To this end, she forced religious training on her young sons; reports had young Robert flawlessly reciting the Rosary at 2.
| Jurgens who says he still has the yellow legal pad on which he did his quick sketch was the victor. She saw Harold, then 40, as a tall, rather swarthy man of German and Norwegian extraction, with dark brown hair and eyes. This account has been disabled. . 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. . . ``I prayed for eight years that shed die in there. He had read the early articles that by then had been published. from United States. You do consider social attitudes. Dennis struggled with such training and was forced to pray and recite his Rosary kneeling on a broomstick for extended periods, until he did it correctly. The Jurgenses returned to their house on Gardenette Drive, childless but free of any charge. None of this, however, was what had killed Dennis. Are you sure that you want to remove this flower? You are only allowed to leave one flower per day for any given memorial. Adopted just after his first birthday, Dennis suffered years of abuse at the hands of his adoptive mother, Lois Jurgens. 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. Rekdahl did know that Lois had a history of psychiatric problems involving a nervous breakdown in the early 1950s. All I could do was shake my head.. She always proclaimed her innocence. She knew he had high school and one year of college behind him, and that he was an only child with strong bonds to his mother. . The hearing would prove to be a curious affair. Building a general history of abusive conduct would not be sufficient. Donohue, their attorney, had allowed Lois before the hearing to be examined by a psychiatrist only under the strictest conditions. 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. ``There is no justice. She died aged 87 on May 7, 2013. It just made me sick. We would like to have done something, but it was none of our business. To the casual observer, the Jurgens' seemed to be a normal, church-going family with a perfectly maintained house and yard. She was 61 when she went to prison and served eight years before being paroled.. On January 13, 2000, she was initially suspected of poisoning her husband, Harold. https://www.findagrave.com/memorial/134346102/lois-germaine_josephine-jurgens. April 11, 1965. Resend Activation Email. 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. My clients have rights, he said. | Lois Lane (Phyllis Coates). From the bench, he said he hoped that they could find something to explain the mistreatment of Dennis. There is a lot to be known about the science of this whole darn subject, he said. The Jurgenses were delighted. The question of Dennis Jurgens death next fell to the Ramsey County attorneys office. Try again later. Sorry! Rekdahl found him friendly and talkative--perhaps too much so, for he often strayed widely from the subject at hand. Petersons house sat precisely on the site of the old Wildwood Amusement Park. 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]. It was not his job to do anything other than pronounce the boy dead. [2] She is buried at the Union Cemetery, in Maplewood, Ramsey County, Minnesota . To keep creating That was all Gingold had to concern himself with. Clayton Robinson Jr., a former prosecutor in the case, said Jurgens should not have been released yet. He was shaken. The neighbors talked among themselves that afternoon. . Zerwas wouldnt let the rest of his family view the body. Their investments and savings totaled $2,200. Those in the station familiar with the downtown strip joints in nearby St. Paul might have recognized Jerry Ann Sherwood from her earlier tenure at Alarys Club Bar. Robert was returned to the Jurgens home and, going through new channels, the couple was eventually able to adopt four school-aged siblings from Kentucky. Harold and Lois Jurgens, on the advice of their attorney, no longer would make themselves available for questioning. 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 process of adopting Dennis was completed. In the early 1980s, Jerry Sherwood went looking for the newborn son she gave up for adoption 20 years prior. What to make of Dennis Jurgens death now was passed into the hands of the Ramsey County coroner. Please check your email and click on the link to activate your account. Lois Jurgens headed to trial. Brand New. They just buried the body in St.. 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. When you judge a case, you dont do so in a vacuum, Lindholm would explain years later in an interview. It is not known specifically what caused the fatal blow, though the injury was later found to have been, beyond a reasonable doubt, inflicted by Lois Jurgens owing to evidence of her constant physical abuse. She thought Dennis was sloppy fat. This particularly surprised Rekdahl. Meanwhile, Dennis was getting whirlpool baths every day. Ive been doing this job too long. 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 1950 to 1970.The trial of Lois Jurgens for the murder of 3-year-old Dennis made national . Tragically, just a few years after the adoption, Dennis died from peritonitis. 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.  There were, to begin with, the same photos of Dennis battered body on the coroners table. He has no teeth yet, but they are coming. They were informed they would not be allowed to foster or adopt any additional children. Dennis was now fully accepted and loved in the family, she decided. The welfare department case work was very limited. Notes References A Death in White Bear Lakeby Barry Siegel. I can recall seeing some, but its not very clear. If you throw up, you are going to eat it. |
remarkable Beverly D'Angelo as Jerry Sherwood 