The Jurgenses are not being attacked anywhere along the line. Harold and Lois Jurgens, a middle-class, churchgoing couple in picturesque White Bear Lake, Minnesota, had adopted Dennis and five other foster children. cemeteries found within kilometers of your location will be saved to your photo volunteer list. Lois A. Jurgens (92) of Petersburg passed away September 25, 2019. Forever' w/ the Zerwas wouldnt let the rest of his family view the body. Its easy today to say, Why didnt they prosecute? but it was a different time, a different time. Connect with the definitive source for global and local news. She died aged 87 on May 7, 2013. Though the specific cause of that fatal blow is not known, it is known that it was Lois who had given it to Dennis. He was shaken. Jerry took her case to the White Bear Lake police department and then to the local media. When the wind was up, Peterson would take out his sixteen-foot sailboat and glide toward Manitou Island and the town of White Bear. He had lived in this home since 1953, and it gave him much pleasure. Whod listen? [2] She is buried at the Union Cemetery, in Maplewood, Ramsey County, Minnesota . On January 13, 2000, she was initially suspected of poisoning her husband, Harold. 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. They had seen Lois yank Dennis violently by the ears. 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. Four days after he drafted this analysis, on April 30, he and VanderWyst were pulled off the case. On Feb. 11, 1964, the commissioner of public welfare, as legal guardian for Dennis, consented to his formal adoption by Harold and Lois Jurgens. . It would be no use. At the funeral home, Lois Jurgens brother, Lloyd Zerwas, came to pay his respects. Thank you very much in advance. He would testify that he had been suspicious enough to call the welfare department. I would question him. 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. Tragically, just a few years after the adoption, Dennis died from peritonitis. I was not trained in mental illness. . Please check your email and click on the link to activate your account. She was 61 when she went to prison and served eight years before being paroled.. The two also teased what's in store for readers . updates Failed to remove flower. She was born February 25, 1927 to Leslie and Margaret Stowell in Cass County Il. 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. Lois Jurgens, know for her short, volatile temper, murdered him. Her secret was revealed after Sherwood began searching for the son she gave up for adoption and learned in 1983 that he had died of a bowel injury. Pitera would take photos later that day. But how did such an infection occur in the first place? The house at 2148 South Gardenette Drive, White Bear Lake, where the Jurgenses lived from 1957 to 1967. Its not unusual, the doctor said. None.. Novel and Adaptations: Barry Siegel's true-crime novel A Death in White Bear Lake recounts the story via extensive research and oral history. Dennis had thrown up then. Lois Jurgens.
There was an error deleting this problem. 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". It had always troubled her, more than any she handled before or since. 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. He knew that parents otherwise free of major symptoms of psychotic illness could abuse children. 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. 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. https://www.findagrave.com/memorial/134346102/lois-germaine_josephine-jurgens. I dont know how to describe it, she said. Still it is fair to say that the story Lois Jurgens told required a considerable imagination to embrace. 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. During the early morning hours of April 11, 1965, Dennis Jurgens died at the hands of Lois Jurgens. Soon the word spread from house to housethered been a death, the younger Jurgens boy had died. 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. They were informed they would not be allowed to foster or adopt any additional children. In the decade preceding the adoption of Dennis, Lois Jurgens had suffered bouts of depression and psychosis, including an extended stay at a psychiatric institution where electroconvulsive therapy was administered. She had a story to tell.
Sherwood eventually located Dennis's death certificate; because the death was categorized as "deferred", the case was still technically open. Lois Jurgens, it turns out, was from the start a poor parental bet. Resend Activation Email, Please check the I'm not a robot checkbox, If you want to be a Photo Volunteer you must enter a ZIP Code or select your location on the map. GREAT NEWS! Their investments and savings totaled $2,200. They attempted to mind their own business and feared retribution from Lois, who was not above threatening the lives of her family members. The process of adopting Dennis was completed. . 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.
This, coupled with the lack of a statute of limitations for a murder charge, could lead the way to a prosecution of Lois Jurgens. 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. Deferred, Votel had written. By all accounts, Lois was obsessed with abusing Dennis, and she wanted the world to know he was a "bad child," and made no apologies about the inappropriate way she was disciplining him. We reached a point where we could not find any new leads or pick up any new information . from United States. Dennis' birth mother, Jerry Sherwood. Notification of death or terminal illness, Office of Revisor of Statues . All photos uploaded successfully, click on the Done button to see the photos in the gallery. This memorial has been copied to your clipboard. A parade of neighbors and relatives called to the stand by the Jurgenses attorney, Edward Donohue, all denied seeing any evidence of abuse. Beatings and displays of Lois' explosive temper were daily events; especially bad days could include her slamming a child's forehead into a nail protruding from a wall, forcing a child to stand barefoot in snow, and shoving a used sanitary napkin in a child's face. He was an outgoing child, as happy and adjusted as could be expected under the circumstances. | | The threat of a criminal prosecution is way by the boards now. View Obituary & Service Information . Dennis Craig Jurgens was an American 3-year-old boy who was murdered in White Bear Lake, Minnesota in April 1965. Pitera stared at the body. He felt that she needed psychiatric help very badly and, without it, might become psychotic. Petersburg, ILLois A. Jurgens (92) of Petersburg passed away September 25, 2019. 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 topic under consideration was the possible placement of Dennis Puckett with the Jurgens family. Lets not build up some fiction that now we have done everything we should do.. . This browser does not support getting your location. . Those in the station familiar with the downtown strip joints in nearby St. Paul might have recognized Jerry Ann Sherwood from her earlier tenure at Alarys Club Bar. He pulled the file on the ancient case and began leafing through the yellowing pages. Innhold. 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. A condition of neglect did exist. He eats well. Lois is survived by her husband, Floyd Jurgens; children Gary Jurgens and Caron Klein (Bruce);.
Searching him out, she discovers he died at 3 1/2, though the death certificate does not show what killed him.
Lois Jurgens was convicted in May 1987 of murder (by abuse) in the death 22 years earlier of her adopted son, Dennis. 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. They had only two requests. By continuing to browse, you accept the use of cookies and other technologies. . When Dennis cried, Lois would force his head under the cold water faucet at the kitchen sink. 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 . Homicide was not the issue at the hearing. One might get a first impression that Lois was cold and indifferent, but to Rekdahl, this seemed a defense for insecurities. Fittingly for a major anniversary like . I just examined him to see that he was in fact dead. angelizdsplace.com/. 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.
We would like to have done something, but it was none of our business. Ive been doing this job too long. The question of Dennis Jurgens death next fell to the Ramsey County attorneys office. Learn about how to make the most of a memorial. 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.. Soon after, Jerry Puckett dropped her plan to convert--but by then Dennis was already registered as Catholic on the adoption rolls. . The hole had allowed a fifth of a quart of infectious, purulent fecal material to flow into the abdominal cavity. In fact, they remain strangely forgotten. 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. Harold told relatives he was going to be out of town the weekend of April 10 and 11, 1965. 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 saw Harold, then 40, as a tall, rather swarthy man of German and Norwegian extraction, with dark brown hair and eyes. After The Murder. This woman was no crank. 
