remain anonymous, I'd have no worries.  She wouldn't find out.  But since I can't, I'd have to draft an iron clad will specifically leaving her out, and send it to her to make sure she knows she couldn't profit by my death.  She's so spiteful, she might still try to make my life a living hell, but probably not kill me.

Wow...Why does she hate you so much?  Boxing

faber98

the police aren't investigating this as they are too busy pretending to investigate other cases. lucky if they ever spend 10 minutes investigating any case. they just sit around and laugh and joke about crime victims and only worry about their detail assignments and hope they don't fall asleep on their regular shift.

TheMeatman2005's avatarTheMeatman2005

It's a shame how some families can be torn apart by money.

Groppo's avatarGroppo

Quote: Originally posted by HoLeeKau on Jun 13, 2016

Yes, I have a sister who would kill me in a heartbeat if she thought she could get $25K by doing it.  I'm already estranged from her, so if I were able to remain anonymous, I'd have no worries.  She wouldn't find out.  But since I can't, I'd have to draft an iron clad will specifically leaving her out, and send it to her to make sure she knows she couldn't profit by my death.  She's so spiteful, she might still try to make my life a living hell, but probably not kill me.

.

HoLeeKau,

I'm in the same exact boat, with one of my siblings, as you are.
One of the sibs has threatened to kill me, and another one is more of a deceitful liar,
and has often sided with the other one, in the most ridiculous things.

And, I did the same thing with my will, as you did (or propose to do) !
I actually have a directive in there, for the authorities to investigate them for murder first, when I die.

Other things in there too, to keep it iron clad, like you've proposed.  It was a chore to get the right people to finalize it.
But it's now registered with the county. 

I hope it's never needed to be executed in that way, but heck when I'm dead, I'm dead.
I just like to have my Will prepared for the event.

To others here on Lottery Post: 
Do you really and truly trust your siblings and other relatives (and caretakers) for that matter?  I wish I could say I did.

YOU CAN JUST NEVER KNOW.

 

Mr. Groppo

HoLeeKau's avatarHoLeeKau

Quote: Originally posted by LiveInGreenBay on Jun 13, 2016

Wow...Why does she hate you so much?  Boxing

She doesn't hate me she just loves money.  And the spite comes from her inability to be happy for the good fortune of others.  She leaves me alone now because AFA she knows I don't have a great life.  But if I were to come into money or a huge promotion or if something else great happened in my life, she would decide I didn't deserve happiness and do her best to make sure I'm as miserable as possible.  She's done it before, and not just to me.  She's even done it to one of her own kids.  That's just how she rolls.

I know a few people just like her, too.  If you've never met one, you're lucky.  Or isolated.  Big Smile

GaInVa's avatarGaInVa

Quote: Originally posted by HoLeeKau on Jun 14, 2016

She doesn't hate me she just loves money.  And the spite comes from her inability to be happy for the good fortune of others.  She leaves me alone now because AFA she knows I don't have a great life.  But if I were to come into money or a huge promotion or if something else great happened in my life, she would decide I didn't deserve happiness and do her best to make sure I'm as miserable as possible.  She's done it before, and not just to me.  She's even done it to one of her own kids.  That's just how she rolls.

I know a few people just like her, too.  If you've never met one, you're lucky.  Or isolated.  Big Smile

When you win the big one trusts and LLCs are your friend if you want your whereabouts to remain a secret.

rgse90

Dp you see the hypocrisy that he is a devout Muslim and is not allowed to gamble and he actually swore off gambling but bought a ticket anyway. He should have given the ticket back because he is not a hypocrite. A dead hypocrite but still a hypocrite in my book.

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