She was right. Lois was born on March 4, 1930, in Iowa the daughter of the late Axel and Lena. remarkable Beverly D'Angelo as Jerry Sherwood
Innhold. Lois Jurgens, know for her short, volatile temper, murdered him. The house at 2148 South Gardenette Drive, White Bear Lake, where the Jurgenses lived from 1957 to 1967. Lets not build up some fiction that now we have done everything we should do.. It was as if the authorities had found a way to try Lois Jurgens for Dennis death without calling it a murder. conviction
Try again later. Dennis had died of peritonitis. Weve updated the security on the site. The coroner noted in his report that Dennis had almost zero subcutaneous fat, at the level of a person who had died of starvation. From the death certificate she had learned that the coroner never ruled whether the death was an accident, a homicide or the result of natural causes. From the bench, he said he hoped that they could find something to explain the mistreatment of Dennis. When it froze, hed hang lights on the seven surrounding elm trees, put out snow sculptures of bears and seals tinted with food coloring, and invite all the neighborhood kids to join his own two children in skating and hockey games. DEATH OF SUPERMAN 30TH ANNIVERARY SPECIAL- 1:100 JURGENS & BREEDING FOIL VARIANT. Jerry took her case to the White Bear Lake police department and then to the local media. If you throw up, you are going to eat it. Then he began to look terrible--his face so old, like a little old man. HH at the best online prices at eBay! The investigation, trial, and Problems arose within the police department as well. Eventually Lois Jurgens was arraigned, and her identity released by the media. Rekdahl, who graduated from St. Pauls Hamline University in 1957 with a bachelors degree in social work, had been in adoption services for less than one year. I had doubts, and I didnt like Lois, but I felt I couldnt react personally like that, she said. In talking to the county attorney and the chief of police, we had gone as far as we could and we were told that was it, wed have to terminate the investigation.. There was a deep, ulcerous lesion at the base of the penis and dark bruises on the tip. Brand New. In 1987, Jurgens was convicted of third-degree murder of Dennis. The Death of Superman By Jurgens, TPB, DC Comics 1993, New, Sealed. HH Dennis Craig Jurgens was an American 3-year-old boy who was murdered in White Bear Lake, Minnesota in April 1965. Rekdahl by now had quite a dim outlook on this placement. Lois Jurgens.
Learn more about merges. "There are certainly problems," says Jurgens, one of the main architects of . He was shaken. I did my best.. It would be no use.
| We did not have enough evidence of any kind to deny them. Father Bernard Riser of the St. Mary of the Lake Catholic Church had known the Jurgenses for years and considered them to be among his parishs best families. Lois Jurgens served eight years of her sentence and had a quiet life as a widow in Stillwater, Minnesota. The autopsy report mentioned bruises head to toe. Lois Jurgens had not one good thing to say about Dennis. So Robert, on a temporary but semiannually renewed basis, remained in county custody, living in foster homes. 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. She grew up and attended school in Malvern, graduating in 1947. At first, that seemed to be the conclusion that the official inquiry would also reach. 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. Though autopsy photos showed Dennis body was covered in bruises at the time of his death, the coroner never declared it an accidentor rather, what it really was: murder. need your help for this. The electric streetcar with overhead power lines, running as a spur off the main railroad tracks along Highway 61, would stop just three doors down. . 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. #dennisjurgens #jerrysherwood #truecrime Jerry Puckett's mother abandoned her when she was three, she was raised by her father and abused by two stepmothers.. On the other hand, she realized the improbability of being offered another Catholic baby in the near future. In winter, they got the north wind, so the lake froze too rough for ice skating. 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. Harold told relatives he was going to be out of town the weekend of April 10 and 11, 1965. On Nov. 28, 1962, members of the Scott and Ramsey counties welfare departments, including Rekdahl, had a conference in the town of Shakopee. Rekdahl thought that Lois speech betrayed a bit of cynicism. That doctor (Peterson) also presented problems--he was a typical doctor, couldnt believe his patient was killed.. He was frequently starved, to rid him of "sloppy fat," as Lois called it (she also called him "Sloppy Fat" as a nickname). A family friend, Barbara Venney, saw the bruises through the flowers. Within months of Dennis' arrival, he was rushed to the hospital with first and second-degree burns on his genitalia, which were reported and accepted as accidental. 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. Lois Jurgens, it turns out, was from the start a poor parental bet. Please complete the captcha to let us know you are a real person. At 2 p.m. on that Palm Sunday, Dr. Robert Woodburn, the coroners chief pathologist, conducted the autopsy. Family members immediately begin whispering "she killed him" , referring to his adoptive moth . She wanted assurances. Testimony from neighbors and family members told of young Dennis showing up to public events wearing sunglasses at the age of two to hide his frequent black eyes. The prosecutor had a different attitude back then, Votel said recently. They attempted to mind their own business and feared retribution from Lois, who was not above threatening the lives of her family members. They owed $6,000 on the house and $930 on the truck. from United States. As he read, he stiffened in his chair. She was diagnosed as having mixed psychoneurosis and also unable to conceive a child with Harold. Rekdahl expressed some concern. Product details Publisher : Ballantine Books (November 28, 2000) Language : English Paperback : 560 pages ISBN-10 : 0345487176 Are you sure that you want to delete this photo?
This treatment, along with the exertion as he struggled, sickened Dennis to the point of vomiting, which further enraged Jurgens, who then forced him to eat his vomit.
Dennis had been a beautiful baby, Gladys Demars said. Lois Jurgens appeared with her attorney Doug Thomson in Ramsey County To keep creating plans and enthusiasm He attended Olney Rural Elementary School and graduated from Filley High School in 1959. If hes notified there would be fifty people at her house, and she didnt want that many people around. Lois was accused of murdering and beating her adopted son Dennis Jurgens in 1965 but wasn't convicted until 1987 and only spent 8 years of her sentence before being paroled in 1995. They had seen Lois yank Dennis violently by the ears. Opens in a new window or tab. The county had filed a custody petition, alleging neglect. I didnt examine him further.. A jury deliberated about five hours Friday before finding Lois Jurgens, 61, of Stillwater, Minn., guilty of third-degree murder, or an unintentional killing. Rekdahl was developing real doubts about this placement, but the Jurgenses decided to go see Dennis that afternoon. 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. 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. Try again later. Include gps location with grave photos where possible. The question of Dennis Jurgens death next fell to the Ramsey County attorneys office. Donna Neely wondered, as she studied the Jurgenses now-silent house from her front window. To this end, she forced religious training on her young sons; reports had young Robert flawlessly reciting the Rosary at two. Almost immediately, Lois felt a severe, obsessive dislike of the child, who was a normal, rambunctious, and spirited toddlerunlike Robert, who in Lois' eyes, was the "good son." You are nearing the transfer limit for memorials managed by Find a Grave. This account has been disabled. 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. There was a problem getting your location. 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. Lois Jurgens, 93, of Arvada, Colorado, formerly of Malvern and Glenwood, Iowa, passed away June 13, 2022. She thought the postplacement period had been quite successful. Lois attended cosmetology school in Des Moines, Iowa.
In the decade preceding the adoption of Dennis, Lois Jurgens had suffered bouts of depression and psychosis, including an extended stay at a psychiatric institution where electroconvulsive therapy was administered. She was born February 25, 1927 to Leslie and Margaret Stowell in Cass County IL. roger w. tufte sr, 76, resident of lakota, nd died saturday, february 26, 2022 at the lakota good samaritan center. home They had just buried the body, and that was all. However, he was in failing health and his autopsy results did not indicate poisoning. Harold (Harry) Jurgens, 76 of Filley passed away at Gold Crest Retirement Center in Adams on January 7, 2018. Lois Jurgens at the time that she had custody of Dennis. After The Murder. Clothing retains the heat. He had one great friend, his world's Lois, but she died and now he sees another version of her still alive and pregnant. 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. The trial of Lois Jurgens for the murder of 3-year-old Dennis made national headlines and was the top news story of the . Published Jan 18, 2023.
Lois Jurgens | Photos | Murderpedia, the encyclopedia of murderers Thirty years after the original Death of Superman storyline, the iconic tale's writer Dan Jurgens has confirmed which alternate Superman villains almost killed the hero. The White Bear Lake police log for the morning of April 11, 1965--Palm Sunday--included the sort of events to be expected in such a town. The perforation, he judged, had occurred one to two days before the childs death. The hearing would prove to be a curious affair. Their flight, coupled with the lingering suspicions surrounding Dennis' death, resulted in the termination of Lois and Harold Jurgens' parental rights. Learn how and when to remove this template message, "ANGELIZD's Place - Child Abuse Pages - Dennis Craig Jurgens", https://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=Lois_Jurgens&oldid=1133446799, Articles lacking in-text citations from December 2022, Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike License 3.0, This page was last edited on 13 January 2023, at 21:13. Soon after, Jerry Puckett dropped her plan to convert--but by then Dennis was already registered as Catholic on the adoption rolls. she grew up and attended school in malvern, graduating in 1947. lois attended cosmetology school in des moines, iowa. Moments later, VanderWyst, rising to leave, asked Lois if there was anything else he could do, such as call her brother Jerome. . Dr. C $186.13. Due to this frequent starvation, Dennis gained only three pounds in a 2+12-year period as he aged from one year old to 3+12 years old. That was all Gingold had to concern himself with. They just buried the body in St.. Camille Brass knew the blue convertible belonged to Dr. Peterson. The Jurgenses are not being attacked anywhere along the line. Her mother having long ago disappeared, Jerry Puckett had bounced among assorted relatives and county homes for girls. Barry Siegels chilling true crime book, A Death in White Bear Lake, chronicles the chilling case of a family from a picturesque town in Minnesota, and the cover up of a horrific crime that lasted for 20 years. Korolchuk would never get the chance to answer such questions. There was also a great deal of suspicion surrounding Jerome Zerwas, the brother of Lois Jurgens, who was a police lieutenant in the city of White Bear Lake, Minnesota. 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. 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 process of adopting Dennis was completed.
Child Murder : The Town That Lived in Silence - Los Angeles Times Only 5% to 10% of the bruises on Dennis could have been caused by such a fall. the Murderpedia project stay alive. Robert would remain in county custody for the time being. convicted of murder In early December, 1963, Rekdahl paid her last postplacement visit to the Jurgenses. 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. The doctor did not want to be there.
| She died aged 87 on May 7, 2013. The prosecutor wasnt getting help from the White Bear Lake police--her brother was on the force. new content, we kindly appreciate any donation you can give to help None.. 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. Theres nothing worse, Peterson had thought, than seeing a dead child. . 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. Clayton Robinson Jr., a former prosecutor in the case, said Jurgens should not have been released yet. 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. Matt McMillan, White Bear Lake true crime page-turner turns 30, White Bear Press Club, June 17, 2020. Walter Moore, a co-worker of Harold Jurgens, also came to the funeral. so its not unusual.. It looked to her as if the roses were placed there to cover up the dark blue markings.
Toddler murdered by abusive adoptive mother - Horror History .net 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. No, she explained.
En dd i White Bear Lake - A Death in White Bear Lake She had a story to tell.
Dan Jurgens Returns to Death of Superman | DC VanderWyst and Korolchuk had brought in the file themselves and lobbied for prosecution. In fact, it appalled and amazed her because she herself thought the baby extremely appealing, very friendly, with very beautiful blue eyes and a very nice smile. We have many Harvey had been a rookie cop here in 1965, but Sherwoods story triggered no memories. When the wind was up, Peterson would take out his sixteen-foot sailboat and glide toward Manitou Island and the town of White Bear. I tried to assure her that these things happen in any family.. White Bear Lake, a picturesque American town where kids freely ride bikes, play two-square and parents throw neighborhood BBQsand where 3 year old Dennis Jurgens died on Palm Sunday 1965. He couldnt push Votel on this. Ivey's Lois Jurgens is a woman so proud and righteous, her sense of morality . Dennis & Robert Petersburg, ILLois A. Jurgens (92) of Petersburg passed away September 25, 2019. 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. The rows of neatly kept houses, the modern police station and the shopping strips all reflect a level of modest comfort rather than affluence. . Lois Jurgens was sentenced to 25 years in the Shakopee women's correctional facility for third-degree murder. If Votel had called it a homicide, at least that prospect would have been removed. 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. Of course, there was that one bad accident involving third-degree burns to Dennis penis and scrotum. On the stand, the Jurgenses had refused to answer questions about Dennis. 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.
A Death in White Bear Lake: The Child Abuse Case That Led to Murder Oops, something didn't work. No, nothing struck me, the doctor replied, except for these bruises. Lois Jean (Jones) Jurgens - Peterson Mortuary, Inc. Even with half the body obscured, VanderWyst noticed the bruises--an awful lot of them he would say later. Such stories are not rare. Share this memorial using social media sites or email. Last week, Judge David Marsden sentenced. . Lois' remedy for the toddler wetting his diaper too frequently was to place a spring-action clothespin upon the end of his penis. Martin fritz obituary. She committed one of the most unusual child murder cases in history in Minnesota. 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. called, 'A Child Lost Its not unusual, the doctor said. . 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. We came very close to trying to do something. 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 . 
Translation on Find a Grave is an ongoing project. Lois Jurgens Obituary (1927 - 2019) | Petersburg, Illinois Oops, we were unable to send the email. . Rekdahl suggested that if she had negative feelings, it would be best for them not to take the child. Lois Jurgens at the time that she had custody of Dennis. | VanderWyst, visiting him after the autopsy the night of Dennis death, told the family physician what Woodburn had found. In 1987, Jurgens was convicted of third-degree murder of Dennis. This was the situation that Gerane Rekdahl, a Ramsey County welfare case worker, found when she visited the Jurgens home on March 1, 1962. He looks like a boy of 10. His vision was a hulking humanoid creature with massive muscles and chunks of bone . 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.
We are a participant in the Amazon Services LLC Associates Program, an affiliate advertising program designed to provide a means for us to earn fees by linking to Amazon.com and affiliated sites. You have chosen this person to be their own family member. Dennis nose was blood-red--VanderWyst thought it looked as if you just wiped it once more youd probably take the rest of the skin away. He returned to the Jurgens home in time to meet the coroners investigator, Saveiro Pitera. There was testimony from other officers that he impeded the investigation into the child's death. to keep expanding and making Murderpedia a better site, but we really He was the son of teenage Jerry Sherwood (who was herself a ward of the state) and her teenage boyfriend. When he arrived at the Jurgens home, though, hed realized all that was pointless. That will require a juvenile hearing on neglect. Do Not Sell or Share My Personal Information, Desperate mountain residents trapped by snow beg for help; We are coming, sheriff says, Hidden, illegal casinos are booming in L.A., with organized crime reaping big profits, Look up: The 32 most spectacular ceilings in Los Angeles, This fabled orchid breeder loves to chat just not about Trader Joes orchids, Elliott: Kings use their heads over hearts in trading Jonathan Quick, 19 cafes that make L.A. a world-class coffee destination, Newsom, IRS give Californians until October to file tax returns, 12 reasons why Sycamore Avenue is L.A.s coolest new hangout, Best coffee city in the world? . All photos appear on this tab and here you can update the sort order of photos on memorials you manage. . The defense picked the doctor, and set parameters on what questions he could ask. Judge calls murder of child 'barbaric' - UPI Archives No, Lois said, sounding definite. Thanks for your help! There was also pressure from supervisors to place, especially because there were so few Catholic children. This memorial has been copied to your clipboard. Lois Jurgens agreed, but seemed scared that she would not be offered another child. Even so, doctors do not usually see third-degree burns in an area that isnt covered by clothing. No prosecution was taken at that time. Lois Jurgens was disappointed about Dennis age. This account already exists, but the email address still needs to be confirmed. She died aged 87 on May 7, 2013. To perforate a bowel, the doctors agreed, there had to be severe, concentrated trauma applied to the abdomen--the sort of injury that could be expected in a high-speed automobile accident. I didnt look after that; I couldnt, she said. Lois Jean Jurgens, the daughter of Lawrence A. and Marjorie V. (Johnson) Jones, was born on May 26, 1929 in Malvern, Iowa. Star Tribune photo by Donald Black. He pulled the file on the ancient case and began leafing through the yellowing pages. 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. Make sure that the file is a photo. 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.
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