A Death in White Bear Lake: The True Chronicle of an All-American Town [Paperback]

Barry Siegel (Author)

Book Description

Publication Date: November 28, 2000

"We want to talk to you about my brother who was murdered twenty-one years ago--can we come in?" The veneer of tranquility in White Bear Lake, Minnesota, began to crack the day Jerry Sherwood and her son showed up at the police station to inquire about her first-born son, Dennis--adopted by Lois and Harold Jurgens and dead before his fourth birthday. The autopsy report ruled peritonitis was the cause, but the startling photos of the boy suggested murder.

How could the Jurgens kill a small child and get away with it? Determined to find answers, detectives Ron Meehan and Greg Kindle tracked down old witnesses and rebuilt the case brick by brick until they exposed the demons that drove an adopted parent to torture and eventually murder a helpless child. Just as compelling, they investigated why so many people watched and did absolutely nothing. 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.


From the Paperback edition.

Editorial Reviews

From Publishers Weekly

This is a masterfully depicted true-crime tale of the murder of a child by his adoptive mother and the resolution of the case 27 years later. In 1980 Jerry Sherwood, who had given her first child up for adoption, searched for him only to discover that Dennis had died at age three in 1965 under mysterious circumstances. Her accusations prodded the town of White Bear Lake in Wisconsin, which had already suspected adoptive mother Lois Jurgens of killing the child, into action. The resultant trial, a landmark case, established the legal principle that circumstantial evidence is sufficient to convict in a child-abuse case, and served to reinforce the now commonly accepted contention that those abused as children frequently become child abusers themselves. Jurgens is now in prison. This perceptive analysis of the case by a Los Angeles Times reporter is stirring. Photos not seen by PW.
Copyright 1990 Reed Business Information, Inc. --This text refers to an out of print or unavailable edition of this title.

From Library Journal

Using nonfiction novel style, Los Angeles Times reporter Siegel tells the story of Harold and Lois Jurgens, a Minnesota couple who adopted two children and beat the younger one, Dennis, to death in 1963. The Jurgens later adopted four more children, all of whom were also abused. Lois Jurgens was successfully prosecuted for third-degree murder after Dennis's natural mother came looking for her son and expressed suspicions about his death, 22 years after it happened. Drawing from many sources, Siegel has produced a well-written account of a particularly troubling child abuse case. He also provides some informative commentary on the failure of society--in particular its social service, legal, and medical systems--to protect its children from abuse. Recommended for public libraries.
- Donna L. Miller, Lebanon Valley Coll. Lib., Annville, Pa.
Copyright 1990 Reed Business Information, Inc. --This text refers to an out of print or unavailable edition of this title.

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Product Details

• Paperback: 560 pages
• Publisher: Ballantine Books (November 28, 2000)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0345487176
• ISBN-13: 978-0345487179
• Product Dimensions: 5 x 1 x 8 inches
• Shipping Weight: 1.4 pounds (View shipping rates and policies)
• Average Customer Review: 4.8 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (25 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #26,894 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

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Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

13 of 14 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars A brutal murder of a child that went unpunnished for 22 yrs, September 23, 1999

By 

[e-mail] (USA) - See all my reviews

This review is from: A Death in White Bear Lake (Mass Market Paperback)

A fascinating true story of how A 3 1/2 year old child was brutally abused and ultimatly murdered by his adopted mother, Lois Jurgens. You Will learn how her husband, family and friends were very aware of the abuse and did absolutly nothing to help this poor child. You will also read how the justice system and adoption agency failed to save Dennis. And the painful events for the natural mother, Jerry Sherwood and her family to get justice for her dead son. Very well written book that goes into the background of Lois and Harold Jurgens and how this evil women was able to adopt a total of 6 children (all which ran away and was removed from her home due to abuse). The book also gives a compelling account of the trial and finally the conviction of murder for Lois Jurgens, who almost for 22 years got away with it.

As a parent myself, I will never forget what happened to little Dennis Jurgens.

Karen, OHIO

8 of 8 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Evil Next Door, April 9, 2001

By 

Audrey (Brooklyn, NY) - See all my reviews

This review is from: A Death in White Bear Lake: The True Chronicle of an All-American Town (Mass Market Paperback)

A haunting and horrifying book that I couldn't put down. It will break your heart & make you very angry indeed! Should be required reading in the social work & psychology fields. It is an excellently researched book with fascinating characterizations of the real people involved - the evil, the apathetic, the meek, the tormented. A truly unforgettable book.

5 of 5 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Fascinating tale of child-abuse murder, August 22, 1998

By 

Philip R. Hall (Clay, NY United States) - See all my reviews
(REAL NAME)   

This review is from: A Death in White Bear Lake (Mass Market Paperback)

On Sunday morning, April 11, 1965, the badly bruised and battered body of 3 1/2 year old Dennis Jurgens was reportedly found in his crib by his adoptive parents, Harold and Lois Jurgens, who claimed he had fallen down the evening before. Rigor mortis had already set in when the police arrived, and the autopsy determined that his death was due to peritonitis, due to a rupture of his bowel. Although virtually everyone who knew the family suspected that the death was due to child abuse, the case fell through the cracks and was eventually forgotten, until the birth mother walked into the police station in White Bear Lake, Minnesota in 1986, demanding justice for her son. This is the fascinating story of the events leading to his death and the subsequent investigations, both at the time and later, when it was successfully prosecuted. Only 3 days ago, I drove by the house in White Bear Lake where little Dennis suffered and died, and one of the principals in the book, Lt. Jerome Zerwas died last October (1997). Five stars.