Try again. Doug Thomson, who defended Jurgens, said his client did not get out early. As he viewed the body, he thought: This boy has been murdered.
Photo by Patrick Hendry on Unsplash. Certain neighbors and family members knew there were problems with Lois' treatment of Dennis but did nothing to prevent it. Its not unusual, the doctor said. Please enter your email address and we will send you an email with a reset password code. In the early 1980s, Dennis' birth mother, Jerry Sherwood, looked for Dennis, only to find out he had died in 1965. What to make of Dennis Jurgens death now was passed into the hands of the Ramsey County coroner. 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. . . and this case
Star Tribune photo by Donald Black. However, he was in failing health and his autopsy results did not indicate poisoning. I have several children about that age with this same problem. ANGELIZD's Place - Child Abuse Pages - Dennis Craig Jurgens The term is relative. Dennis had been a beautiful baby, Gladys Demars said. To view a photo in more detail or edit captions for photos you added, click the photo to open the photo viewer. need your help for this. There are a lot of dead babies in the ground who were killed.. Nine months earlier, on Dec. 6, 1961, Dennis Craig Puckett, 8 1/2 pounds, had been born at St. Michaels Hospital in Sauk Centre, in nearby Scott County. Such stories are not rare. There was testimony from other officers that he impeded the investigation into the child's death. 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 knew Peterson as a man always willing to help others, as a doctor very much for his patients. Retrieved 12 February 2015. Harold (Harry) Jurgens, 76 of Filley passed away at Gold Crest Retirement Center in Adams on January 7, 2018. She thought they had a lovely home. 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. https://www.findagrave.com/memorial/134346102/lois-germaine_josephine-jurgens. He couldnt push Votel on this. Korolchuk would never get the chance to answer such questions. She was diagnosed as having mixed psychoneurosis and also unable to conceive a child with Harold. 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. He felt that Lois mental breakdown was not extremely serious and that she had completely recovered. Dennis Craig Jurgens was an American 3-year-old boy who was murdered in White Bear Lake, Minnesota in April 1965. Find many great new & used options and get the best deals for The Death of Superman By Jurgens, TPB, DC Comics 1993, New, Sealed. Family members linked to this person will appear here. The investigation, trial, and conviction are considered landmarks in the history of child abuse law. harold e bageant obituary visitation funeral information. She knew he had high school and one year of college behind him, and that he was an only child with strong bonds to his mother. Her secret was revealed after Sherwood began searching for the son she gave up for adoption and learned in 1983 that he had died of a bowel injury. Murder of Dennis Jurgens - Wikipedia None.. She also describes him as a clown, always laughing at himself or other people when they are around. ``If she had been convicted of this in 1965 she probably would have done about three years, Thomson said. new content, we kindly appreciate any donation you can give to help The county had filed a custody petition, alleging neglect. Learn more about merges. And a Dr. Peterson called at 10:09 a.m. to report a DOA--dead on arrival--at 2148 Gardenette Drive. Their investments and savings totaled $2,200. Because they were Catholic and there were very few Catholic babies on the register, it was likely that they would have to wait quite a long time, she explained. 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. Pitera stared at the body. They had only two requests. The house at 2148 South Gardenette Drive, White Bear Lake, where the Jurgenses lived from 1957 to 1967. He would later learn much more, would attend seminars and organize a county task force on the problem, but it cannot be said that Gingold knew nothing in 1965 about the battered-child syndrome. His intensely angry adoptive mother, Lois Jurgens, know for her short, volatile temper, murdered him. 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. I thought you might like to see a memorial for Lois Germaine Josephine Zerwas Jurgens I found on Findagrave.com. By the second week, the investigation began to encounter obstacles. Use the links under See more to quickly search for other people with the same last name in the same cemetery, city, county, etc. Rekdahl did know that Lois had a history of psychiatric problems involving a nervous breakdown in the early 1950s. Years later, the attorney representing Roberts interests at the 1965 custody hearing would still remember those photos. The doctor did not want to be there. . So began a painstaking inquiry into the past--an inquiry that in recent months has pulled back the curtains on a decidedly uncomfortable vision. 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. 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. She died aged 87 on May 7, 2013. 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. They would have to find out. Free shipping for many products! On Feb. 11, 1964, the commissioner of public welfare, as legal guardian for Dennis, consented to his formal adoption by Harold and Lois Jurgens. This memorial has been copied to your clipboard. That this was much more a question for doctors than for the police did not sway Votel. But, at a hearing just one month after Dennis death, Peterson, when asked if there was anything unusual about the burn accident, said: No, not in particular.. Peterson did not give us any conclusive answers about the condition of Dennis or about his death, VanderWyst wrote in his report for that night. They were of varying colors--black and blue, yellowish green, reddish--which meant that some were fresh, some old. . That isnt an issue at all. He wanted others to go first. 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 would also like to receive the Early Bird Books newsletter which features great deals on FREE and discounted ebooks. 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. He could never forget how Lois Jurgens looked at those photos stoically, showing no emotion. For that reason, Dennis, a week after his birth, was baptized a Catholic. There was a television movie broadcast in 1992 on NBC entitled A Child Lost Forever that told the story from the perspective of Jerry Sherwood (played by Beverly D'Angelo). . Soon the word spread from house to housethered been a death, the younger Jurgens boy had died. . There were many fateful moments in Dennis brief life, moments in which his destiny could have been changed. Eventually, all four of the siblings from Kentucky and Robert escaped the home by running away and getting help from concerned neighbors. Rekdahl decided to call on the Jurgenses. Theres nothing worse, Peterson had thought, than seeing a dead child. Superman: Lois and Clark by Dan Jurgens | Goodreads Lois Jurgens at the time that she had custody of Dennis. Translation on Find a Grave is an ongoing project. 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. En dd i White Bear Lake - A Death in White Bear Lake Mornings there were wonderful, but the dusk was the doctors favorite time, for the sun set each evening over the water and trees, falling behind Manitou Island, leaving behind a fiery orange sky. They are good people. 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 had not one good thing to say about Dennis. 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? updates | I was young then, just out of college, the social worker said recently in an interview. There was a bluish mark on the right side of the head that started at the temple and extended to behind the right ear. 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. Harold and Lois Jurgens, on the advice of their attorney, no longer would make themselves available for questioning. Donna Mae, about 5 feet away, watched in horror as Lois force-fed that vomit to him, made him eat it. He never wanted to say a bad word about anyone. 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. the Murderpedia project stay alive. He was frequently starved, to rid him of "sloppy fat," as Lois called it (she also called him "Sloppy Fat" as a nickname). Matt McMillan, White Bear Lake true crime page-turner turns 30, White Bear Press Club, June 17, 2020. Zerwas wouldnt let the rest of his family view the body.
Three-year-old Dennis Jurgens is murdered by his adoptive mother. This post is sponsored by Open Road Media. This browser does not support getting your location. This sort of thing happened back then.. How could the hot water splashing down on the baby have burned only his penis and scrotum? I was willing to wait. Votel was still waiting about two years later, when he retired from office. Lois Jurgens served eight years of her sentence and had a quiet life as a widow in Stillwater, Minnesota. He had lived in this home since 1953, and it gave him much pleasure. We thought it would be no use.. He was an outgoing child, as happy and adjusted as could be expected under the circumstances. He could be a battered child, Votel said he reasoned, and still his death could have been caused by a fall, an accident. The threat of a criminal prosecution is way by the boards now. The suspicious death of Dennis Jurgens wasnt properly investigated for 20 years. undefined Notes ^ http://www.angelizdsplace.com/ http://www.angelizdsplace.com/child43.htm. A piano and bass fiddle occupied the living room. She was right. They felt sad, and also naggingly disturbed. 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 three-and-a-half years of age. 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. On the other hand, he could not bring himself to embrace the notion that Lois Jurgens was a murderer. 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.
VanderWyst climbed into his patrol car and backed down the Jurgens driveway at 11:48 A.M. VanderWysts departure did not go unnoticed.
Obituary. There was a time when White Bear Lake was an exclusive watering hole for people from Chicago as well as the Twin Cities. The next day, Dennis brother, Robert, was picked up and taken to a local hospital, on order of Juvenile Court Judge Archie Gingold.