Mother of Woman Jailed For Heroin Homicide Blames Dead Boyfriend For His Own Death

The mother of a woman jailed for the heroin homicide of her boyfriend blamed the dead man for his own death.

Pat Shemberger, the mother of 31-year-old Amy Shemberger, also accused the police of lying to her and said the case against her daughter is “wrong and unfair” in a letter to Will County Judge Amy Bertani Tomczak.

Amy Shemberger was charged with drug-induced homicide in connection with the August 2014 overdose death of her boyfriend, Peter Kucinski.

A Romeoville man arrested along with Shermberger, 28-year-old Benjamin Camunias, was already found guilty and faces up to 30 years in prison when he is sentenced.

Camunias and Amy Shemberger drove together to Chicago and purchased a jab of heroin for $100, according to the Will County State’s Attorney’s Office. They split the heroin and Camunias dropped Amy Shemberger off at the Lockport house where she was living with Kucinski, 31, his mother, Dorothy Kucinski, and the 5-year-old son Amy Shemberger had with Peter Kucinski.

After she got to the house, Amy Shemberger provided heroin to Peters Kucinski, police said. He snorted it and died.

But in her letter to Judge Bertani-Tomczak, Pat Shermberger said it really didn’t happen that way.

“Amy did not use her money to buy the drugs,” the letter said. “Amy was not there when the drugs were purchased and Peter took the drugs and used them without Amy being involved. When this terrible thing happened Amy, not his mother, called 911 and was giving Peter CPR when the police got there.”

Dorothy Kucinski had a less charitable recollection of Amy Shemberger’s behavior on the day her son died. But as far as Pat Shemberger’s concerned, Peter Kucinski’s heroin death was not her daughter’s fault.

“Amy did not murder her boyfriend Peter,” she wrote. “Peter started on that road over 17 years ago with all his heavy drug/alcohol abuse.”

Pat Shemberger said she is a retired Catholic school first-grade teacher. She and her husband. mortgaged their Antioch house, drained her retirement account and borrowed heavily against his to pay for “the best lawyer we could get and get her out of jail.”

The $50,000 they paid to bail Amy Shemberger out ended up being a bad investment, as she was put back in jail on an increased bond of $600,000 after she was charged with stealing from a Glendale Heights Home Depot.

“I am now, at age 67, working at Walmart just to pay our bills,” Pat Shemberger wrote.

Amy Shemberger is scheduled to plead next month. Her mother begged the judge to “show mercy on” her.

“Amy does not deserve this unfair treatment from Will County court system and does not deserve to be put into a high security prison with murderers,” she said.

Letter from mother of woman charged with drug-induced homicide