``She did a lot more than she should have.. I looked down.

In 1992 A made-for-TV movie was made based on both Jerry's story Buy It Now. I would also like to receive the Early Bird Books newsletter which features great deals on FREE and discounted ebooks. Woodburn could find no subcutaneous fat at all, something everyone normally has in varying degrees. However, he was in failing health and his autopsy results did not indicate poisoning. She believed that Lois Jurgens was accepting and embracing Dennis, and he seemed healthy and adjusted. Four days after he drafted this analysis, on April 30, he and VanderWyst were pulled off the case. Lois had a question: Would Father Riser write a letter in support of their present effort to adopt another child, a third child? Dr. Donohue, their attorney, had allowed Lois before the hearing to be examined by a psychiatrist only under the strictest conditions. Three-year-old Dennis Craig (Puckett) Jurgens was tortured to death in the wee hours of April 11th, 1965. Save to an Ancestry Tree, a virtual cemetery, your clipboard for pasting or Print. Lois Jurgens at the time that she had custody of Dennis. 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. The investigation, trial, and Those looking back now, those who unraveled the case, tend to shrug and shake their heads when Votels name comes up. 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. My clients have rights, he said.

Continuing with this request will add an alert to the cemetery page and any new volunteers will have the opportunity to fulfill your request. For that reason, Dennis, a week after his birth, was baptized a Catholic. They also caught crappies and smallmouth bass and northern pike, but the sunfish were the best. Are you sure that you want to delete this photo? Please ensure you have given Find a Grave permission to access your location in your browser settings. 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.

 

charles edward ed holland memorial park funeral homes and cemeteries. He looks like a boy of 10. He couldnt comprehend anyone torturing a kid, Peterson would explain many years later. He liked them. Jurgens who says he still has the yellow legal pad on which he did his quick sketch was the victor. I was advised that the information was being obtained, that there was an ongoing investigation, Votel said recently. Lois Jean Jurgens, the daughter of Lawrence A. and Marjorie V. (Johnson) Jones, was born on May 26, 1929 in Malvern, Iowa. The trial of Lois Jurgens for the murder of 3-year-old Dennis made national . Connect with the definitive source for global and local news. 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. 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. ``You have to understand this child is only 3 1/2 years old and virtually every day Lois Jurgens had him he was a victim of some kind of physical or mental abuse, and I dont think eight years was quite enough to compensate society for the act she committed, Robinson said. 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. I want photos of this, he thought. . One of Lois Jurgens responses was to call Father Riser, the priest who had so warmly recommended them to the county welfare worker. Harold Jurgens, an electrical foreman, made $10,000 in 1962, and this placed his family a cut above many of their friends and neighbors. There was a problem getting your location. On the other hand, she realized the improbability of being offered another Catholic baby in the near future. The house at 2148 South Gardenette Drive, White Bear Lake, where the Jurgenses lived from 1957 to 1967. 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. He knew that parents otherwise free of major symptoms of psychotic illness could abuse children. Eventually, all four of the siblings from Kentucky and Robert escaped the home by running away and getting help from concerned neighbors. If you throw up, you are going to eat it. The rows of neatly kept houses, the modern police station and the shopping strips all reflect a level of modest comfort rather than affluence. I had doubts, and I didnt like Lois, but I felt I couldnt react personally like that, she said. Harold Jurgens had converted a breezeway off the kitchen into a large, open family, dining and cooking area. Retrieved 12 February 2015. 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. 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. 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. 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. VanderWyst drove the mile to his house in silence, the young boy sitting beside him. He attended Olney Rural Elementary School and graduated from Filley High School in 1959. 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. Pitera would take photos later that day. . They had checked on him throughout the night. That doctor (Peterson) also presented problems--he was a typical doctor, couldnt believe his patient was killed.. Flowers added to the memorial appear on the bottom of the memorial or here on the Flowers tab. This account has been disabled. Add to your scrapbook. No animated GIFs, photos with additional graphics (borders, embellishments. Peter Korolchuk yielded a good deal of information. Ive been doing this job too long. . The autopsy report mentioned bruises head to toe. 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. He would wait until the police investigation could resolve the matter. Lois Germaine Josephine Zerwas Jurgens (August 12, 1925 May 7, 2013) was an American convicted murderer[1] responsible for one of the most unusual child murder cases in history in Minnesota. 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. To keep creating

 

Sadly, the mother-son reunion was not meant to be; Jerry's child had died just before his fourth birthday. Her brother, Jerome Zerwas, was the police lieutenant of the town of White Bear Lake, Minnesota, where she lived at the time.

It would have been difficult at the time to prove that Lois Jurgens had committed murder. 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. He pulled the file on the ancient case and began leafing through the yellowing pages. 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. Lois Jurgens, it turns out, was from the start a poor parental bet. Please contact Find a Grave at [emailprotected] if you need help resetting your password. Verify and try again. Jerry took her case to the White Bear Lake police department and then to the local media.

 

I didnt look after that; I couldnt, she said. 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. A piano and bass fiddle occupied the living room. And it was not my position to do anything other than to pronounce him dead.. By the second week, the investigation began to encounter obstacles. But how did such an infection occur in the first place? She seemed to Scott County welfare workers a hostile and sullen young woman, unhappy and emotionally underdeveloped. Moments later, VanderWyst, rising to leave, asked Lois if there was anything else he could do, such as call her brother Jerome. It would be no use. This drove Lois further into madness, as she felt she needed children to complete the "perfect picture" of her life. Villains also abound, but they remain less noticed. This is a carousel with slides.

If you have questions, please contact [emailprotected]. To the casual observer, the Jurgens seemed to be a normal, church-going family with a perfectly maintained house and yard. 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. 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. Other than that, nothing remarkable.. PAUL When 3-year-old Dennis Craig Jurgens died on April 11, 1965, there were so many bruises on his body that the coroner said he stopped counting them. Robert was leaving things alone at the age of 1 year. Make sure that the file is a photo. Please check your email and click on the link to activate your account. To this end, she forced religious training on her young sons; reports had young Robert flawlessly reciting the Rosary at 2. In 1987, testifying 22 years later, Peterson was questioned again about the bruises. This woman was no crank. 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.

The victim

There was a large, swollen scrape on the forehead. 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. When he wet his pants, she said, she put a clothespin on his penis. I think my son is dying, Harold Jurgens had told the doctor on the phone that morning. All I could do was shake my head..

 

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. The testimony from Dr. Woodburn, the pathologist who did the autopsy on Dennis, was unequivocal. Lois Jurgens served eight years of her sentence and had a quiet life as a widow in Stillwater, Minnesota. Lois Jurgens (born 1925) is an American convicted murderer. That this was much more a question for doctors than for the police did not sway Votel. Strange, he thought, that she hadnt called her brother, the police lieutenant.
I dont know how to describe it, she said. Now VanderWyst was looking at him, asking a question: What was the cause of death?. Meanwhile, Dennis was getting whirlpool baths every day. Judge Gingold would not back down either. Tragically, just a few years after the adoption, Dennis died from peritonitis. They covered the face, the head, the arms. They just werent going to get any damaging information from him. This case was a drop of water in the river.. The afflicted look and act very sick for a matter of hours, sometimes days. Edit a memorial you manage or suggest changes to the memorial manager. . .
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. This was the first child-abuse case he had handled. 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. Sherwood became suspicious and persuaded authorities to investigate. The hearing would prove to be a curious affair. We have many She knew the agencys policy was not to place children with couples who were over 40, an age they were approaching. 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. After Dennis' death, an older adopted son, Robert, was removed from the Jurgens home. 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 . 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. No prosecution was taken at that 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. On or around the night of April 11, 1965, Dennis Jurgens died at the hands of Lois Jurgens. Product details Publisher : Ballantine Books (November 28, 2000) Language : English Paperback : 560 pages ISBN-10 : 0345487176 Please complete the captcha to let us know you are a real person. 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. She committed one of the most unusual child murder cases in history in Minnesota. All photos appear on this tab and here you can update the sort order of photos on memorials you manage. Try again later. Donna Mae Zerwas, Lois sister-in-law, had seen all that and more. But in 1962, before the developers and high-speed roads came, this was more truly a small town, inbred and insular, with a population just reaching 15,000. Two hours before, sitting in his waterside home on the southeast shore of White Bear Lake, Sunday morning had seemed so promising. No, she explained. They had been able to discuss Lois weaknesses, even her past mental depression, without Lois becoming too nervous or upset or defensive. Along with the aforementioned evidence of starvation and the scarring and bite-marks on his genitalia, the coroner discovered multiple lacerations and multiple generations of bruises covering most of his body.


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lois jurgens' death 2023
They had cited the Fifth Amendment protection against self-incrimination. Lois Jurgens had been sentenced to up to 25 years for the 1965 slaying of 3-year-old Dennis Jurgens. If Votel had called it a homicide, at least that prospect would have been removed. 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. 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. Your new password must contain one or more uppercase and lowercase letters, and one or more numbers or special characters. She was born February 25, 1927 to Leslie and Margaret Stowell in Cass County IL. 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. Walter Moore, a co-worker of Harold Jurgens, also came to the funeral. Tragically, just a few years after the adoption, Dennis died from peritonitis. Lois Jean (Jones) Jurgens Obituary We are sad to announce that on June 13, 2022 we had to say goodbye to Lois Jean (Jones) Jurgens of Arvada, Colorado. She was born February 25, 1927 to Leslie and Margaret Stowell in Cass County Il. After all, Dorothy Engfer more than once had seen Lois smack Dennis so hard the blood flowed from his nose, and Gladys DeMars had watched Dennis over two summers wither from a husky, jolly baby to a wan little boy covered with bruises and black eyes and split lips. 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. 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. Lois Jurgens headed to trial. It is one of a few crimes that FBI agent Kenneth Lanning argues can legitimately be described as "ritual abuse". I also want to get Early Bird Books newsletter featuring book deals, recommendations, and giveaways. He knew Peterson as a man always willing to help others, as a doctor very much for his patients. We will review the memorials and decide if they should be merged. In early December, 1963, Rekdahl paid her last postplacement visit to the Jurgenses.

Dennis and Robert Jurgens, 1965.

She remembered the names, the faces--she particularly remembered Dennis. At the hearing a month later, Peterson was asked whether he saw anything unusual as he viewed the body in the crib. 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. Still, she had never forgotten the case. . Whod listen?

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. Rekdahl expressed some concern. Rekdahl found her judgment confirmed by the Jurgenses priest. He was frequently starved, to rid him of "sloppy fat," as Lois called it (she also called him "Sloppy Fat" as a nickname). Nor had his arrival two hours before. It was highly unlikely that a fall on a flat surface could have caused this. There was testimony from other officers that he impeded the investigation into the child's death. From a newspaper notice of his death she had learned that the boys body bore multiple injuries and bruises. 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. . The topic under consideration was the possible placement of Dennis Puckett with the Jurgens family. Vachss uttalte at boken ikke forklarer begrunnelsen for at Harold er passiv, mens den har tilstrekkelig informasjon om Lois Jurgens. Korolchuk would never get the chance to answer such questions. Only 5% to 10% of the bruises on Dennis could have been caused by such a fall. 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 are no volunteers for this cemetery. 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. But how did such an infection occur in the first place? . Lois walks past the TV cameras on her way to the courtroom on January 30, 1987, to plead not guilty to three counts of murder. They were of varying colors--black and blue, yellowish green, reddish--which meant that some were fresh, some old. However, he was in failing health and his autopsy results did not indicate poisoning. You may occasionally receive promotional content from the Los Angeles Times. They are good people. She demanded to know the truth about her son's death. The next morning, six coroners jurors were asked to view the body of a dead boy, and to remember everything they saw. Her attorney Doug Thomson (left) follows, and Harold Jurgens is behind him. Donna Neely wondered, as she studied the Jurgenses now-silent house from her front window. angelizdsplace.com/. I would question him.

 

Lois' remedy for the toddler wetting his diaper too frequently was to place a spring-action clothespin upon the end of his penis. Lois, who abused Dennis constantly, escalated to new levels of rage as the flood waters filled her basement. Rekdahl suggested that if she had negative feelings, it would be best for them not to take the child. None of us knew about child abuse.