You might have seen this piece of news. A 46 year Chicagoland man won $1 million in the lottery, but died of cyanide poisoning before he could claim the winnings. The police just started investigating the poisoning. As everyone who watches police/crime TV knows, to solve this crime look for the person with a motive. His widow claims he did not have any enemies. I have not read whether he had a will. If he did not, the winnings would pass via the statue of intestate succession.

In Ohio, if a person dies without a will, his assets will be distributed as follows:

1. If survived by a spouse, all to spouse.
2. If not survived by a spouse, all to children.
3. If survived by a spouse, but children from a previous relationship, $20K and 1/3 to spouse (1/2 if only one child from previous relationship).

Because I do not want to defame anyone, I will keep my probably wrong theory to myself. Instead, I will just say that I wonder how someone not in an Agatha Christie novel can quickly procure cyanide.