Death by Eye Drops | Full Episode + Post Mortem | Forensic Files

[Music] thank you everyone please have a seat if you are satisfied Beyond a reasonable doubt that the defendant
caused the death of Lynn hearnen with the intent to kill you should find the defendant guilty of first-degree
intentional homicide if you are not So Satisfied you must find the defendant not
guilty Lyn hern's not here to tell you what went on we were dispatched to a suicide a female had located her friend
deceased in a residence it was immediately obvious that the decedent was there in a
recliner she has multiple medication bottles that are within Arms Reach she has multiple medications that are kind
of scattered on her carpet and this appears to be an unknown powdery substance left behind on a plate I
received a witness statement from Jesse from when I knew Jesse was the caretaker
of the individual Jesse kfy took care of Lynn during the last year of Lynn's Life
Jesse was like an adopted daughter to Lynn so Jesse and Lynn were very close Lynn was really sick and depressed Lynn
started suffering from health issues that were unexplained she was going in and out of the hospital but doctors
couldn't figure out what it was that was ailing Lynn she was going to like doctor
after doctor and then she'd call me and say they can't find anything wrong with me the defense argued that Lynn wanted
to die by suicide because she was sick of being sick I remember hearing it from Jesse on the phone looks like Lynn you
know committed suicide when you heard your auntie Lenny died by Suicide did you believe that I wasn't
really sure at the time what to believe cuz you know I just couldn't see her you
know ending her own life she wants to die she doesn't like life the speculation at the time on law
enforcement's behalf was that this was clearly a suicide you received information from the medical examiner
did that cause the Sheriff's Office to change their investigation yes there was a substance that was
unusual the medical examiner found tetrah hydrosaline in linnon system it's the active ingredient in eye
drops that when ingested can be fatal my opinion is that Lyn hernon died of tetrah hydrosaline poisoning what about
the manner of death in this case it's homicide i k there's the eye drops are you serious do you guys think I murdered
her did you I swear to God I in June of 2021 Jesse kvki was charged with first-degree intentional
homicide the state argued that Linn hernon was worth more dead than alive to Jesse kesy you're going to see that the
access Miss kesi had to Lin hearnen allowed her to steal every dollar almost that Linn hernon was worth in life Lynn
gave Jesse money all the time because she wanted to she wanted Jesse to have it this is not a suicide this was
intentional homicide Lynn love Jesse if Lyn Hern was here today she would say are you crazy prosecution Jesse's
innocent [Music] [Music] [Music] this case must be decided by you the jurors based on the evidence presented
in the courtroom you jurors are the judges of The credibility of the Witnesses and the weight of the
evidence in October of 2023 in the courtroom of Judge Jennifer Doro 39-year-old Jesse keski went on trial
for the intentional homicide of 62-year-old Lyn hearnen along with two counts of felony theft for stealing from
Lynn someone who'd always thought of Jesse as a beloved friend 5 years earlier Jesse called police and
told them she found Lynn dead sitting in her recliner in the living room of her pukei Wisconsin condo Jesse had been
taken care of Lynn who had serious medical problems the lawyers will now make their
opening statements good afternoon everyone the prosecutors for wakaa County our Deputy
district attorney Abby Nikolai and assistant District Attorneys JJ Crawford and Randy sitser so this is Wisconsin
versus Jesse keski said otherwise this is a case of murder greed and lies you're going to see that in or about
October 3rd 2018 Lyn hearnen became worth more dead than alive to Jesse keski prosecutors told the jury that
this case was about someone who wanted money Stephanie Rodriguez covered the trial for the CBS affiliate in Milwaukee
and prosecutors said that that's why she was caring for her not because she genuinely cared but that Jesse wanted
the money in her bank account between January of 16 and October 3rd of 2018 Miss keski was able to steal
$144,000 plus from Lyn hernon while she was still alive and then she wanted Lyn dead to get the money from her estate
Lyn hearnen was dead at only 62 years old from a Tetra hydraline poisoning after the defendant gave her a bottle
laced with vising eye drops to drink but the defense presented Jesse as a close friend who took care of Lynn who
they claimed was depressed about her declining Health this case is extremely important to
Jesse presumed innocent and don't ever let that thought leave your mind that she's Presumed Innocent at trial Jesse
was represented by defense attorneys Pablo galles and Donna cougler here's a picture of Lynn and Jesse a graduation
party that Lynn threw for Jesse High School At The Mention Of Her close relationship with Lynn this is my
daughter she's so proud Jesse immediately teared up that's who Jesse is to her daughter Jesse had known Lynn
since childhood through her mother Jennifer flower Jennifer is like her best best friend and Jesse became her
best best friend Lynn who worked most of her life as a hairdresser never married
and lived alone then in the 2 years before her death her health rapidly declined there were times where Lynn
would fall in her home and Jesse would have to go and help her get up Lynn also had lung disease high blood pressure and
severe gastrointestinal issues which doctors were never able to fully diagnose she had been in and out of the
hospital several times and the year before she died Jesse was always with Lynn because she became her full-time
caraker essentially Jesse would do the grocery shopping for Lynn Jesse paid Lynn's bills Jesse was the only person
she trusted the defense told the jury that as Lynn's Health further deteriorated she became despondent and
you saw the way she was done up with the hair and nails and jewelry she didn't look like that
anymore she didn't want any more visitors cuz she didn't look in her mind the same the defense argued that on
October 3rd of 2018 Lynn was tired of being sick and decided to take her own life when they arrived on the scene this
is what they follow at the scene they found a lot of empty prescription bottles and they can't see that as a
suicide she's innocent find her not guilty one of the first orders of business for
prosecutors the state would next call Taba cukus was to establish the cause of death former wakesha County Deputy
medical examiner Tabitha cukus talked to jurors about those pictures she took when she arrived at Lynn's condo this is
a closeup of the medication bottles that were directly to her left there's additional medications that are present
some without their caps on kcus had photographed multiple medications shattered on the carpet as well as a
white powder on a plate and on hearn's chest defense attorney kler suggests the powder was spilled by Lynn herself Jesse
told you it was common for Lynn to crush medications because of her problem swallowing that's what she told me
jurors heard from chief medical examiner Dr Linda bitki who testified about those
photos taken in Lynn's living room she said the pills and and powder scattered at the scene did point to a potential
suicide there was a thought that maybe there was an ingestion was a possibility for the cause of death but before
pronouncing the cause of death Dr britzky waited to see the results from the toxicology
tests when she received them weeks later she was in for surprise there was a substance that I was um unusual an
unusual finding that I hadn't seen in a report from their uh facility before it was uh called tetrah hydrosaline Dr
britzky began her own research on tetrah hydraline a drug found in some over-the-counter ey drops this is a
substance that I haven't seen in a toxicology report before it's not supposed to be in the blood but how did
it get there Dr bisy were you involved in the cause of death and manner determination for ly hernon yes
medical examiner Dr Linda britzky told the jury it was in late September 2019 almost a year after Lynn hearn's death
that she published her official conclusion about how Lynn died the cause of death I determined was tetrah
hydrosaline poisoning and Dr bitki ruled that Lynn did not deliberately drink a fatal dose of ey drops how this injury
occurred is that she was given tetrah hydrosaline by another which is why I called it a homicide the belief that
Linn hernon was given tetrah hydrosaline by another shows that she was given this
unsuspectingly she didn't know that she was inges tetrah hydrosaline when she did it the defense challenged the
medical examiner's findings these are all the drugs that were found in Miss hernon Right correct toxicology reports
showed that Lynn had at least eight prescription drugs in her system some of which Lynn was not supposed to be taking
at the time because those medications had been discontinued by Lynn's doctors and these were all in her blood which
means they've already been ingested and made it into the bloodstream true Dr bitki said that in her determination
those medications along with some of Lynn's medical conditions contributed to but did not cause Lynn's death the
medications found in Lynn's body were all at therapeutic levels your conclusion was that she died from the
Tetra hydroline right that yes but the defense asked how could the medical examiner be
so certain Lynn did not ingest the ey drops on her own you don't know as you sit there today whether
she voluntarily adjusted that it was my opinion she didn't but knowledge of her action no well you
weren't there I wasn't there on redirect Deputy da Nikolai asked about the powder found on and near
ly's body what do you think happened I think that they may have been deposited there the medical examiner
believed that Lyn hearn's body was staged to look like an overdose because toxicology reports showed that none of
the crushed up medication that was found on Lyn hearnen and next to her was actually in her
system the following day state may call your next witness the jury heard from some of Lynn's
friends did you know Lyn herin yes head Jim kellerer met Lynn at a music festival in 1983 when she was 27 what
was your first impression that lady that looked that good wouldn't go out with me but Lynn said yes and their romantic
relationship lasted 10 years even after it ended they remained close friends Lynn was a beautiful lady inside now she
was beautiful Jim says he never met Jesse until right after Lynn died I get a phone call from Jesse and she says I
have some bad news Lynn committed suicide and by the way uh we're going to have a dinner for her on the 13th at the
Open Flame Restaurant she said in one sentence correct your dear friend died by Suicide right the next sentence she
tells you there's going to be a dinner in her memory right what did you make of that well I kind of didn't believe her
right off the bat she wasn't crying on the stand Jim said he didn't believe believe Lynn would have taken her own
life did you ever hear Lynn say anything to you about thinking of killing herself
no I did not she never never gave me the indication of suicidal never he said that despite her growing frustration
with her health problems Lynn would still visit him and his girlfriend at their home she'd bring treats and stuff
she would say she does stomach aches or whatever and she would always leave but the defense questioned whether Jim
really knew much about about Lynn's Health struggles in the last year of Lynn's life she'd been in and out of the
hospital discharged the final time just 5 days before her death did you offer to
go over there and take care of our cat when she was in the hospital no I did not you didn't go visit her no I did
not prosecutors also called Ken posa we were best friends for about 35 plus years and Ken's son Anthony who says he
always had a special bond with with Lynn since childhood what did you call Lynn uh Auntie Lenny Anthony says he stayed
close to Lynn regularly dropping by her condo while he attended College nearby I'd love doing stuff with her you know
thrift store shopping and that was a date we would go on as go thrift store shopping do you recall when the last
conversation you had with Lynn was the last time I saw Lynn was a month before she passed away Anthony testified that
despite her medical troubles Lynn appeared to be improving in fact she said she was starting to feel better and
she's like I'm fin you I'm glad I'm getting out again and you know we need to do this more often prosecutors asked
wakashaw County Sheriff's Detective Chris Cole about his investigation into Lynn's death did you speak with Miss
keski in regard to this death investigation yes she contacted our office looking for an
update prosecutors introduced video of that meeting with Detective Cole he testified that 5 months after Lynn died
before the medical examiner had ruled on the cause of death Jesse came to the Sheriff's Department with her mother
Jennifer flower asking questions you know when I talked to the medical examiner last um well I talked him
numerous times and they said I had a contact two guys they kind of like weren't sure we didn't know if it was a
suicide or if it was something medical so at this point I mean they're waiting for their their secondary the come
confirming test during that interview detective Cole found out more about Jesse's relationship with Lynn so she
was like an aunt a second mom to me she didn't have kids she your whole life and
that's kind and that's why you helping her out Jesse said she was just about the only person still in Lynn's life
before she died she pretty much blew everybody off hospital at the end so you know I don't want to see any
according to Jesse and her mother Lynn was so withdrawn she did not want to talk to her friend Jim when he called
and she said do not tell him I don't want him here I don't want to see him she didn't like the way she looks she
want people around but that's not how Jim remembers what happened when he and his girlfriend called Lynn's number well
this girl answered the phone and she was kind of mouthing off to us don't use his
phone don't call his number ever again don't worry about Lynn and you're thinking what I'm going to find out from
Lynn what's going on a few days later Jim says Lynn called him from the hospital and they agreed to
make plans to get together when she went home and that's the last time that I heard Lyn's
voice as they tried to make sense of her death Lynn's friends say they recalled Lynn talking about something else that
was TR troubling her something that had nothing to do with her health you know she would talk about her money it's
disappearing she just said I don't know what's happening to my money how do you think Lyn hearnen died
chat now with the 48 Hours team on Facebook and [Music] X did Miss keski tell you who would be
in charge of handling Lind estate yeah she said she was appointed power of attorney okay as the prosecution turned
to the charges that Jesse stole money from Lynn they asked Anthony posa about his Communications with Jesse and the
months after Lynn's death I would just check up with Jesse every once in a while via text and ask her if she needed
any help Lynn left a will she had drawn up in 2016 which named Jesse as personal
representative Wisconsin's equivalent of an executive Jesse and Anthony were co-
beneficiaries when Jesse sent Anthony some paperwork of account she was settling I just remember getting a final
account with just a bunch of credit card bills he was surprised at the amount of
money Lynn appeared to owe and it was just weird how she had all these deaths that just didn't make any sense to me
Lynn's friends remembered her as living paycheck to paycheck until 2014 when she inherited
$250,000 after her mother died now after Lynn's death Jesse reported to Anthony that most of Lynn's assets had been
eaten Away by debt I just felt like something was up and I wanted it looked at more closely the jury next heard from
someone who was looking more closely you went through all these Financial accounts sort of line by line is that
correct yes Detective Nathan plenis testified about the investigation into Lynn's finances
prosecutors alleged Jesse stole more than $200,000 from Lynn before and after she
died and in the course of their investigation detectives discovered a bombshell Jesse keski had a criminal
record back in 2011 Jesse was convicted on charges of identity theft and for forgery and sentenced to 8 years Jesse
had been released from prison early in 2016 on extended supervision which coincided with the time Lynn's Health
began to decline can you just scroll down to page uh three plenis told jurors what he learned about Lyn hearn's bank
accounts he testified that Lynn's money market account which had around $250,000 in 2016 was down to only
$87 just after she died a fraction of the total was spent by Lynn on a Jeep and some
jewelry almost everything else including a total of 20 checks 9,135 62 went to Jesse keski two checks
March 13th $733 9,416 Jesse was accused of stealing from Lynn because she was getting 20 checks
out of Lyn hernan's account with carrying things in the memo notes like IRS payment car payment Stephanie
Rodriguez covered the trial for the CBS affiliate in Milwaukee but none of the money was going to the places where Lynn
supposedly intended for them to go plenis described to the jury how he matched each of those checks to deposits
in Jesse's accounts and then tracked where Jesse spent that money there was a big spike in spending while Lynn was in
the hospital two weeks before she died during her last hospital State money was being transferred from Lynn's account
into Jesse's account and then Jesse was withdrawing that money from ATMs at a local
casino plen is also testified that on the day that Lynn died a JC Penney credit card was opened in Lynn's name
just Days Later a $3,000 purchase of furniture made on another credit card in Lynn's name was delivered to the home
Jesse shared with Scott Craig Mr Craig how is it you know Miss keski we were boyfriend and girlfriend for 3 and A2
years what was it that happened in the summer of 2019 that caused that end to the relationship um when walk sha
Sheriff's apartment came to my house and took her away Jesse was arrested for potentially violating the terms of her
supervised release on those identity theft and fraud charges this is the initial interview that was conducted
with Miss keski uh once the warrants were conducted on July 9th detective Aaron Hoppy the lead investigator in the
case and Detective Chris Cole interviewed Jesse hoppy watched portions of that interview along with the jurors
typically would you go there the morning or the night or I didn't have a set it just depended how she was doing the day
before following up on their suspicions that Jesse had been stealing from ly Detective Chris Cole gave her a chance
to explain she claimed Lynn had been paying her for helping at home an official Arrangement that $20 an
hour no there was nothing no nothing like that I mean there was no you know one day oh here's the check one day
here's my card go get this one day I mean it was no no setal no I mean she told all she told my
mom all this month I'm going to pay rent or I'm going to pay your car jurors watched as detective Cole for the first
time shared Lynn's autopsy results with Jesse there's an anomaly in her toxicology there a Dr in her system
that's not supposed to be there what would that be um it's called tetres what is that a Comm know eye drops she uses
eye drops all the time what does she use them for she use them for her eyes she put in her eyes all the time a k her is
the eye drops are you serious in the interview detective Cole told Jesse that the medical examiner
thought someone gave the eye drops to Lynn orally in an attempt to kill her do you guys think I murdered her did you I
swear to God I didn't one have the most to gain on this I have no reason to murder her I didn't
give her anything I didn't give her this eye drop or whatever it's called but detectives say Jesse knew all
about tetrah hydraline she told her boyfriend Scott in text messages someone had put it in her drink when she was at
a bar about 3 months after Lynn's death detective hoppy read the texts in court Jesse to Scott Scott I don't feel good
Scott told detectives that Jesse said she went to the hospital they said my blood pressure is really bad I have
traces of tetrah hydroline in my blood the doctor said that's the main ingredient in ey drops he said that
people put it in people's drinks all the time he said there's no taste to it and
people don't notice Jesse also tells Scott in those text messages that people can die from tetrah hydrosaline
[Music] poisoning detective happy I think you testified you spoke again with Miss
keski that's right on day nine of the trial the jury watched video of another interview between Jesse and detectives
this one took place the day after she was arrested on that parole hold she had asked to speak to detectives again I was
up all night long trying to think of everything I I was thinking of the vines after spending her first night in jail
Jesse's clothing had changed and so had her story right after her arrest Jesse had told detectives that Lynn used eye
drops for dry eyes now Jesse told detective hoppy that Lynn had another use for it she was drinking vodka and
Visine during the second day of interviews with detectives the jury heard Jesse tell them that Lynn did
drink Visine how do you know she mixed Visine with with her V because that's what she
did she's done it about three times why didn't you tell us that yesterday because I didn't want tell you guys
because you guys are making it sound like it Happ the day up and that's not when she was doing that but Jesse says
she never gave Lyn hernon any Visine put so she put Visine in her V then Jesse went further Jesse goes into
detail about how Lynn wanted to die by Suicide that Lynn was using the ey drops to help her die by Suicide she was
looking for her way out Jesse vehemently denied helping bought it I never mixed it I swear to
God I bought it for her and I knew she was mixing it she put it in her water once in a while and in her while the
following day Jesse asked to speak with the detectives yet again the third time in 3 days the jury watched as Jesse had
a new revelation for the investigators Jesse tells detectives that Lynn would get a buzz off of drinking Visine said
she lost like feeling every her body and be feel good and honestly she was doing
it for so long that I didn't think she was going to die from it it really didn't I thought okay she's getting some
sleep from it that's it she was doing for two months at least what the Visine and Jesse now said that Lynn actually
did drink Visine the day she died Jesse claimed that when she visited Lynn that morning Jesse knew that Lynn had poured
six bottles of Visine into her own water bottle that bottle of water right there
had in in six six I didn't put it in there I gave her the bottle of water which is the one you know has six
bottles of ice in it cuz she told you and you give it to her well we argued about it Jesse said she spent 10
minutes trying to stop L she said no I want that Bott of water it'll put me to sleep and then you gave in yeah it's her
choice and what she want and then you left Y hours later detectives alleged Jesse opened that JC Penny card in
Lynn's name and went grocery shopping I didn't do it to her though I didn't Jesse it would be 23 months later that
Jesse keski was charged with Lynn's death does the state have any other witnesses to call no the state
rest when it was the defense's turn Jesse's attorneys focused almost solely on their claim that Lynn died by Suicide
by drinking Visine we would call giri verden verden a friend of Jesse's mother call her Jenny or Jennifer Car Jenny
said he'd been in Lynn's condo twice the second time about a year before her death yet his memory of the visit was
clear I saw him always sitting in this uh chair with a table next door her she had um white slurpie cup uh straw coming
out of it she had a bottle of vodka next to it she had a ashtray her cigarettes and a bottle of Visine you sure it's
Vine yes verden testified that on another occasion he heard Lynn on speaker phone when he visited Jesse's
mother Jennifer well ly just started rambling off and she was either sleepy or tired or whatever but and she was uh
rattling off about the will then she started talking about how she wanted to kill
herself defense calls on Sarah CH Sarah Trump is a nurse practitioner who began treating Lynn for back pain in
2017 despite prescribing several pain medications for her Trump said Lynn did not improve in 2018 January she
continues to complain about her back pain yes the pain being worsening correct yes forensic pathologist Dr
Lindsay Thomas was hired by the defense I would say her past medical history was
very significant she had a very long list of medical conditions and uh also had quite a few psychiatric disorders
depression anxiety agoraphobia which is fear of public places chronic insomnia those were the the ones that
were listed in her medical records Dr Thomas testified she agreed with the state's conclusion that Lynn's medical
problems contributed to her death she did not agree with the state's finding that Lynn died from tetrah hydraline
poisoning the forensic pathologist that the defense brought up said that Lynn's cause of death was undetermined but she
believed it was mixed drug toxicity and so that means she thought that it was a combination of all of the drugs found in
Lin system would you say that there is strong evidence here that ly hernan's death was a suicide uh I would say
there's strong evidence that certainly could have been a suicide yes as the defense concluded Judge
Jennifer Doro asked Jesse if she'd be taking the stand what is that decision it was very hard for me to decide but
ultimately I will not be testified Madam reporter you're her closing argument Miss K's intent is
clear it was to kill Deputy district attorney Abby Nikolai said Jesse had just one motive money and the motive is
our own personal benefit this is someone who has profited over $144,000 before death and over 80,000
after in her closing the state has not proven a first-degree intentional homicide defense attorney donna kler
maintained that Lynn took her own life Jesse knew that Lynn would take fine and drink it but she doesn't know how she
died that day looked like a suicide with pills from a person who was unhappy as for the allegations that Jesse stole
from Lynn Lynn gave Jesse money all the time because she wanted to the defense contended that Lynn gave Jesse the money
because Lynn knew she was going to end her own life she wanted Jesse to have it she knows she's going out and Lynn made
a decision she made a decision that she was going to exit and she did that on October 3rd
once Jesse had left the home attorney Nikolai when you're ready in its rebuttal the prosecution pushed back to
believe that this was a suicide you would have to believe that by the most Cosmic intervention in the
entire world World it happened at the exact point in time when Miss keski maximized the amount of
money that she made on this whole ordeal the jury deliberated for 7 hours the first day but did not reach a
verdict verdict watch for this case was tense when the jury began to deliberate into a second day there was some Wonder
that's when I got worried I was wondering what you know I'm like you know what's the the hold
[Music] up go behind the scenes with the 48 Hours postmortem [Music] podcast Madam forers has the jury
reached their verdicts yes your honor on November 14th of 2023 after 10 and 1 half hours of
deliberation Jesse cret steadied herself as Judge Jennifer Doro read the jury's verdicts we the jury find the defendant
Jesse R KFI guilty of first-degree intentional homicide the case from anyone Jessie
broke down as the judge continued Jesse was crying uncontrollably keski was also convicted
on the two counts of felony theft for stealing money from Lynn before and after she
died I was just overcome with emotion it also makes you reflect on The Last 5 Years and with the lies and the deceit
but before sentencing the case took a bizarre turn when an envelope containing 37 pages of these handwritten letters
and documents was received by a friend of Jesse's who then turned it over to the Sheriff's Department the letter
requests a friend of Jesse to fake evidence create a voice record rep in pretending to be Lyn hearnen to send all
of this to the judge in this case to local media even to the governor to try to prove Jesse's innocence prosecutors
said the documents were written by keski on the back of her trial notes giving directions to her friend on how to
impersonate Lynn and fabricate materials and submit them to the court keski allegedly asked her friend to quote make
a voice tape pretending to be Lyn writing she has an older raspy female voice keski allegedly directed her
friend to say quote I cannot go on anymore I chose to drink Visine and end My Life Jesse denied writing the
documents and the sheriff's department began an investigation into their origin and the results of that
investigation were revealed on April 5th 2024 when keski was Back back in judge D's court for sentencing all right
prosecutors played video recorded in K's bunk room at the wakashaw county jail a
few days before those documents were turned over to authorities so what I'm playing is jail video from Miss KES pod
they said it showed keski putting papers into an envelope leaving it on the bed of another inmate who later takes it to
a mail drop off the prosecution said this proved keski wrote those documents miss keski this is
your opportunity to address the court what if anything would you like to say keski again denied she was the author of
those documents she spent almost two hours without a break proclaiming her innocence insisting the only thing she
was guilty of was being a loyal friend let's be very clear here there wasn't no murder I did not commit murder I did not
poison Lynn give her pills or anything else it is a lot to be accused and convicted of murder when I didn't do it
you're holding me responsible for what she did Judge Doro said she believed Lynn's death was premeditated Tetra
hydraline was not something we expected to find and I do believe it was something you miss KFI banked on no one
testing for I have to ask out loud it's in a rhetorical question but were you poisoning Lyn hearnen all along
following your release from prison no I'm not asking for an answer this is my time so do not interrupt me
keski was sentenced to life in prison on the intentional homicide charge and 10 years for the two theft
charges the soonest she could be paroled would be after 40 years when she would be nearly 80 years
old Jesse poisoned Lynn like she was eroded Lyn hearn's friend Jim kellerer had a few final words for Lynn's killer
the devil awaits you I hope you rotten hell Lyn Hearn is an angel in heaven may you rest in peace Lynn you're dearly
missed and always will be I'm so very sorry God [Music] [Music] bless a beautiful heart a gentle gentle
spirit a woman found dying from a gunshot wound crime scene evidence that doesn't add up there's definitely
Mysteries involved in this case then prosecutors take a creative approach a psychological autopsy 48 hours Saturday
on CBS and streaming on Paramount Plus [Music] hello everyone and welcome back to
another episode of postmortem I'm your host an marie green and today we are talking about the homicide of Lyn
hearnen who was poisoned with a really unusual substance one that the medical examiner said she had never seen pop up
in a toxicology report before so joining me today are a CBS News correspondent Jerica Duncan and 48 Hours producers
Susan Mali and Lauren Clark who reported and produced this episode welcome everyone so good to be here thanks for
having us hi am Mar um so listen if you haven't listened to the hour yet or you need a refresher why don't you head on
over to the podcast feed to check out the showcast and then come back here because we're going to take a deep dive
one of the most interesting parts of this case was how prosecutors say Lynn was killed they believe that Jesse keski
poisoned Lynn hearnen with ey drops dka I had never heard of this before have you heard of this before so
interestingly enough I do remember seeing a piece um that Peter VanZant did on a gentleman named Steve Clayton and
essentially he was poisoned by tetrah hydrosaline which is a substance that's found in ey drops commonly and it's very
bizarre I think I have heard it in the context of people worried about it being used it as like a date rpe drug you know
this idea when you go to a bar you don't leave your glass or or anything unattended and come back to it but I
hadn't heard it in this way um and because it's a slow progression in terms of some of the symptoms or how one would
feel you may not even know what's happening and that's also what's so weird and scary about how all of this
unfolded typically this is something that you would never even think would be ingested obviously in the directions it
would say for for topical use only in your eyes and there are poison warnings on most over-the-counter eye drops which
is C what was used here and to D's point it it generally depresses the central nervous system it can it can make one
less aware and kind of out of it but when used in large quantities it can be lethal now kfy claims that Lynn wanted
to kill herself because of her deteriorating Health Susan and Lauren when you first started reporting this
case how believable did you find kev's story that Lynn intentionally poisoned herself by drink
Visine suicide is a is a difficult topic for any of us to to discuss but the fact
of the matter is we have to come in with an open mind and we have to look at both
sides the prosecution and the defense uh I cannot come in and think oh well if she was accused of something she must
have done it plenty of people do think that but it is our job to not do that when I first came on to the story The
Trial was still in progress the trial had kicked off in October of 23 uh the first thing I said well how sick was she
and then you kind of go into the medical history and then you try to develop a character study of was she depressed
could she have been at the point where she wanted to die by Suicide that is what the First Responders thought which
is an important fact here when they arrived at the death scene that was their first impression and so I have to
give weight to that as well because that scene definitely played out as something
that maybe someone was depressed or OD or you know took too many pills the pill bottles were there there were they were
crushed up powder so you you look at it initially you know that this woman didn't have a lot of people in her life
she was the only child her parents had died um again their job at that moment is just kind of looking at what the
evidence that is there to try to discern what may have happened but it's in the toxicology that really is allowing us to
take more of a microscopic look and then when you look at those levels and you realize they're not normal it definitely
raises more questions then you look at Financial records and there's more questions yeah and so another question
that I had was Jesse kesy did she start helping Lynn out because she cared for her or was this a hustle from the very
beginning I think that's a great question and it was one of the questions that I had was this always a grift and
unfortunately there is no way for us to know the answer for sure we know that uh
kfi's mother was very good friends with Lynn from back in the 80s uh Jesse grew up from the time she was a little girl
knowing her as Aunt Linny and they had a tight friendship uh as you also know from watching the show uh keski had a
record for identity theft and forgery she was got out of prison in 2016 which coincided with the time that
ly's Health already having problems began to sharply decline Jesse kvy was never charged with poisoning Lyn at any
point before October 3rd 2018 she was charged with homicide for that day for Linn hernan's death so as we discuss
about potentially her health issues and her steady decline we do so because at the sentencing the judge gave a gave a
very lengthy statement in which she the Judge Jennifer Doro said I cannot help but wonder if you had been poisoning her
all along and this was the judge saying that on the record after having listened
to all the testimony of several weeks of trial so do we know whether or not she had been ingesting this stuff all along
we really don't know I mean it's you know Lynn had had other health issues uh especially in the last few years of the
of her life she had a lot of back pain she had a lot of gastrointestinal issues and it was something she would go to to
the hospital for they would run some tests she didn't always want certain tests to be run um so they could never
really fully figure out what the source of those gastrointestinal issues were tetrah hydraline is not something that's
usually tested for in a hospital setting you know when you get your regular blood
panel that's usually not on there because most people don't ingest it uh so we really don't know how long she had
possibly been ingesting it for there was absolutely no way to go back in time and
and in any way try to to find out if that is the case but it is something the judge said on the record so that's why
we're discussing it what was particularly heartbreaking about this case and about ky's behavior and that
she targeted Lynn is that she seemed so close to her um Lynn trusted her she treated her like a daughter um and even
though you know daica you said she didn't have a lot of people around her it seemed like the people that she did
have around her really really cared for her and so why kill her we don't really know to this day I
mean I feel like only Jesse keski really truly understands the depths of whatever
she was thinking and you know even right now she will tell you she didn't do it she still believes that the prosecutors
got it wrong police got it wrong um but never really offered up explanation about why certain things
that were found didn't add up you know the friends of Lynn were her family and I think because she was so isolated from
the world if you will this wasn't someone that was a member of this group and that group and worked here and you
know she kind of kept a very close tight Circle which does in some ways as you point it out make you a Target When
You're vulnerable um and you know you live alone and you you want people need people right so this 48 Hours was put
together a little differently because it started with the with the trial and normally it doesn't
why did you all choose to tell the story in this way uh so for lack of a better word this was a good trial and anybody
who follows true crime or follows hopefully 48 Hours loyally not all trials are as exciting as you would hope
they would be sometimes they really are like watching paint try so we wanted to give the viewer the opportunity to be
the 13th juror to sit there and listen to the the testimony and view the evidence in the order that the jury did
we're going to start at the beginning and we're going to take you through this now obviously we have time constraints
this trial lasted for weeks uh so we have to condense it and make some tough choices about what to include and what
to leave out but to the credit of my wonderful staff and our my my my correspondent to my right we picked the
best of the best and we we tried to give a fair shake to both sides and it was because the trial was just so
fascinating first of all you had a true uh quandry as as to whether this was homicide or suicide going in secondly
you had people on both sides of the aisle with valid things to say about ly hernan's health and mental status and
thirdly you had kvki herself who did not testify at her own trial but you had these hours and hours of interrogations
where the jury got to hear her talk and basically represent herself and her side
of the story to the jury without intending it to do it you know one of the red flags always is if you're a for
48 hours fan red flag is when a suspect goes through multiple interrogations and
they change their story and that is definitely something that we saw with kvki she talked to detective several
times she seemed very open to talking but then she started changing her story what did the defense say about that how
do they explain that they honestly never really addressed that directly in the trial I love that you brought that up
because there was a preponderance of recordings of those interrogations which which happened over several days of
keski and there's two things to point out one is that she never asked for an attorney and two she kept asking to go
back and speak to the detectives again and again day after day and I will tell you having worked at the show for over
two decades you never see that usually when someone's brought in they sit there with hunch shoulders you can barely
understand what they're saying they respond in one-word answers and usually they ask for an attorney and that's the
end of it this was so striking to me because kfy came in and she was downright buoyant she was pey and joking
with the guys and and and very seemingly forthcoming and really just was was her
attitude was one I guess we were supposed to assume of innocence and then is the days when on as you said her
story began to change and she would augment what she was saying clearly by what she thought they wanted to hear and
she would give out a little more information and a little more information but it was always
disinformation it was always a redirect and you can just see her thinking on her
feet like what what am I going to say next and how okay I've said this thing but now I have to alter it a little bit
to get over here and it is it's just an incredible study in in how her mind worked
welcome back so we see a lot of footage from these police interrogations during the hour but what we didn't see was some
of the other evidence of KK's Financial crimes presented at trial like a recorded phone call that she made to a a
banking institution basically impersonating Lynn let's listen to some of the audio of that call that was not
included in the episode my name is how can I help you today yes I'm calling I usually use my
mobile online app um and I'm trying to go under the regular online app and I am not sure what I had originally set my
three security questions up under um I know one of them for sure I can't remember the other two and I'm trying to
log on I'm having an issue with this oh I'm sorry to hear about this let me just
check what I can best do do here for you and don't you worry we'll definitely fix
this problem before we end this call so could you could you please verify your complete name exactly as it appears on
your preferred Master Card I'm sorry Lynn a hearnen thank you Miss hearnen do you have your card
handy I do Lauren I want to hear the rest of that phone call I want to find out if she was successful at all um I
mean do you know did did her voice sound particularly different than how she normally talks it does sound like she's
talking a little slower um what's interesting is uh you know this call was made while Lynn was still alive there
were a couple calls from that day where allegedly Jesse is calling this financial institution saying you know I
can't remember my past word I'm having trouble with the online account or I usually use this way and this way it's
just not working um and it go it goes on there like I said several recordings on
two separate occasions while she was trying to gain access to these accounts and the other thing we knew
from talking to her friends is that Lynn just was not someone that would go online you know to use the app she
didn't have a smartphone she was old school so this idea that she's asking questions about something that would
force her to use a smartphone or be on a computer didn't quite make sense according to her friends this was
someone that would physically go to the financial institution to handle business
well what I kept on wondering is keski has access to these bank accounts she's got a regular stream of money coming in
why would you end this gravy train it seemed like she was doing fine with Lyn alive I think what what prosecutors
alleged was that the the gravy train was running out Lynn's money was kind of used up her credit was damaged there
wasn't much more to take from Lynn in life but ly did have some assets she owned her condo and our wonderful
broadcast associate Mariah Johnson found a Facebook post where Jesse had posted in just weeks after Lynn's death trying
to clear out her condo for sale and you know it's down to the pots and pans writing make me an offer Lynn's friends
alleged that she was trying to just sell anything that she could make money on well according to a court filing keski
tried to pawn some of her more valuable items it was a gold um bracelet again it
speaks to this level of greed maybe is the right word um to get what she could early on and again we don't know how
we'll deal with different things and situations until we're actually in them but it's hard to really wrap your head
around especially when you wouldn't do something like that right um so I want to bring up some of these other things
that didn't make it into the hour because they're fascinating what's this business about exonerating evidence so
so yeah we couldn't really have time to get into this fully in the hour because it takes a lot of explanation but
basically you know while Jesse was in custody during the investigation she claimed that there existed exonerating
evidence out there that that proved that Lynn had um wanted to take her own life
for a while and had left notes and that she had even left a voice recording and she told every the investigators that
these were buried in a public park and if they would just let her go that she could take them there and she would show
them where it was all buried now the Sheriff's Office did not let her go to go to the park what they did is they set
up basically a video call where they had deputies out in this park searching around with Jesse in the uh interview
room kind of guiding them you know they're out there with shovels they're going through like brush and she's you
know just kind of like ah this looks different I don't know no that Bush was that bush really there that looks so
overgrown and it goes on for a while and I'm sure you're going to be shocked to hear they did not find anything wow um
so on November 14th 2023 the jury found kvy guilty of first-degree intentional homicide and two counts of felony theft
but then before she sentenced there's this huge twist cuz it's 48 Hours of course there's a Twist a friend of kesy
turns in an envelope containing 37 handwritten letter and documents and they direct the friend to create various
pieces of evidence including a voice recording pretending to be Lynn it almost felt to me like if you wanted to
fake a suicide but you forgot the suicide note and you were trying to backtrack but what did you guys think
when we found out we we were all ready to cover the sentencing hearing we had travel boat for someone to be there we
had Cruise ready we were going to do interview after because people could finally talk to us and then a week
before that sentencing date was on the calendar we started to see these unusual filings put in the court record um and
the 48 Hours team was kind of like what's what are these and then we got through these documents and we were all
individually reading them at the same time and texting and messaging each other being like what what is this it
was surprising to see pop up and we kind of had to unravel what they meant but I
just can't overstate how bizarre it was to see the these pop up after conviction
had already gone through and then on top of it in the letter she basically throws
her lawyers under the bus right a prosecutors alleged that keski said that it was one of her own attorneys that
they gave her the idea it was their idea to write those uh those directions to her friend now her attorney then has to
file a motion to be removed from the case as citing ethical concerns and prosecutors don't believe that her
attorneys actually had anything to do with this but obviously it complicates things this leads to a delay in the
sentencing and now she needs to find new attorneys but finally the sentencing takes place and the judge uh sentences
kvki to life in prison what was the reaction like in the courtroom I think people became fatigued
because the first thing that we need to talk about in the sentencing is that it went on for six and a half hours and I
had mentioned earlier I've I've been at 48 for a long time 24 years to be exact I've sat in and watched online a lot of
sentencings this sentencing began on April 5th 2024 at 9:00 a.m. Central Time so 10 a.m. here in New York where I was
watching it online and I thought I'm going to be done by lunch I was not done by lunch there were a few brief Victim
Impact statements from some of the folks that you've met on our own show there were a few statements on behalf of keski
and then the judge gave the floor to kreski herself and what I could not have known is that she had in front of her on
the defense table a pile of papers which she had written out long hand and she spoke for 2 hours straight
without a break took a sip of water every now and then of course she claimed innocence of course she claimed that
that Lynn had died by Suicide she went into great detail about her friendship with with Lynn she gave vignettes from
her childhood it went on for so long that the judge then had a break for a 90-minute lunch break because everybody
just needed to kind of compose themselves and get it together and of course the judge was then going to come
back and pronounce sentence but before she did she gave a statement and we've talked about this earlier that she
wondered if in fact Miss kvky had been poisoning Lynn all along but the judge gave great detail as to why she gave
such a lengthy sentence uh keski is going to be nearly 80 years old by the the time that she's even eligible for
parole and the judge she actually had a target age that she iterated from the bench that I want you to be in there
till your 80s she got 10 years for the two Financial charges and she was sentenced to life with the possibility
of parole after 30 for the for the um homicide I'm sure she's going to try to appeal and do whatever she can to to
make sure she gets out before she's 80 years old um but there are people that we've all I feel like covered who will
say to The Bitter End I did didn't do it I didn't do it and you you're wrong it must have been infuriating for some of
Lynn's friends to listen to kvi on the stand having having given up her opportunity to testify during the trial
to then speak on behalf of their friend their dead friend who they loved I mean I did you get a chance to talk to any of
the friends about that 2hour sentencing statement our uh field producer in the field Charlotte Fuller was there at the
sing hearing and she talked to several of lind's other friends afterwards there was a brief press conference that they
also gave um they didn't really want to react to Jesse kvy statement they they want to focus on Lynn they want to focus
on who their friend Lyn hearnen was they say they have gone through a lot of drama over the last five years and
hearing a lot of different stories that you know evolved over time and they've had to keep up with a lot and
they are done they they want to remember Lynn as they knew her as they loved her they
want to find ways to honor her and they don't want to focus on Jesse kvki you know if I took away anything
personal from this story I was kind of struck by the fact that Lynn is an only child and both of her parents had passed
away because I'm an only child and both my parents are alive but my father's also an only child and I have an only
child and I've seen relatives become very sick and their Circle becomes smaller and smaller I thought to myself
you know if there's one thing to remember that the people who love you they want to surround you they want to
support you and when you make your circle that small you can also make yourself very
vulnerable to someone who could take advantage very well said I mean we do these stories obviously because there's
an element of of interest and wow and oh my goodness but when you can see yourself and some of these very people
that we do stories on I think it it really hits home J Susan Lauren this has been great talking to you in a great 48
Hours as usual thank you so much yes the pleasure is all mine thanks for having us yes thank you all right everyone join
us next Tuesday for another postmortem and watch 48 Hours on Saturdays 109 Central on CBS and of course streaming
on Paramount plus and if you are liking the show please rate and review 48 Hours
on Apple podcast and follow 48 Hours wherever you get your podcast you can also listen at free on the Amazon music
and wry app or with a 48 Hours Plus subscription on Apple podcast [Music]

A caregiver is accused of poisoning her friend with eye drops, but she says investigators got it wrong. Watch "Death by Eye Drops" and then join CBS News correspondent Jericka Duncan and "48 Hours" producers Susan Mallie and Lauren Clark on "Post Mortem" and they share never-before-heard audio of Jessy Kurczewski impersonating her friend, whom she was recently found guilty of fatally poisoning with eye drops. The group also discusses the exonerating evidence that Kurczewski allegedly buried in a public park and the judge’s unusual statement during sentencing.

00:00 Death by Eye Drops 41:28 Listen to a post-mortem on the episode

Listen to "Post Mortem" wherever you get your podcasts: https://apple.co/4f42SWg

True crime. Real justice. I"48 Hours" investigates the most intriguing crime and justice cases that touch on all areas of the human experience including greed and passion. "48 Hours," which premiered in 1988, has developed a rich history of original reporting and impact journalism that has helped exonerate wrongly convicted people, caused cold cases to be reopened and solved, and along the way changed lives.

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Brief Summary

Jesse Keski was convicted of murdering Lynn Hearn for financial gain, raising questions about their complex relationship and Lynn's mental health.

Key points

The Intentional Homicide Case. Jesse Keski is on trial for the intentional homicide of Lynn Hearn, who died under suspicious circumstances.
Unusual Findings in Toxicology Report. Medical examiner discovers tetrah hydrosaline in Lynn's system, raising questions about her death.
Financial Motives Uncovered. Prosecutors allege Jesse stole over $200,000 from Lynn before and after her death.
Jesse's Denial. Jesse vehemently denies any involvement in Lynn's death, claiming innocence throughout the trial.
The Verdict. After 10.5 hours of deliberation, the jury finds Jesse guilty of first-degree intentional homicide.
Bizarre Turn in Case. An envelope with documents requesting fake evidence is received, allegedly written by Jesse.

Episode highlights

Episode quotes

She was worth more dead than alive to Jesse.

Prosecution's claim about Jesse's motives.

6:17WatchDec 6, 2024

Tension

75/ 100High tension

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