This memorial has been copied to your clipboard. None of us knew about child abuse. There was something wrong here. They covered the face, the head, the arms. 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. On the stand, the Jurgenses had refused to answer questions about Dennis.

In 1992 A made-for-TV movie was made based on both Jerry's story Do I think this happened just here, just this one? It was highly unlikely that a fall on a flat surface could have caused this. That isnt an issue at all. Rekdahl found him friendly and talkative--perhaps too much so, for he often strayed widely from the subject at hand. 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. remarkable Beverly D'Angelo as Jerry Sherwood
The testimony from Dr. Woodburn, the pathologist who did the autopsy on Dennis, was unequivocal. This woman was no crank. She demanded to know the truth about her son's death. The specter of homicide hovered, but would not land in this hearing room in 1965. It would have been difficult at the time to prove that Lois Jurgens had committed murder. Two husbands and four children later, Sherwood had gone searching for her firstborn, only to learn that he had died years before, in 1965, at age 3. From their patio, they could see huge bass jumping in the water. This is a carousel with slides. https://www.findagrave.com/memorial/134346102/lois-germaine_josephine-jurgens. Officially forbidden to adopt children owing to Lois' history of mental illness, the couple managed to adopt a baby named Robert privately. Two or three couples signed written statements. [2] She is buried at the Union Cemetery, in Maplewood, Ramsey County, Minnesota . Published Jan 18, 2023. 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. Lois had a question: Would Father Riser write a letter in support of their present effort to adopt another child, a third child? We have many Though the specific cause of that fatal blow is not known, it is known that it was Lois who had given it to Dennis. In the early 1980s, Dennis' birth mother, Jerry Sherwood, looked for Dennis, only to find out he had died in 1965. . They just buried the body in St.. . 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. Her brother, Jerome Zerwas, was the police lieutenant of the town of White Bear Lake, Minnesota, where she lived at the time. During this period, Lois was once again placed in a psychiatric facility. He could be a battered child, Votel said he reasoned, and still his death could have been caused by a fall, an accident. Try again later. He had one great friend, his world's Lois, but she died and now he sees another version of her still alive and pregnant. If you throw up, you are going to eat it. He looks like a boy of 10. Strange, he thought, that she hadnt called her brother, the police lieutenant. As manager of this memorial you can add or update the memorial using the Edit button below. Description above from the Wikipedia article Lois Jurgens, licensed under CC-BY-SA, full list of contributors on Wikipedia. Walter Moore, a co-worker of Harold Jurgens, also came to the funeral. VanderWyst, visiting him after the autopsy the night of Dennis death, told the family physician what Woodburn had found. The St. Paul Pioneer Press ran a cover story about the investigation on Sunday, October 12, 1986. They owed $6,000 on the house and $930 on the truck. 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. 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. . 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. All I could do was shake my head.. No one proposed handing the investigation to some other body--to, say, the county sheriffs office. 1 Bakgrunn; 2 Innhold; . ``May God strike her dead, thats what I have to say to Lois Jurgens, Jerry Sherwood said. Are you sure that you want to delete this photo? Harold Jurgens, an electrical foreman, made $10,000 in 1962, and this placed his family a cut above many of their friends and neighbors. Now VanderWyst was looking at him, asking a question: What was the cause of death?. 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. She was sentenced to a maximum of 25 years in prison and was paroled in 1995. 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. There he had been loved and well cared for by an experienced foster mother. Lois attended cosmetology school in Des Moines, Iowa. Edit a memorial you manage or suggest changes to the memorial manager. . Harold and Lois Jurgensa middle-class, churchgoing couple who had been unable to have children of their ownhad adopted Sherwoods son, Dennis, in 1962. 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. Basically, she thought that Lois was content and happy, especially with Robert. Opens in a new window or tab. All photos uploaded successfully, click on the Done button to see the photos in the gallery. . Lois is survived by her husband, Floyd Jurgens; children Gary Jurgens and Caron Klein (Bruce);. Sherwood also told D'Angelo that Dana Ivey's interpretation of Lois Jurgens is eerily accurate. 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. Top Rated Seller. She wanted assurances. No, nothing struck me, the doctor replied, except for these bruises. 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. My God, he thought, looking at the body. He couldnt push Votel on this. In spite of extensive physical evidence pointing towards severe . 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. Dennis had thrown up then. To this end, she forced religious training on her young sons; reports had young Robert flawlessly reciting the Rosary at 2. That was not binding on the prosecutor, but the defense attorney would zero in on this. Dennis was lying face up in his crib, his stiffened arms raised eight inches off the bed. He was shaken. Rekdahl found her judgment confirmed by the Jurgenses priest. They wanted to do something, but felt it was none of their business. Dr. Matt McMillan, White Bear Lake true crime page-turner turns 30, White Bear Press Club, June 17, 2020.

The only part of him that I saw was his chest and his face. Other testimony and evidence was more troubling. It was just inconceivable to Woodburn that Dennis had been so injured by slipping and falling on a basement floor. Years later, Peterson would say much the same to the police who were reopening the case, but he did not do so in 1965. The Jurgens' adoption of Robert seemed successful in the eyes of authorities, who began to consider the possibility that they might adopt more children through official channels. Peterson did not give us any conclusive answers about the condition of Dennis or about his death, VanderWyst wrote in his report for that night. I didnt look after that; I couldnt, she said. Harold told relatives he was going to be out of town the weekend of April 10 and 11, 1965. Lois Jurgens, 93, of Arvada, Colorado, formerly of Malvern and Glenwood, Iowa, passed away June 13, 2022. Robert was leaving things alone at the age of 1 year. Peterson departed soon after. Lois thought that would be a good idea. She believed that Lois Jurgens was accepting and embracing Dennis, and he seemed healthy and adjusted. GREAT NEWS! He is able to turn himself over and is extremely strong, almost ready to stand by himself. Product details Publisher : Ballantine Books (November 28, 2000) Language : English Paperback : 560 pages ISBN-10 : 0345487176 Your new password must contain one or more uppercase and lowercase letters, and one or more numbers or special characters. Please enter your email and password to sign in. Peritonitis is a horribly painful illness involving shock, collapse of the blood vessel system, high fever and breathing difficulties. There was also pressure from supervisors to place, especially because there were so few Catholic children. She was 61 when she went to prison and served eight years before being paroled.. It would be no use.

Donohue was not inclined to relax such controls. On Feb. 11, 1964, the commissioner of public welfare, as legal guardian for Dennis, consented to his formal adoption by Harold and Lois Jurgens. From a newspaper notice of his death she had learned that the boys body bore multiple injuries and bruises. No, she explained. The boys mouth was getting full, he wasnt swallowing, so Lois put horseradish on the fork. This was the situation that Gerane Rekdahl, a Ramsey County welfare case worker, found when she visited the Jurgens home on March 1, 1962. A system error has occurred. Lois Jurgens served eight years of her sentence and had a quiet life as a widow in Stillwater, Minnesota. They said it was from a fall down the basement stairs. If you have questions, please contact [emailprotected]. At 2 p.m. on that Palm Sunday, Dr. Robert Woodburn, the coroners chief pathologist, conducted the autopsy. Previously sponsored memorials or famous memorials will not have this option. A piano and bass fiddle occupied the living room. Thanks for using Find a Grave, if you have any feedback we would love to hear from you. 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 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. Their investments and savings totaled $2,200. 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. Lois Jurgens. She knew that Lois had finished only the eighth grade. 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. Thank you for fulfilling this photo request. She was a good dozen years younger than the Jurgenses. 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. Though the name of the adoptive family was not given, many suspected that the story was about Lois Jurgens. Lois Jurgens, know for her short, volatile temper, murdered him. Lois had had a history of mental illnesses including depression and psychosis and was originally deemed . 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. During her several postplacement visits to the Jurgens home in the following, probationary year, Rekdahl increasingly came to judge the placement a success. Searching him out, she discovers he died at 3 1/2, though the death certificate does not show what killed him. 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.The trial of Lois Jurgens for the murder of 3-year-old Dennis made national . At that time, the battered-child syndrome was just beginning to be recognized. In a town like White Bear Lake, apparently no one thought it problematic that the assistant police chief, Lt. Jerome Zerwas, was Lois Jurgens brother. In winter, they got the north wind, so the lake froze too rough for ice skating. DENNIS JURGENS WAS ONLY 3-YEARS-0LD WHEN HIS LIFE ENDED AT THE CRUEL HANDS OF HIS MOTHER LOIS JURGENS AND SHE WOULD HAVE GOT AWAY WITH IT, BUT HIS BIOLOGICAL MOTHER JERRY SHERWOOD STARTED. They had seen Lois yank Dennis violently by the ears. Still, she had never forgotten the case. Lois is survived by her. In 2005, playwright Brian Vinero wrote a theatre piece, The Jurgens File, which was developed at New York City's 78th Street Theatre Lab; it told the story from the perspective of the community. Father Riser told her he definitely would. After seeing newspaper reports about the death, she was convinced that he had been beaten to death and demanded the case be re-opened. Novel and Adaptations: Barry Siegel's true-crime novel A Death in White Bear Lake recounts the story via extensive research and oral history. 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. They owned a 1963 Chevrolet pickup and a 1960 Falcon station wagon. Lois Lane (Phyllis Coates). Obituary. With the advent of highways, White Bear Lake has become a suburb of St. Paul, about 12 miles to the south. 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. Learn about how to make the most of a memorial. This account already exists, but the email address still needs to be confirmed. She was born February 25, 1927 to Leslie and Margaret Stowell in Cass County IL. While visiting one Thanksgiving, she saw Lois force-feed Dennis, in a highchair, by shoving a fork full of food into his mouth. They had shocked James Nelson. Your account has been locked for 30 minutes due to too many failed sign in attempts. Lois Jurgens at the time that she had custody of Dennis. It is fair to say that this finding raised considerable questions. 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. There is a lot to be known about the science of this whole darn subject, he said.

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