Murder Victim. Murdered by his adoptive mother who was finally sent to prison in 1987 when his birth mother (who was all but forced to give him up when he was born), fought to have the case re-opened. A book titled "A Death in White Bear Lake" detailed the story. A movie was made entitled "A Child Lost Forever." The murderer was released in 1995. (The brutality of the 1965 beating death of Dennis Jurgens by his adoptive mother Lois so shocked legal, medical and county welfare employees that they were energized to create the Ramsey County child abuse team. This team unified medical, legal, and social work professionals into responding to and prosecuting adults who battered children. The first successful prosecution in the USA of a child beaten to death by a parent based on battered-child syndrome, "State v. Loss," occurred in Ramsey County in 1971 as a result of the coordinated efforts of this child abuse team. Later, the US Supreme Court upheld the use of battered-child syndrome as a cause of death even when the specific blow causing death cannot be determined and there is no eyewitness to the crime.)
Murder Victim. Murdered by his adoptive mother who was finally sent to prison in 1987 when his birth mother (who was all but forced to give him up when he was born), fought to have the case re-opened. A book titled "A Death in White Bear Lake" detailed the story. A movie was made entitled "A Child Lost Forever." The murderer was released in 1995. (The brutality of the 1965 beating death of Dennis Jurgens by his adoptive mother Lois so shocked legal, medical and county welfare employees that they were energized to create the Ramsey County child abuse team. This team unified medical, legal, and social work professionals into responding to and prosecuting adults who battered children. The first successful prosecution in the USA of a child beaten to death by a parent based on battered-child syndrome, "State v. Loss," occurred in Ramsey County in 1971 as a result of the coordinated efforts of this child abuse team. Later, the US Supreme Court upheld the use of battered-child syndrome as a cause of death even when the specific blow causing death cannot be determined and there is no eyewitness to the crime.)
Bio by: Nora
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