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Nearly three years after Lynne Hernan was found dead in her home in Pewkeye, Wisconsin, a family friend she was caring for was arrested for murder.
has evolved? Authorities allege that 37-year-old Jesse-Rose Kurtzewski poisoned Hernan with eye drops after stealing nearly $300,000 from the 64-year-old, then tried to convince investigators that Hernan actually died of suicide through a drug overdose. In fact, the cops say, Kortzowski was an unlucky gambling addict with a history of fraud who defrauded Hernan out of thousands before calling herself the sole heiress of the Hernan House.
It all began on the afternoon of October 3, 2018, when Kurczewski called police to Hernan’s home saying Hernan had lost consciousness and was not breathing, according to a criminal complaint filed last week in Waukesha County Court. The deputy mayor arrived to find Hernan “pale” lying unconscious in a chair, with “a large quantity of crushed medicine on her chest and a plate just to her left with a large amount of what appears to be crushed medicine still on the plate.” The deputy spotted “a large number of bottles of prescription medications on the table on either side. Fire Department medics arrived at the scene and declared Hernan dead.
“Based on initial observations, investigators thought this might be a drug overdose,” states the complaint, which was first reported by the Milwaukee Journal-Sentinel.
Kortzowski told police that Hernan — who was only identified as “Victim A” in the complaint, but named in the now-reopened probate case — has been acting “odd” all week. She said she “believes there is a possibility of that [Hernan] She was suicidal but she also mentioned that she thinks [Hernan] She really liked her cats, often worried about them and did not want to leave them behind. ”
However, neighbors and others who knew Hernan told police they did not believe she was suicidal or that she would overdose on drugs, intentionally or unintentionally. An old friend told investigators he had suspicions about Kurczewski and her mother, who had been using Hernan’s Jeep after her death even though the car was supposed to go to Hernan’s nephew.
In January 2019, Hernan’s cousin identified in the complaint as Witness B contacted the county medical examiner’s office with her concerns about the circumstances of her death. In a follow-up interview with the police, the cousin said he found it unusual that Hernan would have given her entire property to Korchowski. He checked state records to see if Kurczewski had a criminal history, and saw several convictions for forgery and fraud.
The complaint stated: “Witness B wanted to make sure that the will made in the will was correct and wanted to make sure that there was nothing suspicious about the death of victim A in the autopsy report of the medical examiner.”
That same month, an autopsy performed by Waukesha County medical examiner Linda Biedrzycki showed that Hernan had a lethal dose of tetrahydrozoline — the main ingredient in over-the-counter eye drops — in her system. The cause of death was listed as tetrahydrozoline intoxication and was classified as homicide rather than suicide or accident.
Kurczewski reportedly contacted the medical examiner’s office several times, wanting to know the results of Hernan’s toxicology.
Kurczewski described many medical diseases [Hernan] It was before her death and she told investigators how frustrating it was that doctors were unable to diagnose or help [Hernan] with her illnesses,” says the complaint. “Kurczewski wondered whether [Hernan] Died of medical causes or whether the death was a suicide. Toxicology results were not shared with Kurczewski at the time.”
According to the complaint, Kortzewski speculated that Hernan was overwhelmed by her myriad medical conditions, saying that she may have been “sick of illness and had no answers.” In a subsequent interview with investigators, Kurczewski’s living friend said that Kurczewski told him that she spent a lot of time with Hernan in the hospital towards the end of her life, while she was in a coma. However, investigators told him that Hernan had not been hospitalized before her death, and had never been in a coma.
The friend also told the police that Kurczewski earned $20 an hour from work in the dental office, but was regularly spending $500 a night at a local casino and made expensive gifts like laptops and Gameboys that others found “excessive” and “some strange” thing”.
In July 2019, the police executed a search warrant in the house that Korchevsky had released with her boyfriend. She was taken to prison on probation linked to a previous abuse, and investigators interviewed her six times over the next 10 days. Prosecutors allege that Kortzewski told a range of stories, talking about “illegal and illegal controlled substances” that she claimed Hernan “will use and abuse her whole life.” That’s when investigators told Kurczewski about the tetrahydrozoline the medical examiner had found in Hernan’s system, which led to an inquiry from Kurczewski about how Hernan “famous” for eye drops, and that she had bought them in huge quantities. When detectives told Kurczewski they believed someone poisoned Hernan and staged the scene at Hernan’s home to make it look like an overdose, Kurczewski “vigorously denied” killing Hernan, the complaint explains.
Kurczewski offered it [Hernan] She must have committed suicide by using the crushed pills because Kurczewski asserted that she did not. Kurtzewski also says she’s never heard of ‘Visine poisoning’ before, and claims she wasn’t ‘buying’ the results of the medical examiner.
Kurtzewski then insisted that she had indeed seen Hernan drinking vodka with Visine the day before her death.
“Kurczewski had no rationale for not disclosing this information to investigators during either of the two previous interviews,” the complaint says. Then Kurczewski said it once [Hernan] I started getting a lot of Visine at home as I searched for it. Kurczewski said [Hernan] “I tried the pills twice” but it didn’t work. Then Kurczewski says that [Hernan] Visine had been thrown into a bottle of vodka for several days before her death. Kurczewski claimed [Hernan] She became seriously ill twice before she died from drinking Visine and was “shit all over”.
She continued, she claimed, to tell investigators that Hernan had used her phone to research suicide methods, had purchased a pistol with which she intended to commit suicide, and had in fact “saved” Hernan from herself on at least two occasions after entering on Hernan with a gun in her hand. Finally, Kurczewski told investigators that Hernan had a bottle of water at home with six bottles of Visine and Hernan fought back when she asked Kurczewski to hand it over to her. Then Kurtzowski said, “She will probably go to prison for the rest of her life to help her [Hernan] do what you want “.
In all, police believe Kurczewski stole $290,210.06 from Hernan, and spent more than $50,000 in less than a year at two casinos in Wisconsin. It is now held in lieu of $1 million in cash. If Kurczewski can provide bail, the conditions set by the court include: not working as a caregiver, not contacting any casinos, and not using or possessing over-the-counter eye drops.
Kortzewski does not have an attorney listed in court records, and he could not be reached for comment. She is due to return to court on June 25.
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