An Illinois family still coping with the death of their daughter while also facing foreclosure and eviction had a near $5 million winning lottery ticket in their kitchen and didn't even know it!

''It was absolutely insane,'' says Ricard Cerezo, who believes the family's change in luck is a sign that his daughter is watching over them.

Cerezo says he lost his youngest daughter to an unknown illness in 2012 and the family was financially devastated after spending all their savings for medical care.

Now facing foreclosure and eviction in April of 2013, his wife was cleaning out a jar in the kitchen that had several old lotto tickets in it. Ricardo took the handful of tickets to the local store and found what most of us encounter when scanning lotto tickets.

''The first ten were 'Sorry, not a winner','' Ricardo said.  But as he continued to scan the tickets, one read 'Please file a claim.'

''It didn't say 'Congratulations', 'You're a winner,' it just said  'Please file a claim','' he said.

The ticket was a winner from Feb 2, 2013 in the Illinois Lottery and was worth $4.85 million.

Cerezo said he went home and jumped on the internet and found he'd hit all six numbers in the drawing - and he wasn't one of several winners in a shared pot, he was the only winner.

The family's $4.85 million will be paid in annual installments over 26 years - to be paid in his daughters birth month, another sign that she's looking over them, he said.

Interview with Ricardo Cerezo from WIBX First News with Keeler in the Morning:

 

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