VanderWyst, visiting him after the autopsy the night of Dennis death, told the family physician what Woodburn had found. the Murderpedia project stay alive. . Its easy today to say, Why didnt they prosecute? but it was a different time, a different time. During his short life, Dennis . The Jurgenses returned to their house on Gardenette Drive, childless but free of any charge. ``There is no justice. Lois' remedy for the toddler wetting his diaper too frequently was to place a spring-action clothespin upon the end of his penis. How a Group of Desperate Comics Creators Hatched Doomsday - Vulture Product details Publisher : Ballantine Books (November 28, 2000) Language : English Paperback : 560 pages ISBN-10 : 0345487176 At the funeral home, Lois Jurgens brother, Lloyd Zerwas, came to pay his respects. From the patio off his living room and the balcony off his bedroom, he could look across the lake to Manitou Island, and beyond, to the town of White Bear. 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. . At the urging of authorities, Jerry placed Dennis for adoption after being told that he would receive good care.[1]. 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. roger w. tufte sr, 76, resident of lakota, nd died saturday, february 26, 2022 at the lakota good samaritan center. memorial page for Lois Germaine Josephine Zerwas Jurgens (12 Aug 1925-7 May 2013), Find a Grave Memorial ID 134346102, citing Union Cemetery, Maplewood, Ramsey County . I dont think this case is an aberration at all, said Michael McGee, the current Ramsey County medical examiner who finally ruled Dennis death a homicide. He would testify that he had talked to some lady down there. 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.. Still, she had never forgotten the case. Lois Jurgens was disappointed about Dennis age. 1 Bakgrunn; 2 Innhold; . Found more than one record for entered Email, You need to confirm this account before you can sign in. Lois JURGENS - Murderpedia, the encyclopedia of murderers ``She did a lot more than she should have.. Lois' remedy for the toddler wetting his diaper too frequently was to place a spring-action clothespin upon the end of his penis. Failed to delete memorial. The suspicious death of Dennis Jurgens wasnt properly investigated for 20 years. In spite of extensive physical evidence pointing towards severe . Jurgens' other adopted son, Robert, testified at the trial, at which Lois Jurgens (then in her 60s) was convicted of third-degree murder and sentenced to prison.[4]. Over the course of several visits to the Jurgens home, Rekdahl saw the matter differently. Harold and Lois Jurgensa middle-class, churchgoing couple who had been unable to have children of their ownhad adopted Sherwoods son, Dennis, in 1962. There was something wrong here. The county had filed a custody petition, alleging neglect. The prosecutor wasnt getting help from the White Bear Lake police--her brother was on the force. That will require a juvenile hearing on neglect. Are you sure that you want to delete this memorial? 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. He looks like a boy of 10. However, he was in failing health and his autopsy results did not indicate poisoning. Published Jan 18, 2023. Thirty years later, writer and artist Dan Jurgens is revisiting the storyline that gripped the world. My God, he thought, looking at the body. 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. In winter, they got the north wind, so the lake froze too rough for ice skating. The hole had allowed a fifth of a quart of infectious, purulent fecal material to flow into the abdominal cavity. Lois Jurgens served eight years of her sentence and had a quiet life as a widow in Stillwater, Minnesota. 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. There is a lot to be known about the science of this whole darn subject, he said. 
She knew the agencys policy was not to place children with couples who were over 40, an age they were approaching. The situation had made him uncomfortable, so uncomfortable that he hadnt pulled down the blankets or examined the body further. Thank you for fulfilling this photo request. It looked to her as if the roses were placed there to cover up the dark blue markings. That isnt an issue at all. The Death of Superman By Jurgens, TPB, DC Comics 1993, New, Sealed. HH This woman was no crank. . Paul Lindholm, the assistant county attorney, considered it. ``If she had been convicted of this in 1965 she probably would have done about three years, Thomson said. There was enough evidence to sustain child abuse and neglect charges. This drove Lois further into madness, as she felt she needed children to complete the "perfect picture" of her life. He does not sound very well behaved, she said. This was the first child-abuse case he had handled. This month is the 30th anniversary of the release of "A Death in White Bear Lake," a book by then-Los Angeles Times reporter Barry Siegel. He was born on September 29, 1941 in rural Adams, and was later baptized and confirmed at Zion Lutheran Church of rural Pickrell. 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. There was a bluish mark on the right side of the head that started at the temple and extended to behind the right ear. Failed to report flower. Previously sponsored memorials or famous memorials will not have this option. plans and enthusiasm Two hours before, sitting in his waterside home on the southeast shore of White Bear Lake, Sunday morning had seemed so promising. Harold and Lois Jurgens, a middle-class, churchgoing couple in picturesque White Bear Lake, Minnesota, had adopted Dennis and five other foster children. Retrieved 12 February 2015. 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. . 
There was an error deleting this problem. Connect with the definitive source for global and local news. So it was that Dennis Jurgens death resulted not in a murder prosecution but, rather, in a juvenile court hearing over custody of his brother, Robert. all about me: Murder of Dennis Jurgens - Blogger 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. A condition of neglect did exist. Rekdahl suggested that if she had negative feelings, it would be best for them not to take the child. 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. She died aged 87 on May 7, 2013. How could a kid fall down the steps and die? It was harder to believe that Dennis had been awake and talking normally an hour and a half before he died. 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. Lois Jurgens. The volume of business coming down the pipeline doesnt allow for regrets. I was willing to wait. Votel was still waiting about two years later, when he retired from office. Rekdahl decided to call on the Jurgenses. Rekdahl did know that Lois had a history of psychiatric problems involving a nervous breakdown in the early 1950s. Lois Jurgens at the time that she had custody of Dennis. 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. I tried to assure her that these things happen in any family.. Use Next and Previous buttons to navigate, or jump to a slide with the slide dots.
They attempted to mind their own business and feared retribution from Lois, who was not above threatening the lives of her family members. 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. 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. There were many fateful moments in Dennis brief life, moments in which his destiny could have been changed. Family members immediately begin whispering "she killed him" , referring to his adoptive moth and this case
There is some suspicion that Lois Jurgens herself set the fire, given that it occurred while Robert was hospitalized, and that Lois had been known to threaten burning down the homes of several neighbors and family members who had spoken to authorities. En dd i White Bear Lake - A Death in White Bear Lake The trial of Lois Jurgens for the murder of 3-year-old Dennis made national headlines and was the top news story of the state of Minnesota in 1987. They just buried the body in St.. 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. By this point, Lois' rage and mania had gone beyond her ability to maintain an appearance of normalcy, and she and Harold had relocated to rural Stillwater, Minnesota, possibly to escape the gossip of their former neighborhood where Dennis was killed. . He could be a battered child, Votel said he reasoned, and still his death could have been caused by a fall, an accident. Flowers added to the memorial appear on the bottom of the memorial or here on the Flowers tab. Late in August, Lois had called Rekdahl to report the matter. I dont know how to describe it, she said. The psychiatrist also observed that Lois had an obsession about order and cleanliness. He knew that parents otherwise free of major symptoms of psychotic illness could abuse children. Please complete the captcha to let us know you are a real person. The email does not appear to be a valid email address. They wanted an infant under a year old, and they wanted a Catholic child. Tragically, just a few years after the adoption, Dennis died from peritonitis. Minnesota Woman Found Guilty of Killing Adopted Son in 1965 He feared finding himself alone. She was right. He has no teeth yet, but they are coming. Whod listen? She wanted assurances. Use Escape keyboard button or the Close button to close the carousel. Lois Jurgens served eight years of her sentence and had a quiet life as a widow in Stillwater, Minnesota. 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. Lois Jurgens, 93, of Arvada, Colorado, formerly of Malvern and Glenwood, Iowa, passed away June 13, 2022. 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. Its not unusual, the doctor said. Lois Jurgens was at home alone with the children much of the weekend of Dennis' death. She believed that Lois Jurgens was accepting and embracing Dennis, and he seemed healthy and adjusted. But this death didnt look as though it was from natural causes. Murder of Dennis Jurgens - Wikiwand
No one here is being punitive, Gingold told the Jurgenses and their attorney from the bench. In our family you dont dare say much.. In a town like White Bear Lake, apparently no one thought it problematic that the assistant police chief, Lt. Jerome Zerwas, was Lois Jurgens brother. My biggest feeling was that it was a sad situation and I wanted to get out of there as soon as I could. Deferred, Votel had written. Brand New. Peritonitis is a horribly painful illness involving shock, collapse of the blood vessel system, high fever and breathing difficulties. It was hard to believe that the Jurgenses had noticed nothing. Though the specific cause of that fatal blow is not known, it is known that it was Lois who had given it to Dennis.
+C $33.27 shipping estimate. 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. 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. She thought Dennis was sloppy fat. This particularly surprised Rekdahl. In 1984, Jurgens was the artist for the Sun Devils limited series (July 1984 - June 1985), with writers Gerry Conway and Roy Thomas. There are no volunteers for this cemetery. Ep 50-52 A Death in White Bear Lake by Barry Siegel- Sources, Photos By all accounts, Lois was obsessed with abusing Dennis, and she wanted the world to know he was a "bad child"; she made no apologies about the inappropriate way she was disciplining him. When patrolman Robert VanderWyst arrived at the Jurgens home soon after, he found the doctor, the Jurgenses and 5-year-old Robert in the living room. When he wouldnt have a bowel movement, she said, she pulled the feces from his rectum with her hands. Those looking back now, those who unraveled the case, tend to shrug and shake their heads when Votels name comes up. The doctors eyes slid to a corner of the room. 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 found bruises running the length of the body--50 to 100 of them, he would say later, the exact number hard to judge because many were overlapped. . We didnt believe it was possible in nice, middle-class suburban families.. I thought the burn accident was a weird story when she told it, but again, there just was not that level of awareness, things didnt get referred. 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. Lois Germaine Josephine Zerwas Jurgens was an American convicted murderer. She knew the agencys policy was not to place children with couples who were over 40, an age they were approaching. The situation had made him uncomfortable, so uncomfortable that he hadnt pulled down the blankets or examined the body further. Thank you for fulfilling this photo request. It looked to her as if the roses were placed there to cover up the dark blue markings. There is some suspicion that Lois Jurgens herself set the fire, given that it occurred while Robert was hospitalized, and that Lois had been known to threaten burning down the homes of several neighbors and family members who had spoken to authorities. En dd i White Bear Lake - A Death in White Bear Lake The trial of Lois Jurgens for the murder of 3-year-old Dennis made national headlines and was the top news story of the state of Minnesota in 1987.
Dennis Craig Jurgens, 3.
The night Dennis died, Robert was riding his trike in the basement, and all the sudden he heard Dennis screaming. Lois Jurgens headed to trial. Include gps location with grave photos where possible. Soon after, Jerry Puckett dropped her plan to convert--but by then Dennis was already registered as Catholic on the adoption rolls. Pitera would take photos later that day. At that time, the battered-child syndrome was just beginning to be recognized. cemeteries found within miles of your location will be saved to your photo volunteer list. Learn about how to make the most of a memorial. 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. Leave a sympathy message to the family in the guestbook on this memorial page of Lois Jean (Jones) Jurgens to show support. 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. 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. Lois Jurgens served eight years of her sentence and had a quiet life as a widow in Stillwater, Minnesota. You may occasionally receive promotional content from the Los Angeles Times.In the 1960s, the term child abuse had not yet been coined[citation needed][2] and no one, not even medical professionals and teachers, was required to report suspicions. 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. To use this feature, use a newer browser. Lois Jurgens appeared with her attorney Doug Thomson in Ramsey County 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.