Published Jan 18, 2023. A jury deliberated about five hours Friday before finding Lois Jurgens, 61, of Stillwater, Minn., guilty of third-degree murder, or an unintentional killing.
Novel and Adaptations: Barry Siegel's true-crime novel A Death in White Bear Lake recounts the story via extensive research and oral history. Dennis was lying face up in his crib, his stiffened arms raised eight inches off the bed. The Jurgens' adoption of Robert seemed successful in the eyes of authorities, who began to consider the possibility that they might adopt more children through official channels. The prosecutor had a different attitude back then, Votel said recently. For memorials with more than one photo, additional photos will appear here or on the photos tab. Lois Jurgens was convicted in May 1987 of murder (by abuse) in the death 22 years earlier of her adopted son, Dennis. Camille Brass knew the blue convertible belonged to Dr. Peterson. Include gps location with grave photos where possible. The night Dennis died, Robert was riding his trike in the basement, and all the sudden he heard Dennis screaming. At the funeral home, Lois Jurgens brother, Lloyd Zerwas, came to pay his respects.
He could be a battered child, Votel said he reasoned, and still his death could have been caused by a fall, an accident. On bare skin, the heat just flashes off. Dennis Craig Jurgens (December 6, 1961 April 11, 1965) was an American 3-year-old boy who was murdered in White Bear Lake, Minnesota in April 1965. Save to an Ancestry Tree, a virtual cemetery, your clipboard for pasting or Print. updates Her features were still attractive, although the years had added a certain hardness and fleshiness. Their investments and savings totaled $2,200. angelizdsplace.com/. The autopsy report mentioned bruises head to toe. The investigation, trial, and conviction are considered landmarks in the history of child abuse law. Its so expensive.My friend, after twenty thousand years murder is still a business thats mainly in the hands of amateurs.Orson Welles (19151985), Its almost as if they were saying, You live your life, and well live ours.Richard Fielding, and Lee Sholem.
To this end, she forced religious training on her young sons; reports had young Robert flawlessly reciting the Rosary at two. Please complete the captcha to let us know you are a real person. 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 question of Dennis Jurgens death next fell to the Ramsey County attorneys office. Robert was returned to the Jurgens home and, going through new channels, the couple was eventually able to adopt four school-aged siblings from Kentucky. We thought it would be no use.. From the bench, he said he hoped that they could find something to explain the mistreatment of Dennis. 
She was right. No, Lois said, sounding definite. They carried assorted life insurance polices worth $10,000. Though the specific cause of that fatal blow is not known, it is known that it was Lois who had given it to Dennis. The welfare department case work was very limited. To all appearances, they were a normal midwestern family, but Jerry suspected that something sinister had happened in the Jurgens household. Sherwood became suspicious and persuaded authorities to investigate. Walter Moore, a co-worker of Harold Jurgens, also came to the funeral. She is buried at the Union Cemetery, in Maplewood, Ramsey County, Minnesota. View Obituary & Service Information As Peterson followed Wildwood Avenue west along the lakes shore toward Gardenette Park, hed rehearsed in his mind the resuscitation techniques he knew from the rescue squad. 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. One might get a first impression that Lois was cold and indifferent, but to Rekdahl, this seemed a defense for insecurities. +C $33.27 shipping estimate. She was the adoptive mother of six children in the 1960s and 1970s, and brutally abused them all, killing one of them, three-year-old Dennis Jurgens, in 1965. In 1965, Votel said, he thought this was certainly a battered-child case, but the reports indicated that the child had fallen down some stairs. We will review the memorials and decide if they should be merged.
Though the name of the adoptive family was not given, many suspected that the story was about Lois Jurgens. In 1987, Jurgens was convicted of third-degree murder of Dennis. Thirty years later, writer and artist Dan Jurgens is revisiting the storyline that gripped the world. This month is the 30th anniversary of the release of "A Death in White Bear Lake," a book by then-Los Angeles Times reporter Barry Siegel. 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.The trial of Lois Jurgens for the murder of 3-year-old Dennis made national . He had one great friend, his world's Lois, but she died and now he sees another version of her still alive and pregnant. . After seeing newspaper reports about the death, she was convinced that he had been beaten to death and demanded the case be re-opened.
According to Rekdahls written log, that was the sum of what Peterson said to her. The investigation, trial, and When Dennis cried, Lois would force his head under the cold water faucet at the kitchen sink. Other than that, nothing remarkable.. Do I think this happened just here, just this one? There was a large, swollen scrape on the forehead. On January 13, 2000, she was initially suspected of poisoning her husband, Harold. Two hours before, sitting in his waterside home on the southeast shore of White Bear Lake, Sunday morning had seemed so promising. The author's ability to set the scene of a tranquil. He had lived in this home since 1953, and it gave him much pleasure.
Retired now for several years, he suffers from angina and does not go out much, but he recalls the 1965 hearing. They had checked on him throughout the night. The hearing would prove to be a curious affair. Ive been doing this job too long. That this was much more a question for doctors than for the police did not sway Votel. This had required at least two hospitalizations at the Mayo Clinic and at a small psychiatric hospital called Crestview, where she had received electrical shock treatments. This sort of thing happened back then..
Dennis Craig Jurgens (December 6, 1961 - April 11, 1965) was an American 3-year-old boy who was murdered in White Bear Lake, Minnesota in April 1965. In her effort to make Dennis "right" in her eyes, Lois embarked on a series of sadistic and corporal punishments: Angered at Dennis for rejecting certain foods, she responded by placing horseradish on the food and then force-fed it to him. . Robert fit in well at the Jurgens household, as he learned from a young age not to get in his mother's way or cause an undue mess that would likely send Lois Jurgens into a rage. Lois, who abused Dennis constantly, escalated to new levels of rage as the flood waters filled her basement. Zerwas wouldnt let the rest of his family view the body. He could never forget how Lois Jurgens looked at those photos stoically, showing no emotion. Dennis Craig Jurgens (December 6, 1961 - April 11, 1965) was an American 3-year-old boy who was murdered in White Bear Lake, Minnesota in April 1965. PAUL When 3-year-old Dennis Craig Jurgens died on April 11, 1965, there were so many bruises on his body that the coroner said he stopped counting them. roger w. tufte sr, 76, resident of lakota, nd died saturday, february 26, 2022 at the lakota good samaritan center. Korolchuk would never get the chance to answer such questions. Dennis lay in the ground at St. Marys Cemetery, no name given to his death. He attended Olney Rural Elementary School and graduated from Filley High School in 1959. The official cause of death was peritonitis due to perforation of the small bowel. On Nov. 28, 1962, members of the Scott and Ramsey counties welfare departments, including Rekdahl, had a conference in the town of Shakopee. Sorry! Lois is survived by her. The afflicted look and act very sick for a matter of hours, sometimes days. You can always change this later in your Account settings. He feared finding himself alone. The neighbors talked among themselves that afternoon. There was a problem getting your location. Year should not be greater than current year.
Father Riser told her he definitely would. Flowers added to the memorial appear on the bottom of the memorial or here on the Flowers tab. During this period, Lois was once again placed in a psychiatric facility. . Ivey's Lois Jurgens is a woman so proud and righteous, her sense of morality . They were of varying colors--black and blue, yellowish green, reddish--which meant that some were fresh, some old. Make sure that the file is a photo. Throughout the years of frequent abuse, it has been reported that while Harold Jurgens made little effort to curb his wife's abuse of young Dennis, he personally never mistreated the boy. We would like to have done something, but it was none of our business. and Judith Ivey as WHAT happened? This is a story about respectable men and women of the middle class--doctors, lawyers, priests, social workers, policemen, neighbors and relatives--whose behavior, taken as a whole, led not to that milieus promised decency and justice but to a moral outrage, dark and hard to understand. Obituary. Instead the judge agonized, repeatedly expressing from the bench his sense of conflict and uncertainty. The foster mother thinks him a little wild one, but she means this appreciatively and derives pleasure from his antics. Rekdahl decided to call on the Jurgenses. They had a son--a 2-year-old named Robert, whom they had adopted at birth through private channels. The body was severely undernourished, nearly emaciated. As the laws were then interpreted, he believed that he would have to link a specific action taken by Lois Jurgens to the precise cause of death. ``There is no justice. They had cited the Fifth Amendment protection against self-incrimination. Use Next and Previous buttons to navigate, or jump to a slide with the slide dots. The two also teased what's in store for readers .
We did not have enough evidence of any kind to deny them. . Then he began to look terrible--his face so old, like a little old man. Your Scrapbook is currently empty. His vision was a hulking humanoid creature with massive muscles and chunks of bone . Pitera stared at the body. Are you sure that you want to report this flower to administrators as offensive or abusive? During his short life, Dennis . Dennis had been a beautiful baby, Gladys Demars said. That will make you swallow, Lois had said. Judge Archie Gingold, in his findings at the close of the hearing, ruled that Dennis had been subjected to many incidences of cruel and severe abuse. Just past one year of age, Dennis was placed in the Jurgens' home in 1962, in anticipation of an adoption after spending much of his first year in foster care. . This site uses cookies to improve user experience. He looks like a boy of 10. Try again later. Whod listen? When the White Bear Lake police called her a year ago, she knew immediately whom they were talking about. . Clayton Robinson Jr., a former prosecutor in the case, said Jurgens should not have been released yet. Rekdahl found her judgment confirmed by the Jurgenses priest. The night of his death, a great flood had hit the Saint Paul area and the Mississippi River's waters were rising to record levels, causing flooding in the region and inside the Jurgens' home. In 1987, testifying 22 years later, Peterson was questioned again about the bruises. Dennis had fallen and hit his head on the wet basement floor the day before, the Jurgenses said, and he also had been suffering from a bad cold. The only witness to Lois's final abuse of Dennis was Robert, who was 5 years old at the time. I want photos of this, he thought. By the second week, the investigation began to encounter obstacles. Jurgens who says he still has the yellow legal pad on which he did his quick sketch was the victor. Lois also was not pleased to learn how active Dennis was. Found more than one record for entered Email, You need to confirm this account before you can sign in. She had a story to tell. Retrieved 12 February 2015. Maybe we can get more evidence from there. With the advent of highways, White Bear Lake has become a suburb of St. Paul, about 12 miles to the south. Now VanderWyst was looking at him, asking a question: What was the cause of death?. There was no possibility that Dennis had died from a blow to the head. No. I was advised that the information was being obtained, that there was an ongoing investigation, Votel said recently. Thank you for supporting our partners, who make it possible for The Lineup to continue publishing the terrifying stories you love. 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. Donna Neely wondered, as she studied the Jurgenses now-silent house from her front window. The defense attorney was still thinking about a criminal prosecution--even if no one else was. 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. Dan Jurgens, one of the chief minds at DC who spearheaded the Man of Steel's death and rebirth in the '90s, took to Twitter to share an unused design of Electric Superman -- sometimes called . Lois Jurgens headed to trial. The policeman did not, so they carried the body to the coroners van. You see, Gingold said, I didnt have to go that far. A Mrs. Charles reported a car blocking a driveway at 823 5th St. A Mrs. Krugger reported that children were damming the street at Elm and Ebba (there had been heavy rain the night before). Villains also abound, but they remain less noticed. 
Lois Jurgens was sentenced to 25 years in the Shakopee women's correctional facility for third-degree murder. We wanted to tell someone, she said. . ``I prayed for eight years that shed die in there. 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. . 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. He couldnt comprehend anyone torturing a kid, Peterson would explain many years later. In 1992 A made-for-TV movie was made based on both Jerry's story The sponsor of a memorial may add an additional. The process of adopting Dennis was completed. By this point, Lois' rage and mania had gone beyond her ability to maintain an appearance of normalcy, and she and Harold had relocated to rural Stillwater, Minnesota, possibly to escape the gossip of their former neighborhood where Dennis was killed. They had seen Lois pull Dennis ears so hard that blood flowed. This was a murder. Our kids have fallen down steps and not died. 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. All photos uploaded successfully, click on the Done button to see the photos in the gallery. They were independent of each other. You dont know what to think, Donna Marlene said. The defense picked the doctor, and set parameters on what questions he could ask. As he viewed the body, he thought: This boy has been murdered. Lois Lane (Phyllis Coates). . Building a general history of abusive conduct would not be sufficient. Translation on Find a Grave is an ongoing project. It was just inconceivable to Woodburn that Dennis had been so injured by slipping and falling on a basement floor. One of Lois Jurgens responses was to call Father Riser, the priest who had so warmly recommended them to the county welfare worker. She had talked about this with the whole family, but not with the authorities. 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. He was born on September 29, 1941 in rural Adams, and was later baptized and confirmed at Zion Lutheran Church of rural Pickrell. She had a pathological need for control over her environment and obsessively cleaned and tended to her home and garden, desperate to appear the picture of the perfect housewife. 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. In the early 1980s, Dennis' birth mother, Jerry Sherwood, looked for Dennis, only to find out he had died in 1965. We have many I would also like to receive the Early Bird Books newsletter which features great deals on FREE and discounted ebooks. She had not noticed anything was wrong until sometime later, when Dennis began holding himself and saying, Owie! It was then she saw that his genitals were burned and called the doctor. The rows of neatly kept houses, the modern police station and the shopping strips all reflect a level of modest comfort rather than affluence. Robert would remain in county custody for the time being. Tragically, just a few years after the adoption, Dennis died from peritonitis. No prosecution was taken at that time. Peterson, a slender 6-footer, was a respected local doctor, a University of Minnesota medical graduate who had served in the Marines before opening a private practice in White Bear Lake in 1951. So began a painstaking inquiry into the past--an inquiry that in recent months has pulled back the curtains on a decidedly uncomfortable vision. Lois and Harold Jurgens lived in a comfortable, meticulously maintained three-bedroom house with a big, fenced backyard on a large corner lot on Gardenette Drive. None.. 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 3+12 years. the Murderpedia project stay alive. . When patrolman Robert VanderWyst arrived at the Jurgens home soon after, he found the doctor, the Jurgenses and 5-year-old Robert in the living room. Many years later, asked in court how this placement was approved, Rekdahl--by then a psychotherapist and psychiatric social worker in Napa, Calif., remarried and using the name Gerane Wharton-Park--said: We finally had really no exacting reasons why we could turn this family down. There was also talk years earlier of her having started the fire at her in-laws' home which killed her mother-in-law, with whom she never got along. Some had seen or heard Dennis being beaten. Of course, there was that one bad accident involving third-degree burns to Dennis penis and scrotum. 
Try again later. Murderpedia has thousands of hours of work behind it. They beat my baby to death, Sherwood told Buzz Harvey.
You are nearing the transfer limit for memorials managed by Find a Grave. . Please enter your email and password to sign in. based on information from your browser. They beat my baby to death. Dennis Craig Jurgens (December 6, 1961 - April 11, 1965) was an American 3-year-old boy who was murdered in White Bear Lake, Minnesota, in April 1965. Four days after he drafted this analysis, on April 30, he and VanderWyst were pulled off the case. The perforation, he judged, had occurred one to two days before the childs death. And her release from the states prison for women in Shakopee only angered the biological mother whose search for her child led to the discovery of the crime. Many years later, he explained why: I was quite certain it was a homicide, quite certain, Gingold said recently in an interview. He would wait until the police investigation could resolve the matter. Petersburg, ILLois A. Jurgens (92) of Petersburg passed away September 25, 2019. Jerry took her case to the White Bear Lake police department and then to the local media. She believed that Lois had opened up a great deal and tried to be as truthful as possible. Family and friends are welcome to leave their condolences on this memorial page and share them with the family. Sherwood also told D'Angelo that Dana Ivey's interpretation of Lois Jurgens is eerily accurate. She is buried at the Union Cemetery, in Maplewood, Ramsey County, Minnesota More Alchetron Topics References Lois Jurgens Wikipedia (Text) CC BY-SA Topics The Suspicions of Mr Whicher Toz (film) Steve McAnespie so its not unusual.. Petersons house sat precisely on the site of the old Wildwood Amusement Park. Aside from the incident when Dennis was hospitalized with burns on his genitals, there were many other incidents of abuse that fell under the category of sexual sadism. There was no community pressure back then. Donna Mae Zerwas, Lois sister-in-law, had seen all that and more. . she grew up and attended school in malvern, graduating in 1947. lois attended cosmetology school in des moines, iowa. Together they went into Dennis room to inspect the body. The first few days of the police investigation by VanderWyst and Sgt. Learn more about managing a memorial . If the doc cant figure this out, hed say, well. charles edward ed holland memorial park funeral homes and cemeteries. Thank you for fulfilling this photo request. That doctor (Peterson) also presented problems--he was a typical doctor, couldnt believe his patient was killed.. Soon the word spread from house to housethered been a death, the younger Jurgens boy had died. I just examined him to see that he was in fact dead. Share this memorial using social media sites or email. He had read the early articles that by then had been published. The boy was dead by the time the doctor arrived at 9:35. A system error has occurred. She believed that Lois Jurgens was accepting and embracing Dennis, and he seemed healthy and adjusted. To this end, she forced religious training on her young sons; reports had young Robert flawlessly reciting the Rosary at 2. The Jurgenses had wanted a younger child and Dennis was almost a year old. This case was a drop of water in the river..
Many years later, at his mother's trial, by then 27-year-old Robert recounted the events of that evening, testifying that his mother had beaten Dennis extensively and had thrown him down the stairs. Learn about how to make the most of a memorial. Lois Jurgens reaction to Dennis during the visit was less than enthusiastic. The official records say 1,200 children died of abuse in 1986, but many experts believe the figure would reach 5,000 if closer attention were paid to some deaths attributed to accident or blamed on sudden infant death syndrome. The psychiatrist thought it fortunate that Lois Jurgens could not get pregnant because a child would only compound and complicate her emotional disturbances. Vachss uttalte at boken ikke forklarer begrunnelsen for at Harold er passiv, mens den har tilstrekkelig informasjon om Lois Jurgens. He was shaken. This, coupled with the lack of a statute of limitations for a murder charge, could lead the way to a prosecution of Lois Jurgens. It just made me sick. VanderWyst climbed into his patrol car and backed down the Jurgens driveway at 11:48 A.M. VanderWysts departure did not go unnoticed. All I could do was shake my head.. | | The Jurgenses are not being attacked anywhere along the line. Lois Jurgens served eight years of her sentence and had a quiet life as a widow in Stillwater, Minnesota. Close this window, and upload the photo(s) again. There was no possibility that Dennis had died from a blow to the head, and scarce chance that he had died from a fall on the flat basement floor. To use this feature, use a newer browser. They covered the legs, the arms, the hands, the head, the shoulders, the back of the head, the buttocks, the small of the back, the middle of the back, the back of the left leg. Edit a memorial you manage or suggest changes to the memorial manager.
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