Soon the word spread from house to housethered been a death, the younger Jurgens boy had died. The next day, Rekdahl phoned the Jurgenses family physician, Dr. Roy Peterson, who was treating Dennis. 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. Dennis was now fully accepted and loved in the family, she decided. It was just inconceivable to Woodburn that Dennis had been so injured by slipping and falling on a basement floor. Harold (Harry) Jurgens, 76 of Filley passed away at Gold Crest Retirement Center in Adams on January 7, 2018. . She knew that Lois came from a large, poor, Catholic family of 16 children, a family that at times survived on welfare. I did my best.. Her attorney Doug Thomson (left) follows, and Harold Jurgens is behind him. This account has been disabled. 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. Lois considered herself a devout Catholic and believed she was doing "God's work" by making Dennis "perfect" in her eyes. Thanks for your help! They had seen Lois pull Dennis ears so hard that blood flowed. Lois E. Jurgens, 82, passed away on Friday, September 7, 2012 at Lakeland Health Care Center Elkhorn, WI. Child Murder : The Town That Lived in Silence - Los Angeles Times 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. It is one of a few crimes that FBI agent Kenneth Lanning argues can legitimately be described as "ritual abuse". 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. And a Dr. Peterson called at 10:09 a.m. to report a DOA--dead on arrival--at 2148 Gardenette Drive. Minnesota Woman Found Guilty of Killing Adopted Son in 1965 He wanted others to go first. Even so, doctors do not usually see third-degree burns in an area that isnt covered by clothing. At the funeral home, Lois Jurgens brother, Lloyd Zerwas, came to pay his respects. Certain neighbors and family members knew there were problems with Lois' treatment of Dennis but did nothing to prevent it. He naps both in the forenoon and the afternoon. We will review the memorials and decide if they should be merged. For memorials with more than one photo, additional photos will appear here or on the photos tab. If you throw up, you are going to eat it. He couldnt comprehend anyone torturing a kid, Peterson would explain many years later. 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. You are only allowed to leave one flower per day for any given memorial. That was why the judge wanted Lois Jurgens to consent to a thorough, inpatient examination by a psychiatrist he knew and trusted. Published by Bantam Books, 1990. On the night of his death, Lois was in an extremely bad mood due to flooding which was filling up the basement with water. In early December, 1963, Rekdahl paid her last postplacement visit to the Jurgenses. the Murderpedia project stay alive. ``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. 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. Most simply remain hidden. Top Rated Seller. SEARCH FOR SON GETS AN ABUSE CASE CLOSED - Chicago Tribune The first few days of the police investigation by VanderWyst and Sgt.
Lois Jurgens headed to trial. But in 1962, before the developers and high-speed roads came, this was more truly a small town, inbred and insular, with a population just reaching 15,000. He had read the early articles that by then had been published. The victim Though the name of the adoptive family was not given, many suspected that the story was about Lois Jurgens. Mrs. There were many fateful moments in Dennis brief life, moments in which his destiny could have been changed. 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. Lois Jurgens agreed, but seemed scared that she would not be offered another child. 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. The St. Paul Pioneer Press ran a cover story about the investigation on Sunday, October 12, 1986. Dennis and Robert Jurgens, 1965. This drove Lois further into madness, as she felt she needed children to complete the "perfect picture" of her life. Lois and Harold Jurgens lived in a comfortable, meticulously maintained three-bedroom house with a big, fenced backyard on a large corner lot on Gardenette Drive. Prosecutors contended little Dennis died after numerous beatings and abuse, which including making the child eat food covered with horseradish and tying him spread-eagle in his crib. Jerry took her case to the White Bear Lake police department and then to the local media. 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. She was diagnosed as having mixed psychoneurosis and also unable to conceive a child with Harold. Lois Germaine Josephine Zerwas Jurgens was an American convicted murderer. Lois Jurgens (born 1925) is an American convicted murderer. Harold and Lois Jurgensa middle-class, churchgoing couple who had been unable to have children of their ownhad adopted Sherwoods son, Dennis, in 1962. Donna Mae Zerwas, Lois sister-in-law, had seen all that and more. Ive been doing this job too long. I just examined him to see that he was in fact dead.
How could the hot water splashing down on the baby have burned only his penis and scrotum? For a time, that appeared to be the end of the story. DC artist Dan Jurgens shares an image of an unused Electric Blue Superman design from 1996, reminiscing about what might have been. of Lois Jurgens are considered landmarks in the history of He knew Peterson as a man always willing to help others, as a doctor very much for his patients. Rekdahl found him friendly and talkative--perhaps too much so, for he often strayed widely from the subject at hand. It did not occur to him to question Robert. Lois was born on March 4, 1930, in Iowa the daughter of the late Axel and Lena. 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. He is extremely alert. She is buried at the Union Cemetery, in Maplewood, Ramsey County, Minnesota. She had a story to tell. He was frequently starved, to rid him of "sloppy fat," as Lois called it (she also called him "Sloppy Fat" as a nickname). For that reason, Dennis, a week after his birth, was baptized a Catholic. The way Lindholm figured it, instead of prosecuting Lois Jurgens for murder, lets move to take Robert away. the prosecution saw Lois Jurgens
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. Building a general history of abusive conduct would not be sufficient. Now the town is most frequently described as middle class. Robert was leaving things alone at the age of 1 year. Lois Germaine Josephine Zerwas Jurgens (1925-2013) - Find a Grave . To receive the type of severe burns he suffered, Dennis would have had to be exposed to steaming-hot water for a significant length of time. Leave a sympathy message to the family in the guestbook on this memorial page of Lois Jean (Jones) Jurgens to show support. Flowers added to the memorial appear on the bottom of the memorial or here on the Flowers tab. 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 .mw-parser-output .frac{white-space:nowrap}.mw-parser-output .frac .num,.mw-parser-output .frac .den{font-size:80%;line-height:0;vertical-align:super}.mw-parser-output .frac .den{vertical-align:sub}.mw-parser-output .sr-only{border:0;clip:rect(0,0,0,0);height:1px;margin:-1px;overflow:hidden;padding:0;position:absolute;width:1px}3+12 years of age. The rows of neatly kept houses, the modern police station and the shopping strips all reflect a level of modest comfort rather than affluence. in the third degree and sent to prison. Zerwas wouldnt let the rest of his family view the body. Still it is fair to say that the story Lois Jurgens told required a considerable imagination to embrace. Lois Jean (Jones) Jurgens - Peterson Mortuary, Inc. Lois, who abused Dennis constantly, escalated to new levels of rage as the flood waters filled her basement.
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