The foster mother thinks him a little wild one, but she means this appreciatively and derives pleasure from his antics. Innhold. . No, she explained. There is in the Scott County records a description of Dennis in the foster home where he lived his first year: He is solidly built, with blue eyes and blond hair. Get up to speed with our Essential California newsletter, sent six days a week. According to Rekdahls written log, that was the sum of what Peterson said to her. 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. She was born February 25, 1927 to Leslie and Margaret Stowell in Cass County Il. The trial of Lois Jurgens for the murder of 3-year-old Dennis made national . Harold's testimony in 1965 showed he was in Wisconsin from the evening of Friday, April 9, until 9 or 9:30 p.m. on Saturday, April 10. Lois A. Jurgens (92) of Petersburg passed away September 25, 2019. She thought the postplacement period had been quite successful. No animated GIFs, photos with additional graphics (borders, embellishments. This memorial has been copied to your clipboard. I remember very clearly the pathologist coming in and saying it had to be a blow, not a fall, but I think the prosecutor felt he couldnt prove it, and I was on the same wavelength as the prosecutor. What had happened--and how--and why? DENNIS JURGENS WAS ONLY 3-YEARS-0LD WHEN HIS LIFE ENDED AT THE CRUEL HANDS OF HIS MOTHER LOIS JURGENS AND SHE WOULD HAVE GOT AWAY WITH IT, BUT HIS BIOLOGICAL MOTHER JERRY SHERWOOD STARTED. But how did such an infection occur in the first place? 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. Matt McMillan, White Bear Lake true crime page-turner turns 30, White Bear Press Club, June 17, 2020. Woodburn could find no subcutaneous fat at all, something everyone normally has in varying degrees. Maybe we can get more evidence from there. At the funeral, a crown of roses rested on Dennis head. . ``May God strike her dead, thats what I have to say to Lois Jurgens, Jerry Sherwood said. The Jurgenses are not being attacked anywhere along the line. of Lois Jurgens are considered landmarks in the history of The night Dennis died, Robert was riding his trike in the basement, and all the sudden he heard Dennis screaming. With the exception of the severe burns, his health remained quite good. Lois Jurgens served eight years of her sentence and had a quiet life as a widow in Stillwater, Minnesota. Dennis and Robert Jurgens, 1965. Votel went through living hell, one local judge said. The process of adopting Dennis was completed. . SHAKOPEE, Minn. (AP) _ A mother who beat her adopted son to death and then covered up the crime for two decades was released from prison today after serving eight years. From behind their curtains and blinds, the Jurgenses neighbors on Gardenette Drive had been watching the comings and goings all morning with mounting interest. The Jurgenses had wanted a younger child and Dennis was almost a year old. We did not have enough evidence of any kind to deny them. Did the doctor remember his thoughts on why this child died, his inner feelings that day? Votel could not take the first step. Still, she had never forgotten the case. . If you notice a problem with the translation, please send a message to [emailprotected] and include a link to the page and details about the problem. The hearing would prove to be a curious affair.

 

My biggest feeling was that it was a sad situation and I wanted to get out of there as soon as I could. You need a Find a Grave account to continue. Obituary. It looked to her as if the roses were placed there to cover up the dark blue markings. When she was 17 and living in a juvenile home, she said, she gave birth to a boy, Dennis, who was quickly taken from her and eventually adopted by a family named Jurgens who lived in White Bear Lake. The volume of business coming down the pipeline doesnt allow for regrets. In 1987, Jurgens was convicted of third-degree murder of Dennis. Tragically, just a few years after the adoption, Dennis died from peritonitis. She talked about it all the time, in fact. My clients have rights, he said. If the doc cant figure this out, hed say, well. There was also the matter of community attitudes. She died aged 87 on May 7, 2013. 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 house at 2148 South Gardenette Drive, White Bear Lake, where the Jurgenses lived from 1957 to 1967. #dennisjurgens #jerrysherwood #truecrime Jerry Puckett's mother abandoned her when she was three, she was raised by her father and abused by two stepmothers.. The mother was an unmarried 17-year-old, Jerry Ann Puckett, an attractive blonde of Danish-German extraction. 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. Lois Germaine Josephine Zerwas Jurgens was an American convicted murderer. No. 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 three and one-half years. About 50 witnesses provided a mixed story. They beat my baby to death, Sherwood told Buzz Harvey. There was no possibility that Dennis had died from a blow to the head. 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. 0 cemeteries found in Maplewood, Ramsey County, Minnesota, USA. Certain neighbors and family members knew there were problems with Lois' treatment of Dennis but did nothing to prevent it. You do consider social attitudes. He knew that parents otherwise free of major symptoms of psychotic illness could abuse children. 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. That was not binding on the prosecutor, but the defense attorney would zero in on this. When Lois found him gasping and gurgling at 9 a.m., she promptly called Dr. Peterson. To receive the type of severe burns he suffered, Dennis would have had to be exposed to steaming-hot water for a significant length of time. When he wet his pants, she said, she put a clothespin on his penis. Harold Jurgens had converted a breezeway off the kitchen into a large, open family, dining and cooking area. . He has had all his baby shots. In the early 1980s, Dennis' birth mother, Jerry Sherwood, looked for Dennis, only to find out he had died in 1965. 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. A Mrs. Hansen called to report a lost wallet, which resulted in an officers checking a phone booth at Fourth and Washington streets, next to the Avalon Jewelers. This account has been disabled. Lois Jurgens at the time that she had custody of Dennis. Rekdahl thought Lois Jurgens, then almost 37, to be a rather attractive woman, although she was short and a trifle on the chubby side. Oops, something didn't work. Harold and Lois Jurgensa middle-class, churchgoing couple who had been unable to have children of their ownhad adopted Sherwoods son, Dennis, in 1962. The policemen were led to understand that an attorney representing the Jurgenses had visited them and threatened them with civil lawsuits if they spoke out. Dennis Craig Jurgens was an American 3-year-old boy who was murdered in White Bear Lake, Minnesota in April 1965. She seemed to Scott County welfare workers a hostile and sullen young woman, unhappy and emotionally underdeveloped. Lois E. Jurgens, 82, passed away on Friday, September 7, 2012 at Lakeland Health Care Center Elkhorn, WI. We didnt believe it was possible in nice, middle-class suburban families.. cemeteries found within miles of your location will be saved to your photo volunteer list. 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. 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. charles edward ed holland memorial park funeral homes and cemeteries. Doug Thomson, who defended Jurgens, said his client did not get out early. During her several postplacement visits to the Jurgens home in the following, probationary year, Rekdahl increasingly came to judge the placement a success. She died aged 87 on May 7, 2013. She is buried at the Union Cemetery, in Maplewood, Ramsey County, Minnesota . Even with half the body obscured, VanderWyst noticed the bruises--an awful lot of them he would say later. During the early morning hours of April 11, 1965, Dennis Jurgens died at the hands of Lois Jurgens. or don't show this againI am good at figuring things out. Lois Jurgens at the time that she had custody of Dennis. Moments later, VanderWyst, rising to leave, asked Lois if there was anything else he could do, such as call her brother Jerome. Lois Jurgens was at home alone with the children much of the weekend of Dennis' death. Photos larger than 8Mb will be reduced. Sherwood's tenacity, along with the tragedy of her personal loss, kept the story in the public eye. 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. remarkable Beverly D'Angelo as Jerry Sherwood
The coroner noted in his report that Dennis had almost zero subcutaneous fat, at the level of a person who had died of starvation. Jurgens and Weeks joined CBR to discuss launching Lois & Clark 2 and spoilers for its first installment.

Are you sure that you want to report this flower to administrators as offensive or abusive? This account already exists, but the email address still needs to be confirmed. Clothing retains the heat. For that reason, Dennis, a week after his birth, was baptized a Catholic. Do you have a camera in the car, he asked VanderWyst. Those looking back now, those who unraveled the case, tend to shrug and shake their heads when Votels name comes up. There were at least a dozen bruises on the face alone, some large and others small. Close this window, and upload the photo(s) again. . 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. When Harold Jurgens called 10 days later to say they wanted to keep Dennis, the two agencies allowed that as well. The next day, Dennis brother, Robert, was picked up and taken to a local hospital, on order of Juvenile Court Judge Archie Gingold. 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. To him, that was close to frightening. 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. . He was the son of teenage Jerry Sherwood (who was herself a ward of the state) and her teenage boyfriend. How in the heck could that happen? He has no teeth yet, but they are coming. Weve updated the security on the site. Becoming a Find a Grave member is fast, easy and FREE. They just werent going to get any damaging information from him. convicted of murder 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. Jurgens was one of 16 children. Learn how and when to remove this template message, "Child Abuse and Neglect in the Home | Center for Problem-Oriented Policing", "A woman was convicted Friday of third-degree murder in", Child Murder: The town that lived in silence, https://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=Murder_of_Dennis_Jurgens&oldid=1138138523, This page was last edited on 8 February 2023, at 06:11. He couldnt push Votel on this. After Dennis' death, an older adopted son, Robert, was removed from the Jurgens home. Notification of death or terminal illness, Office of Revisor of Statues . Still it is fair to say that the story Lois Jurgens told required a considerable imagination to embrace. You may occasionally receive promotional content from the Los Angeles Times. [2] She is buried at the Union Cemetery, in Maplewood, Ramsey County, Minnesota . She is buried at the Union Cemetery, in Maplewood, Ramsey County, Minnesota. She knew that Lois had finished only the eighth grade.

the prosecution saw Lois Jurgens
When Harold took him to the bathroom at about 7:30 or 8 in the morning, Dennis had seemed fine. harold e bageant obituary visitation funeral information. 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. To all appearances, they were a normal midwestern family, but Jerry suspected that something sinister had happened in the Jurgens household. It was awful. Fittingly for a major anniversary like . 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. She always proclaimed her innocence. Dennis died that evening of Peritonitis due to a perforation of his small bowel. In 1987, Jurgens was convicted of third-degree murder of Dennis. In 1965, it was a private general practitioner, Dr. Thomas Votel, who handled the coroners duties on a part-time basis for $6,300 a year. Thank you for fulfilling this photo request. Previously sponsored memorials or famous memorials will not have this option. Basically, she thought that Lois was content and happy, especially with Robert. He very strongly favored the Jurgenses getting another child. Dr. 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. All photos appear on this tab and here you can update the sort order of photos on memorials you manage. . 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. The prosecutor had a different attitude back then, Votel said recently. We thought it would be no use.. 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. On January 13, 2000, she was initially suspected of poisoning her husband, Harold. None of us knew about child abuse. The welfare department case work was very limited. There appeared to be a number of discrepancies in the Jurgenses story, he noted. He liked them. Lois Jurgens served eight years of her sentence and had a quiet life as a widow in Stillwater, Minnesota. Top Rated Seller. VanderWyst and Korolchuk had brought in the file themselves and lobbied for prosecution. Dennis had been a beautiful baby, Gladys Demars said. 1 Bakgrunn; 2 Innhold; . Notes [ edit] ^ "ANGELIZD's Place - Child Abuse Pages - Dennis Craig Jurgens". The defense attorney was still thinking about a criminal prosecution--even if no one else was. Searching him out, she discovers he died at 3 1/2, though the death certificate does not show what killed him.