This tale at the beginning aired on April 20, 2024.
In October 2023, within the court docket of Pass judgement on Jennifer Dorow, 39-year-old Jessy Kurczewski went on trial for the intentional murder of 62-year-old Lynn Hernan, along side two counts of criminal robbery for stealing from Hernan — any individual who’d at all times considered Kurczewski as a cherished buddy.
5 years previous, Kurczewski referred to as police and advised them she discovered Hernan lifeless, sitting in her recliner, in the lounge of her Pewaukee, Wisconsin apartment. Kurczewski were taking good care of Hernan, who had critical scientific issues.
THE TRIAL OF JESSY KURCZEWSKI
The prosecutors for Waukesha County had been Deputy District Lawyer Abbey Nickolie and Assistant District Legal professionals J.J. Crawford and Randy Sitzberger.
RANDY SITZBERGER (in courtroom): Just right afternoon, everybody. … So, that is Wisconsin as opposed to Jessy Kurczewski. Mentioned differently, this can be a case of homicide, greed and lies. … you will see that, in or about October 3, 2018, Lynn Hernan changed into value extra lifeless than alive to Kurczewski .
Stephanie Rodriguez: Prosecutors advised the jury … that this example used to be about any individual who sought after cash.
Stephanie Rodriguez coated the trial for the CBS associate in Milwaukee.
Stephanie Rodriguez: And prosecutors mentioned … that that is why she used to be taking good care of her. No longer as a result of she in truth cared, however that Jessy sought after the cash in her checking account.
RANDY SITZBERGER (in courtroom): Between January of ’16 and October 3 of 2018, Ms. Kurczewski used to be in a position to scouse borrow $144,000-plus from Lynn Hernan whilst she used to be nonetheless alive.
Stephanie Rodriguez: After which she sought after Lynn lifeless to get the cash from her property.
RANDY SITZBERGER (in courtroom): Lynn Hernan used to be … lifeless at simplest 62 years outdated from a tetrahydrozoline poisoning after the defendant gave her a bottle laced with Visine eye drops to drink.
Wisconsin Division of Corrections/Courtroom Pool of Protection Opening Commentary
However the protection offered Kurczewski as an in depth buddy who took care of Hernan — who they claimed used to be depressed about her declining well being.
PABLO GALAVIZ (in courtroom): This example is very essential to Jessy. … She’s presumed blameless. … And do not ever let that concept go away your thoughts, that she’s presumed blameless.
At trial, Kurczewski used to be represented by way of protection lawyers Pablo Galaviz and Donna Kuchler.
PABLO GALAVIZ (in courtroom): Here is a image of Lynn and Jessy, a commencement birthday celebration that Lynn threw for Jessy, highschool.
On the point out of her shut courting with Hernan, Kurczewski instantly teared up.
PABLO GALAVIZ (in courtroom): “That is my daughter,” she’s so proud …
PABLO GALAVIZ (in courtroom): That is who Jessy is to Lynn, her daughter …
Kurczewski had recognized Hernan since adolescence, thru her mom, Jennifer Flower.
PABLO GALAVIZ (in courtroom): Jennifer’s like her easiest, easiest buddy. And Jessy changed into her easiest, easiest buddy.
Hernan, who labored maximum of her existence as a hairdresser, by no means married, and lived by myself. Then, within the two years earlier than her dying, her well being abruptly declined.
Stephanie Rodriguez: There have been occasions the place Lynn would fall in her house, and Jessy must cross and lend a hand her rise up.
Hernan additionally had lung illness, hypertension and serious gastrointestinal problems which docs had been by no means in a position to totally diagnose. She were out and in of the clinic a number of occasions within the 12 months earlier than she died.
Stephanie Rodriguez: Jessy used to be at all times with Lynn as a result of she changed into her full-time caretaker, necessarily. … Jessy would do the grocery searching for Lynn. Jessy paid Lynn’s expenses.
PABLO GALAVIZ (in courtroom): Jessy used to be the one particular person she depended on.
The protection advised the jury that as Hernan’s well being additional deteriorated, she changed into despondent.
PABLO GALAVIZ (in courtroom): And also you noticed the best way she used to be completed up with the hair and nails and jewellery, she did not appear to be that anymore. … She did not need any further guests as a result of she did not glance, in her thoughts, the similar.
The protection argued that on Oct. 3, 2018, Hernan used to be uninterested in being unwell, and made up our minds to take her personal existence.
PABLO GALAVIZ (in courtroom): Once they arrived at the scene … They discovered a large number of empty prescription bottles. … And they are able to’t see that as a suicide? … She’s blameless. To find her no longer responsible.
One of the vital first orders of industrial for prosecutors used to be to determine the reason for dying. Former Waukesha County Deputy Scientific Examiner Tabitha Kukes talked to jurors about the ones photos she took when she arrived at Hernan’s apartment.
Waukesha County Circuit Courts
TABITHA KUKES (in courtroom): This can be a closeup of the drugs bottles that had been immediately to her left … There is further medicines which might be provide, some with out their caps on.
Kukes had photographed more than one medicines scattered at the carpet, in addition to a white powder on a plate, and on Hernan’s chest. Protection lawyer Kuchler suggests the powder used to be spilled by way of Hernan herself.
DONNA KUCHLER (in courtroom): Jessy advised you it used to be commonplace for Lynn to weigh down medicines as a result of her issues swallowing.
TABITHA KUKES: That is what she advised me.
Jurors heard from Leader Scientific Examiner Dr. Lynda Biedrzycki who testified about the ones pictures taken in Hernan’s front room. She mentioned the capsules and powder scattered on the scene did level to a possible suicide.
DR. LYNDA BIEDRZYCKI (in courtroom): There used to be a concept that perhaps there used to be a — an ingestion used to be an opportunity for the reason for dying.
However earlier than saying the reason for dying, Dr. Biedrzycki waited to look the effects from the toxicology checks. When she won them weeks later, she used to be in for a marvel.
DR. LYNDA BIEDRZYCKI (in courtroom): There used to be a substance that I used to be — peculiar … an peculiar discovering that I hadn’t observed in a record from their, uh, facility earlier than. It used to be, uh, referred to as tetrahydrozoline.
Dr. Biedrzycki started her personal analysis on tetrahydrozoline, a drug present in some over the counter eye drops.
DR. LYNDA BIEDRZYCKI (in courtroom): This can be a, um, a substance that I have not observed in a toxicology record earlier than. … it isn’t meant to be within the blood.
However how did it get there?
DEATH BY EYE DROPS
Scientific Examiner Dr. Lynda Biedrzycki advised the jury it used to be in past due September 2019, virtually a 12 months after Lynn Hernan’s dying, that she printed her reliable conclusion about how Hernan died.
DR. LYNDA BIEDRZYCKI: The reason for dying I made up our minds used to be tetrahydrozoline poisoning.
And Biedrzycki dominated that Hernan didn’t intentionally drink a deadly dose of eye drops.
DR. LYNDA BIEDRZYCKI: How this damage passed off is that she used to be given tetrahydrozoline by way of some other, which is why I referred to as it a murder.
Stephanie Rodriguez: The conclusion that Lynn Hernan used to be given tetrahydrozoline by way of some other displays that she used to be given this unsuspectingly. She did not know that she used to be consuming tetrahydrozoline when she did it.
The protection challenged the scientific examiner’s findings.
DONNA KUCHLER (in courtroom): Those are all of the medicine that had been present in Ms. Hernan … proper?
DR. LYNDA BIEDRZYCKI: Proper.
Stephanie Rodriguez: Toxicology experiences confirmed that Lynn had a minimum of 8 pharmaceuticals in her gadget, a few of which Lynn used to be no longer meant to be taking on the time as a result of the ones medicines were discontinued by way of Lynn’s docs.
DONNA KUCHLER (in courtroom): And those had been all in her blood, this means that they might already been ingested and made it into the blood circulation.
DR. LYNDA BIEDRZYCKI: True.
Biedrzycki mentioned that during her choice, the ones medicines, along side a few of Hernan’s scientific prerequisites, contributed to however didn’t cause Hernan’s dying.
Stephanie Rodriguez: The medicines present in Lynn’s frame had been all at healing ranges.
DONNA KUCHLER (in courtroom): Your conclusion used to be that she died from the tetrahydrozoline, proper?
DR. LYNDA BIEDRZYCKI: That — Sure.
However the protection requested how may just the scientific examiner be so positive Hernan didn’t ingest the attention drops on her personal?
DONNA KUCHLER (in courtroom): You do not know as you take a seat there lately whether or not she voluntarily ingested that.
DR. LYNDA BIEDRZYCKI: It used to be my opinion she did not, however wisdom of her motion, no.
DONNA KUCHLER: You were not there.
DR. LYNDA BIEDRZYCKI: I wasn’t there.
On redirect, Deputy D.A. Nickolie requested in regards to the powder discovered on and close to Hernan’s frame.
ABBEY NICKOLIE (in courtroom): What do you assume came about?
DR. LYNDA BIEDRZYCKI: I feel that they’ll were deposited there.
Stephanie Rodriguez: The scientific examiner believed that Lynn Hernan’s frame used to be staged to appear to be an overdose, as a result of … toxicology experiences confirmed that not one of the beaten up drugs that used to be discovered on Lynn Hernan and subsequent to her used to be if truth be told in her gadget.
The next day to come, the jury heard from a few of Hernan’s buddies.
RANDY SITZBERGER (in courtroom): Do you know Lynn Hernan?
JIM KELLIHER: Sure, I did.
Jim Kelliher met Lynn Hernan at a track pageant in 1983, when she used to be 27.
Jericka Duncan: What used to be your first affect?
Jim Kelliher: {That a} woman that appeared that excellent would not cross out with me (laughs).
Jim Kelliher
However Hernan mentioned sure and their romantic courting lasted 10 years. Even after it ended, they remained shut buddies.
Jim Kelliher: Lynn used to be an exquisite woman. … inside and outside, she used to be stunning.
Kelliher says he by no means met Kurczewski till proper after Hernan died.
Jim Kelliher: I am getting a telephone name from Jessy and she or he says, I’ve some unhealthy information. Lynn … dedicated suicide. … and by way of the best way, uh, we are gonna have a dinner for her at the thirteenth on the Open Flame Eating place.
Jericka Duncan: She mentioned in a single sentence —
Jim Kelliher: Proper.
Jericka Duncan: — your pricey buddy died by way of suicide.
Jim Kelliher: Proper.
Jericka Duncan: The following sentence, she tells you there may be gonna be a dinner in her reminiscence.
Jim Kelliher: Proper …
Jericka Duncan: What did you are making of that?
Jim Kelliher: Neatly, I did not — I more or less did not imagine her proper off the bat. She wasn’t crying.
At the stand, Kelliher says he did not imagine Hernan would have taken her personal existence.
RANDY SITZBERGER (in courtroom): Did you ever pay attention Lynn say the rest to you about pondering of killing herself?
JIM KELLIHER: No, I didn’t. … She … by no means, by no means gave me the indication of suicidal. By no means.
He mentioned that in spite of her rising frustration along with her well being issues, Hernan would nonetheless talk over with him and his female friend at their house.
JIM KELLIHER (in courtroom): She’d carry treats and stuff … She would say she were given abdomen aches or no matter, and she or he would at all times go away.
However the protection wondered whether or not Kelliher truly knew a lot about Hernan’s well being struggles. Within the remaining 12 months of Hernan’s existence, she’d been out and in of the clinic, discharged the overall time simply 5 days earlier than her dying.
PABLO GALAVIZ (in courtroom): Did you be offering to move over there and maintain her cat when she used to be within the clinic?
JIM KELLIHER: No, I didn’t …
PABLO GALAVIZ: You did not cross talk over with her — ?
JIM KELLIHER: No, I didn’t.
Prosecutors often known as Koreen Pozza.
Koreen Pozza: We’re easiest buddies for approximately 35-plus years.
They usually referred to as Koreen Pozza’s son Anthony Pozza, who says he at all times had a distinct bond with Hernan since adolescence.
Jericka Duncan: What did you name Lynn?
Anthony Pozza: Auntie Lynnie.
Anthony Pozza says he stayed on the subject of Hernan, continuously losing by way of her apartment whilst he attended faculty within sight.
Anthony Pozza: I cherished doing stuff along with her. … you realize, thrift retailer buying groceries … you realize, that used to be a date we might cross on is cross thrift retailer buying groceries.
RANDY SITZBERGER (in courtroom): Do you recall when the remaining … dialog you had with Lynn used to be?
ANTHONY POZZA: The remaining time I noticed Lynn used to be a month earlier than she kicked the bucket,
Anthony Pozza testified that in spite of her scientific troubles, Hernan looked to be making improvements to.
ANTHONY POZZA (in courtroom): She mentioned she used to be beginning to really feel higher, and … and she or he’s like … I am fin — you realize, I am satisfied I am getting out once more, and, you realize, we wish to do that extra frequently.
Prosecutors requested Waukesha County Sheriff’s Detective Chris Kohl about his investigation into Hernan’s dying.
ABBEY NICKOLIE (in courtroom): Did you talk with Ms. Kurczewski in regard to this dying investigation?
DET. CHRIS KOHL: Sure. … She contacted our place of work searching for an replace.
Waukesha County Circuit Courts
Prosecutors presented video of that assembly with Detective Kohl. He testified that 5 months after Hernan died, earlier than the scientific examiner had dominated on the reason for dying, Kurczewski got here to the sheriff’s division along with her mom, Jennifer Flower, asking questions.
JESSY KURCZEWSKI (police interview): You already know, once I talked to the scientific examiner remaining, um, smartly, I talked to them a large number of occasions … They usually mentioned, I needed to touch you guys … they kinda like, were not positive we — did not know if it used to be a suicide or if it used to be one thing scientific …
DET. CHRIS KOHL: So, at this level, I imply, they are looking ahead to their — their secondary, their — they name ’em confirming checks.
JESSY KURCZEWSKI : Yeah.
Throughout that interview, Kohl came upon extra about Kurczewski’s courting with Hernan.
JESSY KURCZEWSKI (police interview): She used to be like an aunt, a 2d mother to me. She did not have youngsters.
DET. CHRIS KOHL: So you could have recognized her all your existence? And that’s the reason kinda — that is why you had been serving to her out?
JESSY KURCZEWSKI: Yeah.
Kurczewski mentioned she used to be with regards to the one particular person nonetheless in Hernan’s existence earlier than she died.
JESSY KURCZEWSKI (police interview): She just about blew everyone off conceivable in any case. … she’d say ‘No, I do not need to see any one.’
Consistent with Kurczewski and her mom, Hernan used to be so withdrawn she didn’t need to communicate to her buddy Jim Kelliher when he referred to as.
JENNIFER FLOWER (police interview): She mentioned, “Don’t inform him. I do not want him right here. I do not need to see him.”
JESSY KURCZEWSKI (police interview): She did not like the best way she appeared, so she did not need folks round.
However that isn’t how Kelliher recollects what came about when he and his female friend referred to as Hernan’s quantity.
Jim Kelliher: Neatly, this lady responded the telephone, and she or he used to be more or less mouthing off to us, “do not use this telephone, do not name this quantity ever once more, do not be concerned about Lynn.” …
Jericka Duncan: And you are pondering what?
Jim Kelliher: I gotta in finding out from Lynn what is going on.
A couple of days later, Kelliher says Hernan referred to as him from the clinic, and so they agreed to make plans to get in combination when she went house.
Jim Kelliher: And that’s the reason the remaining time that I heard Lynn’s voice.
As they attempted to make sense of her dying, Hernan’s buddies say they recalled her speaking about one thing else that used to be troubling her — one thing that had not anything to do along with her well being.
Anthony Pozza: She would speak about her cash … “‘it is disappearing.”
Jim Kelliher: She simply mentioned, “I have no idea what is taking place to my cash.”
MISSING MONEY AND A CRIMINAL RECORD
RANDY SITZBERGER (in courtroom): Did Ms. Kurczewski inform you who can be answerable for dealing with Lynn’s property?
ANTHONY POZZA: Yeah, she mentioned she used to be appointed energy of lawyer.
Because the prosecution grew to become to the costs that Kurczewski stole cash from Hernan, they requested Anthony Pozza about his communications with Kurczewski within the months after Hernan’s dying.
ANTHONY POZZA (in courtroom): I’d simply take a look at up with Jessy each every so often by means of textual content and ask her if she wanted any lend a hand.
Hernan left a will she had drawn up in 2016 which named Kurczewski as non-public consultant, Wisconsin’s an identical of an executor. Kurczewski and Anthony Pozza had been co-beneficiaries. When Kurczewski despatched Anthony Pozza some forms of accounts she used to be settling, he used to be shocked at the amount of cash Lynn looked as if it would owe.
ANTHONY POZZA (in courtroom): I simply consider getting a last account with only a bunch of bank card expenses …
ANTHONY POZZA (in courtroom): And it used to be simply bizarre how she had a majority of these money owed that simply did not make any sense to me.
Hernan’s buddies remembered her as residing paycheck to paycheck till 2014, when she inherited $250,000 after her mom died. Now, after Hernan’s dying, Kurczewski reported to Anthony Pozza that the majority of Hernan’s property were eaten away by way of debt.
ANTHONY POZZA (in courtroom): I simply felt like one thing used to be up and I sought after it checked out extra intently.
The jury subsequent heard from any individual who used to be having a look extra intently.
RANDY SITZBERGER (in courtroom): You went thru a majority of these monetary accounts form of line by way of line, is that right kind?
DET. NATHAN PLENNES Sure.
Fb
Detective Nathan Plennes testified in regards to the investigation into Hernan’s budget. Prosecutors alleged Kurczewski stole greater than $200,000 from Hernan earlier than and after she died. And for the duration of their investigation, detectives found out a bombshell: Kurczewski had a legal file. In 2011, Kurczewski used to be convicted on fees of id robbery and forgery and sentenced to 8 years. Jessy were launched from jail early in 2016 on prolonged supervision — which coincided with the time Hernan’s well being started to say no.
Plennes advised jurors what he discovered about Hernan’s financial institution accounts. He testified that Hernan’s cash marketplace account, which had round $250,000 in 2016, used to be down to just $87 simply after she died. A fragment of the full used to be spent by way of Hernan on a Jeep and a few jewellery. Virtually the whole thing else, together with a complete of 20 assessments, went to Kurczewski .
Stephanie Rodriguez: Jessy used to be accused of stealing from Lynn as a result of she used to be getting … assessments out of Lynn Hernan’s account … with various issues within the memo notes like IRS fee, automobile fee. … However not one of the cash used to be going to the puts the place Lynn supposedly meant for them to move.
Plennes described to the jury how he matched each and every of the ones assessments to deposits in Kurczewski ‘s accounts — after which tracked the place Kurczewski spent that cash. There used to be a large spike in spending whilst Hernan used to be within the clinic two weeks earlier than she died.
Stephanie Rodriguez: Throughout her remaining clinic keep … cash used to be being transferred from Hernan’s account into Kurczewski ‘s account. After which Kurczewski used to be retreating that cash from ATMs at a neighborhood on line casino.
Plennes additionally testified that at the day that Hernan died, a JCPenney bank card used to be opened in Hernan’s identify. Simply days later, a $3,000 acquire of furnishings, made on some other bank card in Hernan’s identify, used to be brought to the house Kurczewski shared with Scott Craig.
RANDY SITZBERGER (in courtroom): Mr. Craig, how is it you realize Ms. Kurczewski?
SCOTT CRAIG: We had been boyfriend and female friend for … three-and-a-half years.
RANDY SITZBERGER: What used to be it that came about in the summertime of 2019 that brought about that finish to the connection?
SCOTT CRAIG: Um, when Waukesha Sheriff’s Division got here to my space and took her away.
Kurczewski used to be arrested for probably violating the phrases of her supervised unlock on the ones id robbery and fraud fees.
DET. AARON HOPPE (in courtroom): That is the preliminary interview that used to be performed with Ms. Kurczewski as soon as the warrants had been performed on July ninth.
Detective Aaron Hoppe, the lead investigator within the case, and Detective Chris Kohl, interviewed Kurczewski. Hoppe watched parts of that interview along side the jurors.
DET. CHRIS KOHL (police interview): Usually would you cross there within the morning or the evening or —
JESSY KURCZEWSKI : I did not have a suite — It simply depended how she used to be doing the day earlier than, and …
Following up on their suspicions that Kurczewski were stealing from Hernan, Detective Chris Kohl gave her a possibility to provide an explanation for. She claimed Hernan were paying her for serving to at house.
DET. CHRIS KOHL (police interview): Did you might have like an reliable association — like I make $20 an hour?
JESSY KURCZEWSKI: No. No, there used to be not anything. No, not anything like that. … I imply, there used to be no, you realize, at some point, “oh, here is a take a look at.” At some point, “this is my card, cross get this,” At some point—I imply, it used to be no, no set —
DET. CHRIS KOHL: No set quantity?
JESSY KURCZEWSKI: No. … I imply, she’d lend a hand out. She’d inform my mother, “Oh, this month I will pay your hire” or “I am gonna pay your automobile.”
Jurors watched as Detective Kohl, for the primary time, shared Hernan’s post-mortem effects with Kurczewski.
DET. CHRIS KOHL: There is an anomaly in her toxicology. There is a drug in her gadget that isn’t meant to be there.
JESSY KURCZEWSKI: And what would that be?
DET. CHRIS KOHL: Um, it is referred to as tetrahydrozine (sic).
JESSY KURCZEWSKI: What’s that?
DET. CHRIS KOHL: Extra usually referred to as eye drops.
JESSY KURCZEWSKI: She used eye drops at all times.
DET. CHRIS KOHL: What did she use ’em for?
JESSY KURCZEWSKI: She used ’em for her eyes. … She put ’em in her eyes at all times.
DET. CHRIS KOHL: What killed her is the attention drops.
JESSY KURCZEWSKI: Are you critical?
DET. CHRIS KOHL: Mm-hmm (affirms).
Within the interview Detective Kohl advised Kurczewski that the scientific examiner concept any individual gave the attention drops to Hernan — orally — in an try to kill her.
JESSY KURCZEWSKI : Do you guys assume I murdered her?
DET. CHRIS KOHL: Did you?
JESSY KURCZEWSKI: I swear to God, I did not — I didn’t.
DET. CHRIS KOHL: Turns out you are the person who had essentially the most to achieve in this.
However detectives say Kurczewski knew all about tetrahydrozoline. She advised her boyfriend Scott, in textual content messages, any individual had put it in her drink when she used to be at a bar about 3 months after Hernan’s dying. Detective Hoppe learn the texts in courtroom:
DET. AARON HOPPE: Jessy to Scott: “Scott I do not really feel excellent.”
Scott advised detectives that Kurczewski mentioned she went to the clinic.
DET. AARON HOPPE: “They mentioned my blood drive is truly unhealthy”
DET. AARON HOPPE: “I’ve lines of tetrahydrozoline in my blood
DET. AARON HOPPE: “The physician mentioned … that is the major … component in eyedrops.”
DET. AARON HOPPE: “He mentioned folks put it in folks’s beverages at all times”
DET. AARON HOPPE: “He mentioned there is not any style to it and folks do not realize.”
Stephanie Rodriguez: Jessy additionally tells Scott in the ones textual content messages that individuals can die from tetrahydrozoline poisoning.
DET. AARON HOPPE: “u can die from that”
JESSY KURCZEWSKI’S CHANGING EXPLANATIONS
ABBEY NICKOLIE: Detective Hoppe, I feel you testified you spoke once more with Ms. Kurczewski?
DET. AARON HOPPE: That is proper.
On day 9 of the trial, the jury watched video of some other interview between Jessy and detectives. This one came about the day after she used to be arrested on that parole cling. She had requested to talk to detectives once more.
JESSY KURCZEWSKI : I used to be up all evening lengthy making an attempt to think about the whole thing and the rest. I used to be pondering of the Visines.
After spending her first evening in prison, Kurczewski’s tale had modified. Proper after her arrest, Kurczewski had advised detectives that Hernan used eye drops for dry eyes. Now Kurczewski advised Hoppe that Hernan had some other use for it.
JESSY KURCZEWSKI (police interview): She used to be consuming vodka and Visine.
Stephanie Rodriguez: Throughout the second one day of interviews with detectives, the jury heard Jessy inform them that Lynn did drink Visine.
DET. AARON HOPPE: How are you aware she had combined Visine with — along with her vodka?
JESSY KURCZEWSKI: As a result of that is what she did.
DET. AARON HOPPE: Why?
JESSY KURCZEWSKI: She’s completed it about thrice.
DET. AARON HOPPE: Why? Why did not you let us know that the day gone by.
JESSY KURCZEWSKI: As a result of I did not need to inform you guys since you guys are making it sound adore it came about the day of, and that’s the reason no longer when she used to be doing that.
Stephanie Rodriguez: However Jessy says she by no means gave Lynn Hernan any Visine.
DET. AARON HOPPE: Did you ever put the vodka — the Visine within the vodka?
JESSY KURCZEWSKI: By no means. Swear to God.
DET. AARON HOPPE: So she put the Visine (Yup) in her vodka…
Then Kurczewski went additional.
Stephanie Rodriguez: Jessy is going into element about how Lynn sought after to die by way of suicide. … that Lynn used to be the usage of the attention drops to lend a hand her die by way of suicide.
JESSY KURCZEWSKI (police interview): She used to be searching for her manner out.
Kurczewski vehemently denied serving to Hernan die.
JESSY KURCZEWSKI (police interview): I by no means combined it. I swear to God. I purchased it for her. And I knew she used to be blending it. … She put it into her water every so often, and in her vodka every so often.
The next day to come, Kurczewski requested to talk with the detectives all over again — the 3rd time in 3 days. The jury watched as Kurczewski had a new revelation for the investigators.
Stephanie Rodriguez: Jessy tells detectives that Lynn would get a buzz off of consuming Visine.
JESSY KURCZEWSKI (police interview): She mentioned she misplaced like feeling of her frame. It made her really feel excellent. … And I in truth she used to be doing it for goodbye, that I did not assume she used to be going to die from it. . I truly did not. I assumed, OK, she used to be getting some sleep from it, that is it. She used to be doing it for 2 months, a minimum of.
DET. AARON HOPPE: Doing what?
JESSY KURCZEWSKI: The Visine.
And Kurczewski now mentioned that Hernan if truth be told did drink Visine the day she died. Kurczewski claimed that once she visited Hernan that morning, Kurczewski knew that Hernan had poured six bottles of Visine into her personal water bottle.
JESSY KURCZEWSKI (police interview): That bottle of water proper there had in six — six Visines. …
JESSY KURCZEWSKI: I did not put it in there. I gave her the bottle of water …
DET. CHRIS KOHL: Which is the only you realize has six bottles of Visine in it?
JESSY KURCZEWSKI: Yep.
DET. CHRIS KOHL: ‘Purpose she advised you. And also you give it to her?
JESSY KURCZEWSKI: Neatly, we argued about it.
Kurczewski mentioned she spent 10 mins seeking to prevent Hernan.
JESSY KURCZEWSKI: She mentioned, “No, I would like that bottle of water. It is going to put me to sleep.” …
DET. CHRIS KOHL: And then you definitely gave in?
JESSY KURCZEWSKI: Yep. … it is her selection and what she sought after …
DET. CHRIS KOHL: And then you definitely left?
JESSY KURCZEWSKI: Yep.
Hours later, detectives alleged Kurczewski opened that JCPenney bank card in Hernan’s identify and went grocery buying groceries.
JESSY KURCZEWSKI (police interview): I did not do it to her, although. I did not (cries).
Waukesha County Sheriff Data Administrative center
It will be 23 months later that Jessy Kurczewski used to be charged with Lynn Hernan’s dying.
When it used to be the protection’s flip, Kurczewski’s lawyers targeted virtually only on their declare that Hernan died by way of suicide by way of consuming Visine.
Gary Verdin, a chum of Kurczewski ‘s mom, testified he’d been in Hernan’s apartment two times, the second one time a couple of 12 months earlier than her dying. But his reminiscence of the talk over with used to be transparent.
GARY VERDIN (in courtroom): I noticed her at all times sitting on this, uh, chair with a desk subsequent to her. … She had, um, a … white slurpy cup, uh, straw popping out of it. She had a bottle of vodka subsequent to it. … She had, an ash tray, her cigarettes and bottle of Visine.
DONNA KUCHLER: You positive it is Visine?
GARY VERDIN: Sure.
Verdin testified that on some other instance, he heard Hernan on speakerphone when he visited Kurczewski’s mom, Jennifer Flower.
GARY VERDIN (in courtroom): Lynn simply began rambling off … and she or he used to be both sleepy or drained or no matter, however she used to be, uh, damn off in regards to the will. … Then she began speaking about how she sought after to kill herself.
The protection referred to as Sara Tromp, a nurse practitioner who started treating Hernan for again ache in 2017. Regardless of prescribing a number of ache medicines for her, Tromp mentioned Hernan didn’t fortify.
PABLO GALAVIZ (in courtroom): In 2018, January, she continues to whinge about her again ache.
SARA TROMP: Sure.
PABLO GALAVIZ: The ache being worsening, right kind?
SARA TROMP: Sure.
Forensic pathologist Dr. Lindsey Thomas used to be employed by way of the protection.
DR. LINDSEY THOMAS (in courtroom): I’d say her previous scientific historical past used to be very vital. … She had an overly lengthy checklist of scientific prerequisites and, uh, additionally had fairly a couple of psychiatric problems. … melancholy, nervousness, agoraphobia — which is concern of public puts … continual insomnia. The ones had been those that had been indexed in her scientific information.
Dr. Thomas testified she agreed with the state’s conclusion that Lynn’s scientific issues contributed to her dying. She didn’t accept as true with the state’s discovering that Lynn died from tetrahydrozoline poisoning.
Stephanie Rodriguez: The forensic pathologist that the protection introduced up mentioned that Lynn’s reason for dying used to be undetermined, however she believed it used to be mixed-drug toxicity. … and in order that implies that she concept it used to be a mix of all of the medicine present in Lynn’s gadget.
DONNA KUCHLER (in courtroom): Would you are saying that there’s sturdy proof right here that Lynn Hernan’s dying used to be a suicide?
DR. LINDSEY THOMAS: Uh, I’d say there may be sturdy proof that for sure will have been a suicide. Sure.
Because the protection concluded, Pass judgement on Jennifer Durow requested Kurczewski if she’d be taking the stand.
JUDGE DUROW (in courtroom): What’s that call?
JESSY KURCZEWSKI : It used to be very exhausting for me to make a decision, however in the long run, I will be able to no longer be attesting.
In her remaining argument, Deputy District Lawyer Abbey Nickolie mentioned Kurczewski had only one reason: cash.
ABBEY NICKOLIE (in courtroom): Omit Kurczewski’s intent is obvious; it used to be to kill … And the reason is her personal non-public get advantages. … That is any individual who has profited over $144,000 earlier than dying and over $80,000 after.
In her remaining, protection lawyer Donna Kuchler maintained that Hernan took her personal existence.
DONNA KUCHLER (in courtroom): The state has no longer confirmed a first-degree intentional murder.
DONNA KUCHLER (in courtroom): Jessy knew that Lynn would … take Visine, drink it. … However she does not know the way she died that day, gave the look of a suicide with capsules from an individual who used to be unsatisfied.
As for the allegations that Jessy stole from Hernan, the protection contended that Hernan gave Jessy the cash as a result of Lynn knew she used to be going to finish her personal existence.
DONNA KUCHLER (in courtroom): Lynn gave Jessy cash at all times as a result of she sought after to.
DONNA KUCHLER (in courtroom): She sought after Jessy to have it. She is aware of she’s going out. … And Lynn decided. She decided that she used to be going to go out. And … she did that on October third as soon as Jessy had left the house.
In its rebuttal, the prosecution driven again.
ABBEY NICKOLIE (in courtroom): To imagine that this used to be a suicide, you would need to imagine that by way of essentially the most cosmic intervention in all of the global, it came about on the precise cut-off date when Omit Kurczewski maximized the amount of cash that she made in this complete ordeal.
The jury deliberated for seven hours the primary day however didn’t achieve a verdict.
Stephanie Rodriguez: Verdict wait for this example used to be demanding … when the jury started to planned right into a 2d day, there used to be some surprise.
Anthony Pozza: That is when … I were given nervous. … I used to be questioning why, you realize, what is the holdup.
On Nov. 14, 2023, after 10-and-a-half hours of deliberation, Jessy Kurczewski steadied herself as Pass judgement on Jennifer Dorow learn the jury’s verdicts: guilty of first-degree intentional homicide.
Courtroom Pool
Kurczewski broke down as the pass judgement on persevered. She used to be additionally convicted at the two counts of criminal robbery — for stealing cash from Hernan earlier than and after she died.
Anthony Pozza: I used to be simply conquer with emotion. … it additionally makes you replicate at the remaining 5 years … with the lies and the deceit.
However earlier than sentencing, the case took a peculiar flip when an envelope containing 37 pages of handwritten letters and paperwork used to be won by way of a chum of Kurczewski’s, who then grew to become it over to the sheriff’s division.
Stephanie Rodriguez: The letter requests a chum of Jessy to faux proof, create a voice recording pretending to be Lynn Hernan … to ship all of … this … to the pass judgement on on this case, to native media, even to the governor to take a look at to turn out Jessy’s innocence.
Waukesha County Circuit Courts
Prosecutors mentioned the paperwork had been written by way of Kurczewski at the again of her trial notes, giving “Instructions” to her buddy on tips on how to impersonate Hernan and fabricate fabrics, and put up them to the courtroom.
Kurczewski allegedly requested her buddy to “make a voice tape” pretending to be Hernan, writing “She has an older, raspy … feminine voice.” Kurczewski allegedly directed her buddy to mention, “I will not cross on anymore” … “I selected to drink Visine and finish my existence. ” Kurczewski denied writing the paperwork, and the sheriff’s division started an investigation into their starting place
And the result of that investigation had been printed on April 5, 2024, when Kurczewski used to be again in Pass judgement on Dorow’s courtroom for her sentencing.
Prosecutors performed video recorded in Kurczewski’s bunk room on the Waukesha County Prison a couple of days earlier than the ones paperwork had been grew to become over to government.
JUDGE DOROW: Ms. Kurczewski that is your alternative to deal with the courtroom. What, if the rest, do you want to mention?
Kurczewski once more denied she used to be the creator of the ones paperwork. She spent virtually two hours, with out a ruin, proclaiming her innocence — insisting the one factor she used to be responsible of used to be being a devoted buddy
They mentioned it confirmed Kurczewski hanging papers into an envelope, leaving it at the mattress of some other inmate who later takes it to a mail drop-off. The prosecution mentioned this proved Kurczewski wrote the ones paperwork.
JESSY KURCZEWSKI (in courtroom): Let’s be very transparent right here, there used to be no homicide. I didn’t devote homicide. I didn’t poison Lynn, give her capsules or the rest. … this can be a lot to be accused and convicted of homicide when I did not do it (chokes up) … You might be maintaining me answerable for what she did.
Pass judgement on Dorow mentioned she believed Hernan’s dying used to be premeditated.
JUDGE DOROW: Tetrahydrozoline used to be no longer one thing we anticipated to seek out. … And I do imagine it used to be one thing you, Ms. Kurczewski, banked on no person checking out for. … I’ve to invite out loud, it is in a rhetorical query, however had been you poisoning Lynn Hernan all alongside? Following your unlock from jail?
JESSY KURCZEWSKI: No.
JUDGE DOROW: I am not inquiring for a solution, that is my time. So don’t interrupt me.
Kurczewski used to be sentenced to existence in jail at the intentional murder fee, and 10 years for the 2 robbery fees. The soonest she might be paroled can be after 40 years, when she can be just about 80 years outdated.
JIM KELLIHER (in courtroom): Jessy poisoned Lynn like she used to be a rodent.
Lynn Hernan’s buddy, Jim Kelliher, had a couple of ultimate phrases for her killer.
JIM KELLIHER (in courtroom): The satan awaits you. I am hoping you rot in hell. Lynn Hernan is an angel in heaven. Would possibly you relaxation in peace, Lynn. You might be dearly ignored. And at all times will likely be. I am so very sorry. God bless
Jessy Kurczewski s mom, Jennifer Flower, has no longer been charged with any wrongdoing in reference to Lynn Hernan’s dying.
Kurczewski says she plans to record an attraction.
“48 HOURS” POST MORTEM PODCAST
Jericka Duncan and “48 Hours” manufacturers Susan Mallie and Lauren Clark percentage never-before-heard audio of Jessy Kurczewski impersonating her buddy, whom she used to be just lately discovered responsible of fatally poisoning with eye drops. The gang additionally discusses the exonerating proof that Kurczewski allegedly buried in a public park and the pass judgement on’s peculiar commentary throughout sentencing.
Richard Barber is the manufacturer/editor. Susan Mallie and Lauren Clark are the manufacturers. Charlotte A. Fuller is the advance manufacturer. Marcus Balsam and Phil Tangel are the editors. Michelle Sigona and Tamara Weitzman are the advance manufacturers. Anthony Batson is the senior manufacturer. Nancy Kramer is the chief tale editor. Judy Tygard is the chief manufacturer.