Photo: Waukesha County Sheriff
A Wisconsin woman was convicted of poisoning her friend with eye drops. Jessy R. Kurczewski, 39, was convicted of murdering 61-year-old Lynn Hernan. She was also found guilty of two counts of felony theft.
Kurczewski argued that Hernan committed suicide.
In 2018, Kurczewski called the police to report that Hernan was unconscious at her home. When officers arrived, they found Hernan dead with crushed medication nearby.
While investigators initially agreed with the suggestion that Hernan committed suicide by overdosing on drugs, the case was reopened a few months later after the autopsy report found that Hernan died due to an overdose of tetrahydrozoline, the main ingredient in eye drops.
Kurczewski's defense attorneys argued that Hernan liked to drink eye drops.
"She just liked vodka. She also liked Visine. I have no idea why," defense attorney Pablo Galaviz said during his opening statement.
However, prosecutors claimed that Kurczewski murdered her friend by poisoning her with eye drops so she could defraud her out of nearly $300,000. Kurczewski changed her story about what happened several times while discussing the case with investigators.
Kurczewski faces a mandatory sentence of life in prison and will be formally sentenced at a later date.