Wisconsin eye drops homicide trial, medical examiner testifies
WAUKESHA, Wis. - Prosecutors presented a new set of witnesses Wednesday, Oct. 25 in the trial of Jessy Kurczewski, the Wisconsin woman accused of killing her friend with eye drops.
Investigators thought 62-year-old Lynn Hernan's 2018 was a suicide until they got the Pewaukee woman's toxicology report. Her body was found near pill bottles and crushed pills, but Wednesday's testimony showed it was what was in her blood that had the Waukesha County medical examiner scratching her head.
When deputies and detectives showed up to Hernan's home, she was found in a recliner. Defense Attorney Pablo Galaviz questioned Sheriff's Department Det. Timothy Loberg Wednesday.
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Galaviz: "Everyone on the scene assumed this was suicide, correct?"
Loberg: Yes
Galaviz: "A suicide by prescription pills, correct?"
Loberg: Yes
Still, there was an autopsy.
Jessy Kurczewski
"Perhaps natural disease was cause of death," said Dr. Lynda Biedrzycki, the county medical examiner. "I would say, initially, that was my initial thought."
When the toxicology report came back, it found tetrahydrozoline, the active ingredient in eye drops to relieve redness, in Hernan's system.
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"There was a substance that I was – unusual – an unusual finding that I hadn’t seen in a report from their facility, before. It was called tetrahydrozoline," Biedrzycki said.
"I determined it was a homicide, which a medical determination not based on law enforcement or criminal rules. It's a public health determination, actually, and how this injury occurred was she was given tetrahydrozoline by another."
Lynn Hernan
Biedrzycki spent the bulk of Wednesday, the second day of the trial, on the witness stand. Something about the scene seemed off to the medical examiner – like it was staged.
Kurczewski, 39, was not charged in Hernan's death until nearly three years later. She's also accused of stealing tens of thousands of dollars form Hernan before and after she died.
The defense team maintained Hernan killed herself and had health issues, while prosecutors pointed to medical records that show she was recovering. Biedrzycki said there was nothing in the review of Hernan's medical records that indicated she was severely depressed, suicidal or suffered from any life-threatening illness.