They had a son--a 2-year-old named Robert, whom they had adopted at birth through private channels. Youve got to worry about tomorrow. This was the situation that Gerane Rekdahl, a Ramsey County welfare case worker, found when she visited the Jurgens home on March 1, 1962. We will review the memorials and decide if they should be merged. A Death in White Bear Lake: The True Chronicle of an All-American Town She had talked about this with the whole family, but not with the authorities. Lois thought that would be a good idea. She thought they had a lovely home. Learn more about merges. Two husbands and four children later, Sherwood had gone searching for her firstborn, only to learn that he had died years before, in 1965, at age 3. There was something wrong here. To use this feature, use a newer browser. 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. 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. Sadly, the mother-son reunion was not meant to be; Jerry's child had died just before his fourth birthday. Others promised that they would do so. VanderWyst drove the mile to his house in silence, the young boy sitting beside him. Death 7 May 2013 (aged 87) . The coroner noted in his report that Dennis had almost zero subcutaneous fat, at the level of a person who had died of starvation. Dennis lay in the ground at St. Marys Cemetery, no name given to his death. I would question him. The official cause of death was Peritonitis due to perforation of the small bowel. Leave a sympathy message to the family in the guestbook on this memorial page of Lois Jean (Jones) Jurgens to show support. The trial of Lois Jurgens for the murder of 3-year-old Dennis made national headlines and was the top news story of the . Lois was born on March 4, 1930, in Iowa the daughter of the late Axel and Lena. We have set your language to Lois Jurgens reaction to Dennis during the visit was less than enthusiastic. 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. Placement with the paternal grandparents ended due to a house fire that occurred at a time when Robert was hospitalized with pneumonia, and his grandmother burned to death. It was just inconceivable to Woodburn that Dennis had been so injured by slipping and falling on a basement floor. She was right. The same day that she spoke to the priest--Aug. 30, 1962--Rekdahl informed the Jurgenses that they were going to be approved for a second adoption.
Prosecutors contended little Dennis died after numerous beatings and abuse, which including making the child eat food covered with horseradish and tying him spread-eagle in his crib. Family and friends are welcome to leave their condolences on this memorial page and share them with the family. Lois Jurgens Obituary (1930 - 2012) - Elkhorn, Wi, IA - the Des Moines 
So Robert, on a temporary but semiannually renewed basis, remained in county custody, living in foster homes. This browser does not support getting your location. In 2005, playwright Brian Vinero wrote a theatre piece, The Jurgens File, which was developed at New York City's 78th Street Theatre Lab; it told the story from the perspective of the community. Lois Jurgens agreed, but seemed scared that she would not be offered another child. Father Riser told her he definitely would. Harold Jurgens suggested that perhaps they should not go forward with the adoption of Dennis, but Lois refused out of concern that it would discourage the authorities from allowing them to adopt further children. I can recall seeing some, but its not very clear. Thirty years later, writer and artist Dan Jurgens is revisiting the storyline that gripped the world. Robert was leaving things alone at the age of 1 year. ANGELIZD's Place - Child Abuse Pages - Dennis Craig Jurgens Lois had grown up in an impoverished family of sixteen siblings and used her marriage to the middle-class Harold Jurgens as a means to improve her social standing. . Lois Jurgens was sentenced to 25 years in the Shakopee women's correctional facility for third-degree murder. 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. The hearing would prove to be a curious affair. The two also teased what's in store for readers . If you throw up, you are going to eat it. Toddler murdered by abusive adoptive mother - Horror History .net undefined Notes ^ http://www.angelizdsplace.com/ http://www.angelizdsplace.com/child43.htm. When Dennis Jurgens died at the age of 3 in 1965, authorities here never ruled whether his death was an accident, a homicide or the result of natural causes. He had read the early articles that by then had been published. When he arrived at the Jurgens home, though, hed realized all that was pointless. No one proposed handing the investigation to some other body--to, say, the county sheriffs office. They just buried the body in St.. plans and enthusiasm There was testimony from other officers that he impeded the investigation into the child's death. None of us knew about child abuse. A condition of neglect did exist. 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. Their investments and savings totaled $2,200. Harold told relatives he was going to be out of town the weekend of April 10 and 11, 1965. Initial placement was with a licensed, unrelated foster family, but Robert was then moved to his paternal grandparents at his parents' request. 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. Please enter your email and password to sign in. Lois Jurgens Obituary (1927 - 2019) | Petersburg, Illinois Please reset your password. Lois had a question: Would Father Riser write a letter in support of their present effort to adopt another child, a third child? Matt McMillan, White Bear Lake true crime page-turner turns 30, White Bear Press Club, June 17, 2020. At this time there are a number of persons yet to be contacted who supposedly have information and are relatives of the family, Korolchuk wrote on Thursday, April 15, four days after the death. How could the hot water splashing down on the baby have burned only his penis and scrotum? 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. Strange, he thought, that she hadnt called her brother, the police lieutenant. By the second week, the investigation began to encounter obstacles. Lois Jurgens. and this case
In 1984, Jurgens was the artist for the Sun Devils limited series (July 1984 - June 1985), with writers Gerry Conway and Roy Thomas. During this period, Lois was once again placed in a psychiatric facility. 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. The childs death occurred before there were state-mandated sentencing guidelines, and Thomson argued that she should have served less time. Whod listen? Ivey's Lois Jurgens is a woman so proud and righteous, her sense of morality . https://www.findagrave.com/memorial/134346102/lois-germaine_josephine-jurgens. 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. She saw Harold, then 40, as a tall, rather swarthy man of German and Norwegian extraction, with dark brown hair and eyes. she grew up and attended school in malvern, graduating in 1947. lois attended cosmetology school in des moines, iowa. That was all Gingold had to concern himself with. There was also the matter of community attitudes. 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. A piano and bass fiddle occupied the living room. He was an outgoing child, as happy and adjusted as could be expected under the circumstances. The house at 2148 South Gardenette Drive, White Bear Lake, where the Jurgenses lived from 1957 to 1967. Eventually, all four of the siblings from Kentucky and Robert escaped the home by running away and getting help from concerned neighbors. Murder of Dennis Jurgens - Infogalactic: the planetary knowledge core 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.
I want photos of this, he thought. Arnold L Jurgens Obituary Visitation Funeral Information from United States. . . She was sentenced to a maximum of 25 years in prison and was paroled in 1995. From behind their curtains and blinds, the Jurgenses neighbors on Gardenette Drive had been watching the comings and goings all morning with mounting interest. Lois Jurgens | Detailed Pedia
That was why the judge wanted Lois Jurgens to consent to a thorough, inpatient examination by a psychiatrist he knew and trusted. Vachss uttalte at boken ikke forklarer begrunnelsen for at Harold er passiv, mens den har tilstrekkelig informasjon om Lois Jurgens. Man held is death of retarded foster child, Minneapolis Star, May 21, 1971. . She died aged 87 on May 7, 2013. Dennis was lying face up in his crib, his stiffened arms raised eight inches off the bed. Rekdahl did know that Lois had a history of psychiatric problems involving a nervous breakdown in the early 1950s. Beatings and displays of Lois' explosive temper were daily events; especially bad days could include her slamming a child's forehead into a nail protruding from a wall, forcing a child to stand barefoot in snow, and shoving a used sanitary napkin in a child's face. No, nothing struck me, the doctor replied, except for these bruises. Retrieved 12 February 2015. 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 Jurgens, 61, was convicted of third-degree murder of her adopted son Dennis in the first phase of her trial a week ago and the jury, after deliberating five hours, rejected her insanity. Lois Jurgens, know for her short, volatile temper, murdered him. Much of the testimony related to Dennis, not Robert. His intensely angry adoptive mother, Lois Jurgens, know for her short, volatile temper, murdered him. The chief one involved the nature of the malady that killed Dennis.
After seeing newspaper reports about the death, she was convinced that he had been beaten to death and demanded the case be re-opened. A Death in White Bear Lake er en sann krimbok av journalisten Barry Siegel, utgitt i 1990, som forteller om drapet p Dennis Jurgens. Child Murder : The Town Confronts Its Past - Los Angeles Times However, he was in failing health and his autopsy results did not indicate poisoning. . Together they went into Dennis room to inspect the body. He feared finding himself alone. Lois Jean Jurgens, the daughter of Lawrence A. and Marjorie V. (Johnson) Jones, was born on May 26, 1929 in Malvern, Iowa. The trial of Lois Jurgens for the murder of 3-year-old Dennis made national . Lois jurgens, 93, of arvada, colorado, formerly of malvern and glenwood, iowa, passed away june 13, 2022. lois jean jurgens, the daughter of lawrence a. and marjorie v. (johnson) jones, was born on may 26, 1929 in malvern, iowa. 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. Statements in the police logs were riddled with discrepancies. The only witness to Lois's final abuse of Dennis was Robert, who was 5 years old at the time. Most simply remain hidden. Use Escape keyboard button or the Close button to close the carousel. Lt. Clarence (Buzz) Harvey at first did not know what to make of the blonde 42-year-old woman who appeared at the front desk of this towns solitary police station on the morning of Sept. 18, 1986. During the early morning hours of April 11, 1965, Dennis Jurgens died at the hands of Lois Jurgens. On Nov. 28, 1962, members of the Scott and Ramsey counties welfare departments, including Rekdahl, had a conference in the town of Shakopee. We have many Include gps location with grave photos where possible. Though there was an investigation, society and law enforcement of the mid-1960s did not accept the concept that a child in a middle-class home could be the target of abuse. If the doc cant figure this out, hed say, well. . Rekdahl expressed some concern. I felt we actually checked out the concerns quite carefully..
It is one of a few crimes that FBI agent Kenneth Lanning argues can legitimately be described as "ritual abuse". | As it happened, Peterson at the time was deputy coroner in Ramsey County. 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 . new content, we kindly appreciate any donation you can give to help You need a Find a Grave account to continue. It began one month after Dennis death and continued for two days, May 10 and 11, 1965. There was obviously going to be trouble, and he didnt want to get involved. Notes References A Death in White Bear Lakeby Barry Siegel. Did the doctor remember his thoughts on why this child died, his inner feelings that day? . The psychiatrist thought it fortunate that Lois Jurgens could not get pregnant because a child would only compound and complicate her emotional disturbances. Tragically, just a few years after the adoption, Dennis died from peritonitis. Harold Jurgens, an electrical foreman, made $10,000 in 1962, and this placed his family a cut above many of their friends and neighbors. Nor had his arrival two hours before. At 2 p.m. on that Palm Sunday, Dr. Robert Woodburn, the coroners chief pathologist, conducted the autopsy. There is a lot to be known about the science of this whole darn subject, he said. Innhold. She wanted assurances. The email does not appear to be a valid email address. Jurgens was one of 16 children. DENNIS JURGENS: MURDERED BY AN EVIL WOMAN - YouTube On bare skin, the heat just flashes off. In the early 1980s, Dennis' birth mother, Jerry Sherwood, looked for Dennis, only to find out he had died in 1965. 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. He was the son of teenage Jerry Sherwood (who was herself a ward of the state) and her teenage boyfriend. Notes [ edit] ^ "ANGELIZD's Place - Child Abuse Pages - Dennis Craig Jurgens". Although Lois was not charged with Dennis's murder, the death caused sufficient suspicion for the authorities to remove Robert from the home; he was placed with various relatives and one foster family for a period of just over five years, during which the Jurgens spent a great deal of effort and money attempting to regain custody. A dead boy, though, was something else. |