The testimony from Dr. Woodburn, the pathologist who did the autopsy on Dennis, was unequivocal. DENNIS JURGENS WAS ONLY 3-YEARS-0LD WHEN HIS LIFE ENDED AT THE CRUEL HANDS OF HIS MOTHER LOIS JURGENS AND SHE WOULD HAVE GOT AWAY WITH IT, BUT HIS BIOLOGICAL MOTHER JERRY SHERWOOD STARTED. GREAT NEWS! Jurgens, now 69, was convicted of third-degree murder in 1987 in what at the time was the oldest homicide to go to trial in Minnesota. The first few days of the police investigation by VanderWyst and Sgt. Oops, some error occurred while uploading your photo(s). With Lois's mental health deteriorating, a hearing explores the question, should Lois and Harold Jurgens keep custody of their 5 year old adopted son, Robert after the death of this brother, Dennis. Such stories are not rare.
Photos larger than 8Mb will be reduced. He had one great friend, his world's Lois, but she died and now he sees another version of her still alive and pregnant. Oops, something didn't work. Rekdahl thought that Lois speech betrayed a bit of cynicism. Family members immediately begin whispering "she killed him" , referring to his adoptive moth They owed $6,000 on the house and $930 on the truck. need your help for this. She thought they had a lovely home. In summer, Peterson caught little sunfish off his dock or from his motorboatthey had the loveliest taste, the fillet just the size of a half dollar, two good bites each. Jurgens was the only fatal victim of Lois Jurgens, his adoptive mother and a prolific child abuser, who abused a total of six adopted children from 1960 to 1975. Do you have a camera in the car, he asked VanderWyst. They are good people. I was not trained in mental illness. In 1992 A made-for-TV movie was made based on both Jerry's story and this case called, ' A Child Lost Forever ' w/ the remarkable Beverly D'Angelo as Jerry Sherwood and Judith Ivey as Lois Jurgens. Lois Jurgens at the time that she had custody of Dennis. How could a kid fall down the steps and die? One of Lois Jurgens responses was to call Father Riser, the priest who had so warmly recommended them to the county welfare worker. When Harold Jurgens called 10 days later to say they wanted to keep Dennis, the two agencies allowed that as well. In spite of extensive physical evidence pointing towards severe . He doesnt look like a tiny little kid, he thought. On January 13, 2000, she was initially suspected of poisoning her husband, Harold. They had seen Lois pull Dennis ears so hard that blood flowed. Lois Jurgens was at home alone with the children much of the weekend of Dennis' death. A common belief amongst witnesses and neighbors at the time of the murder, and among the investigators who eventually re-opened the case, is that he interfered with the investigation and destroyed incriminating evidence. By all accounts, Lois was obsessed with abusing Dennis, and she wanted the world to know he was a "bad child"; she made no apologies about the inappropriate way she was disciplining him. She was the adoptive mother of six children in the 1960s and 1970s, and brutally abused them all, killing one of them, 3-year-old Dennis Jurgens, in 1965. Lois Jurgens, 62, of Stillwater, chewed gum impassively as the jury announced its verdict, finding her guilty of third-degree murder in the 1965 death of her adopted son, Dennis. Certain neighbors and family members knew there were problems with Lois' treatment of Dennis but did nothing to prevent it. They owned a 1963 Chevrolet pickup and a 1960 Falcon station wagon. Dennis struggled with such training and was forced to pray and recite his Rosary kneeling on a broomstick for extended periods, until he did it correctly. She is buried at the Union Cemetery, in Maplewood, Ramsey County, Minnesota . Jurgens was one of 16 children.
Try again later. Petersons house sat precisely on the site of the old Wildwood Amusement Park. The official cause of death was peritonitis due to perforation of the small bowel. Try again later. In addition, Lois took to tying Dennis' limbs to the bedposts to keep him in bed and tied him to the toilet to force a bowel movement. To add a flower, click the Leave a Flower button. Certain neighbors and family members knew there were problems with Lois' treatment of Dennis but did nothing to prevent it. . No prosecution was taken at that time. On Feb. 11, 1964, the commissioner of public welfare, as legal guardian for Dennis, consented to his formal adoption by Harold and Lois Jurgens. The victim A parade of neighbors and relatives called to the stand by the Jurgenses attorney, Edward Donohue, all denied seeing any evidence of abuse. There were many fateful moments in Dennis brief life, moments in which his destiny could have been changed. Those looking back now, those who unraveled the case, tend to shrug and shake their heads when Votels name comes up. Many years later, Dr. Peterson would tell a grand jury that he had harbored suspicions about the burns, and also about several bruises that nurses noticed on Dennis while he was in the hospital for a full month. Jurgens was the only fatal victim of Lois Jurgens, his adoptive mother and a prolific child abuser, who abused a total of six adopted children from 1950 to 1970. He naps both in the forenoon and the afternoon. The prosecutor had a different attitude back then, Votel said recently. Dennis was adopted by the Jurgens, of White Bear Lake, Minnesota, a suburb of Saint Paul: Harold Robert Jurgens, a former bandleader turned electrician, and Lois Germaine Josephine Zerwas Jurgens, a homemaker. She committed one of the most unusual child murder cases in history in Minnesota. In 1987, Jurgens was convicted of third-degree murder of Dennis. Lois Jurgens had a reputation amongst her extended family and neighbors as an intense, angry woman with a short and volatile temper, but Dennis' arrival in her home provoked sadistic rages that targeted Dennis as he aged from one to .mw-parser-output .frac{white-space:nowrap}.mw-parser-output .frac .num,.mw-parser-output .frac .den{font-size:80%;line-height:0;vertical-align:super}.mw-parser-output .frac .den{vertical-align:sub}.mw-parser-output .sr-only{border:0;clip:rect(0,0,0,0);height:1px;margin:-1px;overflow:hidden;padding:0;position:absolute;width:1px}3+12 years of age. Stanley Wiatros was one of them. Harvey had been a rookie cop here in 1965, but Sherwoods story triggered no memories. No, nothing struck me, the doctor replied, except for these bruises. The coroner noted there was evidence of adult, human bite marks on his penis and scarring all over his scrotum; he was also found to be wearing two diapers and a pair of rubber pants at the age of three and one-half years. On the other hand, she realized the improbability of being offered another Catholic baby in the near future. A vivid portrait of an all-American town that harbored a killer, A Death in White Bear Lake is also the absorbing story of two detectives who refused to give up until they had the killer cold. From a newspaper notice of his death she had learned that the boys body bore multiple injuries and bruises. The rows of neatly kept houses, the modern police station and the shopping strips all reflect a level of modest comfort rather than affluence. All photos appear on this tab and here you can update the sort order of photos on memorials you manage. Harold's testimony in 1965 showed he was in Wisconsin from the evening of Friday, April 9, until 9 or 9:30 p.m. on Saturday, April 10. . he told the grand jury last year. In a town like White Bear Lake, apparently no one thought it problematic that the assistant police chief, Lt. Jerome Zerwas, was Lois Jurgens brother. According to sworn testimony by both Korolchuk and VanderWyst before a grand jury last year, Zerwas at the time warned the investigating officers that he would do everything in his power to keep his sisters name clear. Lois Jurgens, it turns out, was from the start a poor parental bet. When you judge a case, you dont do so in a vacuum, Lindholm would explain years later in an interview. Lois also was not pleased to learn how active Dennis was. Learn more about merges. +C $33.27 shipping estimate. So began a painstaking inquiry into the past--an inquiry that in recent months has pulled back the curtains on a decidedly uncomfortable vision. I was willing to wait. Votel was still waiting about two years later, when he retired from office. I just examined him to see that he was in fact dead. The night Dennis died, Robert was riding his trike in the basement, and all the sudden he heard Dennis screaming. Please check your email and click on the link to activate your account. Description above from the Wikipedia article Lois Jurgens, licensed under CC-BY-SA, full list of contributors on Wikipedia. Quickly see who the memorial is for and when they lived and died and where they are buried. I thought you might like to see a memorial for Lois Germaine Josephine Zerwas Jurgens I found on Findagrave.com. convicted of murder This flower has been reported and will not be visible while under review. And it was not my position to do anything other than to pronounce him dead.. Harold and Lois Jurgens, on the advice of their attorney, no longer would make themselves available for questioning. The county had filed a custody petition, alleging neglect. This post is sponsored by Open Road Media. Jurgens, now 69, was convicted of third-degree murder in 1987 in what at the time was the oldest homicide to go to trial in Minnesota. Lois Germaine Josephine Zerwas Jurgens (August 12, 1925 May 7, 2013) was an American convicted murderer responsible for one of the most unusual child murder cases in history in Minnesota. But this death didnt look as though it was from natural causes. The topic under consideration was the possible placement of Dennis Puckett with the Jurgens family. Notification of death or terminal illness, Office of Revisor of Statues . The suspicious death of Dennis Jurgens wasnt properly investigated for 20 years. . 
or don't show this againI am good at figuring things out. A system error has occurred. The cause of death was peritonitis, but the autopsy photos showed him covered in bruises with an anguished expression on his face and the coroner had not determined a mode of death, accident, natural causes, or homicide. Lois obsessed about Dennis' weight, which according to medical records was appropriate for a child of his age and build at the point of his adoption.
Obituary. There was also the matter of community attitudes. Harold was infertile and the Jurgenses desperately wanted to adopt another child. They were of varying colors--black and blue, yellowish green, reddish--which meant that some were fresh, some old. At the funeral home, Lois Jurgens brother, Lloyd Zerwas, came to pay his respects. Lois Jurgens (born 1925) is an American convicted murderer. Retrieved 12 February 2015. SHAKOPEE, Minn. (AP) _ A mother who beat her adopted son to death and then covered up the crime for two decades was released from prison today after serving eight years. You dont know what to think, Donna Marlene said. According to reports from family members who eventually testified at the murder trial, Dennis turned purple from being force-fed the bitter and spicy horseradish and also having his oxygen supply cut off when Jurgens covered his mouth and nose. She saw Harold, then 40, as a tall, rather swarthy man of German and Norwegian extraction, with dark brown hair and eyes. While he waited for the coroners investigator to arrive, he asked Lois Jurgens if there was anything he could do--such as take Robert to his own home, to be cared for by his wife. Korolchuk wondered: Why wasnt a doctor called to the home in the day before Dennis died, when he must have been extremely and obviously ill? Dennis struggled with such training and was forced to pray and recite his Rosary kneeling on a broomstick for extended periods, until he did it correctly. If the doc cant figure this out, hed say, well. Please complete the captcha to let us know you are a real person. White Bear Lake, Minnesota. When she was 17 and living in a juvenile home, she said, she gave birth to a boy, Dennis, who was quickly taken from her and eventually adopted by a family named Jurgens who lived in White Bear Lake. You can customize the cemeteries you volunteer for by selecting or deselecting below. Robert lived with other relatives, ultimately settling for two years with a distant cousin before he returned home. Jurgens was the only fatal victim of Lois Jurgens, his adoptive mother and a prolific child abuser, who abused a total of six adopted children from 1960 to 1975.The trial of Lois Jurgens for the murder of 3-year-old Dennis made national . It was full of redwood and log railings, and the lawn and trees ran almost to the waters edge, a good hundred feet of lake frontage in all. Moments later, VanderWyst, rising to leave, asked Lois if there was anything else he could do, such as call her brother Jerome. Product details Publisher : Ballantine Books (November 28, 2000) Language : English Paperback : 560 pages ISBN-10 : 0345487176 A Death in White Bear Lake is a true crime book by journalist Barry Siegel, published in 1990, which recounts the murder of Dennis Jurgens. Villains also abound, but they remain less noticed. After seeing newspaper reports about the death, she was convinced that he had been beaten to death and demanded the case be re-opened. In the 1960s, the term child abuse had not yet been coined and no one, not even medical professionals and teachers, was required to report suspicions. The sequel spins out of The Death of Superman 30th Anniversary Special #1, which transformed construction worker Lloyd Crayton into a new Doomsday-like villain for Superman: Doombreaker.
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