Woman accused of killing friend with eye drops to stand trial

WAUKESHA, Wis. (CBS 58) -- A Franklin woman accused of poisoning a friend with eye drops will soon stand trial for murder.

Jessy Kurczewski is facing life in prison for allegedly killing a friend with eye drops and staging it to look like a suicide in 2018.

The victim, a Pewaukee woman not named in the criminal complaint, had a fatal dose of tetrahydrozoline in her blood, the main ingredient in eye drops.

The now 39-year-old Kurczewski is also charged with two counts of theft for allegedly stealing over $290,000 from the victim, with $130,000 believed to have been transferred fraudulently by check from the victim to Kurczewski. Court records indicate investigators believe the defendant used some of that money to fuel a gambling addiction.

The criminal complaint details interviews Kurczewski had with police after calling 911 claiming she found the victim unconscious. At first, Kurczewski denied being involved, but after several interviews, she admitted to handing her friend a water bottle with six bottles of Visine in it to help her friend die by suicide.

According to court records, no bottles of eye drops were found around the victim's body, only crushed-up medication on her chest and table. Toxicology results show the medications found in the victim's system were all within therapeutic ranges, and it was the tetrahydrozoline that killed her.

Investigators believe Kurczewski staged the scene to make it look like a suicide, but she denied those claims.

The trial, expected to last five weeks, starts at 8:30 a.m. on Monday, Oct. 23.