The Boston physician who strangled his spouse and dumped her physique in a pond throughout an evening of consuming in 2020 broke down and cried when he was convicted to the disgust of his in-laws.
Ingolf Tuerk’s head shot down as he started to weep when he was discovered responsible of involuntary manslaughter inside Norfolk Superior Court docket on Thursday, based on video by NBC Boston.
“He is guilty of voluntary manslaughter,” the jury foreperson introduced.
Tuerk, the previous head of urology at St. Elizabeth’s Medical Middle in Brighton, had been on trial for murdering his spouse Kathleen McLean inside their suburban Boston dwelling in Could 2020.
The now-63-year-old admitted to consuming with McLean, 45, when a battle broke out and she or he allegedly smashed a wine glass over his head.
“I was scared to hell,” Tuerk instructed the courtroom Tuesday. “I snapped. I kind of blacked out.”
McLean’s physique was present in a pond in a wooded space close to the couple’s dwelling two days after she disappeared.
Tuerk confessed to the killing after his arrest, however claimed it was not intentional, including he put rocks inside McLean’s pants to make sure her physique would sink to the underside of the pond.
“I walked through the yard and tried to look for something that may, you know, bring her down,” he stated.
Tuerk’s attorneys framed their protection across the former surgeon defending himself from his spouse, claiming McLean had tried to manage her husband’s monetary portfolio.
“This is all about money,” Kevin Reddington argued based on NBC Boston. “And she played him pretty darn good.”
“I suggest to you that he reacted. He was drunk… He defended himself. And the beauty of the law is that the government has to prove beyond a reasonable doubt that he did not act in self defense.”
Prosecutors argued for a first-degree homicide cost, claiming Tuerk tossed his spouse out “like a piece of trash.”
“Ladies and gentlemen, I suggest it is not the heat of passion. It is not self-defense. It is motive to kill,” Assistant Norfolk District Lawyer Lisa Beatty stated in her closing assertion.
A sentencing listening to is scheduled for Could 16, the fifth anniversary of when McLean’s physique was discovered.
Tuerk faces as much as 20 years in jail.
The couple had been collectively for 2 and a half years, first assembly on a courting app earlier than eloping in Las Vegas in December 2019.
Pals of McLean stated their relationship began having issues a month earlier than their marriage when Tuerk reached a settlement with the Massachusetts Lawyer Basic’s Workplace that accused him of falsely billing the state’s Medicaid program.
Tuerk paid $150,000 to resolve allegations that he brought on his employer to invoice MassHealth improperly.
“The slow deterioration of his career as doctor and surgeon is when he started getting more violent,” Larry Corcoran, a good friend of McLean’s, instructed the Boston Globe.
Tuerk had allegedly choked and reduce his spouse with scissors throughout repeated assaults.
He confronted expenses of abuse and a restraining order from McLean.
The couple in the end reconciled on Could 2 after McLean wrote in a courtroom affidavit that she felt secure round her husband.
The listening to took a flip final yr when it was revealed that Massachusetts State Trooper Michael Proctor was concerned within the case.
Proctor, an investigator for the company, was fired from his publish after he despatched lewd textual content messages about Karen Learn when he was the lead detective within the high-profile case.
Reddington filed a number of motions in courtroom in August 2024 however was instructed he wanted to file an affidavit to elucidate his must learn textual content messages from police through the investigation.
