They had just buried the body, and that was all. The suspicious death of Dennis Jurgens wasnt properly investigated for 20 years. . There is a lot to be known about the science of this whole darn subject, he said. The psychiatrist also observed that Lois had an obsession about order and cleanliness. Lois Jurgens served eight years of her sentence and had a quiet life as a widow in Stillwater, Minnesota. They saw the hearse sitting in the Jurgenses driveway, and a big blue convertible, and the police car parked awkwardly, askew, as if the officer had been in a hurry. . Lois Jurgens at the time that she had custody of Dennis. Lois Jurgens was convicted in May 1987 of murder (by abuse) in the death 22 years earlier of her adopted son, Dennis. Family members linked to this person will appear here. Learn how and when to remove this template message, "Child Abuse and Neglect in the Home | Center for Problem-Oriented Policing", "A woman was convicted Friday of third-degree murder in", Child Murder: The town that lived in silence, https://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=Murder_of_Dennis_Jurgens&oldid=1138138523, This page was last edited on 8 February 2023, at 06:11. He doesnt look like a tiny little kid, he thought. According to Rekdahls written log, that was the sum of what Peterson said to her. 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. Dennis was lying face up in his crib, his stiffened arms raised eight inches off the bed. The coroner noted in his report that Dennis had almost zero subcutaneous fat, at the level of a person who had died of starvation. Clayton Robinson Jr., a former prosecutor in the case, said Jurgens should not have been released yet. 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). Instead the judge agonized, repeatedly expressing from the bench his sense of conflict and uncertainty. Dennis had thrown up then. Lois Jurgens served eight years of her sentence and had a quiet life as a widow in Stillwater, Minnesota. There was a time when White Bear Lake was an exclusive watering hole for people from Chicago as well as the Twin Cities. 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. Lois' remedy for the toddler wetting his diaper too frequently was to place a spring-action clothespin upon the end of his penis. . The boy was dead by the time the doctor arrived at 9:35. The boy would be gasping and choking for breath until she would fear that he would drown. 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. It was not his job to do anything other than pronounce the boy dead. Though the name of the adoptive family was not given, many suspected that the story was about Lois Jurgens. But this death didnt look as though it was from natural causes. 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. Harold and Lois Jurgensa middle-class, churchgoing couple who had been unable to have children of their ownhad adopted Sherwoods son, Dennis, in 1962. He eats well. She saw Harold, then 40, as a tall, rather swarthy man of German and Norwegian extraction, with dark brown hair and eyes. There were, to begin with, the same photos of Dennis battered body on the coroners table. This, coupled with the lack of a statute of limitations for a murder charge, could lead the way to a prosecution of Lois Jurgens. 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. He pulled the file on the ancient case and began leafing through the yellowing pages. To this end, she forced religious training on her young sons; reports had young Robert flawlessly reciting the Rosary at 2. Harold's testimony in 1965 showed he was in Wisconsin from the evening of Friday, April 9, until 9 or 9:30 p.m. on Saturday, April 10. Dennis was now fully accepted and loved in the family, she decided. It looked to her as if the roses were placed there to cover up the dark blue markings. of Lois Jurgens are considered landmarks in the history of He does not sound very well behaved, she said. 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. They also caught crappies and smallmouth bass and northern pike, but the sunfish were the best. We have many This woman was no crank. I remember very clearly the pathologist coming in and saying it had to be a blow, not a fall, but I think the prosecutor felt he couldnt prove it, and I was on the same wavelength as the prosecutor. Sign up for The Lineup's newsletter and get terrifying tales delivered straight to your inbox. . The term is relative. Searching him out, she discovers he died at 3 1/2, though the death certificate does not show what killed him. VanderWyst, visiting him after the autopsy the night of Dennis death, told the family physician what Woodburn had found. She had a pathological need for control over her environment and obsessively cleaned and tended to her home and garden, desperate to appear the picture of the perfect housewife. If Votel had called it a homicide, at least that prospect would have been removed. She thought they had a lovely home. How could a little boy not scream out in pain as soon as he was burned? They beat my baby to death, Sherwood told Buzz Harvey. 1 Bakgrunn; 2 Innhold; . 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". Dennis and Robert Jurgens, 1965. The investigation, trial, and She also describes him as a clown, always laughing at himself or other people when they are around. 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. While he waited for the coroners investigator to arrive, he asked Lois Jurgens if there was anything he could do--such as take Robert to his own home, to be cared for by his wife. The situation had made him uncomfortable, so uncomfortable that he hadnt pulled down the blankets or examined the body further. All photos appear on this tab and here you can update the sort order of photos on memorials you manage. Doug Thomson, who defended Jurgens, said his client did not get out early. I want photos of this, he thought. There he had been loved and well cared for by an experienced foster mother. No one proposed handing the investigation to some other body--to, say, the county sheriffs office. You dont know what to think, Donna Marlene said. 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. Statements in the police logs were riddled with discrepancies. He was an outgoing child, as happy and adjusted as could be expected under the circumstances. Please enter your email address and we will send you an email with a reset password code. No prosecution was taken at that time. This sort of thing happened back then.. . Lois Jurgens.
``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. Lois and Harold Jurgens lived in a comfortable . Dennis lay in the ground at St. Marys Cemetery, no name given to his death. The process of adopting Dennis was completed. She wanted assurances. One day, Zerwas walked into the squad room and found the two officers investigating Dennis death. No animated GIFs, photos with additional graphics (borders, embellishments. I was young then, just out of college, the social worker said recently in an interview.| If you notice a problem with the translation, please send a message to [emailprotected] and include a link to the page and details about the problem. Votel could not take the first step. 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. He felt that Lois mental breakdown was not extremely serious and that she had completely recovered. That was all Gingold had to concern himself with. |