When police arrived at Lynn Hernan's Pewaukee, Wisconsin home on a warm October morning in 2018, they found a scene that appeared tragically straightforward.
Lynn was slumped over in her recliner with multiple empty prescription bottles present in the house. First responders thought she'd died of an accidental overdose, or perhaps by suicide.
Beside her, distraught and tearful, sat her supposed 'best friend', Jessy Kurczewski.
Through her sobs, Kurczewski painted a picture of devoted friendship.
She was merely a friend who had taken on the role as carer, and had found her beloved Lynn unresponsive. After all, she had known Lynn for years, describing their relationship as closer than family. Police initially had no reason to doubt her story.
But sometimes, the deepest betrayals hide behind the mask of friendship.
When Lynn Hernan's autopsy results came back, they revealed a shocking truth that would unravel a sinister plot of greed, deception, and cold-blooded murder. The cause of death wasn't opioids at all — it was a massive overdose of tetrahydrozoline, the main ingredient in eye drops.
A friendship built on lies.
Lynn Hernan, 61, was a successful business owner who had built a comfortable life for herself in Wisconsin.
She met Jessy Kurczewski through Kurczewski's mother, Jennifer Flower, who had once been Hernan's friend. Over time, Kurczewski ingratiated herself into Lynn's life, eventually becoming her caregiver and, supposedly, her closest friend.
But this friendship was built on a foundation of deceit. Kurczewski, who was decades younger than Lynn, had been systematically stealing from her supposed friend, draining her finances through a calculated scheme of fraud and theft.
A deadly plot.
On October 3, 2018, Kurczewski staged what she claimed was an accidental overdose. She called police to Lynn's home, where they found the victim surrounded by crushed medication and vodka. It seemed to support Kurczewski's narrative that Lynn had taken her own life through a drug overdose.
