Dennis Craig Jurgens
December 6 1961 – April 11 1965
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A Grave Memorial
Born on December 6, 1961 as Dennis Craig
Pucket, Dennis
would later be adopted by a family where he suffered abuse and
eventually
died at the hands of his adoptive mother.
Harold and Lois Jurgens, who lived in
White Bear
Lake, Minnesota, adopted Dennis and his name officially became Dennis
Craig
Jurgens. The biological parents of Dennis were Jerry Sherwood and her
boyfriend,
both teenagers. Though she didn't want to, Jerry placed her baby up for
adoption, trusting that the system would take care of him. The system
failed
Dennis.
Lois Jurgens had problems with
depression and had
spent some time in a psychiatric institution. With an obsessive
compulsive
personality, Lois had an uncontrollable need to be in absolute control
of everything in her life. The house needed to be spotless at all
times,
the garden needed to be tended to and her life needed to appear perfect
to everyone around her. To Lois, social status was everything.
Lois was unable to get pregnant and
felt this to
be a failure on her part, this drove her crazy because it showed that
she
was less than perfect. After she was forbidden to adopt due to her
history
of mental illness, Harold and Lois WERE able to go through a
private
adoption and into their lives came a child named Robert. Robert was the
perfect addition to the family since he was able to learn early on not
to make a mess or get in his mother way at all. The positive way the
adoption
of Robert went, caused authorities to think that maybe the Lois would
be
able to handle more children.
At a little over the age of one year
old, Dennis
was taken from the foster home he had been loved and cared for in and
placed
in the home of the Jurgens family with hopes of them adopting him. An
immediate
dislike of Dennis was apparent due to the fact that Dennis was a normal
toddler who got into things and made messes. Harold brought this up and
told her that maybe they should not adopt Dennis after all. Lois
thought
that if she gave Dennis back, she would be seen in a bad light and not
be able to adopt any other children. Harold gave in to her, it would be
a big mistake.
Just a few months after he first went
to live with
the Jurgens family, Dennis was taken to the hospital with first and
second
degree burns on his genitals. The burns, Lois would say, had been an
accident
and the hospital accepted her explanation and didn't report them.
Shortly
after that, the process of adopting Dennis was finished. This would
prove
to be a huge mistake on the part of the authorities who allowed it to
happen.
Within her circle of family, friends
and neighbors,
Lois was very well know to be an angry woman with a short temper. The
abuse
of Dennis was far beyond anything they had seen before. The punishment
that Lois gave out to Dennis for any number of reasons, was said by her
to have been "God's work". She was trying to make Dennis perfect in
every
way. It's shocking to learn that Harold Jergens KNEW about the
abuse
and just stood by and did NOTHING to help. Though he never
abused
Dennis the way that Lois did, he certainly was an accomplice because he
never stopped it.
Dennis suffered on a daily basis at
the hands of
Lois who made him eat any food he didn't like, by putting spicy
horseradish
on it. Lois would also cut off his oxygen supply which would cause him
to vomit, this would make Lois so angry that she would make him eat his
own vomit. Making Dennis go without food was another way Lois abused
him.
Even though the doctor had told Lois that his weight was fine, Lois
called
him "sloppy fat" as his nickname and often wouldn't let him eat, trying
to get him to lose weight. In two and a half years, Dennis only gained
three pounds.
Lois became angry when Dennis would
wet his diaper
more often than she thought he should and she decided that in order to
stop that, she should place a clothespin on the end of his penis. Lois
would tie Dennis to the bed at night and also to the toilet in order to
force him to use the toilet instead of his diaper. Quite often when
Dennis
reached the age of two, he was seen in sunglasses which were to hide
the
black eyes he was given by Lois. Lois insisted that Dennis was a "bad
child"
and never apologized to anyone for how she treated him. Lois said that
she was as devout Catholic and that she needed to make sure Dennis grew
up right. Dennis was forced to kneel on a broomstick for long periods
of
time until he could recited the Rosary and pray in the "proper"
way.
The Jurgens family appeared to be
normal, church
going people with the perfect life. The house was always perfect, the
yard
was always perfect and their life, from the outsiders view, seemed to
be
perfect as well. There were family members, friends and neighbors who
knew
the truth. None of these people reported the wrong doing for fear of
what
Lois would do to them. In the past, Lois had threatened to kill certain
members of her family if they didn't mind their own business. Medical
professionals,
teachers and others were not required to report abuse at that time and
no one did.
On April 11, 1965 Robert Jurgens, who
was five at
that time, witnessed his mothers abuse of his brother Dennis, for the
last
time. On the night of his death, Lois was in an extremely bad mood due
to flooding which was filling up the basement with water. Dennis died
that
evening of Peritonitis due to a perforation of his small bowel. Though
the specific cause of that fatal blow is not known, it is known that it
was Lois who had given it to Dennis.
The Coroner found that in addition to
the Peritonitis,
starvation, scarring and bite marks on his genitals, Dennis had old
bruises,
new bruises and he also had lacerations all over his body. Robert had
been
a witness to all of the abuse Dennis had suffered, as a child, only
five
years old, himself, there was nothing he knew to do, as an adult, he
would
testify against his mother in her trial.
There was a thorough investigation
into the death
of Dennis, however, at that time, the mid 1960's, child abuse was not
something
that was thought of as it is today. There was overwhelming evidence to
show that Lois had been the one to kill Dennis, however, since it would
have been hard to prove, the death was listed as "deferred". Some
people
believed that the brother of Lois, Jerome Zerwas, who was a Police
lieutenant,
destroyed evidence that would have helped convict Lois.
Though Lois got away with the murder
of Dennis, not
being charged at that time, Robert was removed from the Jurgens home
and
went to live with his paternal Grandmother. Robert stayed with her for
a little over five years. At that time, Lois was trying to regain
custody
of him. Robert was taken to the hospital and admitted with Pneumonia.
While
in the hospital, there was fire at his grandmothers home, which killed
her. Suspicion fell on Lois having set the fire since Lois has
threatened
to burn the homes of others.
Robert was returned to the home of
his adoptive parents
and somehow Lois and Harold were eventually allowed to adopt four more
children, who were siblings. Lois was even more unable to control her
rage
and because of this, she and Harold took their five adopted children
and
moved to Stillwater, Minnesota. It was rumored that this was an attempt
to get away from the stories about her murdering Dennis.
Lois would be placed in a psychiatric
facility again,
though not before she was able to abuse the other children. Beatings
were
a regular thing as well as slamming their heads into nails in the wall,
making them stand barefoot in the snow and much worse. Robert and his
four
adoptive siblings were able to run away one day and received help from
neighbors. The children were able to convince authorities that they
were
being abused and at that time, all five were taken out of the custody
of
the Jurgens. Harold and Lois were informed they would NEVER be
permitted
to adopt any additional children and they would also not be able to
foster.
Jerry Sherwood, the biological mother
of Dennis,
tried to find him in the early 1980. At this time, she was in late
30's.
Jerry assumed that at this time in his life, Dennis would be a young
adult.
Having had four more children with the biological father of Dennis, she
hoped that he would want to meet his siblings. When her search for
Dennis
ended in her finding out he had died, she did some checking and made a
phone call to Lois wanting to find out what had happened. Lois was nice
to Jerry at first and told her she would send her some things that had
belonged to Dennis. When she never received the items, Jerry called
back
and found out that the Jurgens had changed their number and it now
unlisted.
Suspicious of this, Jerry decided to
do some further
investigating. Jerry found the death certificate of Dennis and it still
said that his death was deferred, which meant the case was still open.
Jerry contacted the White Bear Lake, Minnesota Police Department and
the
media. Since the case was still open, that meant someone could still be
charged with his murder.
On October 12, 1986, the St. Paul
Pioneer Press ran
a first page story all about the investigation. Harold and Lois were
not
mentioned in the story, however, people suspected that the people who
were
being spoken about were them. Jerry kept on investigating and this kept
the story in the news and out in the public.
The arraignment of Lois Jurgens, who
was then in
60's, was a happy day for Jerry Sherwood. With the testimony of Robert
came the prosecution of Lois Jurgens for third degree murder. The case
involving Dennis has since been considered a landmark in the history of
child abuse law.
Aided by the testimony of the
Jurgens’ other adopted
son, Robert, the prosecution saw Lois Jurgens (now in her 60's),
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.
Lois Jergens served ONLY
eight years
of the original sentence, before she was released for good behavior.
Lois
lives in Stillwater, Minnesota as a widow. Harold Jurgens died in the
year
2000. There was suspicion at the time of his death that Lois has
poisoned
him. An investigation ruled that theory out.
How could someone who had killed
their child and
abused all of the children in her care, be considered for early release
on something called good behavior? People who abuse and kill children
should
spend the rest of their lives in prison!
A movie was made about this story,
called: "A Child
Lost Forever".
Dennis is buried in Saint Marys of
the Lake Cemetery
in White Bear Lake, Ramsey County, Minnesota.
.
UPDATE:
On November 17, 2011, I received a post to my guest book from a woman
claiming to be the cousin of Dennis.
She asked that I tell their side of the story, this woman left no
e-mail address for me to reply to her, I will post what
she said here and hopefully she will contact me with an e-mail address:
I
am writing on behalf of Dennis Jurgens, my adopted cousin who perished
at the hands of my Mother's sister - Lois Jurgens.
I
know for certain my parents Richard and Donna Norton, along with my
Uncle Lloyd and Aunt Donna Zerwas, did everything they could to get the
system to pay attention to the abuse Dennis was being subjected to.
Their
attempt to save Dennis fell on deaf ears. No matter how hard they tried
they could get no one in the system to listen. Rather, the efforts to
save Dennis only infuriated Lois. In retaliation, Lois Jurgens
attempted to start our house on fire in the early morning hours. Lois -
in an attempt to 'punish' my parents, also tried, on more than one
occasion, to abduct me when I was just a small child.
I
know for certain my parents had everything to do with getting Robert
taken away from Lois and that they hired an attorney in an attempt to
block the adoption of the four children Lois and Harold adopted from
Kentucky five years after Dennis's death. The system failed over and
over again. It didn't help the family clergy wrote a glowing
recommendation letter for the Jurgens's to be able to adopt again -
even though he knew about what had happened to Dennis.
What
is written makes it look as though no one cared about Dennis or the
other children adopted by Lois Jurgens. That could not be further from
the truth, I know my parents cared and fought for Dennis and to stop
the Jurgen's from adopting again. It has to be acknowledged my parents
had the strength and courage to speak out about the abuse in the
Jurgen's home. The problem was - no one listened. Social services, law
enforcement, the judicial system all let this beautiful child die. My
parents fought for them at the risk of their own family.
My
heart breaks knowing so many children suffered at the hands of this
woman and by the complete disregard of Harold. Please give credit to
those who have the courage to speak out, even when no one is listening.
Pamela
Docken
For
information about
preventing child abuse in the state of Minnesota, click the links
below. If they can't help you, ask for someone who can. NEVER
give
up looking for help for an abused child!
Call
this number
to report child abuse ANY WHERE in the United States!
1-800-4-A-Child
1-800-422-4453
   
My sincerest appreciation goes
out to
Diane Trembly for allowing me to use one
of her beautiful Angels to
make the graphics
for this set. Please visit her site,
by clicking the link below, to
see all
of her amazing work.
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