This post is sponsored by Open Road Media. He is able to turn himself over and is extremely strong, almost ready to stand by himself. The Jurgenses returned to their house on Gardenette Drive, childless but free of any charge. We will review the memorials and decide if they should be merged. That was why the judge wanted Lois Jurgens to consent to a thorough, inpatient examination by a psychiatrist he knew and trusted. . I tried to assure her that these things happen in any family.. The St. Paul Pioneer Press ran a cover story about the investigation on Sunday, October 12, 1986. 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. How could a little boy not scream out in pain as soon as he was burned? He assured that it was going on, that this would be his responsibility to get the information, bring it back to me so I could complete the certificate. One of Lois Jurgens responses was to call Father Riser, the priest who had so warmly recommended them to the county welfare worker. Other testimony and evidence was more troubling. . Dennis lay in the ground at St. Marys Cemetery, no name given to his death. 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. The body was severely undernourished, nearly emaciated. On the other hand, she realized the improbability of being offered another Catholic baby in the near future. I want photos of this, he thought. 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. VanderWyst and Korolchuk had brought in the file themselves and lobbied for prosecution. 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. She was sentenced to a maximum of 25 years in prison and was paroled in 1995. . Please enter your email address and we will send you an email with a reset password code. 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. Do I think this happened just here, just this one? A jury deliberated about five hours Friday before finding Lois Jurgens, 61, of Stillwater, Minn., guilty of third-degree murder, or an unintentional killing. 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. 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. She seemed to Scott County welfare workers a hostile and sullen young woman, unhappy and emotionally underdeveloped.
Still it is fair to say that the story Lois Jurgens told required a considerable imagination to embrace.
The next day, Dennis brother, Robert, was picked up and taken to a local hospital, on order of Juvenile Court Judge Archie Gingold. 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. Basically, she thought that Lois was content and happy, especially with Robert. 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. 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 the prosecution saw Lois Jurgens
During this period, Lois was once again placed in a psychiatric facility. Now VanderWyst was looking at him, asking a question: What was the cause of death?. Jurgens was one of 16 children. Lois thought that would be a good idea. My biggest feeling was that it was a sad situation and I wanted to get out of there as soon as I could. Rekdahl was a little concerned, since the accident actually had happened seven days before the phone call, but her main inclination was to soothe Lois Jurgens. The foster mother thinks him a little wild one, but she means this appreciatively and derives pleasure from his antics. Lois Jurgens released after serving eight years, The Winona Daily News, June, 7, 1995. He naps both in the forenoon and the afternoon. Lois Jurgens at the time that she had custody of Dennis. They had checked on him throughout the night. Try again. undefined Notes ^ http://www.angelizdsplace.com/ http://www.angelizdsplace.com/child43.htm. Lets not build up some fiction that now we have done everything we should do.. None of us knew about child abuse. 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.
I did my best.. 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. My deputy reassured me from time to time. Use the links under See more to quickly search for other people with the same last name in the same cemetery, city, county, etc. Notes [ edit] ^ "ANGELIZD's Place - Child Abuse Pages - Dennis Craig Jurgens". DC artist Dan Jurgens shares an image of an unused Electric Blue Superman design from 1996, reminiscing about what might have been. In 1987, Jurgens was convicted of third-degree murder of Dennis. They wanted to do something, but felt it was none of their business. Published by Bantam Books, 1990. On January 13, 2000, she was initially suspected of poisoning her husband, Harold. Why werent his hands burned--wouldnt he have instinctively reached down to protect himself? Donna Mae, about 5 feet away, watched in horror as Lois force-fed that vomit to him, made him eat it. There was no community pressure back then. It was as if the authorities had found a way to try Lois Jurgens for Dennis death without calling it a murder. He knew Peterson as a man always willing to help others, as a doctor very much for his patients. He was an outgoing child, as happy and adjusted as could be expected under the circumstances. How could the hot water splashing down on the baby have burned only his penis and scrotum? Jurgens and Weeks joined CBR to discuss launching Lois & Clark 2 and spoilers for its first installment. VanderWyst climbed into his patrol car and backed down the Jurgens driveway at 11:48 A.M. VanderWysts departure did not go unnoticed. From the bench, he said he hoped that they could find something to explain the mistreatment of Dennis. Harold told relatives he was going to be out of town the weekend of April 10 and 11, 1965. They would have to find out. They had cited the Fifth Amendment protection against self-incrimination. Dennis & Robert Lois Jurgens served eight years of her sentence and had a quiet life as a widow in Stillwater, Minnesota. There was no possibility that Dennis had died from a blow to the head. I just examined him to see that he was in fact dead. After seeing newspaper reports about the death, she was convinced that he had been beaten to death and demanded the case be re-opened. This account already exists, but the email address still needs to be confirmed. The just announced 80-page Death of Superman 30 th Anniversary Special will find Superman, his friends and his family revisiting his death, while dealing with a destructive new threat known as Doombreaker. They had seen Lois yank Dennis violently by the ears. Weve updated the security on the site.
Some had seen or heard Dennis being beaten. 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. 1 Bakgrunn; 2 Innhold; . Active children that bruise easily . 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. Lois attended cosmetology school in Des Moines, Iowa. Rekdahl suggested that if she had negative feelings, it would be best for them not to take the child. She would be a poor candidate for adopting a child at this time, the psychiatrist in 1955 had advised St. Pauls Bureau of Catholic Charities, where the Jurgenses for years had vainly sought children. The testimony from Dr. Woodburn, the pathologist who did the autopsy on Dennis, was unequivocal. Pitera would take photos later that day. Sorry! We did not have enough evidence of any kind to deny them. Try again later. 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. Lois had talked to them all about her toilet training methods. 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. From behind their curtains and blinds, the Jurgenses neighbors on Gardenette Drive had been watching the comings and goings all morning with mounting interest. Dennis Craig Jurgens was an American 3-year-old boy who was murdered in White Bear Lake, Minnesota in April 1965. A condition of neglect did exist. In spite of extensive physical evidence pointing towards severe abuse, the medical examiner did not classify the death under any of the standard classifications of accident, suicide or murder; he simply marked it "deferred". 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 . My clients have rights, he said. Three-year-old Dennis Jurgens is murdered by his adoptive mother. The sponsor of a memorial may add an additional. So Robert, on a temporary but semiannually renewed basis, remained in county custody, living in foster homes. Homicide was not the issue at the hearing. . When you judge a case, you dont do so in a vacuum, Lindholm would explain years later in an interview. Rekdahl could not so assure her. . Their flight, coupled with the lingering suspicions surrounding Dennis' death, resulted in the termination of Lois and Harold Jurgens' parental rights. 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. 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. She remembered the names, the faces--she particularly remembered Dennis. 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. Doug Thomson, who defended Jurgens, said his client did not get out early. Four days after he drafted this analysis, on April 30, he and VanderWyst were pulled off the case. I had doubts, and I didnt like Lois, but I felt I couldnt react personally like that, she said. Thirty years later, writer and artist Dan Jurgens is revisiting the storyline that gripped the world. 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. He knew that parents otherwise free of major symptoms of psychotic illness could abuse children. Previously sponsored memorials or famous memorials will not have this option. I was young then, just out of college, the social worker said recently in an interview. 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. I was not trained in mental illness. That isnt an issue at all. Whod listen? 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. 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? Now the town is most frequently described as middle class. . Last week, Judge David Marsden sentenced. She grew up and attended school in Malvern, graduating in 1947. There were, to begin with, the same photos of Dennis battered body on the coroners table. The word homicide remained unspoken. 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. While visiting one Thanksgiving, she saw Lois force-feed Dennis, in a highchair, by shoving a fork full of food into his mouth. J. was a little nervous today and I felt was probably upset for fear of what we would think of such a thing happening to Dennis, she wrote in her log. Lois is survived by her husband, Floyd Jurgens; children Gary Jurgens and Caron Klein (Bruce);. Man held is death of retarded foster child, Minneapolis Star, May 21, 1971. convicted of murder Obituary. She saw Harold, then 40, as a tall, rather swarthy man of German and Norwegian extraction, with dark brown hair and eyes. No, she explained. . But how did such an infection occur in the first place? 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. The rows of neatly kept houses, the modern police station and the shopping strips all reflect a level of modest comfort rather than affluence. She died aged 87 on May 7, 2013. . I have several children about that age with this same problem. Dennis had died of peritonitis. to keep expanding and making Murderpedia a better site, but we really The adoption should be approved. Lois Jurgens served eight years of her sentence and had a quiet life as a widow in Stillwater, Minnesota. With the exception of the severe burns, his health remained quite good. Please enter your email and password to sign in. The situation had made him uncomfortable, so uncomfortable that he hadnt pulled down the blankets or examined the body further. I would question him. 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. The hearing would prove to be a curious affair. Father Riser told her he definitely would. Translation on Find a Grave is an ongoing project. As he read, he stiffened in his chair. She died aged 87 on May 7, 2013. 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. He has no teeth yet, but they are coming. She thought they had a lovely home. Murderpedia has thousands of hours of work behind it. 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. Dennis and Robert Jurgens, 1965. They also caught crappies and smallmouth bass and northern pike, but the sunfish were the best. She did not want this to influence their decision, but in all truthfulness, that was the reality. This is the story of a small boys murder that went undeclared and unprosecuted for 22 years in a community full of people who knew what had happened. Your account has been locked for 30 minutes due to too many failed sign in attempts. You do consider social attitudes. 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. Instead the judge agonized, repeatedly expressing from the bench his sense of conflict and uncertainty. Dr. Peterson said he saw nothing unusual in Dennis life or death. 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. Those looking back now, those who unraveled the case, tend to shrug and shake their heads when Votels name comes up. 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. At 2 p.m. on that Palm Sunday, Dr. Robert Woodburn, the coroners chief pathologist, conducted the autopsy. Camille Brass knew the blue convertible belonged to Dr. Peterson. of Lois Jurgens are considered landmarks in the history of English . During the internal autopsy, Woodburn found a quarter-inch hole in the boys small bowel. Notes References A Death in White Bear Lakeby Barry Siegel. Lois A. Jurgens (92) of Petersburg passed away September 25, 2019. Lois Jurgens was disappointed about Dennis age. It looked to her as if the roses were placed there to cover up the dark blue markings. Adopted just after his first birthday, Dennis suffered years of abuse at the hands of his adoptive mother, Lois Jurgens. At that time, the battered-child syndrome was just beginning to be recognized. He liked them. On this Wikipedia the language links are at the top of the page across from the article title. He was the son of teenage Jerry Sherwood (who was herself a ward of the state) and her teenage boyfriend. Find many great new & used options and get the best deals for The Death of Superman By Jurgens, TPB, DC Comics 1993, New, Sealed. This, coupled with the lack of a statute of limitations for a murder charge, could lead the way to a prosecution of Lois Jurgens. Its not unusual, the doctor said. Try again later. 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. They had just buried the body, and that was all. . This is a carousel with slides. . He had served as a reference when they adopted Robert. Nor had his arrival two hours before. No one here is being punitive, Gingold told the Jurgenses and their attorney from the bench. Innhold. Harold Jurgens died in 2000; at the time of his death, there was suspicion that Lois had poisoned him, but this was investigated and ruled out. To all appearances, they were a normal midwestern family, but Jerry suspected that something sinister had happened in the Jurgens household. Two or three couples signed written statements. At first, that seemed to be the conclusion that the official inquiry would also reach. This case was a drop of water in the river.. Villains also abound, but they remain less noticed. That was all Gingold had to concern himself with. Oops, something didn't work. . It was just inconceivable to Woodburn that Dennis had been so injured by slipping and falling on a basement floor. The victim He had one great friend, his world's Lois, but she died and now he sees another version of her still alive and pregnant. He was shaken. The autopsy report mentioned bruises head to toe. 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. Years later, the attorney representing Roberts interests at the 1965 custody hearing would still remember those photos. When he arrived at the Jurgens home, though, hed realized all that was pointless. . 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. https://www.findagrave.com/memorial/134346102/lois-germaine_josephine-jurgens. He very strongly favored the Jurgenses getting another child. I would also like to receive the Early Bird Books newsletter which features great deals on FREE and discounted ebooks. The official cause of death was Peritonitis due to perforation of the small bowel. 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. Harold and Lois Jurgens, on the advice of their attorney, no longer would make themselves available for questioning. 0 cemeteries found in Maplewood, Ramsey County, Minnesota, USA. He felt that she needed psychiatric help very badly and, without it, might become psychotic. There was obviously going to be trouble, and he didnt want to get involved. Aside from the incident when Dennis was hospitalized with burns on his genitals, there were many other incidents of abuse which fell under the category of sexual sadism. There were many fateful moments in Dennis brief life, moments in which his destiny could have been changed. The victim
It is not known specifically what caused the fatal blow, though the injury was later found to have been, beyond a reasonable doubt, inflicted by Lois Jurgens owing to evidence of her constant physical abuse. People were not then inclined to believe that middle-class families in suburban homes killed their children. Donna Mae Zerwas, Lois sister-in-law, had seen all that and more. A few wondered how the Jurgenses had ever been allowed to adopt children. The afflicted look and act very sick for a matter of hours, sometimes days. They are good people.
This memorial has been copied to your clipboard. At the funeral, a crown of roses rested on Dennis head. Dennis and Robert Jurgens, 1965. During the early morning hours of April 11, 1965, Dennis Jurgens died at the hands of Lois Jurgens. Vachss uttalte at boken ikke forklarer begrunnelsen for at Harold er passiv, mens den har tilstrekkelig informasjon om Lois Jurgens. . | . She wanted assurances. 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. How in the heck could that happen? 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. 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. They saw the hearse sitting in the Jurgenses driveway, and a big blue convertible, and the police car parked awkwardly, askew, as if the officer had been in a hurry. 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. | | Over the course of several visits to the Jurgens home, Rekdahl saw the matter differently. The boy was dead by the time the doctor arrived at 9:35. 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. Please ensure you have given Find a Grave permission to access your location in your browser settings. . Dan Jurgens on how The Death of Superman has "withstood that test of time" By Grant DeArmitt published 27 July 2022 The creator best known for The Death of Superman explains its impact 30. When he wet his pants, she said, she put a clothespin on his penis. In 1992 A made-for-TV movie was made based on both Jerry's story The volume of business coming down the pipeline doesnt allow for regrets. Description above from the Wikipedia article Lois Jurgens, licensed under CC-BY-SA, full list of contributors on Wikipedia. Lois also was not pleased to learn how active Dennis was. A piano and bass fiddle occupied the living room. 
Harold and Lois Jurgensa middle-class, churchgoing couple who had been unable to have children of their ownhad adopted Sherwood's son, Dennis, in 1962. . Lois was born on March 4, 1930, in Iowa the daughter of the late Axel and Lena. Harold and Lois Jurgensa middle-class, churchgoing couple who had been unable to have children of their ownhad adopted Sherwoods son, Dennis, in 1962. He is extremely alert. He was born on September 29, 1941 in rural Adams, and was later baptized and confirmed at Zion Lutheran Church of rural Pickrell. Of course, there was that one bad accident involving third-degree burns to Dennis penis and scrotum. 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. 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.. 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. The Jurgenses were delighted. Dennis had been a beautiful baby, Gladys Demars said. Failed to report flower. In 1987, Jurgens was convicted of third-degree murder of Dennis. Learn more about merges. Lois' remedy for the toddler wetting his diaper too frequently was to place a spring-action clothespin upon the end of his penis. No. Remove advertising from a memorial by sponsoring it for just $5. or don't show this againI am good at figuring things out. There was testimony from other officers that he impeded the investigation into the child's death. After Dennis' death, an older adopted son, Robert, was removed from the Jurgens home. The investigation, trial, and 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. I looked down. Are you sure that you want to report this flower to administrators as offensive or abusive?