lois jurgens' death

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There are a lot of dead babies in the ground who were killed.. I didnt examine him further.. 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. Mrs. VanderWyst climbed into his patrol car and backed down the Jurgens driveway at 11:48 A.M. VanderWysts departure did not go unnoticed. It would be no use. Try again. . The topic under consideration was the possible placement of Dennis Puckett with the Jurgens family. 1 Bakgrunn; 2 Innhold; . Much of the testimony related to Dennis, not Robert. During his short life, Dennis . No, she explained. Rekdahl thought Lois Jurgens, then almost 37, to be a rather attractive woman, although she was short and a trifle on the chubby side. I was willing to wait. Votel was still waiting about two years later, when he retired from office. The hearing would prove to be a curious affair. and this case
All I could do was shake my head.. It was harder to believe that Dennis had been awake and talking normally an hour and a half before he died. Certain neighbors and family members knew there were problems with Lois' treatment of Dennis but did nothing to prevent it. 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. They talked with more than a dozen relatives and neighbors of the Jurgenses. Now VanderWyst was looking at him, asking a question: What was the cause of death?. 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 1965, Votel said, he thought this was certainly a battered-child case, but the reports indicated that the child had fallen down some stairs. The Jurgenses were delighted. Judge Gingold would not back down either. plans and enthusiasm . She is buried at the Union Cemetery, in Maplewood, Ramsey County, Minnesota . Buy It Now. Please enter your email address and we will send you an email with a reset password code. . he told the grand jury last year. As he viewed the body, he thought: This boy has been murdered. This site uses cookies to improve user experience. 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. Then there was the coroners report. 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. That doctor (Peterson) also presented problems--he was a typical doctor, couldnt believe his patient was killed.. They said it was from a fall down the basement stairs. Aside from the incident when Dennis was hospitalized with burns on his genitals, there were many other incidents of abuse that fell under the category of sexual sadism. The investigation, trial, and Dennis nose was blood-red--VanderWyst thought it looked as if you just wiped it once more youd probably take the rest of the skin away. . But, at a hearing just one month after Dennis death, Peterson, when asked if there was anything unusual about the burn accident, said: No, not in particular.. 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. child abuse law.

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. 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. Dennis' birth mother, Jerry Sherwood.

When Harold took him to the bathroom at about 7:30 or 8 in the morning, Dennis had seemed fine. Within months of Dennis' arrival, he was rushed to the hospital with first and second-degree burns on his genitalia, which were reported and accepted as accidental. GREAT NEWS! The chief one involved the nature of the malady that killed Dennis. He naps both in the forenoon and the afternoon. 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. Dennis had been a beautiful baby, Gladys Demars said. Jurgens' other adopted son, Robert, testified at the trial, at which Lois Jurgens (then in her 60s) was convicted of third-degree murder and sentenced to prison.[4]. The mother was an unmarried 17-year-old, Jerry Ann Puckett, an attractive blonde of Danish-German extraction. He was shaken. We came very close to trying to do something. Dennis had thrown up then. The defense picked the doctor, and set parameters on what questions he could ask. Instead the judge agonized, repeatedly expressing from the bench his sense of conflict and uncertainty. Harold was infertile and the Jurgenses desperately wanted to adopt another child. The doctors eyes slid to a corner of the room. Vachss uttalte at boken ikke forklarer begrunnelsen for at Harold er passiv, mens den har tilstrekkelig informasjon om Lois Jurgens. On Nov. 28, 1962, members of the Scott and Ramsey counties welfare departments, including Rekdahl, had a conference in the town of Shakopee. Soon after, Jerry Puckett dropped her plan to convert--but by then Dennis was already registered as Catholic on the adoption rolls. He does not sound very well behaved, she said. Description above from the Wikipedia article Lois Jurgens, licensed under CC-BY-SA, full list of contributors on Wikipedia. The doctor did not want to be there. Lois is survived by her husband, Floyd Jurgens; children Gary Jurgens and Caron Klein (Bruce);. The lawyers danced around the matter, leaving much unspoken. There is 1 volunteer for this cemetery. There were, to begin with, the same photos of Dennis battered body on the coroners table. That will require a juvenile hearing on neglect. She was sentenced to a maximum of 25 years in prison and was paroled in 1995.

 

When he arrived at the Jurgens home, though, hed realized all that was pointless. 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. He is extremely alert. I think my son is dying, Harold Jurgens had told the doctor on the phone that morning. They would have to find out. memorial page for Lois Germaine Josephine Zerwas Jurgens (12 Aug 1925-7 May 2013), Find a Grave Memorial ID 134346102, citing Union Cemetery, Maplewood, Ramsey County . Forever' w/ the In the early 1980s, Dennis' birth mother, Jerry Sherwood, looked for Dennis, only to find out he had died in 1965. 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. This drove Lois further into madness, as she felt she needed children to complete the "perfect picture" of her life. She is buried at the Union Cemetery, in Maplewood, Ramsey County, Minnesota. Doug Thomson, who defended Jurgens, said his client did not get out early. To keep creating Certain neighbors and family members knew there were problems with Lois' treatment of Dennis but did nothing to prevent it. It looked to her as if the roses were placed there to cover up the dark blue markings. Why werent his hands burned--wouldnt he have instinctively reached down to protect himself? He could be a battered child, Votel said he reasoned, and still his death could have been caused by a fall, an accident. 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. 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. Dennis died that evening of Peritonitis due to a perforation of his small bowel. #dennisjurgens #jerrysherwood #truecrime Jerry Puckett's mother abandoned her when she was three, she was raised by her father and abused by two stepmothers.. . There was also the matter of community attitudes. Those looking back now, those who unraveled the case, tend to shrug and shake their heads when Votels name comes up. Try again later. 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. Even so, doctors do not usually see third-degree burns in an area that isnt covered by clothing. Ive been doing this job too long. About 50 witnesses provided a mixed story. Her brother, Jerome Zerwas, was the police lieutenant of the town of White Bear Lake, Minnesota, where she lived at the time. Rekdahl found him friendly and talkative--perhaps too much so, for he often strayed widely from the subject at hand. He feared finding himself alone. 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). 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. Thirty years later, writer and artist Dan Jurgens is revisiting the storyline that gripped the world. You are nearing the transfer limit for memorials managed by Find a Grave. When patrolman Robert VanderWyst arrived at the Jurgens home soon after, he found the doctor, the Jurgenses and 5-year-old Robert in the living room. Donohue was not inclined to relax such controls. The neighbors talked among themselves that afternoon. I want photos of this, he thought. When he wouldnt have a bowel movement, she said, she pulled the feces from his rectum with her hands. Family and friends are welcome to leave their condolences on this memorial page and share them with the family. 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 She died aged 87 on May 7, 2013. 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. Some had seen or heard Dennis being beaten. 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. Do Not Sell or Share My Personal Information, Desperate mountain residents trapped by snow beg for help; We are coming, sheriff says, Hidden, illegal casinos are booming in L.A., with organized crime reaping big profits, Look up: The 32 most spectacular ceilings in Los Angeles, This fabled orchid breeder loves to chat just not about Trader Joes orchids, Elliott: Kings use their heads over hearts in trading Jonathan Quick, 19 cafes that make L.A. a world-class coffee destination, Newsom, IRS give Californians until October to file tax returns, 12 reasons why Sycamore Avenue is L.A.s coolest new hangout, Best coffee city in the world? Her secret was revealed after Sherwood began searching for the son she gave up for adoption and learned in 1983 that he had died of a bowel injury. 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. 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. A dead boy, though, was something else. Is it quite customary to see a little boy with so many bruises, he was asked. Harold Jurgens, an electrical foreman, made $10,000 in 1962, and this placed his family a cut above many of their friends and neighbors. After Dennis' death, an older adopted son, Robert, was removed from the Jurgens home. They owned a 1963 Chevrolet pickup and a 1960 Falcon station wagon. His vision was a hulking humanoid creature with massive muscles and chunks of bone . https://www.findagrave.com/memorial/134346102/lois-germaine_josephine-jurgens. I would question him. 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. 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. Pitera stared at the body. My deputy reassured me from time to time. I have several children about that age with this same problem. 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. Verify and try again. The case is described in detail in Barry Siegel's true-crime novel, A Death in White Bear Lake. She remembered the names, the faces--she particularly remembered Dennis. 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. There are no volunteers for this cemetery. One of Lois Jurgens responses was to call Father Riser, the priest who had so warmly recommended them to the county welfare worker. WHAT happened? She died aged 87 on May 7, 2013. Save to an Ancestry Tree, a virtual cemetery, your clipboard for pasting or Print. . In the early 1980s, Dennis' birth mother, Jerry Sherwood, looked for Dennis, only to find out he had died in 1965. He doesnt look like a tiny little kid, he thought. 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. Use the links under See more to quickly search for other people with the same last name in the same cemetery, city, county, etc. 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. Our kids have fallen down steps and not died. Oops, some error occurred while uploading your photo(s). As he read, he stiffened in his chair.
It was highly unlikely that a fall on a flat surface could have caused this. Connect with the definitive source for global and local news.

Due to this frequent starvation, Dennis gained only three pounds in a 2+12-year period as he aged from one year old to 3+12 years old. From a newspaper notice of his death she had learned that the boys body bore multiple injuries and bruises. Maybe we can get more evidence from there. This account already exists, but the email address still needs to be confirmed. The only part of him that I saw was his chest and his face. They had just buried the body, and that was all. Its kind of hard to believe., ``How can you take a babys life like that and beat it for two years and then walk free? she said. Now the town is most frequently described as middle class. Then he began to look terrible--his face so old, like a little old man. 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. Donna Neely wondered, as she studied the Jurgenses now-silent house from her front window. Years later, the attorney representing Roberts interests at the 1965 custody hearing would still remember those photos. Rekdahl thought that Lois speech betrayed a bit of cynicism. . 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. She is buried at the Union Cemetery, in Maplewood, Ramsey County, Minnesota. An email has been sent to the person who requested the photo informing them that you have fulfilled their request, There is an open photo request for this memorial. On the other hand, he could not bring himself to embrace the notion that Lois Jurgens was a murderer. Failed to remove flower. She thought the postplacement period had been quite successful. At that time, the battered-child syndrome was just beginning to be recognized. This post is sponsored by Open Road Media. They covered the face, the head, the arms. Close this window, and upload the photo(s) again. DC artist Dan Jurgens shares an image of an unused Electric Blue Superman design from 1996, reminiscing about what might have been. Thank you very much in advance. To all appearances, they were a normal midwestern family, but Jerry suspected that something sinister had happened in the Jurgens household. Blankets covered him to the waist. The coroner noted in his report that Dennis had almost zero subcutaneous fat, at the level of a person who had died of starvation. Clothing retains the heat. new content, we kindly appreciate any donation you can give to help Search above to list available cemeteries. 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. Though there was an investigation, society and law enforcement of the mid-1960s did not accept the concept that a child in a middle-class home could be the target of abuse. 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. It would have been difficult at the time to prove that Lois Jurgens had committed murder.

Robert would remain in county custody for the time being. It was as if the authorities had found a way to try Lois Jurgens for Dennis death without calling it a murder. And a Dr. Peterson called at 10:09 a.m. to report a DOA--dead on arrival--at 2148 Gardenette Drive. There appeared to be a number of discrepancies in the Jurgenses story, he noted. Together they went into Dennis room to inspect the body. 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. Nor had his arrival two hours before. Lois Jurgens, it turns out, was from the start a poor parental bet. roger w. tufte sr. was born on march 22, 1945 in lakota, nd the son of clarence and esther (johnson. Zerwas wouldnt let the rest of his family view the body. Man held is death of retarded foster child, Minneapolis Star, May 21, 1971. 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.

. My clients have rights, he said. How in the heck could that happen? In fact, it appalled and amazed her because she herself thought the baby extremely appealing, very friendly, with very beautiful blue eyes and a very nice smile. Donna Mae Zerwas, Lois sister-in-law, had seen all that and more. The official cause of death was peritonitis due to perforation of the small bowel wich even 1965 was treatable if he'd been brought to the hospital . Rekdahl was developing real doubts about this placement, but the Jurgenses decided to go see Dennis that afternoon. Try again later. Quickly see who the memorial is for and when they lived and died and where they are buried. 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. 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. The rows of neatly kept houses, the modern police station and the shopping strips all reflect a level of modest comfort rather than affluence. VanderWyst, visiting him after the autopsy the night of Dennis death, told the family physician what Woodburn had found. The afflicted look and act very sick for a matter of hours, sometimes days. The same day that she spoke to the priest--Aug. 30, 1962--Rekdahl informed the Jurgenses that they were going to be approved for a second adoption. This was the situation that Gerane Rekdahl, a Ramsey County welfare case worker, found when she visited the Jurgens home on March 1, 1962. Jurgens was one of 16 children. They had checked on him throughout the night. This story changed a lot about the Superman line of booksincluding introducing iconic '90s heroes like Superboy and Steeland DC Comics writ large.