Dennis Craig Jurgens was an American 3-year-old boy who was murdered in White Bear Lake, Minnesota in April 1965. There he had been loved and well cared for by an experienced foster mother. 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. The coroner noted in his report that Dennis had almost zero subcutaneous fat, at the level of a person who had died of starvation. 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. convicted of murder Published Jan 18, 2023. 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. Then he began to look terrible--his face so old, like a little old man. So began a painstaking inquiry into the past--an inquiry that in recent months has pulled back the curtains on a decidedly uncomfortable vision. April 11, 1965. She was 61 when she went to prison and served eight years before being paroled.. Lois had had a history of mental illnesses including depression and psychosis and was originally deemed . Lois Jurgens, know for her short, volatile temper, murdered him. 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. Their flight, coupled with the lingering suspicions surrounding Dennis' death, resulted in the termination of Lois and Harold Jurgens' parental rights. Please ensure you have given Find a Grave permission to access your location in your browser settings. 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. Photo by Patrick Hendry on Unsplash. The testimony from Dr. Woodburn, the pathologist who did the autopsy on Dennis, was unequivocal. Other testimony and evidence was more troubling. The chief one involved the nature of the malady that killed Dennis. Are you sure that you want to delete this photo? The investigation, trial, and conviction are considered landmarks in the history of child abuse law. and Judith Ivey as While visiting one Thanksgiving, she saw Lois force-feed Dennis, in a highchair, by shoving a fork full of food into his mouth. That isnt an issue at all. Judge Archie Gingold, in his findings at the close of the hearing, ruled that Dennis had been subjected to many incidences of cruel and severe abuse. The policeman did not, so they carried the body to the coroners van. Many years later, he explained why: I was quite certain it was a homicide, quite certain, Gingold said recently in an interview. You dont know what to think, Donna Marlene said. On the other hand, he could not bring himself to embrace the notion that Lois Jurgens was a murderer. Our kids have fallen down steps and not died. At first, that seemed to be the conclusion that the official inquiry would also reach. This woman was no crank. Your Scrapbook is currently empty. . I was not trained in mental illness. The prosecutor had a different attitude back then, Votel said recently. When he arrived at the Jurgens home, though, hed realized all that was pointless. They had just buried the body, and that was all. The case is described in detail in Barry Siegel's true-crime novel, A Death in White Bear Lake. Late in August, Lois had called Rekdahl to report the matter. 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. Rekdahl thought that Lois speech betrayed a bit of cynicism. Dr. To keep creating Learn more about merges. In Broad Daylight Basically, she thought that Lois was content and happy, especially with Robert. Add to your scrapbook. In early December, 1963, Rekdahl paid her last postplacement visit to the Jurgenses. Lois Jurgens, 61, was convicted of third-degree murder of her adopted son Dennis in the first phase of her trial a week ago and the jury, after deliberating five hours, rejected her insanity. 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. You need a Find a Grave account to continue. No one proposed handing the investigation to some other body--to, say, the county sheriffs office. 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. . She is buried at the Union Cemetery, in Maplewood, Ramsey County, Minnesota. Heroes abound now in White Bear Lake, visible and proud of their roles in unraveling the mystery of Dennis death. She had a story to tell. In 1951, some 14 years before Dennis's death, a psychiatrist at the Mayo Clinic entered this assessment in her file: "It is . On April 26, Korolchuk drafted an analysis of the information they had gathered. She knew the agencys policy was not to place children with couples who were over 40, an age they were approaching. plans and enthusiasm They would not know for two weeks whether Dennis would need skin grafts, he had told Rekdahl. We wanted to tell someone, she said. I have never seen anything like that done.. Please try again later. All photos uploaded successfully, click on the Done button to see the photos in the gallery. Of course, there was that one bad accident involving third-degree burns to Dennis penis and scrotum. Try again later.

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. When Lois found him gasping and gurgling at 9 a.m., she promptly called Dr. Peterson. What had happened--and how--and why? 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. No, nothing struck me, the doctor replied, except for these bruises. All photos appear on this tab and here you can update the sort order of photos on memorials you manage. . They had cited the Fifth Amendment protection against self-incrimination. The Jurgenses were delighted. The electric streetcar with overhead power lines, running as a spur off the main railroad tracks along Highway 61, would stop just three doors down. Harold told relatives he was going to be out of town the weekend of April 10 and 11, 1965. There were, to begin with, the same photos of Dennis battered body on the coroners table. The investigation, trial, and

The official cause of death was peritonitis due to perforation of the small bowel. He had lived in this home since 1953, and it gave him much pleasure. She committed one of the most unusual child murder cases in history in Minnesota. In 1987, Jurgens was convicted of third-degree murder of Dennis. There was a deep, ulcerous lesion at the base of the penis and dark bruises on the tip.   . . She wanted assurances. They had seen Lois pull Dennis ears so hard that blood flowed. The case drew widespread publicity and was the subject of a book and a made-for-television movie. . 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. 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. There was obviously going to be trouble, and he didnt want to get involved. 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. He was frequently starved, to rid him of "sloppy fat," as Lois called it (she also called him "Sloppy Fat" as a nickname). Lois Jurgens served eight years of her sentence and had a quiet life as a widow in Stillwater, Minnesota. Donna Marlene had seen other things. 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. Moments later, VanderWyst, rising to leave, asked Lois if there was anything else he could do, such as call her brother Jerome. The Jurgenses had wanted a younger child and Dennis was almost a year old. Dennis and Robert Jurgens, 1965. Are you sure that you want to remove this flower? Lois' remedy for the toddler wetting his diaper too frequently was to place a spring-action clothespin upon the end of his penis. 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. Lois Jurgens was disappointed about Dennis age. The next day, Rekdahl phoned the Jurgenses family physician, Dr. Roy Peterson, who was treating Dennis. They wanted to do something, but felt it was none of their business. Thirty years after the original Death of Superman storyline, the iconic tale's writer Dan Jurgens has confirmed which alternate Superman villains almost killed the hero. He wrote deferred in the box where he was to specify the manner of death, and put the certificate aside. 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. None.. Why was there no disposition of this case? She was sentenced to a maximum of 25 years in prison and was paroled in 1995. Notes [ edit] ^ "ANGELIZD's Place - Child Abuse Pages - Dennis Craig Jurgens". Tragically, just a few years after the adoption, Dennis died from peritonitis. Though the specific cause of that fatal blow is not known, it is known that it was Lois who had given it to Dennis. or don't show this againI am good at figuring things out. You are nearing the transfer limit for memorials managed by Find a Grave. Rekdahl expressed some concern. 'Convergence' makes Superman a super-dad - USA TODAY Robert lived with other relatives, ultimately settling for two years with a distant cousin before he returned home. She knew that Lois had finished only the eighth grade.

 

This account already exists, but the email address still needs to be confirmed. There was an error deleting this problem. Please complete the captcha to let us know you are a real person. The term is relative. The only part of him that I saw was his chest and his face. 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. Child Murder : The Town Confronts Its Past - Los Angeles Times It is fair to say that this finding raised considerable questions. 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. 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. Much of the testimony related to Dennis, not Robert. That was why the judge wanted Lois Jurgens to consent to a thorough, inpatient examination by a psychiatrist he knew and trusted. 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. Are you adding a grave photo that will fulfill this request? The first few days of the police investigation by VanderWyst and Sgt. Jurgens would make his debut as a comic book writer with Sun Devils he began scripting from Conway's plots with #8 and fully took over the writing duties on the title with #10. 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. Jurgens was one of 16 children. Robert was leaving things alone at the age of 1 year. There was also pressure from supervisors to place, especially because there were so few Catholic children. death of superman comic: Search Result | eBay What to make of Dennis Jurgens death now was passed into the hands of the Ramsey County coroner. ``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. There was something wrong here. A vivid portrait of an all-American town that harbored a killer, A Death in White Bear Lake is also the absorbing story of two detectives who refused to give up until they had the killer cold. He has had all his baby shots. He eats well.

Dennis Craig Jurgens, 3.

Retrieved 12 February 2015. 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. Some had seen or heard Dennis being beaten. No prosecution was taken at that time.

 

They had checked on him throughout the night. He never wanted to say a bad word about anyone. He would testify that he had been suspicious enough to call the welfare department. Even so, doctors do not usually see third-degree burns in an area that isnt covered by clothing. 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. cemeteries found in Maplewood, Ramsey County, Minnesota, USA will be saved to your photo volunteer list. 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. She grew up and attended school in Malvern, graduating in 1947. 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. It did not occur to him to question Robert. From the bench, he said he hoped that they could find something to explain the mistreatment of Dennis. 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. 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 . DC artist Dan Jurgens shares an image of an unused Electric Blue Superman design from 1996, reminiscing about what might have been.

She said she had set Dennis in the sink to wash him after he had wet his diaper, then had gone into another room to get a clean diaper. 0 cemeteries found in Maplewood, Ramsey County, Minnesota, USA. You have chosen this person to be their own family member. But this death didnt look as though it was from natural causes. We are sad to announce that on September 25, 2019, at the age of 92, Lois Jurgens (Petersburg, Illinois) passed away. Lois Jurgens | Photos | Murderpedia, the encyclopedia of murderers The victim She is buried at the Union Cemetery, in Maplewood, Ramsey County, Minnesota. The psychiatrist also observed that Lois had an obsession about order and cleanliness. None of this, however, was what had killed Dennis. Building a general history of abusive conduct would not be sufficient. Lois had grown up in an impoverished family of sixteen siblings and used her marriage to the middle-class Harold Jurgens as a means to improve her social standing. 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. He was born on September 29, 1941 in rural Adams, and was later baptized and confirmed at Zion Lutheran Church of rural Pickrell. On the other hand, she realized the improbability of being offered another Catholic baby in the near future. to keep expanding and making Murderpedia a better site, but we really After seeing newspaper reports about the death, she was convinced that he had been beaten to death and demanded the case be re-opened. In winter, they got the north wind, so the lake froze too rough for ice skating. 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. He doesnt look like a tiny little kid, he thought. from United States. 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. Her brother, Jerome Zerwas, was the police lieutenant of the town of White Bear Lake, Minnesota, where she lived at the time.

 

cemeteries found within kilometers of your location will be saved to your photo volunteer list. This drove Lois further into madness, as she felt she needed children to complete the "perfect picture" of her life. 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. They said it was from a fall down the basement stairs. When Dennis messed his bed, she said, she forced the boy to eat his feces. . Harold was infertile and the Jurgenses desperately wanted to adopt another child. 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. Murder of Dennis Jurgens - Wikiwand In 1984, Jurgens was the artist for the Sun Devils limited series (July 1984 - June 1985), with writers Gerry Conway and Roy Thomas. How could the hot water splashing down on the baby have burned only his penis and scrotum? Her attorney Doug Thomson (left) follows, and Harold Jurgens is behind him. Her mother having long ago disappeared, Jerry Puckett had bounced among assorted relatives and county homes for girls. Yes! 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. He felt that she needed psychiatric help very badly and, without it, might become psychotic. The doctors eyes slid to a corner of the room. If hes notified there would be fifty people at her house, and she didnt want that many people around. 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. We will review the memorials and decide if they should be merged. Lois considered herself a devout Catholic and believed she was doing "God's work" by making Dennis "perfect" in her eyes. and this case
At the urging of authorities, Jerry placed Dennis for adoption after being told that he would receive good care.[1]. He was shaken. It was just inconceivable to Woodburn that Dennis had been so injured by slipping and falling on a basement floor. They had only two requests. There are a lot of dead babies in the ground who were killed.. Statements in the police logs were riddled with discrepancies. They attempted to mind their own business and feared retribution from Lois, who was not above threatening the lives of her family members. Lois Jurgens released after serving eight years, The Winona Daily News, June, 7, 1995. The situation had made him uncomfortable, so uncomfortable that he hadnt pulled down the blankets or examined the body further. It is one of a few crimes that FBI agent Kenneth Lanning argues can legitimately be described as "ritual abuse". The way Lindholm figured it, instead of prosecuting Lois Jurgens for murder, lets move to take Robert away. This case was a drop of water in the river.. The boy was dead by the time the doctor arrived at 9:35. Judge Gingold would not back down either. Years later, Dr. Lynn Solem, the present director of the burn center at St. Paul-Ramsey Hospital, would explain that though this type of burn is now regarded as a sign of child abuse, in 1963 it would have been accepted as accidental. 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. The first came now. I looked down. need your help for this. Failed to remove flower. It would have been difficult at the time to prove that Lois Jurgens had committed murder. Clayton Robinson Jr., a former prosecutor in the case, said Jurgens should not have been released yet. At the funeral, a crown of roses rested on Dennis head. Published by Bantam Books, 1990. He very strongly favored the Jurgenses getting another child. 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. At the hearing a month later, Peterson was asked whether he saw anything unusual as he viewed the body in the crib. Lois considered herself a devout Catholic and believed she was doing "God's work" by making Dennis "perfect" in her eyes. Woman Who Killed Adopted Son Released After Eight Years in Prison . Drag images here or select from your computer for Lois Germaine Josephine Zerwas Jurgens memorial. On or around the night of April 11, 1965, Dennis Jurgens died at the hands of Lois Jurgens. Why werent his hands burned--wouldnt he have instinctively reached down to protect himself? We would like to have done something, but it was none of our business.

There were many fateful moments in Dennis brief life, moments in which his destiny could have been changed. Its easy today to say, Why didnt they prosecute? but it was a different time, a different time. Lois was born on March 4, 1930, in Iowa the daughter of the late Axel and Lena. My God, he thought, looking at the body. He naps both in the forenoon and the afternoon. . Lois' remedy for the toddler wetting his diaper too frequently was to place a spring-action clothespin upon the end of his penis. Now VanderWyst was looking at him, asking a question: What was the cause of death?. Adopted just after his first birthday, Dennis suffered years of abuse at the hands of his adoptive mother, Lois Jurgens. Lois Jurgens | Detailed Pedia They attempted to mind their own business and feared retribution from Lois, who was not above threatening the lives of her family members. Gladys and Dorothy talked frequently to each other about what they had seen, not unaware that theyd recommended the Jurgenses to the welfare department caseworker. However, he was in failing health and his autopsy results did not indicate poisoning. . Lois JURGENS - Murderpedia, the encyclopedia of murderers 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. new content, we kindly appreciate any donation you can give to help During her several postplacement visits to the Jurgens home in the following, probationary year, Rekdahl increasingly came to judge the placement a success. Connect with the definitive source for global and local news. Oops, some error occurred while uploading your photo(s). She saw Harold, then 40, as a tall, rather swarthy man of German and Norwegian extraction, with dark brown hair and eyes. . Learn more about managing a memorial . . Donna Mae, about 5 feet away, watched in horror as Lois force-fed that vomit to him, made him eat it. Lois Jurgens, One of The Most Terrible Moms in America! At that time, the battered-child syndrome was just beginning to be recognized. 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. To the casual observer, the Jurgens seemed to be a normal, church-going family with a perfectly maintained house and yard. Robert was returned to the Jurgens home and, going through new channels, the couple was eventually able to adopt four school-aged siblings from Kentucky. 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. In spite of extensive physical evidence pointing towards severe . Dennis was adopted by the Jurgens, of White Bear Lake, Minnesota, a suburb of Saint Paul: Harold Robert Jurgens, a former bandleader turned electrician, and Lois Germaine Josephine Zerwas Jurgens, a homemaker. Doug Thomson, who defended Jurgens, said his client did not get out early. They had shocked James Nelson. Peritonitis is a horribly painful illness involving shock, collapse of the blood vessel system, high fever and breathing difficulties. Lois had talked to them all about her toilet training methods. 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. The Jurgenses returned to their house on Gardenette Drive, childless but free of any charge.