On October 3, 2018, Jessy Kurczewski contacted 911 to report that she had discovered her friend, Lynn Hernan, unresponsive in her Pewaukee, Wisconsin, home. Kurczewski was Hernan’s good friend’s daughter, and she had known him since childhood. Kurczewski informed the investigators that she had been serving as Hernan’s caregiver because his health had been deteriorating and that she had recently started visiting Hernan’s home on a daily basis.
Jericka Duncan, a “48 Hours” contributor, examines what happened to Hernan in “Death by Eye Drops,” which airs Saturday, April 20 at 10/9c on CBS and streams on Paramount+.
According to first responders on the scene, Hernan appeared to have died of an accidental overdose or suicide. Prescription pills littered the carpet, and a plate near Hernan’s body appeared to contain crushed drugs.
However, in the months following Hernan’s death, doubts about Kurczewski arose. Kurczewski has a criminal past, as determined by Waukesha County Sheriff’s Department investigators. Before her release in 2016, she had served time in jail for forgery and identity theft offenses. In July 2019, authorities arrested Kurczewski on a probation and parole hold and detained her for questioning. Those interviews were recorded. Kurczewski told detectives that Hernan had taken numerous drugs before her death, some of which had been discontinued, and had spent a lot of money.
But as investigators began to question Kurczewski, her account seemed to change, especially after they informed her of “an anomaly” in Hernan’s toxicological report, which the medical examiner had obtained following Hernan’s autopsy. Detective Chris Kohl revealed to Kurczewski the presence of an unexpected drug in her system. It was tetrahydrozoline, a chemical substance present in various kinds of over-the-counter eye drops that medical experts warn can be lethal if used in sufficient numbers.
Kurczewski quickly replied that Hernan “used eye drops all the time.” Kohl informed Kurczewski that the medical examiner believed Hernan ate the eye drops instead of absorbing them through his eyes due to the high level of tetrahydrozoline in his system. Kurczewski denied ever giving Hernan eye drops to drink.
The next day, Kurczewski sought to speak with the detectives again, this time telling them that Hernan had decided to commit suicide. During the interview, Kurczewski stated that Hernan had told her she had tried drinking Visine combined with vodka a few times to see what happened. Kurczewski stated of Hernan, “She was looking for her way out.”
The following day, Kurczewski requested another meeting with the detectives, his third in three days. Kurczewski now claims that Hernan had been taking Visine on a daily basis for months and would combine the eye drops with vodka to make a cocktail that she would consume frequently because she enjoyed the feeling it gave her. Kurczewski stated that it would soothe Hernan and help her sleep. Kurczewski reportedly told detectives that she had tried numerous times to persuade Hernan to stop, but “I always gave in to what she wanted because it’s her choice and what she wanted.”
Kurczewski now claims that on the morning of Hernan’s death, Hernan told him that she had emptied six bottles of Visine into a plastic water bottle. Kurczewski claimed they had argued over it, but she eventually gave in and delivered Hernan the water bottle filled with Visine. Kurczewski, on the other hand, insisted that she had only handed Hernan the water bottle because he had requested it, and then departed for hours to perform errands, unaware of how much Hernan had actually consumed or how it might affect her. The investigators questioned Kurczewski about why they should believe her now, and she claimed she had finally told them everything.
After those interviews, the investigation into Kurczewski lasted months, with officials uncovering both Hernan’s and Kurczewski’s financial records. Detectives eventually revealed that Kurczewski had either directly transferred huge sums of Hernan’s assets to him or drained accounts he had access to.
In June 2021, prosecutors charged Kurczewski with first-degree intentional homicide and two counts of theft for stealing from Hernan both before and after her death. Prosecutors claimed that Kurczewski had made over $200,000 from Hernan since 2016 and that she purposely poisoned him with eye drops with the goal of killing him after her money had run out.
Kurczewski maintained her innocence, claiming that she loved Hernan, and her defense attorneys contended that Hernan had freely given Kurczewski money, either as presents or in exchange for assisting her. “48 Hours” was present when Kurczewski went on trial in October 2023.
