Autopsy on poisoned lottery winner yields no significant new clues

CHICAGO -- A medical examiner says an autopsy on the exhumed body of an Indian-born lottery winner in the U.S. who was poisoned with cyanide yielded no significant new clues about his death.

Cook County medical examiner Stephen Cina said Friday that no cyanide was found in Urooj Khan's body tissue but that was most likely because cyanide breaks down quickly. He says nothing significant was found in Khan's stomach.

Cina says Khan's July 20 death is still considered a homicide because tests on fluids drawn from his body before he was buried revealed he had been poisoned.

Authorities initially ruled that he died of natural causes, but his brother raised suspicions, leading to the further tests.

Authorities exhumed Khan's body in January to gather more evidence in case charges are filed.

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  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. The Cook County medical examiner said Monday, Jan. 7, 2013, that Khan was fatally poisoned with cyanide July 20, 2012, a day after he collected nearly $425,000 in lottery winnings.

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  Cook County medical examiner Stephen Cina, right, talks about the autopsy results on lottery winner Urooj Khan's body during a news conference Friday, March 1, 2013, in Chicago. (AP / Charles Rex Arbogast)