Quickly see who the memorial is for and when they lived and died and where they are buried. I was advised that the information was being obtained, that there was an ongoing investigation, Votel said recently. This had required at least two hospitalizations at the Mayo Clinic and at a small psychiatric hospital called Crestview, where she had received electrical shock treatments. She was sentenced to a maximum of 25 years in prison and was paroled in 1995.

Dennis Craig Jurgens, 3.

Lois Jurgens was convicted in May 1987 of murder (by abuse) in the death 22 years earlier of her adopted son, Dennis. . 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. A Mrs. Charles reported a car blocking a driveway at 823 5th St. A Mrs. Krugger reported that children were damming the street at Elm and Ebba (there had been heavy rain the night before). Please complete the captcha to let us know you are a real person. He was frequently starved, to rid him of "sloppy fat," as Lois called it (she also called him "Sloppy Fat" as a nickname). The doctors eyes slid to a corner of the room. With the advent of highways, White Bear Lake has become a suburb of St. Paul, about 12 miles to the south. Nine months earlier, on Dec. 6, 1961, Dennis Craig Puckett, 8 1/2 pounds, had been born at St. Michaels Hospital in Sauk Centre, in nearby Scott County. Want more true crime books? the prosecution saw Lois Jurgens
I did my best.. I was young then, just out of college, the social worker said recently in an interview. . The hole had allowed a fifth of a quart of infectious, purulent fecal material to flow into the abdominal cavity.

Photo by Patrick Hendry on Unsplash. Published Jan 18, 2023. When it froze, hed hang lights on the seven surrounding elm trees, put out snow sculptures of bears and seals tinted with food coloring, and invite all the neighborhood kids to join his own two children in skating and hockey games. or don't show this againI am good at figuring things out. There was no community pressure back then. White Bear Lake, Minnesota. They beat my baby to death. Rekdahl did not know that a psychiatrist at the Mayo Clinic had diagnosed Lois Jurgens as having a longstanding psychoneurosis dating to her childhood--a childhood spent in a tension-filled home with an alcoholic, abusive father. The adoption should be approved. I have never seen anything like that done.. harold e bageant obituary visitation funeral information. . Initial placement was with a licensed, unrelated foster family, but Robert was then moved to his paternal grandparents at his parents' request. Lois had had a history of mental illnesses including depression and psychosis and was originally deemed . Several told of having seen Dennis bruised and battered. A system error has occurred. In her effort to make Dennis "right" in her eyes, Lois embarked on a series of sadistic and corporal punishments: Angered at Dennis for rejecting certain foods, she responded by placing horseradish on the food and then force-fed it to him. Whod listen? The coroner noted in his report that Dennis had almost zero subcutaneous fat, at the level of a person who had died of starvation. DC artist Dan Jurgens shares an image of an unused Electric Blue Superman design from 1996, reminiscing about what might have been. Harold Jurgens suggested that perhaps they should not go forward with the adoption of Dennis, but Lois refused out of concern that it would discourage the authorities from allowing them to adopt further children. A few wondered how the Jurgenses had ever been allowed to adopt children. 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. . Continuing with this request will add an alert to the cemetery page and any new volunteers will have the opportunity to fulfill your request. WHAT happened? We thought it would be no use.. In our family you dont dare say much.. This was the first child-abuse case he had handled. 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. Her mother having long ago disappeared, Jerry Puckett had bounced among assorted relatives and county homes for girls. He would testify that he had talked to some lady down there. 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. . Tragically, just a few years after the adoption, Dennis died from peritonitis. . Notes References A Death in White Bear Lakeby Barry Siegel. Dennis Craig Jurgens (December 6, 1961 April 11, 1965) was an American 3-year-old boy who was murdered in White Bear Lake, Minnesota in April 1965. Harold (Harry) Jurgens, 76 of Filley passed away at Gold Crest Retirement Center in Adams on January 7, 2018. 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. The suspicious death of Dennis Jurgens wasnt properly investigated for 20 years. On April 26, Korolchuk drafted an analysis of the information they had gathered. Harold Jurgens had converted a breezeway off the kitchen into a large, open family, dining and cooking area. No prosecution was taken at that time. Murderpedia has thousands of hours of work behind it. 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. Late in August, Lois had called Rekdahl to report the matter. For a time, that appeared to be the end of the story. From the bench, he said he hoped that they could find something to explain the mistreatment of Dennis. She is buried at the Union Cemetery, in Maplewood, Ramsey County, Minnesota . They carried assorted life insurance polices worth $10,000.

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. Many years later, at his mother's trial, by then 27-year-old Robert recounted the events of that evening, testifying that his mother had beaten Dennis extensively and had thrown him down the stairs. We have many Thanks for using Find a Grave, if you have any feedback we would love to hear from you. Retrieved 12 February 2015. Save to an Ancestry Tree, a virtual cemetery, your clipboard for pasting or Print. Please enter your email and password to sign in. Rekdahl decided to call on the Jurgenses. It is essentially unconceivable to me, without a protruding object above the floor, that he could have been injured in this way, Woodburn said. I didnt look after that; I couldnt, she said. Rekdahl, who graduated from St. Pauls Hamline University in 1957 with a bachelors degree in social work, had been in adoption services for less than one year. The defense picked the doctor, and set parameters on what questions he could ask. They covered the face, the head, the arms. Please contact Find a Grave at [emailprotected] if you need help resetting your password. Lois Germaine Josephine Zerwas Jurgens was an American convicted murderer. 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. Learn about how to make the most of a memorial. They had checked on him throughout the night. Thanks for your help! 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. There are no volunteers for this cemetery. 1 Bakgrunn; 2 Innhold; . Peritonitis is a horribly painful illness involving shock, collapse of the blood vessel system, high fever and breathing difficulties. 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! Lois Jurgens released after serving eight years, The Winona Daily News, June, 7, 1995. This case was a drop of water in the river.. 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. That was all Gingold had to concern himself with. After Dennis' death, an older adopted son, Robert, was removed from the Jurgens home. Other testimony and evidence was more troubling. Use Escape keyboard button or the Close button to close the carousel. It looked to her as if the roses were placed there to cover up the dark blue markings. Rekdahl thought Lois Jurgens, then almost 37, to be a rather attractive woman, although she was short and a trifle on the chubby side. It was as if the authorities had found a way to try Lois Jurgens for Dennis death without calling it a murder. . She died aged 87 on May 7, 2013. Obituary. There was testimony from other officers that he impeded the investigation into the child's death. She grew up and attended school in Malvern, graduating in 1947. ``She did a lot more than she should have.. In 1992 A made-for-TV movie was made based on both Jerry's story and this case called, ' A Child Lost Forever ' w/ the remarkable Beverly D'Angelo as Jerry Sherwood and Judith Ivey as Lois Jurgens. The St. Paul Pioneer Press ran a cover story about the investigation on Sunday, October 12, 1986. ?Tadeusz: I never remember pretty women. The term is relative. 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. She died aged 87 on May 7, 2013. . All photos uploaded successfully, click on the Done button to see the photos in the gallery. . Dennis Craig Jurgens was an American 3-year-old boy who was murdered in White Bear Lake, Minnesota in April 1965. No one proposed handing the investigation to some other body--to, say, the county sheriffs office. Just past one year of age, Dennis was placed in the Jurgens' home in 1962, in anticipation of an adoption after spending much of his first year in foster care. cemeteries found within miles of your location will be saved to your photo volunteer list. She seemed to Scott County welfare workers a hostile and sullen young woman, unhappy and emotionally underdeveloped. He returned to the Jurgens home in time to meet the coroners investigator, Saveiro Pitera. Dennis Craig Jurgens (December 6, 1961 - April 11, 1965) was an American 3-year-old boy who was murdered in White Bear Lake, Minnesota in April 1965. In the early 1980s, Dennis' birth mother, Jerry Sherwood, looked for Dennis, only to find out he had died in 1965. She was cleared of second-degree . Votel went through living hell, one local judge said. Others promised that they would do so. Theres nothing worse, Peterson had thought, than seeing a dead child. She knew that Lois had finished only the eighth grade. 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. 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. 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 While visiting one Thanksgiving, she saw Lois force-feed Dennis, in a highchair, by shoving a fork full of food into his mouth. I was willing to wait. Votel was still waiting about two years later, when he retired from office. It is fair to say that this finding raised considerable questions. In 1951, some 14 years before Dennis's death, a psychiatrist at the Mayo Clinic entered this assessment in her file: "It is . Family and friends are welcome to leave their condolences on this memorial page and share them with the family. Woman Tortures Adoptive Son To Death Lois Jurgens (40) was variously described as both short-tempered and vindictive by her neighbours and others who encountered her in the town of White Bear Lake, Minnesota, and it was well known that she experienced bouts of severe depression and psychosis. That will require a juvenile hearing on neglect. Three-year-old Dennis Jurgens is murdered by his adoptive mother. Are you sure that you want to delete this photo? When he arrived at the Jurgens home, though, hed realized all that was pointless. Maybe we can get more evidence from there. She is buried at the Union Cemetery, in Maplewood, Ramsey County, Minnesota. Other than that, nothing remarkable.. By the second week, the investigation began to encounter obstacles. There was something wrong here. 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. Try again later. To use this feature, use a newer browser. Buy It Now. Close this window, and upload the photo(s) again. Camille Brass knew the blue convertible belonged to Dr. Peterson.