A Chicago man who died the day after he collected on a $1 million scratch-off lottery ticket was killed by cyanide poisoning, a medical examiner ruled Friday, confirming an earlier finding.

The announcement shed no further light on the death of the man, Urooj Khan. Authorities dug up his body last month in hopes of learning more, but the tissue had decomposed too badly to yield any additional clues, the medical examiner said.

Dr. Stephen Cina, medical examiner for Cook County, said that blood tests after the exhumation confirmed the finding. He also told reporters that he could not conclude how the cyanide was administered. It can be swallowed, inhaled or injected.

Coronary artery disease was ruled a contributing factor after examiners found an artery 75 percent blocked, Cina said.

Khan, an Indian immigrant, came to Chicago in the 1980s and opened his own dry-cleaning shop in 2004. He owned three by the time of his death, in addition to five condominiums that he rented out.

He bought the lottery ticket at a Chicago 7-Eleven last June, scratched it off and said later that he was so giddy at what he found that he tipped the clerk $100.

Illinois Lottery via Reuters

Urooj Khan of Chicago is pictured holding his winning $1 million lottery ticket in this photo from the Illinois Lottery.

He died in July, at 46, one day after the state of Illinois cut him a check for $424,449, his winnings on the ticket after he chose a one-time payment and after subtracting taxes. He threw up blood the same day, a relative said.

The medical examiner first ruled that Khan had died from natural causes. Six months later, authorities said they had conducted further tests — at the request of a relative they did not name — and determined it was cyanide poisoning.

Since Khan’s death, his widow has battled with his brother and sister over control of his estate, including the winnings, documents published by NBCChicago.com show. The widow, Shabana Ansari, denies removing money from the estate.

Ansari told The Associated Press last month that her husband had no enemies.

“I was shattered. I can’t believe he’s no longer with me,” she said.

Police are still investigating.

Cina said that “non-specific residue” was also found in Khan’s stomach. He said that it was possible cyanide had seeped into the tissue as well, but that cyanide has a short half-life and might have dissipated past the point of detection.

RELATED:

$1 million lottery winner fatally poisoned by cyanide
Lottery winner killed by cyanide was immigrant, family man

This story was originally published on Fri Mar 1, 2013 12:34 PM EST

The Chicago lottery winner who succumbed to cyanide poisoning had no reason to watch his back, his widow said Tuesday.

“I don’t think anyone would have a bad eye for him or that he had an enemy,” Shabana Ansari, Urooj Khan’s widow, told the Associated Press on Tuesday.

“I was shattered. I can’t believe he’s no longer with me,” the tearful Ansari said. 

The couple was married for 12 years.

Ansari described her husband’s final dinner in an interview with the Chicago Sun-Times on Tuesday.

Lottery winner killed by cyanide was immigrant, family man

“No, I loved him to death,” Ansari said in her interview with the paper, saying that she cooked her husband’s last meal. She said she had nothing to do with Khan’s death.

“I loved him and he loved me the same way,” she told the paper.

Khan's lottery winnings are tied up in probate proceedings, she said.

Police have confirmed that they are working with the Cook County Medical Examiner’s office on the case. Ansari told the paper she hopes investigators succeed in rooting out the cause of Khan's death.

“I really want them to go for it because I really want to know what exactly happened,” the 32-year-old said. “I wish God will reveal the truth – the sooner the better.”

'Utter shock'
Ansari and Khan both moved to the United States from Hyderabad, India, according to the AP. Khan also had a 17-year-old daughter, Jasmeen. The couple went on the Muslim pilgrimage known as the hajj in 2010.

“This has been an utter shock for me, and my husband was such a goodhearted person who would do anything for anyone,” Ansari told ABC News. “Who would do something like this to him?”

“He showered his love on me and now it’s gone,” she said. Khan treated her “like a princess” she said.

$1 million lottery winner fatally poisoned by cyanide

Khan was buried in Chicago’s Rosehill Cemetery in July. Cook County Medical Examiner Stephen Cina has said that exhuming his body may be the next step in an investigation of his death.

“Work was his passion,” Ansari said of her husband, who also owned and rented five condominiums, according to the Chicago Tribune. She said she plans to continue running Khan’s businesses.

“I’m just taking care of his hard work,” Ansari said.

Urooj Khan died in July, one day after collecting about $425,000 on a winning $1 million Illinois Lottery scratch-off ticket. His death was first determined to be due to natural causes. Officials on Monday, however, announced that further toxicology reports have shown that the 46-year-old had a lethal dosage of cyanide in his system at the time of death. Police have said they are now pursuing it as a homicide.

Described by friends and relatives as a hard-working family man, Khan immigrated to Chicago from India in the late 1980s, and came to own three Chicago-area dry cleaning businesses, according to the AP.

Khan described his ecstatic reaction after hitting the jackpot in a June press release from the Illinois Lottery.

“I jumped two feet in the air, then ran back into the store and tipped the clerk $100,” Khan said at the time.

"Him winning the lottery was just his luck," Ansari told ABC. "He had already worked hard to be a millionaire before it."

The wheel of fortune spun fast for Urooj Khan.

The Indian immigrant and Chicago-area dry cleaning store owner struck it big with a $1 million lottery win in June. He died a month later, succumbing to cyanide poisoning in what police are now investigating as a homicide.

The death was a dark end to the family man’s otherwise hopeful tale.

Khan came to Chicago in the 1980s and found work in a local dry cleaning business. After years of working for others, he opened Style Dry Cleaners in the Rogers Park area of Chicago in 2004. Over time, Khan became proprietor of three dry cleaning stores of his own, according to the Chicago Tribune.

He also owned five condominiums, which he rented out, the paper reported.

In a June 26 press release from the Illinois Lottery, a giddy Khan described his reaction after buying his golden ticket at a 7-Eleven in Rogers Park. “I scratched the ticket, then I kept on saying, ‘I hit a million!’ over and over again,” an effusive Khan said of his sudden riches. “I jumped two feet in the air, then ran back into the store and tipped the clerk $100.”

Khan stood to bank $424,449.60  from the win after taxes on his lump sum payout of over $600,000. He would give some of the money to St. Jude Children’s Research hospital, he said, and invest another share in his dry cleaning business. The lucky entrepreneur gripped an oversized check at the summer lottery ceremony where he was joined by his wife, Shabana Ansari, 32, and their daughter Jasmeen, along with several friends.

“Winning the lottery means everything to me,” Khan gushed in June.

$1 million lottery winner fatally poisoned by cyanide

But he never got to enjoy the windfall, dying suddenly on July 20, just one day after the check with his winnings was issued by the Illinois Comptroller’s Office.

Cook County Medical Examiner Stephen Cina performed a limited exam on the 46-year-old and found no signs of trauma. Cina’s office concluded that he had died of natural causes. Six months later, in a sudden turn of events, officials said on Monday that they were looking into Khan’s case again after further toxicology reports determined that his system held lethal amounts of cyanide.

Those tests were run at the urging of an unnamed family member.

Khan’s wife described him as a “kind and good-hearted person” to NBCChicago.com. Khan ate dinner at home with his family on the night he died, the Tribune reported, citing an internal police document. He went to bed. After he awoke screaming in the night, he was taken to St. Francis Hospital, where he was pronounced dead.

Khan was a “workaholic,” his wife of 12 years told the paper. “He made clients happy by doing his job. He could not be everywhere, but he had to be everywhere.”

Khan’s purchase of the winning ticket came in a moment of weakness, convenience store clerk Ashur Oshana told The Associated Press. The doomed man had sworn off gambling in 2010 after going on the hajj, the pilgrimage all faithful Muslims are obligated to make once in their lives. He yielded to temptation one last time, and laid down $60 for a pair of scratch-offs.

Lottery winner's death investigated as a homicide

“Right away he grabbed my hand,” Oshana said of Khan’s emotional win. “He kissed my hand and kissed my head and gave me $100. He was really happy.”

Jimmy Goreel owns the convenience store where Khan bought his winning ticket. He said Khan had been kind to him after an earlier, smaller win.

“I sold him a winning ticket for $5,000,” Goreel told NBCChicago.com. “He was so generous he reached for a hundred dollars, and he threw it on the counter for me.”

“He was a family man who worked hard for his family,” Goreel said. “I just can’t see it happening. If that’s true, it’s sad.”

Khan was buried at Chicago’s Rosehill Cemetery. Cina said exhuming his body may be the next step in investigating the death.

More content from NBCNews.com:

• Conn. politician apologizes after saying Giffords should 'stay out of my towns'
• 'Please save us': Teens feared to have fallen through lake ice
• Cops: Fingernail DNA helps catch woman's killer 28 years later
• Teen in crude video about alleged Ohio rape not involved, lawyer says

Follow US news from NBCNews.com on Twitter and Facebook