A prominent Massachusetts doctor was sentenced Friday after a jury found him guilty of his wife’s strangulation death.
Dr. Ingolf “Harry” Tuerk, 63, was sentenced to 12 to 16 years in prison, with credit for time served, following the death of his wife Kathleen McLean at their Dover home. In April, a jury convicted Tuerk of voluntary manslaughter rather than first-degree murder.
McLean’s sister described her as vibrant.
“She always smiled and was calm. “She had more patience than anyone I know,” Beth Melansen said in court.
The victim’s daughter, who is now 21, was at home when the incident occurred.
“Five years ago I woke up in the middle of the night, looked down the stairs and saw Harry Tuerk,” she told me. “I knew immediately that something bad had happened. We made eye contact, and since then, I’ve been filled with a new level of fear that I didn’t realize was possible.”
Prosecutors claimed the killing was premeditated because the doctor feared his wife would take his home and money in a divorce.
Tuerk testified in his own defense during his trial.
“I didn’t like to cause death of another human being,” according to his testimony. “I devoted my entire life to saving lives. So I was pretty shocked by what had happened.”
Tuerck apologized for his actions during the sentencing with tears in his eyes.
As previously reported by Law&Crime, Tuerk claimed he and the victim began arguing while drinking. McLean struck Tuerk with an object; Tuerk strangled her until she passed out, realized she was dead, and carried her body to a pond. He weighed the body down with rocks.
The defendant faced a number of domestic violence charges prior to his death. According to police reports, Tuerk allegedly beat and threatened McLean multiple times. In January 2020, he allegedly threw her to the ground so hard that her shoes were knocked off. In December 2019, he allegedly slammed her head against a headboard and strangled her while covering her nose and mouth.
Another alleged incident involved Tuerk grabbing scissors. Authorities claim he told his wife that he was “king of this castle.” He allegedly claimed she was just a guest before chopping off a piece of her hair. This allegedly resulted in her hand being cut when she attempted to stop him.
McLean ended up asking to have a restraining order lifted against her husband because she did not want him prosecuted. Tuerk would undergo therapy, and the couple would seek counseling. According to a court affidavit dated May 2, she claimed she did it for their family’s benefit. She died about two weeks later and was last seen on May 14, 2020.
Tuerk, a urologist, was caught up in a billing dispute with the Massachusetts Medicaid program in November 2019. He was ordered by the state attorney general to pay $150,000.