lois jurgens' death
. Two hours before, sitting in his waterside home on the southeast shore of White Bear Lake, Sunday morning had seemed so promising. Votel could not take the first step. She had not noticed anything was wrong until sometime later, when Dennis began holding himself and saying, Owie! It was then she saw that his genitals were burned and called the doctor. Try again later. Donohue, their attorney, had allowed Lois before the hearing to be examined by a psychiatrist only under the strictest conditions. We are a participant in the Amazon Services LLC Associates Program, an affiliate advertising program designed to provide a means for us to earn fees by linking to Amazon.com and affiliated sites. The investigation, trial, and
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. You may occasionally receive promotional content from the Los Angeles Times. Jerry Puckett was a Protestant by background, but at the time Dennis was born she was intending to take instruction in the Roman Catholic faith. To add a flower, click the Leave a Flower button. 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. She was 61 when she went to prison and served eight years before being paroled.. He feared finding himself alone. In fact, they remain strangely forgotten. For memorials with more than one photo, additional photos will appear here or on the photos tab. . He pulled the file on the ancient case and began leafing through the yellowing pages. Instead the judge agonized, repeatedly expressing from the bench his sense of conflict and uncertainty. Even so, doctors do not usually see third-degree burns in an area that isnt covered by clothing. 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. 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. [citation needed], Dennis Jurgens was born Dennis Craig Puckett in Sauk Centre, Minnesota. Soon the word spread from house to housethered been a death, the younger Jurgens boy had died. He attended Olney Rural Elementary School and graduated from Filley High School in 1959. Close this window, and upload the photo(s) again. 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.The trial of Lois Jurgens for the murder of 3-year-old Dennis made national . Lois Jean (Jones) Jurgens Obituary We are sad to announce that on June 13, 2022 we had to say goodbye to Lois Jean (Jones) Jurgens of Arvada, Colorado. After seeing newspaper reports about the death, she was convinced that he had been beaten to death and demanded the case be re-opened. At the funeral home, Lois Jurgens brother, Lloyd Zerwas, came to pay his respects. 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. Retired now for several years, he suffers from angina and does not go out much, but he recalls the 1965 hearing. This, coupled with the lack of a statute of limitations for a murder charge, could lead the way to a prosecution of Lois Jurgens. . so its not unusual.. The victim Jurgens and Weeks joined CBR to discuss launching Lois & Clark 2 and spoilers for its first installment. We didnt believe it was possible in nice, middle-class suburban families..
White Bear Lake, a picturesque American town where kids freely ride bikes, play two-square and parents throw neighborhood BBQsand where 3 year old Dennis Jurgens died on Palm Sunday 1965. 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. If you throw up, you are going to eat it. We would like to have done something, but it was none of our business. . On January 13, 2000, she was initially suspected of poisoning her husband, Harold. He has no teeth yet, but they are coming. A common belief amongst witnesses and neighbors at the time of the murder, and among the investigators who eventually re-opened the case, is that he interfered with the investigation and destroyed incriminating evidence. They beat my baby to death. Lois Jurgens agreed, but seemed scared that she would not be offered another child. The St. Paul Pioneer Press ran a cover story about the investigation on Sunday, October 12, 1986. Throughout the years of frequent abuse, it has been reported that while Harold Jurgens made little effort to curb his wife's abuse of young Dennis, he personally never mistreated the boy. You can customize the cemeteries you volunteer for by selecting or deselecting below. You are only allowed to leave one flower per day for any given memorial. Lois Jean Jurgens, the daughter of Lawrence A. and Marjorie V. (Johnson) Jones, was born on May 26, 1929 in Malvern, Iowa. Votel went through living hell, one local judge said. At first, that seemed to be the conclusion that the official inquiry would also reach. . That will require a juvenile hearing on neglect. He doesnt look like a tiny little kid, he thought. Murder of Dennis Jurgens - Abuse at The Hands of Lois Jurgens Murder of Dennis Jurgens | Detailed Pedia . We did not have enough evidence of any kind to deny them. Lois Jurgens served eight years of her sentence and had a quiet life as a widow in Stillwater, Minnesota. That doctor (Peterson) also presented problems--he was a typical doctor, couldnt believe his patient was killed.. Are you sure that you want to report this flower to administrators as offensive or abusive? It was hard to believe that the Jurgenses had noticed nothing. But how did such an infection occur in the first place?
Basically, she thought that Lois was content and happy, especially with Robert. On the other hand, she realized the improbability of being offered another Catholic baby in the near future. When Harold took him to the bathroom at about 7:30 or 8 in the morning, Dennis had seemed fine. After The Murder. Thanks for using Find a Grave, if you have any feedback we would love to hear from you. 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. I was young then, just out of college, the social worker said recently in an interview. Novel and Adaptations: Barry Siegel's true-crime novel A Death in White Bear Lake recounts the story via extensive research and oral history. So it was that Dennis Jurgens death resulted not in a murder prosecution but, rather, in a juvenile court hearing over custody of his brother, Robert. In 1992 A made-for-TV movie was made based on both Jerry's story and this case called, ' A Child Lost Forever ' w/ the remarkable Beverly D'Angelo as Jerry Sherwood and Judith Ivey as Lois Jurgens. It just made me sick. harold e bageant obituary visitation funeral information. Other testimony and evidence was more troubling. A Death in White Bear Lake: The Child Abuse Case That Led to Murder True Crime Coven hausoftruecrime: Woman Tortures Adoptive Son To During her several postplacement visits to the Jurgens home in the following, probationary year, Rekdahl increasingly came to judge the placement a success. Blankets covered him to the waist. Description above from the Wikipedia article Lois Jurgens, licensed under CC-BY-SA, full list of contributors on Wikipedia. I also want to get Early Bird Books newsletter featuring book deals, recommendations, and giveaways. This sort of thing happened back then.. In the 1960s, the term child abuse had not yet been coined and no one, not even medical professionals and teachers, was required to report suspicions. From their patio, they could see huge bass jumping in the water. This post is sponsored by Open Road Media. There was a time when White Bear Lake was an exclusive watering hole for people from Chicago as well as the Twin Cities. The Jurgenses are not being attacked anywhere along the line. They were independent of each other.
