Autopsy: Gage Park man who died in June was victim of May assault

A 71-year-old man who was assaulted in May in the South Side Chatham neighborhood and died about a month later was a homicide victim, authorities said.

Roy Winters was punched in the face by an unknown man during an argument about 7:30 p.m. May 8 in the 7700 block of South State Street, according to Chicago Police and the Cook County medical examiner’s office.

Winters then fell unconscious to the ground, and was taken to Stroger Hospital for treatment, police said. Officers were unable to find the man who punched him.

On June 12, Winters died about 7:25 a.m. in a South Shore nursing home, and a death investigation was launched, police said.

Results of an autopsy were initially pending, but on Thursday, the medical examiner’s office ruled the death a homicide.

Winters, who lived in the Southwest Side Gage Park neighborhood, died of pulmonary thromboembolism caused by deep vein thrombosis of both lower extremities, according to the medical examiner’s office. The condition was caused by immobility due to blunt force head injuries suffered in the assault.

Chicago Police have reclassified the incident a homicide, police said. No arrests have been made, and Area Central detectives are investigating.