Wisconsin woman gets life in prison for killing friend with eye drops

WAUKESHA, Wis. — A Wisconsin woman convicted last year of killing her friend with an overdose of eye drops has been sentenced to life in prison, with the possibility of parole.

Jessy Kurczewski, 40, of Franklin, was convicted of murder in November for poisoning Lynn Hernan, 62, of Pewaukee, in October 2018. She was also convicted of two counts of felony theft.

Prosecutors argued that Kurczewski killed Hernan to avoid being caught for stealing nearly $300,000 from the hairdresser.

The Milwaukee Journal Sentinel reported that Kurczewski was sentenced Friday to the maximum of five years on each of the theft charges. Those consecutive sentences, plus the minimum of 30 years on the murder conviction, mean that Kurczewski will not be eligible for release for at least 40 years.

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Waukesha County Circuit Court Judge Jennifer Dorow told Kurczewski that her goal was to ensure that Kurczewski would not be eligible for parole until she is long past the age Hernan was when she was slain.

“You took away future memories, birthdays, luncheons, phone calls,” the judge said, according to the newspaper. “I think you thought you were a very good thief and could get away with even more.

“I think you’re completely diabolical. You have evil in your heart.”

The Associated Press reported that Kurczewski called 911 on Oct. 3, 2018, and reported finding Hernan unresponsive in her condo. Previous reporting from the Journal Sentinel indicated that Hernan was found in a recliner, with crushed pills on her chest and numerous medication bottles around her body.

Kurczewski told officers she was a family friend who had been caring for Hernan, who suffered from health issues, the newspaper reported. Kurczewski claimed that Hernan had possibly become suicidal.

The medical examiner ruled Hernan’s death was a homicide, however, after a toxic amount of tetrahydrozoline, an ingredient in Visine eye drops, was found in her system. The drug should never be in a person’s bloodstream, and the level of the drug in Hernan’s system far exceeded what would be present from using the drops as directed.

Kurczewski drew suspicion when she called the medical examiner’s office multiple times, showing a “great deal of interest and curiosity” about Hernan’s toxicology results, according to the Journal Sentinel.

Investigators subsequently learned that Hernan’s credit score had plummeted in the months before her death because of maxed out credit cards in her name. The Journal Sentinel reported that multiple checks had also been written to Kurczewski for large amounts, and a loan had been taken out in Hernan’s name.

Prosecutors argued that Kurczewski forged the checks and took out the cards and loan.

A criminal complaint cited by the AP stated that Kurczewski was questioned several times about the money and the eye drops, which Kurczewski suggested Hernan had taken in a glass of vodka the night before her death.

She later admitted to giving Hernan a water bottle loaded with six bottles of Visine, according to the complaint. She claimed that she had seen Hernan drink Visine-laced drinks before, so she didn’t think the drops would kill her friend.

At trial, the defense argued that it was Hernan’s other medications that killed her, not the tetrahydrozoline. They also argued that Hernan, who suffered from chronic pain, started spending money with abandon after a palliative care consultation led her to contemplate suicide.

On Friday, Kurczewski professed her innocence and claimed her previous attorneys were ineffective and that she did not get a fair trial. The Journal Sentinel reported that a total of eight defense attorneys had withdrawn from the case since June 2021.

The defendant insisted that Hernan killed herself.

“I will not stop fighting,” Kurczewski said. “As God is my witness, this case is far from over.”

Dorow brushed aside Kurczewski’s claims, saying that she believes the defendant “banked on” no one testing for tetrahydrozoline during autopsy.

“I think you were using it to control Lynn Hernan,” Dorow said, according to the paper. “Do I believe this was a suicide? Absolutely not.”

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