One day, Zerwas walked into the squad room and found the two officers investigating Dennis death. Dennis Craig Jurgens - Wikipedia Article | Pound Pup Legacy . Lois Jurgens - en-academic.com She thought they had a lovely home. Thank you very much in advance. Tragically, just a few years after the adoption, Dennis died from peritonitis. It would have been difficult at the time to prove that Lois Jurgens had committed murder. Problems arose within the police department as well. 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. Still it is fair to say that the story Lois Jurgens told required a considerable imagination to embrace. Years later, Peterson would say much the same to the police who were reopening the case, but he did not do so in 1965. They just werent going to get any damaging information from him. Peritonitis is a horribly painful illness involving shock, collapse of the blood vessel system, high fever and breathing difficulties. Theres nothing worse, Peterson had thought, than seeing a dead child. He was frequently starved, to rid him of "sloppy fat," as Lois called it (she also called him "Sloppy Fat" as a nickname). A Death in White Bear Lake: The Child Abuse Case That Led to Murder There was testimony from other officers that he impeded the investigation into the child's death. Lois considered herself a devout Catholic and believed she was doing "God's work" by making Dennis "perfect" in her eyes. Lois Jean (Jones) Jurgens - Peterson Mortuary, Inc. Failed to remove flower. Judge Gingold would not back down either. Its not unusual, the doctor said. Donna Mae Zerwas, Lois sister-in-law, had seen all that and more. All photos uploaded successfully, click on the Done button to see the photos in the gallery. Learn how and when to remove this template message, "ANGELIZD's Place - Child Abuse Pages - Dennis Craig Jurgens", https://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=Lois_Jurgens&oldid=1133446799, Articles lacking in-text citations from December 2022, Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike License 3.0, This page was last edited on 13 January 2023, at 21:13. 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". The autopsy report mentioned bruises head to toe. conviction
. The sponsor of a memorial may add an additional. Years later, the attorney representing Roberts interests at the 1965 custody hearing would still remember those photos. . There was a time when White Bear Lake was an exclusive watering hole for people from Chicago as well as the Twin Cities. Failed to report flower.
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 also describes him as a clown, always laughing at himself or other people when they are around. Sherwood also told D'Angelo that Dana Ivey's interpretation of Lois Jurgens is eerily accurate. Opens in a new window or tab. Which memorial do you think is a duplicate of Lois Jurgens (134346102)? Notes [ edit] ^ "ANGELIZD's Place - Child Abuse Pages - Dennis Craig Jurgens". And it was not my position to do anything other than to pronounce him dead..
Why was there no disposition of this case?
| 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. Previously sponsored memorials or famous memorials will not have this option.
Adopted just after his first birthday, Dennis suffered years of abuse at the hands of his adoptive mother, Lois Jurgens. 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 . I was willing to wait. Votel was still waiting about two years later, when he retired from office. Please contact Find a Grave at [emailprotected] if you need help resetting your password. Although Lois was not charged with Dennis's murder, the death caused sufficient suspicion for the authorities to remove Robert from the home; he was placed with various relatives and one foster family for a period of just over five years, during which the Jurgens spent a great deal of effort and money attempting to regain custody. The prosecutor wasnt getting help from the White Bear Lake police--her brother was on the force. He felt that Lois mental breakdown was not extremely serious and that she had completely recovered. There he had been loved and well cared for by an experienced foster mother. Our kids have fallen down steps and not died. Searching him out, she discovers he died at 3 1/2, though the death certificate does not show what killed him. He couldnt push Votel on this. There was a television movie broadcast in 1992 on NBC entitled A Child Lost Forever that told the story from the perspective of Jerry Sherwood (played by Beverly D'Angelo). 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. Are you adding a grave photo that will fulfill this request? Lois was accused of murdering and beating her adopted son Dennis Jurgens in 1965 but wasn't convicted until 1987 and only spent 8 years of her sentence before being paroled in 1995. Harold and Lois Jurgens, a middle-class, churchgoing couple in picturesque White Bear Lake, Minnesota, had adopted Dennis and five other foster children. Well, I do, he replied. Peter Korolchuk yielded a good deal of information. updates Initial placement was with a licensed, unrelated foster family, but Robert was then moved to his paternal grandparents at his parents' request. There was enough evidence to sustain child abuse and neglect charges.
Lois Jurgens Obituary (2019) - Petersburg, IL - Legacy.com Dennis had died of peritonitis. Harold Jurgens died in 2000; at the time of his death, there was suspicion that Lois had poisoned him, but this was investigated and ruled out.
Continuing with this request will add an alert to the cemetery page and any new volunteers will have the opportunity to fulfill your request. To perforate a bowel, the doctors agreed, there had to be severe, concentrated trauma applied to the abdomen--the sort of injury that could be expected in a high-speed automobile accident. . Their investments and savings totaled $2,200. Her mother having long ago disappeared, Jerry Puckett had bounced among assorted relatives and county homes for girls. VanderWyst was not close social friends with the Jurgenses, but he knew them well enough to greet them on the street. 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. 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. They felt sad, and also naggingly disturbed. She thought the postplacement period had been quite successful. According to Rekdahls written log, that was the sum of what Peterson said to her. When he arrived at the Jurgens home, though, hed realized all that was pointless. They had been able to discuss Lois weaknesses, even her past mental depression, without Lois becoming too nervous or upset or defensive. Murderpedia has thousands of hours of work behind it. Nor had his arrival two hours before. Oops, we were unable to send the email. Dennis had thrown up then. Though the name of the adoptive family was not given, many suspected that the story was about Lois Jurgens. Dennis lay in the ground at St. Marys Cemetery, no name given to his death. Murder Shelf Book Club Podcast | a podcast by murdershelfbookclub Lois Germaine Josephine Zerwas Jurgens (1925-2013) - Find a Grave Some had seen or heard Dennis being beaten. Are you sure that you want to report this flower to administrators as offensive or abusive? 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 . A condition of neglect did exist. A piano and bass fiddle occupied the living room. Read more about this topic: Murder Of Dennis Jurgens, But Ive heard mankind abuse thee;And perhaps its rather strange,But I thought that I would choose theeFor encomium, as a change.Charles Stuart Calverley (18311884), Mily: You must remember me!