A February Lotto ticket found in a cookie jar yesterday was is a winner worth $4.85 million! Ricardo Cerezo's 14-year-old daughter, Savannah, had purchased the lotto ticket, and then tragically died a few months later as a result of a series of seizures. 

"I can't believe I had $4.85 million in a cookie jar for over three months," Cerezo said after rediscovering several old Lottery tickets he had kept in the jar for safekeeping.

Over time, Cerezo had accumulated 11 Lotto tickets that he saved in the cookie jar for a rainy day. But at his wife's suggestion, he eventually took them to be checked for possible winnings, which proved to be excellent wifely advice.

Cerezo, 44, owned the winning ticket from the Feb. 2 Lotto drawing, which he hadn't bothered to check until May. Yesterday, at the Aurora, Ill. 7-Eleven where he originally purchased the winning ticket, Cerezo received a check from the Illinois Lottery officials for $4.85 million.

After the first seven tickets were no good, the eight ticket said "file a claim" under the scanner. Cerezo, 44, was overjoyed and thought he'd be taking home about 600 dollars.  But he was way..WAY off!

The prize money turned out being much greater than he ever imagined; a whopping $4.85 million.

"When I realized we had all six numbers, it was that shocking moment of 'Whoa, can this really be?' So I called my son over and asked him to double check this," Cerezo told Chicago's WGN-TV. "And he looked it through and goes, 'Yep, looks like a winner.'"

And a winner he definitely was.  After the family's continuous bad luck and tragedy over the loss of their daughter, the Cerezo family finally has something to rejoice about.

"The honest first reaction was mammoth regret. Regret because our youngest wasn't here to enjoy this," Cerezo said.

The family will use their new millions to pay off their mortgage, pay for college for their son and daughter, and donate a portion of money to charity and their local church.

A happy end to a sad tale...I can't think of any other family more deserving of the millions that fell in their lap.

The tastefull Cerezo man reminds me of a similar million-dollar winner that walked away with the utmost class.