Dover doctor stands trial in wife’s 2020 murder

Opening statements took place Thursday in the trial against a doctor from Dover, Massachusetts, accused of killing his wife five years ago.

Ingolf Tuerk is charged with murder in the 2020 death of Kathleen McLean, whom he is accused of strangling and dumping in a pond.

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"Evidence of anger that will prove that he is guilty of first-degree murder," said First Assistant District Attorney Lisa Beatty of Norfolk County.

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The prosecution says the 63-year-old urologist admitted to police what he had done.

"That he strangled his wife," Beatty said. "That he knew he killed her. That he panicked after she knew he was dead, and he carried her body out of the house."

Jury being selected in trial of Mass. doctor accused of killing his wife

Jury selection is underway in the trial of Ingolf Tuerk, a doctor accused of choking his wife to death after an argument, before her body was found in a pond near their home in Dover, Massachusetts. Follow NBC10 Boston: https://instagram.com/nbc10boston https://tiktok.com/@nbc10boston https://facebook.com/NBC10Boston https://twitter.com/NBC10Boston https://bsky.app/profile/nbcboston.com

The couple met online and married in Las Vegas. They lived together in Dover with children from different marriages. Tuerk was forced to move out after McLean, 45, got a restraining order against him.

They were trying to reconcile, but started fighting one night while drinking in the spring of 2020. That's when the defense says the doctor's wife hit him in the head with a glass.

"At that point, with one hand — the size of that hand, the strength of that hand — he grabbed her ... She died," said defense attorney Kevin Reddington, who says his client tried to kill himself.

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Originally from East Germany, Tuerk was arrested at a Dedham hotel and taken to a hospital, where police say he told them he put his wife's body in a pond after the fight in their bedroom.

"Bad move, should have called 911. Nevertheless, it was a panic move," Reddington said.

The trial is expected to last a week or more. Starting Tuesday — when jury selection in Karen Read's retrial begins — it'll move to another courtroom in Norfolk Superior Court.

Mass. Doctor to Be Arraigned Monday in Wife's Death

Ingolf Tuerk, 58, was arrested and charged with murder after authorities found Kathleen McLean's body near the couple's Dover home shortly after 11 p.m. Saturday.