Dennis Jurgens
Encyclopedia
Dennis Craig Jurgens was the most famous and only fatal victim of prolific child abuse
r Lois Jurgens
, who abused a total of six adopted children during a period spanning the 1950s to 1970s. The eventual trial of Lois Jurgens for his murder made national headlines and was the top news story for the state of Minnesota
in 1987, and is one of few crimes that FBI agent Kenneth Lanning argues can legitimately be described as "ritual abuse". Since then, a television movie
has been produced starring Beverly D'Angelo
in 1992.
, the child of teenage Jerry Sherwood (who herself was a ward of the state) and her teenage boyfriend. At the urging of authorities, Jerry placed him for adoption with the promise that he would be given good care.
Dennis was adopted by the Jurgens’ of White Bear Lake, Minnesota
, a suburb of Saint Paul
; Harold Jurgens, a former bandleader turned electrician, and Lois Jurgens, a homemaker. Lois had grown up in an impoverished family of sixteen siblings and used her marriage to the middle-class Harold Jurgens as means to improve her social standing. 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
in 1950s suburban America
.
In the decade preceding the adoption of Dennis, Lois Jurgens had suffered bouts of depression
and psychosis
, including an extended stay at a psychiatric institution where electroconvulsive therapy
was administered. She was diagnosed as having mixed psychoneurosis and also unable to conceive a child with Harold. This drove Lois further into madness, as she felt she needed children to complete the "perfect picture" of her life.
Officially forbidden to adopt children owing to Lois’ history of mental illness
, the Jurgens’ managed to adopt a baby named Robert privately. Robert fit in well at the Jurgens household, as he learned from a young age not to get in his mother's way or cause an undue mess that would likely send Lois Jurgens into a rage. The Jurgens’ adoption of Robert seemed successful in the eyes of authorities, who began to consider the possibility that the Jurgens’ might adopt more children through official channels.
that targeted Dennis as he aged from one to three and a half-years of age. 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.
In her effort to make Dennis "right" in her eyes, Lois embarked on a series of sadistic and corporal punishment
s:
Angered at Dennis for rejecting certain foods, she responded by placing Horseradish
on the food and then force-fed it to him. 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. This treatment, along with the exertion as he struggled, sickened Dennis to the point of vomiting, which further enraged Jurgens, who then forced him to eat his vomit.
Lois obsessed about Dennis’ weight, which according to medical records was appropriate for a child of his age and build at the point of his adoption. He was frequently starved
, to rid him of "sloppy fat," as Lois called it (she also called him "Sloppy Fat" as a nickname). Due to this frequent starvation
, Dennis gained only three pounds in a two and a half-year period as he aged from one year old to three and a half years old. The coroner noted in his report that Dennis had almost zero subcutaneous fat, at the level of a person who had died of starvation.
Aside from the incident when Dennis was hospitalized with burns on his genitals, there were many other incidents of abuse
which fell under the category of sexual sadism. Lois’ remedy for the toddler wetting his diaper too frequently was to place a spring-action clothespin upon the end of his penis. The coroner noted there was evidence of adult, human bite marks on his penis
and scarring all over his scrotum
; he was also found to be wearing two diapers and a pair of rubber pants at the age of three and one-half years.
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. In addition, Lois took to tying Dennis’ limbs to the bedposts to keep him in bed and tied him to the toilet to force a bowel movement.
By all accounts, Lois was obsessed with abusing Dennis, and she wanted the world to know he was a "bad child," and made no apologies about the inappropriate way she was disciplining him. Lois considered herself a devout Catholic
and believed she was doing "God’s work" by making Dennis "perfect" in her eyes. To this end, she forced religious training on her young sons; reports had young Robert flawlessly reciting the Rosary
at 2. 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.
To the casual observer, the Jurgens’ seemed to be a normal, church-going family with a perfectly maintained house and yard. Certain neighbors and family members knew there were problems with Lois’ treatment of Dennis but did nothing to prevent it. They attempted to mind their own business and feared retribution from Lois, who was not above threatening the lives of her family members. 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.
due to perforation of the small bowel. 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
. Along with the aforementioned evidence of starvation and the scarring and bite-marks on his genitalia, the coroner discovered multiple lacerations and multiple generations of bruise
s covering most of his body.
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. Lois, who abused Dennis constantly, was pushed to new levels of rage as the flood waters filled her basement.
The only witness to Lois' final abuse of Dennis was Robert, who was 5 years old at the time. Many years later, at his mother’s trial, a now 27-year-old Robert recounted the events of that evening, including Lois' extensive beating of Dennis and his being thrown down the stairs by her.
, suicide
or murder
; he simply marked it "deferred."
There was also a great deal of suspicion surrounding Jerome Zerwas, the brother of Lois Jurgens, who was a police lieutenant in the town of White Bear Lake, Minnesota
. 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.
Although Lois was not charged with Dennis’ murder, the death caused sufficient suspicion for the authorities to remove Robert from the home; he was placed with his paternal grandmother for a period of just over five years, during which the Jurgens’ spent a great deal of effort and money attempting to regain custody. Eventually, while Robert was hospitalized with a bout of pneumonia
, his grandmother burned to death in a house fire. There is some suspicion that Lois Jurgens herself set the fire, as not only was it coincident with Robert's hospitalization, Lois had also made threats of arson
regarding the homes of several neighbors and family members who had spoken to authorities.
Robert was returned to the Jurgens home and (going through new channels) the couple were eventually able to adopt four, school-aged siblings from Kentucky
. By this point, Lois’ rage
and mania
had gone beyond her ability to maintain an appearance of normalcy, and she and Harold had relocated to rural Stillwater, Minnesota
, possibly to escape the gossip of their former neighborhood where Dennis was killed.
As the new adopted children were older, there are many first-hand histories (recounted to the media during the 1987 trial of Lois Jurgens) describing the severe abuse they suffered at their adoptive mother's hands. Beatings and displays of Lois’ explosive temper were daily events; especially bad days could include her slamming a child’s forehead into a nail protruding in a wall, forcing a child to stand barefoot in snow, and shoving a used sanitary napkin
in a child's face. During this period, Lois was once again placed in a psychiatric facility.
Eventually, all four of the siblings from Kentucky and Robert escaped the home by running away and getting help from concerned neighbors. Their flight, coupled with the lingering suspicions surrounding Dennis' death, resulted in the termination of Lois and Harold Jurgens' parental rights. They were informed they would not be allowed to foster or adopt any additional children.
Sherwood eventually found Dennis’ death certificate, which was still classified as "deferred," leaving the case technically open. This, coupled with the lack of a statute of limitations for a murder charge, could lead the way to a prosecution of Lois Jurgens. Jerry took her case to the White Bear Lake police department and then to the local media.
On Sunday, October 12, 1986 the St. Paul Pioneer Press
ran a cover story about the investigation. Though the name of Dennis’ adoptive family was not given, many people suspected that Lois Jurgens was the unnamed murderess. The tenacity of Sherwood, along with the tragedy of her personal loss, kept the story firmly in the public eye until the arraignment of Lois Jurgens, when she was first identified in the media.
Aided by the testimony of the Jurgens’ other adopted son, Robert, the prosecution saw Lois Jurgens (now in her 60s), convicted of murder in the third degree and sent to prison. The investigation, trial, and conviction of Lois Jurgens are considered landmarks in the history of child abuse law.
Barry Siegel's true-crime novel, A Death in White Bear Lake
recounts the story via extensive research and oral history. A 1992 NBC
television movie, entitled A Child Lost Forever, told the story from the perspective of Jerry Sherwood (played by Beverly D'Angelo
), and a theatre piece, The Jurgens File, by playwright Brian Vinero, examined the story from the perspective of the community. The latter was developed at New York City
's 78th Street Theatre Lab in 2005.
Child abuse
Child abuse is the physical, sexual, emotional mistreatment, or neglect of a child. In the United States, the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention and the Department of Children And Families define child maltreatment as any act or series of acts of commission or omission by a parent or...
r Lois Jurgens
Lois Jurgens
Lois Jurgens was subject of one of the most unusual child murder cases in history in Minnesota. 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.-Early life:Jurgens was one of 16 children...
, who abused a total of six adopted children during a period spanning the 1950s to 1970s. The eventual trial of Lois Jurgens for his murder made national headlines and was the top news story for the state of Minnesota
Minnesota
Minnesota is a U.S. state located in the Midwestern United States. The twelfth largest state of the U.S., it is the twenty-first most populous, with 5.3 million residents. Minnesota was carved out of the eastern half of the Minnesota Territory and admitted to the Union as the thirty-second state...
in 1987, and is one of few crimes that FBI agent Kenneth Lanning argues can legitimately be described as "ritual abuse". Since then, a television movie
Television movie
A television film is a feature film that is a television program produced for and originally distributed by a television network, in contrast to...
has been produced starring Beverly D'Angelo
Beverly D'Angelo
Beverly Heather D'Angelo is an American actress and singer.-Early life:D'Angelo was born in Columbus, Ohio, the daughter of Priscilla , a violinist, and Gene D'Angelo, a bass player and television station manager. She is of part Italian ancestry...
in 1992.
Early history
Dennis Jurgens was born Dennis Craig Puckett in Sauk Centre, MinnesotaSauk Centre, Minnesota
As of the census of 2000, there were 3,930 people, 1,616 households, and 1,042 families residing in the city. The population density was 1,057.2 people per square mile . There were 1,709 housing units at an average density of 459.7 per square mile...
, the child of teenage Jerry Sherwood (who herself was a ward of the state) and her teenage boyfriend. At the urging of authorities, Jerry placed him for adoption with the promise that he would be given good care.
Dennis was adopted by the Jurgens’ of White Bear Lake, Minnesota
White Bear Lake, Minnesota
White Bear Lake is a city in Ramsey and Washington counties in the U.S. state of Minnesota. The population was 23,797 at the 2010 census. The city is located on White Bear Lake, one of the largest lakes in the Minneapolis-St...
, a suburb of Saint Paul
Saint Paul, Minnesota
Saint Paul is the capital and second-most populous city of the U.S. state of Minnesota. The city lies mostly on the east bank of the Mississippi River in the area surrounding its point of confluence with the Minnesota River, and adjoins Minneapolis, the state's largest city...
; Harold Jurgens, a former bandleader turned electrician, and Lois Jurgens, a homemaker. Lois had grown up in an impoverished family of sixteen siblings and used her marriage to the middle-class Harold Jurgens as means to improve her social standing. 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
Housewife
Housewife is a term used to describe a married woman with household responsibilities who is not employed outside the home. Merriam Webster describes a housewife as a married woman who is in charge of her household...
in 1950s suburban America
United States
The United States of America is a federal constitutional republic comprising fifty states and a federal district...
.
In the decade preceding the adoption of Dennis, Lois Jurgens had suffered bouts of depression
Clinical depression
Major depressive disorder is a mental disorder characterized by an all-encompassing low mood accompanied by low self-esteem, and by loss of interest or pleasure in normally enjoyable activities...
and psychosis
Psychosis
Psychosis means abnormal condition of the mind, and is a generic psychiatric term for a mental state often described as involving a "loss of contact with reality"...
, including an extended stay at a psychiatric institution where electroconvulsive therapy
Electroconvulsive therapy
Electroconvulsive therapy , formerly known as electroshock, is a psychiatric treatment in which seizures are electrically induced in anesthetized patients for therapeutic effect. Its mode of action is unknown...
was administered. She was diagnosed as having mixed psychoneurosis and also unable to conceive a child with Harold. This drove Lois further into madness, as she felt she needed children to complete the "perfect picture" of her life.
Officially forbidden to adopt children owing to Lois’ history of mental illness
Mental illness
A mental disorder or mental illness is a psychological or behavioral pattern generally associated with subjective distress or disability that occurs in an individual, and which is not a part of normal development or culture. Such a disorder may consist of a combination of affective, behavioural,...
, the Jurgens’ managed to adopt a baby named Robert privately. Robert fit in well at the Jurgens household, as he learned from a young age not to get in his mother's way or cause an undue mess that would likely send Lois Jurgens into a rage. The Jurgens’ adoption of Robert seemed successful in the eyes of authorities, who began to consider the possibility that the Jurgens’ might adopt more children through official channels.
Dennis arrives at the Jurgens home
Just past one year of age, Dennis was placed in the Jurgens home in anticipation of an adoption after spending much of his first year in foster care where he was well-loved and cared for by an elderly woman. Almost immediately, Lois took a severe, obsessive dislike to the child, who was a normal, rambunctious, and spirited toddler- unlike Robert, who in Lois’s eyes was the "good son." Harold Jurgens suggested that perhaps they should not go forward with the adoption of Dennis, but Lois refused out of concern that it would discourage the authorities from allowing them to adopt further children. Within months of Dennis’ arrival, he was rushed to the hospital with first and second-degree burns on his genitalia, which were reported and accepted as accidental. The process of adopting of Dennis was completed.Abuse at the hands of Lois Jurgens
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 ragesRage (emotion)
Rage is a feeling of intense anger. It is associated with the Fight-or-flight response and oftentimes activated in response to an external cue, such as the murder of a loved one. The phrase, 'thrown into a fit of rage,' expresses the immediate nature of rage that occurs before deliberation. If left...
that targeted Dennis as he aged from one to three and a half-years of age. 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.
In her effort to make Dennis "right" in her eyes, Lois embarked on a series of sadistic and corporal punishment
Corporal punishment
Corporal punishment is a form of physical punishment that involves the deliberate infliction of pain as retribution for an offence, or for the purpose of disciplining or reforming a wrongdoer, or to deter attitudes or behaviour deemed unacceptable...
s:
Angered at Dennis for rejecting certain foods, she responded by placing Horseradish
Horseradish
Horseradish is a perennial plant of the Brassicaceae family, which also includes mustard, wasabi, broccoli, and cabbages. The plant is probably native to south eastern Europe and the Arab World , but is popular around the world today...
on the food and then force-fed it to him. According to reports from family members who eventually testified at the murder trial, Dennis turned purple from being force-fed
Force-feeding
Force-feeding is the practice of feeding a person or an animal against their will. "Gavage" is supplying a nutritional substance by means of a small plastic tube passed through the nose or mouth into the stomach, not explicitly 'forcibly'....
the bitter and spicy horseradish and also having his oxygen supply cut off when Jurgens covered his mouth and nose. This treatment, along with the exertion as he struggled, sickened Dennis to the point of vomiting, which further enraged Jurgens, who then forced him to eat his vomit.
Lois obsessed about Dennis’ weight, which according to medical records was appropriate for a child of his age and build at the point of his adoption. He was frequently starved
Starvation
Starvation is a severe deficiency in caloric energy, nutrient and vitamin intake. It is the most extreme form of malnutrition. In humans, prolonged starvation can cause permanent organ damage and eventually, death...
, to rid him of "sloppy fat," as Lois called it (she also called him "Sloppy Fat" as a nickname). Due to this frequent starvation
Starvation
Starvation is a severe deficiency in caloric energy, nutrient and vitamin intake. It is the most extreme form of malnutrition. In humans, prolonged starvation can cause permanent organ damage and eventually, death...
, Dennis gained only three pounds in a two and a half-year period as he aged from one year old to three and a half years old. The coroner noted in his report that Dennis had almost zero subcutaneous fat, at the level of a person who had died of starvation.
Aside from the incident when Dennis was hospitalized with burns on his genitals, there were many other incidents of abuse
Abuse
Abuse is the improper usage or treatment for a bad purpose, often to unfairly or improperly gain benefit. Abuse can come in many forms, such as: physical or verbal maltreatment, injury, sexual assault, violation, rape, unjust practices; wrongful practice or custom; offense; crime, or otherwise...
which fell under the category of sexual sadism. Lois’ remedy for the toddler wetting his diaper too frequently was to place a spring-action clothespin upon the end of his penis. The coroner noted there was evidence of adult, human bite marks on his penis
Penis
The penis is a biological feature of male animals including both vertebrates and invertebrates...
and scarring all over his scrotum
Scrotum
In some male mammals the scrotum is a dual-chambered protuberance of skin and muscle containing the testicles and divided by a septum. It is an extension of the perineum, and is located between the penis and anus. In humans and some other mammals, the base of the scrotum becomes covered with curly...
; he was also found to be wearing two diapers and a pair of rubber pants at the age of three and one-half years.
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. In addition, Lois took to tying Dennis’ limbs to the bedposts to keep him in bed and tied him to the toilet to force a bowel movement.
By all accounts, Lois was obsessed with abusing Dennis, and she wanted the world to know he was a "bad child," and made no apologies about the inappropriate way she was disciplining him. Lois considered herself a devout Catholic
Catholic
The word catholic comes from the Greek phrase , meaning "on the whole," "according to the whole" or "in general", and is a combination of the Greek words meaning "about" and meaning "whole"...
and believed she was doing "God’s work" by making Dennis "perfect" in her eyes. To this end, she forced religious training on her young sons; reports had young Robert flawlessly reciting the Rosary
Rosary
The rosary or "garland of roses" is a traditional Catholic devotion. The term denotes the prayer beads used to count the series of prayers that make up the rosary...
at 2. Dennis struggled with such training and was forced to pray
Pray
Pray may refer to:* Prayer, an active effort to communicate with a deity or spiritIt may also refer to:-Places:Italy* Pray, Piedmont, a comune in the Province of BiellaUnited States* Pray, Wisconsin, an unincorporated community-People:...
and recite his Rosary kneeling on a broomstick for extended periods, until he did it correctly.
To the casual observer, the Jurgens’ seemed to be a normal, church-going family with a perfectly maintained house and yard. Certain neighbors and family members knew there were problems with Lois’ treatment of Dennis but did nothing to prevent it. They attempted to mind their own business and feared retribution from Lois, who was not above threatening the lives of her family members. In the 1960s, the term child abuse
Child abuse
Child abuse is the physical, sexual, emotional mistreatment, or neglect of a child. In the United States, the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention and the Department of Children And Families define child maltreatment as any act or series of acts of commission or omission by a parent or...
had not yet been coined and no one, not even medical professionals and teachers, was required to report suspicions.
The murder of Dennis Jurgens
During the early morning hours of April 11, 1965, Dennis Jurgens died at the hands of Jurgens. The official cause of death was PeritonitisPeritonitis
Peritonitis is an inflammation of the peritoneum, the serous membrane that lines part of the abdominal cavity and viscera. Peritonitis may be localised or generalised, and may result from infection or from a non-infectious process.-Abdominal pain and tenderness:The main manifestations of...
due to perforation of the small bowel. 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
Physical abuse
Physical abuse is abuse involving contact intended to cause feelings of intimidation, injury, or other physical suffering or bodily harm.-Forms of physical abuse:*Striking*Punching*Belting*Pushing, pulling*Slapping*Whipping*Striking with an object...
. Along with the aforementioned evidence of starvation and the scarring and bite-marks on his genitalia, the coroner discovered multiple lacerations and multiple generations of bruise
Bruise
A bruise, also called a contusion, is a type of relatively minor hematoma of tissue in which capillaries and sometimes venules are damaged by trauma, allowing blood to seep into the surrounding interstitial tissues. Bruises can involve capillaries at the level of skin, subcutaneous tissue, muscle,...
s covering most of his body.
The night of his death, a great flood had hit the Saint Paul area and the Mississippi River
Mississippi River
The Mississippi River is the largest river system in North America. Flowing entirely in the United States, this river rises in western Minnesota and meanders slowly southwards for to the Mississippi River Delta at the Gulf of Mexico. With its many tributaries, the Mississippi's watershed drains...
’s waters were rising to record levels, causing flooding in the region and inside the Jurgens home. Lois, who abused Dennis constantly, was pushed to new levels of rage as the flood waters filled her basement.
The only witness to Lois' final abuse of Dennis was Robert, who was 5 years old at the time. Many years later, at his mother’s trial, a now 27-year-old Robert recounted the events of that evening, including Lois' extensive beating of Dennis and his being thrown down the stairs by her.
After the murder
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. It would have been difficult at the time to prove that Lois Jurgens had committed murder. In spite of extensive physical evidence pointing towards severe abuse, the medical examiner did not classify the death under any of standard classifications of accidentAccident
An accident or mishap is an unforeseen and unplanned event or circumstance, often with lack of intention or necessity. It implies a generally negative outcome which may have been avoided or prevented had circumstances leading up to the accident been recognized, and acted upon, prior to its...
, suicide
Suicide
Suicide is the act of intentionally causing one's own death. Suicide is often committed out of despair or attributed to some underlying mental disorder, such as depression, bipolar disorder, schizophrenia, alcoholism, or drug abuse...
or murder
Murder
Murder is the unlawful killing, with malice aforethought, of another human being, and generally this state of mind distinguishes murder from other forms of unlawful homicide...
; he simply marked it "deferred."
There was also a great deal of suspicion surrounding Jerome Zerwas, the brother of Lois Jurgens, who was a police lieutenant in the town of White Bear Lake, Minnesota
White Bear Lake, Minnesota
White Bear Lake is a city in Ramsey and Washington counties in the U.S. state of Minnesota. The population was 23,797 at the 2010 census. The city is located on White Bear Lake, one of the largest lakes in the Minneapolis-St...
. 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.
Although Lois was not charged with Dennis’ murder, the death caused sufficient suspicion for the authorities to remove Robert from the home; he was placed with his paternal grandmother for a period of just over five years, during which the Jurgens’ spent a great deal of effort and money attempting to regain custody. Eventually, while Robert was hospitalized with a bout of pneumonia
Pneumonia
Pneumonia is an inflammatory condition of the lung—especially affecting the microscopic air sacs —associated with fever, chest symptoms, and a lack of air space on a chest X-ray. Pneumonia is typically caused by an infection but there are a number of other causes...
, his grandmother burned to death in a house fire. There is some suspicion that Lois Jurgens herself set the fire, as not only was it coincident with Robert's hospitalization, Lois had also made threats of arson
Arson
Arson is the crime of intentionally or maliciously setting fire to structures or wildland areas. It may be distinguished from other causes such as spontaneous combustion and natural wildfires...
regarding the homes of several neighbors and family members who had spoken to authorities.
Robert was returned to the Jurgens home and (going through new channels) the couple were eventually able to adopt four, school-aged siblings from Kentucky
Kentucky
The Commonwealth of Kentucky is a state located in the East Central United States of America. As classified by the United States Census Bureau, Kentucky is a Southern state, more specifically in the East South Central region. Kentucky is one of four U.S. states constituted as a commonwealth...
. By this point, Lois’ rage
Rage (emotion)
Rage is a feeling of intense anger. It is associated with the Fight-or-flight response and oftentimes activated in response to an external cue, such as the murder of a loved one. The phrase, 'thrown into a fit of rage,' expresses the immediate nature of rage that occurs before deliberation. If left...
and mania
Mania
Mania, the presence of which is a criterion for certain psychiatric diagnoses, is a state of abnormally elevated or irritable mood, arousal, and/ or energy levels. In a sense, it is the opposite of depression...
had gone beyond her ability to maintain an appearance of normalcy, and she and Harold had relocated to rural Stillwater, Minnesota
Stillwater, Minnesota
As of the census of 2000, there were 15,143 people, 5,797 households, and 4,115 families residing in the city. The population density was 2,340.0 people per square mile . There were 5,926 housing units at an average density of 915.7 per square mile...
, possibly to escape the gossip of their former neighborhood where Dennis was killed.
As the new adopted children were older, there are many first-hand histories (recounted to the media during the 1987 trial of Lois Jurgens) describing the severe abuse they suffered at their adoptive mother's hands. Beatings and displays of Lois’ explosive temper were daily events; especially bad days could include her slamming a child’s forehead into a nail protruding in a wall, forcing a child to stand barefoot in snow, and shoving a used sanitary napkin
Sanitary napkin
A sanitary napkin, sanitary towel, sanitary pad, menstrual pad, maxi pad, or pad is an absorbent item worn by a woman while she is menstruating, recovering from vaginal surgery, for lochia , abortion, or any other situation where it is necessary to absorb a flow of blood from a woman's vagina.These...
in a child's face. During this period, Lois was once again placed in a psychiatric facility.
Eventually, all four of the siblings from Kentucky and Robert escaped the home by running away and getting help from concerned neighbors. Their flight, coupled with the lingering suspicions surrounding Dennis' death, resulted in the termination of Lois and Harold Jurgens' parental rights. They were informed they would not be allowed to foster or adopt any additional children.
The 1986 investigation and 1987 trial of Lois Jurgens
Now in her late thirties, Dennis’ birth mother Jerry Sherwood sought out Dennis in the early 1980’s, assuming that he would now be a young adult and (as she had given birth to four more children with Dennis’ birth father) that he might want to meet his siblings. Her search led her eventually to his early grave, and her continued investigation led to a phone call to Lois Jurgens inquiring what had happened. Lois was cordial to Jerry, and even offered to mail her some mementos of Dennis. When these mementos never arrived, Sherwood made a second call, only to discover the Jurgens’ had switched to an unlisted phone number. This only raised Jerry’s suspicions further.Sherwood eventually found Dennis’ death certificate, which was still classified as "deferred," leaving the case technically open. This, coupled with the lack of a statute of limitations for a murder charge, could lead the way to a prosecution of Lois Jurgens. Jerry took her case to the White Bear Lake police department and then to the local media.
On Sunday, October 12, 1986 the St. Paul Pioneer Press
St. Paul Pioneer Press
The St. Paul Pioneer Press is a newspaper based in St. Paul, Minnesota, primarily serving the Twin Cities metropolitan area. Circulation is heaviest in the eastern metro region, including Ramsey, Dakota, and Washington counties, along with western Wisconsin, eastern Minnesota and Anoka County,...
ran a cover story about the investigation. Though the name of Dennis’ adoptive family was not given, many people suspected that Lois Jurgens was the unnamed murderess. The tenacity of Sherwood, along with the tragedy of her personal loss, kept the story firmly in the public eye until the arraignment of Lois Jurgens, when she was first identified in the media.
Aided by the testimony of the Jurgens’ other adopted son, Robert, the prosecution saw Lois Jurgens (now in her 60s), convicted of murder in the third degree and sent to prison. The investigation, trial, and conviction of Lois Jurgens are considered landmarks in the history of child abuse law.
Aftermath
Lois Jurgens served only eight years of her sentence (she was released early for good behavior) and is now living a quiet life as a widow in Stillwater, Minnesota. To this day, she proclaims her innocence. Harold Jurgens died in 2000; at the time of his death, there was suspicion that Lois had poisoned him, but this was investigated and ruled out.Barry Siegel's true-crime novel, A Death in White Bear Lake
A Death in White Bear Lake
A Death in White Bear Lake is a true crime book by journalist Barry Siegel, published in 1990. The book recounts one of the most notorious cases of child abuse ever prosecuted in the United States, the murder of three year-old Dennis Jurgens by his adopted mother Lois Jurgens...
recounts the story via extensive research and oral history. A 1992 NBC
NBC
The National Broadcasting Company is an American commercial broadcasting television network and former radio network headquartered in the GE Building in New York City's Rockefeller Center with additional major offices near Los Angeles and in Chicago...
television movie, entitled A Child Lost Forever, told the story from the perspective of Jerry Sherwood (played by Beverly D'Angelo
Beverly D'Angelo
Beverly Heather D'Angelo is an American actress and singer.-Early life:D'Angelo was born in Columbus, Ohio, the daughter of Priscilla , a violinist, and Gene D'Angelo, a bass player and television station manager. She is of part Italian ancestry...
), and a theatre piece, The Jurgens File, by playwright Brian Vinero, examined the story from the perspective of the community. The latter was developed at New York City
New York City
New York is the most populous city in the United States and the center of the New York Metropolitan Area, one of the most populous metropolitan areas in the world. New York exerts a significant impact upon global commerce, finance, media, art, fashion, research, technology, education, and...
's 78th Street Theatre Lab in 2005.
External links
- Child Murder: The town that lived in silence
- Dennis Jurgens atFind A GraveFind A GraveFind a Grave is a commercial website providing free access and input to an online database of cemetery records. It was founded in 1998 as a DBA and incorporated in 2000.-History:...