Notes References A Death in White Bear Lakeby Barry Siegel. ANGELIZD's Place - Child Abuse Pages - Dennis Craig Jurgens Peterson, a slender 6-footer, was a respected local doctor, a University of Minnesota medical graduate who had served in the Marines before opening a private practice in White Bear Lake in 1951. Try again later. Officially forbidden to adopt children owing to Lois' history of mental illness, the couple managed to adopt a baby named Robert privately. Superman Writer Confirms Which Villains Almost Killed the - ScreenRant
Her attorney Doug Thomson (left) follows, and Harold Jurgens is behind him. They talked with more than a dozen relatives and neighbors of the Jurgenses. 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. Harold Jurgens, an electrical foreman, made $10,000 in 1962, and this placed his family a cut above many of their friends and neighbors. 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. For a time, that appeared to be the end of the story. Lois Jurgens at the time that she had custody of Dennis.
The case is described in detail in Barry Siegel's true-crime novel, A Death in White Bear Lake. They wanted an infant under a year old, and they wanted a Catholic child. Pitera would take photos later that day. Murder of Dennis Jurgens - Wikipedia On January 13, 2000, she was initially suspected of poisoning her husband, Harold. When she was 17 and living in a juvenile home, she said, she gave birth to a boy, Dennis, who was quickly taken from her and eventually adopted by a family named Jurgens who lived in White Bear Lake.
Problems arose within the police department as well. Lois Jurgens served eight years of her sentence and had a quiet life as a widow in Stillwater, Minnesota. Nor had his arrival two hours before. 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. Then there was the coroners report. 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. Connect with the definitive source for global and local news. That isnt an issue at all.
Harold and Lois Jurgensa middle-class, churchgoing couple who had been unable to have children of their ownhad adopted Sherwood's son, Dennis, in 1962. Learn more about managing a memorial . Donna Marlene had seen other things. A Death in White Bear Lake: Notorious crime in city history marks 50 She was sentenced to a maximum of 25 years in prison and was paroled in 1995. Harold and Lois Jurgensa middle-class, churchgoing couple who had been unable to have children of their ownhad adopted Sherwoods son, Dennis, in 1962. Continuing with this request will add an alert to the cemetery page and any new volunteers will have the opportunity to fulfill your request. undefined Notes ^ http://www.angelizdsplace.com/ http://www.angelizdsplace.com/child43.htm. I can recall seeing some, but its not very clear. 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. ``I prayed for eight years that shed die in there. Lois Jurgens was disappointed about Dennis age. Lois walks past the TV cameras on her way to the courtroom on January 30, 1987, to plead not guilty to three counts of murder. When Lois found him gasping and gurgling at 9 a.m., she promptly called Dr. Peterson.
Some had seen or heard Dennis being beaten. When you judge a case, you dont do so in a vacuum, Lindholm would explain years later in an interview. The just announced 80-page Death of Superman 30 th Anniversary Special will find Superman, his friends and his family revisiting his death, while dealing with a destructive new threat known as Doombreaker. ?Tadeusz: I never remember pretty women. 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 memorial has been copied to your clipboard.
The coroner noted in his report that Dennis had almost zero subcutaneous fat, at the level of a person who had died of starvation. Now VanderWyst was looking at him, asking a question: What was the cause of death?. to keep expanding and making Murderpedia a better site, but we really [citation needed][3].
. He felt that Lois mental breakdown was not extremely serious and that she had completely recovered. Jerry took her case to the White Bear Lake police department and then to the local media. No, she explained. They covered the face, the head, the arms. There is in the Scott County records a description of Dennis in the foster home where he lived his first year: He is solidly built, with blue eyes and blond hair. She was the adoptive mother of six children in the 1960s and 1970s, and brutally abused them all, killing one of them, three-year-old Dennis Jurgens, in 1965. Lois' remedy for the toddler wetting his diaper too frequently was to place a spring-action clothespin upon the end of his penis.
You are nearing the transfer limit for memorials managed by Find a Grave. The only part of him that I saw was his chest and his face. 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. She was born February 25, 1927 to Leslie and Margaret Stowell in Cass County IL. Photo by Patrick Hendry on Unsplash. Resend Activation Email. Though autopsy photos showed Dennis body was covered in bruises at the time of his death, the coroner never declared it an accidentor rather, what it really was: murder. . . She was a good dozen years younger than the Jurgenses.
She is buried at the Union Cemetery, in Maplewood, Ramsey County, Minnesota . . There were many fateful moments in Dennis brief life, moments in which his destiny could have been changed. 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. They wanted to do something, but felt it was none of their business. . It had always troubled her, more than any she handled before or since. To all appearances, they were a normal midwestern family, but Jerry suspected that something sinister had happened in the Jurgens household. 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. Found more than one record for entered Email, You need to confirm this account before you can sign in. Superman: Lois and Clark by Dan Jurgens | Goodreads A parade of neighbors and relatives called to the stand by the Jurgenses attorney, Edward Donohue, all denied seeing any evidence of abuse. 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.
The testimony from Dr. Woodburn, the pathologist who did the autopsy on Dennis, was unequivocal. . They carried assorted life insurance polices worth $10,000. Our kids have fallen down steps and not died. They owned a 1963 Chevrolet pickup and a 1960 Falcon station wagon. Edit a memorial you manage or suggest changes to the memorial manager. He was an outgoing child, as happy and adjusted as could be expected under the circumstances. We have set your language to Their investments and savings totaled $2,200. 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. The night of his death, a great flood had hit the Saint Paul area and the Mississippi River's waters were rising to record levels, causing flooding in the region and inside the Jurgens' home. The hearing would prove to be a curious affair.
