Lottery winner dies in accident hours after show
Man, 73, killed while walking to grocery store
Saturday, January 24, 2004
ELWOOD, Indiana (AP) – A man who won $57,000 in an Indiana lottery game taped for television died hours later after being hit by a pickup truck.
The “Hoosier Millionaire” featuring Carl D. Atwood, 73, was broadcast Saturday night after his family said they wanted the show to go on, Hoosier Lottery director Jack Ross said.
The broadcast concluded with a photo of Atwood accompanied by text reading: “In memory of Carl Atwood.”
Atwood won the money Thursday during a two-hour taping in Indianapolis.
“I am very thankful,” he said on the program. “I must admit that I never expected to be leaving the show with this amount of money. Now I can purchase a very nice car.”
Hours later, Atwood was hit by a truck as he walked to the grocery store where he bought the winning ticket near his home in Elwood, about 40 miles northeast of Indianapolis. He died at a hospital.
The driver has not been charged.
Atwood would have been among those invited back to compete for a $1 million grand prize in three weeks.
“We will work with the family to make arrangements on how to handle the championship show,” Ross said. “We will certainly have a place on that show for someone who the family chooses to take his place.”