Mother Tells of Finding Son Dying From Heroin Overdose

An elderly woman told of finding her son dying of a heroin overdose in her basement while his girlfriend cursed and taunted her.

The girlfriend, Amy Shemberger, 30, faces a charge of drug–induced homicide in connection with the Aug. 10 death of 31-year-old Peter Kucinski. A Romeoville man, 30-year Benjamin Camunias, was also charged with Kucinski’s death.

Shemberger, Kucinski and their 5-year-old son were living in the Lockport home of Kucinski’s mother, 73-year-old Dorothy Kucinski, when he died. Dorothy Kucinski recalled finding her unconscious son the day he overdosed. She told the story in a petition for a protective court order against Shemberger. Here’s what she said:

“Amy, her son and a friend and my son Peter went down in the basement. I then heard my grandson saying my daddy is laying on the floor. I went down and saw my son Peter laying on his back on the floor. I felt for a pulse and felt his chest, I could not feel anything. I asked Amy what had happened, she told me she already called 911. I went back upstairs to let the EMTs in. I stayed upstairs with my grandson. Once my son was removed from the house I went downstairs to the basement. I asked Amy again what the hell did she do. I proceeded to look for needles and located six or so on the upper ledge in the basement. I turned to leave with the needles in my hands and Amy stepped in front of me, she put her hands on my shoulder to push me back. I told Amy to get her hands off of me, she then called me a f---ing bitch, she said karma is a bitch, isn’t it, she said it was my fault my son died. I went to the hospital and came back home. The police were there. They asked me if they could search the house. They told me Amy would not open the door for them. I let them in. The officer found a needle in the bathroom placed where my grandson could get at it.”

Peter Kucinski was taken to Silver Cross Hospital in New Lenox and was pronounced dead when he got there.

Camunias was not at the house when Peter Kucinski overdosed, according to his mother’s petition.

Camunias was already locked up at the Will County jail on another drug case when the drug-induced homicide arrest warrant was issued last week. The Bolingbrook police charged him in October with possession of a controlled substance, possession of drug paraphernalia and operating an uninsured motor vehicle. He is being held in lieu of $1 million bond for the drug-induced homicide case and another $150,000 for the earlier charges.

Shemberger now lives in Antioch and remains at large. The warrant for her arrest also carries a $1 million bond.

Shemberger also was arrested by the Bolingbrook police earlier this year on a narcotics case.

In May, Shemberger was taken into custody and charged with possession of a controlled substance. Prosecutors dropped the charge less than three months later.

Within a week of Shemberger’s release from jail, according to county records, Peter Kucinski was dead.

While Shemberger was locked up, Dorothy Kucisnki sought guardianship of her 5-year-old grandson, the child of Shemberger and Peter Kucinski. In court papers, she said Shemberger was unable to care for the child because she was in jail and Peter Kucinski was unable to do so because he was an alcoholic.

A filing made on Shemberger’s behalf in the same case claimed Peter Kucinski died not of a heroin overdose but “as a result of prolonged alcohol abuse and alcohol poisoning.”

In her petition for the protective order, Dorothy Kucinski said her son “came into some money, $65,000,” and Shemberger was trying to get her hands on it.

“She thinks she will get the money now that he is dead and thinks the money will be available today,” Dorothy Kucinski wrote the day after her son died. “I went to the bank to make sure she will not get this money and my grandson will.”

Go take a look at our Facebook page.