Lottery ticket helps convict Chicago man in murder

CHICAGO – Cook County prosecutors said a lottery ticket abandoned at the scene of a double murder in 2005 helped convict a 42-year-old Chicago man.

A jury found Timothy Fountain guilty Wednesday on several counts of first-degree murder and armed robbery. He faces life in prison for killing convenience-store clerk Graciela Rodriguez and customer Nicolas Guerrero.

Police matched the number played on a lottery ticket left behind to Fountain's address.

Prosecutors said Fountain entered a South Side Chicago store on Aug. 4, 2005, and bought the ticket before pulling a gun on the 37-year-old Rodriguez.

He emptied the cash register and dismantled the store's surveillance equipment before shooting Rodriguez.

Fountain struggled with the 74-year-old Guerrero on the way out before shooting him too.

DNA evidence from under Guerrero's fingernails matched Fountain's.