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

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"We want to talk to youabout 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.

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More About This Book

Overview

"We want to talk to youabout 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 adoptive 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.

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Editorial Reviews

Washington Post
A distinguished entry in the annals of crime documentary.
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.
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Product Details

  • ISBN-13: 9780345432995
  • Publisher: Random House Publishing Group
  • Publication date: 11/28/2000
  • Format: Mass Market Paperback
  • Edition description: 1 BALLANTI
  • Pages: 544
  • Product dimensions: 4.17 (w) x 6.82 (h) x 1.24 (d)

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Sort by: Showing all of 7 Customer Reviews

  • Anonymous

    Posted December 14, 2008

    This book

    I was young but, I remeber Jerry and her family. I read the book when I got older and, it was heart breaking. To read about someone taking a life of someone so, little.

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  • Anonymous

    Posted January 18, 2008

    A girl from White Bear Lake.

    I read this book simply because it was about my hometown and because I sat and watched the trial happen on t.v. This book was well written and accurate in discribing White Bear Lake. On a whole, White Bear Lake is a very close-knit community. Many of the names in there were names that were familliar to me. Great book, a must read.

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  • Anonymous

    Posted January 18, 2008

    The Shock of a Death

    This book is filled with very interesting details that helped pave the way for justice in abuse cases. Disturbing events were kept underwraps for 22 years before something was done. In 1965, no one wanted to take part in accusing a mother of murder so they ignored the evidence. Dennis Jurgens case was an eye opener that will forever haunt people. It's an inspiring book in the way that it makes you want to speak out to stop violence.

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  • Anonymous

    Posted January 26, 2002

    Heartbreaking and Compelling

    Absolutely fascinating but wrenching account of the torture and murder of a little angel at the hands of his adopted murder. The story is seamlessly told, and the book is very difficult to put down. I normally donate my paperbacks to the library but this one I could not part with. However, while I don't regret reading it, I could not read it again. It truly broke my heart.

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  • Anonymous

    Posted September 26, 2001

    Valuable, Informative and Eucational

    It has been some years since I read this book. As a child welfare investigator of 5 years and since transferred to a state facilitated shelter for custody children, I highly recommend this book. Not only does Mr. Siegel write an accurate and complete report of this extrodinary case, he also provides an outline of history on child abuse and neglect. Mistreatment of children went on before the sixties, then and now. Mr. Siegel points out that child mistreatment only began to be studied in the 1920s'. Further that the term, 'battered child syndrome' only became coined in the '70s'. Sexual abuse of children was only hinted at in the late 70s' and was only seriously pursued in the early to mid 80s'. Point is that the the mistreatment of children is histroicly youthful and seemingly low priority to society.

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  • Anonymous

    Posted April 7, 2001

    very good book a must read

    i just finished this book it draws you into a world that doesnt seem so long ago and the unspeakable abuse that children indured back then and nothing was ever done about until now. how can a mother of any kind do what she did to that poor little boy left in her care. this book has a few grewsome discriptions in it about the abuse to little dennis but it was a very good book its a book you must read.

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  • Anonymous

    Posted February 10, 2001

    UNABLE TO PUT THIS ONE DOWN

    Every once in awhile a book comes along that you read a page, stop and say, 'Oh my God, how could this happen'. This book is one of them. It seemed that I was re-reading pages because of disbelief in what I read. I had to report to my co-workers on a daily basis as to what had happened in each section I read. Not only was I glued to this book, but so was everyone around me. Although this is a heartwrenching true story it is a sober reality of what happened in some families in the 60's. Great writting, a must read book!

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