Wisconsin woman accused of poisoning friend with eyedrops, stealing nearly $300K

WAUKESHA COUNTY, Wis. — A Franklin, Wisconsin, woman has been charged with first-degree intentional homicide after prosecutors accused her of poisoning a friend with eyedrops.

Jessy Kurczewski, 37, also faces two counts of theft related to the unidentified friend’s death after investigators determined that she staged the victim’s apparent suicide and leveraged the relationship to “commit hundreds of thousands of dollars in financial fraud over several years,” WDJT reported.

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Although investigators initially considered the friend’s death an apparent suicide by drug overdose, the Waukesha County Medical Examiner later determined the death to be a homicide after a toxicology report revealed a fatal concentration of tetrahydrozoline, an ingredient found in eyedrops, present in the victim’s body when she died, the TV station reported.

Kurczewski reportedly called police to the victim’s Pewaukee home in October 2018 because she was unresponsive, and first responders found the victim surrounded by crushed up medication and medication bottles.

Online estate records identified the victim as Lynn A. Hernan, WISN reported.

Kurczewski, who made her first court appearance Monday, eventually told investigators that she provided her friend with a water bottle filled with six containers of Visine, the TV station reported.

Investigators also discovered that Kurczewski had leveraged her relationship with the victim to steal more than $290,000, nearly half of which is believed to have been transferred fraudulently by check from the victim to Kurczewski, who was named as the victim’s heir, WDJT reported.

Meanwhile, court records indicate Kurczewski has a history of forgery and fraud, including one case for which she finished serving a two-year prison sentence for this past week, the TV station reported.

According to WISN, Kurczewski’s bail was set at $1 million, and she is barred from working as a caregiver and from possessing any over-the-counter eyedrops. She faces a sentence of life in prison if convicted.

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