lois jurgens' death

He is able to turn himself over and is extremely strong, almost ready to stand by himself. No. He has no teeth yet, but they are coming. I would also like to receive the Early Bird Books newsletter which features great deals on FREE and discounted ebooks. Lois Jurgens.

It was harder to believe that Dennis had been awake and talking normally an hour and a half before he died. Use the links under See more to quickly search for other people with the same last name in the same cemetery, city, county, etc. 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. Several told of having seen Dennis bruised and battered. When the White Bear Lake police called her a year ago, she knew immediately whom they were talking about. In 1984, Jurgens was the artist for the Sun Devils limited series (July 1984 - June 1985), with writers Gerry Conway and Roy Thomas. How in the heck could that happen? Now the town is most frequently described as middle class. . Much of the testimony related to Dennis, not Robert. Remove advertising from a memorial by sponsoring it for just $5.

 

Soon the word spread from house to housethered been a death, the younger Jurgens boy had died. The case is described in detail in Barry Siegel's true-crime novel, A Death in White Bear Lake. This was the situation that Gerane Rekdahl, a Ramsey County welfare case worker, found when she visited the Jurgens home on March 1, 1962. My biggest feeling was that it was a sad situation and I wanted to get out of there as soon as I could. Initial placement was with a licensed, unrelated foster family, but Robert was then moved to his paternal grandparents at his parents' request. 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. On the other hand, he could not bring himself to embrace the notion that Lois Jurgens was a murderer. 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. The Jurgenses were delighted. The next day, Rekdahl phoned the Jurgenses family physician, Dr. Roy Peterson, who was treating Dennis. Try again later. There were at least a dozen bruises on the face alone, some large and others small. Harold and Lois Jurgensa middle-class, churchgoing couple who had been unable to have children of their ownhad adopted Sherwoods son, Dennis, in 1962. It began one month after Dennis death and continued for two days, May 10 and 11, 1965. The word homicide remained unspoken. He very strongly favored the Jurgenses getting another child. WHAT happened? We thought it would be no use.. Our kids have fallen down steps and not died. Donohue was not inclined to relax such controls. There is 1 volunteer for this cemetery. Donna Marlene had seen other things. . Jurgens and Weeks joined CBR to discuss launching Lois & Clark 2 and spoilers for its first installment. Flowers added to the memorial appear on the bottom of the memorial or here on the Flowers tab. 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. in the third degree and sent to prison. the Murderpedia project stay alive. Rekdahl thought that Lois speech betrayed a bit of cynicism. In winter, they got the north wind, so the lake froze too rough for ice skating. Lois Jurgens, 93, of Arvada, Colorado, formerly of Malvern and Glenwood, Iowa, passed away June 13, 2022. The Jurgenses returned to their house on Gardenette Drive, childless but free of any charge.

Instead, Peterson would build an ice rink on his front lawnhed raise a circular wood wall, lay in six inches of leaves gathered from all the neighbors for mulch, then cover that with sheet plastic, one hundred feet long, fifty feet wide, and fill it with water from the hose. They had only two requests. On April 26, Korolchuk drafted an analysis of the information they had gathered. VanderWyst was not close social friends with the Jurgenses, but he knew them well enough to greet them on the street. The official cause of death was peritonitis due to perforation of the small bowel. Thanks for using Find a Grave, if you have any feedback we would love to hear from you. The threat of a criminal prosecution is way by the boards now. With the exception of the severe burns, his health remained quite good. My deputy reassured me from time to time. 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. Clothing retains the heat. Matt McMillan, White Bear Lake true crime page-turner turns 30, White Bear Press Club, June 17, 2020. They are good people. Soon after, Jerry Puckett dropped her plan to convert--but by then Dennis was already registered as Catholic on the adoption rolls. Many years later, he explained why: I was quite certain it was a homicide, quite certain, Gingold said recently in an interview. On Nov. 28, 1962, members of the Scott and Ramsey counties welfare departments, including Rekdahl, had a conference in the town of Shakopee. In the minute she was gone, she said, he turned on the hot water. 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 Jurgens, it turns out, was from the start a poor parental bet. Judge Gingold would not back down either. A condition of neglect did exist. They had been able to discuss Lois weaknesses, even her past mental depression, without Lois becoming too nervous or upset or defensive. Her mother having long ago disappeared, Jerry Puckett had bounced among assorted relatives and county homes for girls. Resend Activation Email. VanderWyst drove the mile to his house in silence, the young boy sitting beside him. Save to an Ancestry Tree, a virtual cemetery, your clipboard for pasting or Print. 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. During the early morning hours of April 11, 1965, Dennis Jurgens died at the hands of Lois Jurgens. .

Forever' w/ the The perforation, he judged, had occurred one to two days before the childs death. 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.   Due to this frequent starvation, Dennis gained only three pounds in a two and a half-year period as he aged from one year old to three and a half years old. Dennis & Robert They would not know for two weeks whether Dennis would need skin grafts, he had told Rekdahl. Lois Jurgens served eight years of her sentence and had a quiet life as a widow in Stillwater, Minnesota. Continuing with this request will add an alert to the cemetery page and any new volunteers will have the opportunity to fulfill your request. At first, that seemed to be the conclusion that the official inquiry would also reach. A piano and bass fiddle occupied the living room. So Robert, on a temporary but semiannually renewed basis, remained in county custody, living in foster homes. He was shaken. Lois considered herself a devout Catholic and believed she was doing "God's work" by making Dennis "perfect" in her eyes. Instead, Dorothy Engfer began telling others in the neighborhood what shed seen. No one here is being punitive, Gingold told the Jurgenses and their attorney from the bench. Sign up for The Lineup's newsletter and get terrifying tales delivered straight to your inbox. That will make you swallow, Lois had said. Then he began to look terrible--his face so old, like a little old man. She saw Harold, then 40, as a tall, rather swarthy man of German and Norwegian extraction, with dark brown hair and eyes. As the new adopted children were older, there were many first-hand histories (recounted to the media during the 1987 trial of Lois Jurgens) describing the severe abuse they suffered at their adoptive mother's hands. 0 cemeteries found in Maplewood, Ramsey County, Minnesota, USA. There was a bluish mark on the right side of the head that started at the temple and extended to behind the right ear. There was also the matter of community attitudes. cemeteries found within miles of your location will be saved to your photo volunteer list. With Lois's mental health deteriorating, a hearing explores the question, should Lois and Harold Jurgens keep custody of their 5 year old adopted son, Robert after the death of this brother, Dennis. . Family and friends are welcome to leave their condolences on this memorial page and share them with the family. They had cited the Fifth Amendment protection against self-incrimination. 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. Rekdahl thought Lois Jurgens, then almost 37, to be a rather attractive woman, although she was short and a trifle on the chubby side. 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. Your new password must contain one or more uppercase and lowercase letters, and one or more numbers or special characters. At first Bob Brass thought the squad car was Loiss brothers, but then they saw VanderWyst in the driveway. And it was not my position to do anything other than to pronounce him dead.. By continuing to browse, you accept the use of cookies and other technologies. 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. Lois Jurgens, know for her short, volatile temper, murdered him. The trial of Lois Jurgens for the murder of 3-year-old Dennis made national . Its kind of hard to believe., ``How can you take a babys life like that and beat it for two years and then walk free? she said. White Bear Lake, Minnesota. Lois jurgens, 93, of arvada, colorado, formerly of malvern and glenwood, iowa, passed away june 13, 2022. lois jean jurgens, the daughter of lawrence a. and marjorie v. (johnson) jones, was born on may 26, 1929 in malvern, iowa. Thank you very much in advance. To this end, she forced religious training on her young sons; reports had young Robert flawlessly reciting the Rosary at 2. 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.. While he waited for the coroners investigator to arrive, he asked Lois Jurgens if there was anything he could do--such as take Robert to his own home, to be cared for by his wife. From a newspaper notice of his death she had learned that the boys body bore multiple injuries and bruises. Ivan and Gladys Demars, neighbors who had served as references when Dennis was adopted, over the fence had seen the boy with bruises, black eyes, split lips. Rekdahl found her judgment confirmed by the Jurgenses priest. A common belief amongst witnesses and neighbors at the time of the murder, and among the investigators who eventually re-opened the case, is that he interfered with the investigation and destroyed incriminating evidence. This drove Lois further into madness, as she felt she needed children to complete the "perfect picture" of her life. Please complete the captcha to let us know you are a real person.

English Los Angeles, ICE detainees allege retaliation for speaking about medical conditions at Otay Mesa center, Downtown L.A stabbing sends six to hospital; 1 arrested, San Diego Roman Catholic diocese facing yet another lawsuit from its insurance company, K-Pop isnt the only hot ticket in Koreatown how trot is captivating immigrants, Los Angeles is suddenly awash in waterfalls. He could be a battered child, Votel said he reasoned, and still his death could have been caused by a fall, an accident. In spite of extensive physical evidence pointing towards severe . They had checked on him throughout the night. When they cleared land for his basement, theyd found old rolls of amusement park ticketsthree rides for a nickel. Its not unusual, the doctor said. She remembered the names, the faces--she particularly remembered Dennis. 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.

We would like to have done something, but it was none of our business. Dennis had been a beautiful baby, Gladys Demars said. It was as if the authorities had found a way to try Lois Jurgens for Dennis death without calling it a murder. The investigation, trial, and conviction are considered landmarks in the history of child abuse law. That this was much more a question for doctors than for the police did not sway Votel. Lois Jurgens was the infamous subject of one of the most unusual child murder cases in history in Minnesota.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.. Jurgens was one of sixteen children. If you throw up, you are going to eat it. You see, Gingold said, I didnt have to go that far. Retrieved 12 February 2015. There are a lot of dead babies in the ground who were killed.. . 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. 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. I was willing to wait. Votel was still waiting about two years later, when he retired from office. 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. harold e bageant obituary visitation funeral information. 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. There was a deep, ulcerous lesion at the base of the penis and dark bruises on the tip. Thank you for fulfilling this photo request. Villains also abound, but they remain less noticed.

 

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. An email has been sent to the person who requested the photo informing them that you have fulfilled their request, There is an open photo request for this memorial. Peter Korolchuk yielded a good deal of information. 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. VanderWyst and Korolchuk had brought in the file themselves and lobbied for prosecution. Rekdahl was developing real doubts about this placement, but the Jurgenses decided to go see Dennis that afternoon. 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 died aged 87 on May 7, 2013. Only 5% to 10% of the bruises on Dennis could have been caused by such a fall. The same day that she spoke to the priest--Aug. 30, 1962--Rekdahl informed the Jurgenses that they were going to be approved for a second adoption. A dead boy, though, was something else. Photo by Patrick Hendry on Unsplash.

Thirty years later, writer and artist Dan Jurgens is revisiting the storyline that gripped the world. Walter Moore, a co-worker of Harold Jurgens, also came to the funeral. He felt that she needed psychiatric help very badly and, without it, might become psychotic. Searching him out, she discovers he died at 3 1/2, though the death certificate does not show what killed him. 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. However, he was in failing health and his autopsy results did not indicate poisoning. He feared finding himself alone. It would be no use. I also want to get Early Bird Books newsletter featuring book deals, recommendations, and giveaways. Heroes abound now in White Bear Lake, visible and proud of their roles in unraveling the mystery of Dennis death. The victim View Obituary & Service Information On January 13, 2000, she was initially suspected of poisoning her husband, Harold. I would question him. They would have to find out. Lois Jurgens headed to trial. This had required at least two hospitalizations at the Mayo Clinic and at a small psychiatric hospital called Crestview, where she had received electrical shock treatments. The process of adopting Dennis was completed. The trial of Lois Jurgens for the murder of 3-year-old Dennis made national headlines and was the top news story of the . I didnt examine him further.. #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 official records say 1,200 children died of abuse in 1986, but many experts believe the figure would reach 5,000 if closer attention were paid to some deaths attributed to accident or blamed on sudden infant death syndrome. 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. GREAT NEWS!

Donna Mae Zerwas, Lois sister-in-law, had seen all that and more.

 

The situation had made him uncomfortable, so uncomfortable that he hadnt pulled down the blankets or examined the body further. He looks like a boy of 10. 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. . Innhold. Please try again later. Lois Jurgens (at left) appeared with her attorney Doug Thomson in Ramsey County Courthouse Monday May 4, 1987. . 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. He could never forget how Lois Jurgens looked at those photos stoically, showing no emotion. 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. Ivey's Lois Jurgens is a woman so proud and righteous, her sense of morality . Fittingly for a major anniversary like . Lois attended cosmetology school in Des Moines, Iowa. Woman Tortures Adoptive Son To Death Lois Jurgens (40) was variously described as both short-tempered and vindictive by her neighbours and others who encountered her in the town of White Bear Lake, Minnesota, and it was well known that she experienced bouts of severe depression and psychosis. Robert lived with other relatives, ultimately settling for two years with a distant cousin before he returned home. There were many fateful moments in Dennis brief life, moments in which his destiny could have been changed. Her attorney Doug Thomson (left) follows, and Harold Jurgens is behind him. She was a good dozen years younger than the Jurgenses. Eventually, all four of the siblings from Kentucky and Robert escaped the home by running away and getting help from concerned neighbors. They had seen Lois pull Dennis ears so hard that blood flowed. Instead the judge agonized, repeatedly expressing from the bench his sense of conflict and uncertainty. Obituary. 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. and this case
He was the son of teenage Jerry Sherwood (who was herself a ward of the state) and her teenage boyfriend. After seeing newspaper reports about the death, she was convinced that he had been beaten to death and demanded the case be re-opened. The neighbors talked among themselves that afternoon. The official cause of death was peritonitis due to perforation of the small bowel wich even 1965 was treatable if he'd been brought to the hospital . This browser does not support getting your location. 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. This memorial has been copied to your clipboard. You may occasionally receive promotional content from the Los Angeles Times.

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