She did not want this to influence their decision, but in all truthfulness, that was the reality. The way Lindholm figured it, instead of prosecuting Lois Jurgens for murder, lets move to take Robert away. She was diagnosed as having mixed psychoneurosis and also unable to conceive a child with Harold. They had seen Lois yank Dennis violently by the ears. Her brother, Jerome Zerwas, was the police lieutenant of the town of White . His intensely angry adoptive mother, Lois Jurgens, know for her short, volatile temper, murdered him. We will review the memorials and decide if they should be merged. 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. The hearing would prove to be a curious affair. This, coupled with the lack of a statute of limitations for a murder charge, could lead the way to a prosecution of Lois Jurgens. Product details Publisher : Ballantine Books (November 28, 2000) Language : English Paperback : 560 pages ISBN-10 : 0345487176 Two hours before, sitting in his waterside home on the southeast shore of White Bear Lake, Sunday morning had seemed so promising. . What was to be the core of the case against Lois Jurgens 22 years later essentially came out then, albeit in a less detailed, more muted fashion.

 

There is 1 volunteer for this cemetery. She had a story to tell. VanderWyst, visiting him after the autopsy the night of Dennis death, told the family physician what Woodburn had found. All I could do was shake my head.. 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. That will require a juvenile hearing on neglect. need your help for this.

 

During her several postplacement visits to the Jurgens home in the following, probationary year, Rekdahl increasingly came to judge the placement a success. At first Bob Brass thought the squad car was Loiss brothers, but then they saw VanderWyst in the driveway. Though the name of the adoptive family was not given, many suspected that the story was about Lois Jurgens. Lois Lane (Phyllis Coates). 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. The roller coaster had been just to the west of his lot, the water slide just to the east, and the dance pavilion exactly where his house now stood, the old foundation still there below his lawn and patio. The only part of him that I saw was his chest and his face. The testimony from Dr. Woodburn, the pathologist who did the autopsy on Dennis, was unequivocal. Save to an Ancestry Tree, a virtual cemetery, your clipboard for pasting or Print. One of Lois Jurgens responses was to call Father Riser, the priest who had so warmly recommended them to the county welfare worker. Mornings there were wonderful, but the dusk was the doctors favorite time, for the sun set each evening over the water and trees, falling behind Manitou Island, leaving behind a fiery orange sky. How could the hot water splashing down on the baby have burned only his penis and scrotum? From the death certificate she had learned that the coroner never ruled whether the death was an accident, a homicide or the result of natural causes. She grew up and attended school in Malvern, graduating in 1947. So Robert, on a temporary but semiannually renewed basis, remained in county custody, living in foster homes. . Now VanderWyst was looking at him, asking a question: What was the cause of death?. Two or three couples signed written statements. C $186.13. When Dennis cried, Lois would force his head under the cold water faucet at the kitchen sink. Add to your scrapbook. The case is described in detail in Barry Siegel's true-crime novel, A Death in White Bear Lake. The St. Paul Pioneer Press ran a cover story about the investigation on Sunday, October 12, 1986. Why werent his hands burned--wouldnt he have instinctively reached down to protect himself? 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. Several relatives now told the investigators they would not sign statements. After seeing newspaper reports about the death, she was convinced that he had been beaten to death and demanded the case be re-opened. Camille Brass knew the blue convertible belonged to Dr. Peterson. How could a kid fall down the steps and die? 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. . Learn more about merges. Donna Marlene Norton, Lois sister, was there that day and saw the same thing. In the early 1980s, Dennis' birth mother, Jerry Sherwood, looked for Dennis, only to find out he had died in 1965. 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. 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. You need a Find a Grave account to continue. I didnt look after that; I couldnt, she said. On January 13, 2000, she was initially suspected of poisoning her husband, Harold. 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. new content, we kindly appreciate any donation you can give to help He was frequently starved, to rid him of "sloppy fat," as Lois called it (she also called him "Sloppy Fat" as a nickname). By the second week, the investigation began to encounter obstacles. Lois had a question: Would Father Riser write a letter in support of their present effort to adopt another child, a third child? You are nearing the transfer limit for memorials managed by Find a Grave. Dennis had been a beautiful baby, Gladys Demars said. As he read, he stiffened in his chair. 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. Thank you for fulfilling this photo request. 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. Free shipping for many products! Lois Jurgens had a reputation amongst her extended family and neighbors as an intense, angry woman with a short and volatile temper, but Dennis' arrival in her home provoked sadistic rages that targeted Dennis as he aged from one to three-and-a-half years of age. Top Rated Seller. I just examined him to see that he was in fact dead. Such stories are not rare. ``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. she grew up and attended school in malvern, graduating in 1947. lois attended cosmetology school in des moines, iowa. . She thought Dennis too aggressive, his wild behavior quite unlike Roberts. No. This is a story about respectable men and women of the middle class--doctors, lawyers, priests, social workers, policemen, neighbors and relatives--whose behavior, taken as a whole, led not to that milieus promised decency and justice but to a moral outrage, dark and hard to understand. updates I remember very clearly the pathologist coming in and saying it had to be a blow, not a fall, but I think the prosecutor felt he couldnt prove it, and I was on the same wavelength as the prosecutor. She died aged 87 on May 7, 2013. This browser does not support getting your location. Lois attended cosmetology school in Des Moines, Iowa. On this Wikipedia the language links are at the top of the page across from the article title. There was a bluish mark on the right side of the head that started at the temple and extended to behind the right ear. Basically, she thought that Lois was content and happy, especially with Robert. Resend Activation Email. Donna Mae, about 5 feet away, watched in horror as Lois force-fed that vomit to him, made him eat it. To use this feature, use a newer browser. They said it was from a fall down the basement stairs. harold e bageant obituary visitation funeral information. 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. The first came now. Dennis & Robert Sherwood also told D'Angelo that Dana Ivey's interpretation of Lois Jurgens is eerily accurate. Jerry took her case to the White Bear Lake police department and then to the local media. Homicide was not the issue at the hearing. [citation needed][3]. 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. He very strongly favored the Jurgenses getting another child. The coroner noted in his report that Dennis had almost zero subcutaneous fat, at the level of a person who had died of starvation. I had doubts, and I didnt like Lois, but I felt I couldnt react personally like that, she said. This post is sponsored by Open Road Media. 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.

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. Lois, who abused Dennis constantly, escalated to new levels of rage as the flood waters filled her basement. It was full of redwood and log railings, and the lawn and trees ran almost to the waters edge, a good hundred feet of lake frontage in all. Years later, the attorney representing Roberts interests at the 1965 custody hearing would still remember those photos. When Dennis messed his bed, she said, she forced the boy to eat his feces. Oops, we were unable to send the email. Your Scrapbook is currently empty. The investigation, trial, and Rekdahl thought Lois Jurgens, then almost 37, to be a rather attractive woman, although she was short and a trifle on the chubby side. 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). The next morning, six coroners jurors were asked to view the body of a dead boy, and to remember everything they saw. Though the specific cause of that fatal blow is not known, it is known that it was Lois who had given it to Dennis. The only witness to Lois's final abuse of Dennis was Robert, who was 5 years old at the time. The suspicious death of Dennis Jurgens wasnt properly investigated for 20 years.
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