A woman has been accused of ending her friend’s life by using eye drops to poison her, according to prosecutors.
On Friday, June 4, Jessy Kurczewski, 37, was charged with first-degree intentional homicide and two counts of felony theft, as Fox News reports.
What are the details?
Prosecutors say that Kurczewski called the police to her friend’s Pewaukee home on October 3, 2018. She stated that her friend was not breathing.
On arriving at the location, a Waukesha County sheriff’s deputy found an unconscious woman who was lying in a recliner.
There was a “large amount of crushed medication on her chest and a plate directly to the left of her with a large amount of what appeared to be crushed up medication still on the plate.”
Investigators initially believed that the death could have resulted because of an overdose, but then they learned that Kurczewski had been in charge of caring for the victim and had a set of keys to the house. The suspect also said she was the power of attorney for the victim, Fox News points out.
While witnesses were being interviewed, one of them said that he “did not believe her death was an overdose” and that he thought Kurczewski was involved in what happened.
The complaint states that the autopsy revealed the victim had a fatal dose of tetrahydrozoline, the main ingredient in eye drops, in her system.
The medical examiner concluded that it was “impossible to have that level of tetrahydrozoline in the blood just by using it in the eyes.”
A search warrant for the suspect’s home was obtained on July 9, 2019. She was arrested, placed on probation and parole.
Kurczewski “adamantly denied” having anything to do with her friend’s death and she added that the victim probably “staged it all with the crushed pills.” She also said that she “wasn’t buying what the medical examiner is saying” because “she had seen the victim drink Visine with vodka before her death,” as stated in the complaint.
On July 11, 2019, Kurczewski said that on the day her friend died she gave her a water bottle with six Visine bottled in it.
The prosecutors discovered Kurczewski committed fraud by making unauthorized transfers by check from the victim.
On Monday, June 7, Kurczewski made her initial appearance in court. Cash bond was set at $1 million. The suspect in the Pewaukee death will be back in court for the preliminary hearing on June 25.