WAUKESHA, Wisc. (Scripps News Milwaukee) — A jury will be asked whether a Wisconsin woman took her own life or was killed by a family friend.
The jury heard opening remarks Tuesday in the trial of Jessy Kurczewski, who is charged with first-degree intentional homicide and felony theft in the death of Lynn Hernan, whom she is accused of poisoning with eye drops.
Jessy Kurczewski grew emotional while listening to opening statements during her trial on Oct. 24, 2023. (Pool)
Prosecutors said her motivation for the murder was greed. “There’s certainly a factual, bare-bones timeline of theft, murder, and more theft. But there’s this almost overlaid timeline of all of the defendant’s lies and deceit,” said Assistant District Attorney Randy Sitzberger in the state’s opening.
According to the criminal complaint, Kurczewski defrauded Hernan of nearly $300,000, including money from her estate.
“She finally gave that water bottle, knowing it had, in the defendant’s estimation, six bottles of Visine to Lynn Hernan, knowing it could kill her, and walks out of that condo unit, closes the door, and goes shopping on Lynn’s dime,” said Sitzberger.
Kurczewski’s defense team said Lynn Hernan was like a mother to Kurczewski.
“If Lynn Hernan was there today, she would say, ‘Are you crazy, prosecution? That’s my daughter you have sitting at that desk over there. That’s my daughter,'” said Defense Attorney Pablo Galaviz in his opening.
According to Galaviz, Hernan knew Kurczewski was spending her money and that Hernan was depressed, coping with alcohol and prescription medication. He said Hernan wanted to die and “didn’t like life.”
“She had a boatload of [prescription medication] in her system. And they’re saying the Visine killed her? Not the other pills she had in her system along with the alcohol?” said Galaviz.
The state called several witnesses on Tuesday, including current and former law enforcement officers who responded to Hernan’s house on the evening she was found dead.
Tabitha Kukes, former Waukesha County Assistant Medical Examiner, also took the stand. She pronounced Hernan dead at her home on October 3, 2018, and testified Tuesday that she found prescription medication on and near the body.
“All that really matters is what the toxicology shows. All that really matters is what’s in the decedent’s bloodstream at the time of death, not necessarily what’s [at the scene],” said Kukes.
According to a criminal complaint, the case began in 2018 when Kurczewski called police and said her friend was not breathing. A deputy arrived at the Pewaukee home and found a woman with “a large amount of crushed medication on her chest and on a nearby plate” along with prescription medication around her.
Initially, investigators believed it could be a drug overdose.
The complaint stated that Kurczewski told investigators she had been caring for her friend, who was “acting odd” leading up to her death and believed she was suicidal.
However, witnesses and people who knew the victim told law enforcement things were not adding up and they had concerns about the validity of the victim leaving her estate to Kurczewski.
In January of 2019, the medical examiner said a toxicology report showed a lethal amount of tetrahydrozoline, the main ingredient in eye drops, in the victim’s blood. The medical examiner reported the cause of death was homicide, not suicide or an accident.
Months later, Kurczewski said she brought her friend a water bottle holding six bottles worth of Visine and her friend drank it. Kurczewski claimed she was helping her friend do what she wanted.
The state will continue calling more witnesses Wednesday in a trial that could last several weeks.
This story was originally published by Scripps News Milwaukee, an E.W. Scripps Company.
