Illinois Lotto Winner’s Remains Exhumed [VIDEO]

Now that the remains of an Illinois lottery winner have been exhumed, authorities hope to learn more about his mysterious poisoning death.

FOX News Radio’s Pam Puso has the story:

Samples from most major organs along with hair and fingernails are being analyzed as authorities work to determine how Urooj Khan ingested cyanide. The 46 year-old died in July as he was about to collect $425,000 dollars in lottery winnings. Cook County Medical Examiner Doctor Stephen Cina says his conclusion that Khan was the victim of a homicide hasn’t changed. He says the remains were in an advanced state of decomposition.

Cina: “Cyanide over the postmortem period actually can essentially evaporate and leave the tissues, so it is possible that cyanide that was in the tissues, is no longer in the tissues after several months.”

Results of the autopsy could take two to three weeks.

Pam Puso, FOX News Radio.

Watch the VIDEO below for more on this story:

Read a statement below from the Office of the Cook County Board President Toni Preckwinkle

Cook County Medical Examiner autopsies poisoned lottery winner

Final results expected in several weeks

The body of poisoned lottery winner Urooj Khan was autopsied today by the Cook County Medical Examiner’s Office after his remains were exhumed from Rosehill Cemetery early this morning.

“Although the body was in an advanced state of decomposition, we were able to retrieve tissue samples from all the major organs and to recover the stomach contents,” said Dr. Stephen Cina, Cook County Medical Examiner.

The samples will be tested at the ME office’s in-house lab and at an independent lab.
Soil samples at the burial site were also taken to rule out the possibility that cyanide traces, sometimes present in dirt, did not seep into the body.

The autopsy took approximately two hours to complete. The final results will be available in several weeks and could determine how cyanide entered Mr. Khan’s body, according to Dr. Cina.
The Medical Examiner ruled Mr. Khan’s death a homicide on November 30, after a lethal level of cyanide was detected in his blood. The exhumation and autopsy were necessary to supplement the initial findings.