DEDHAM, Mass. — A Massachusetts doctor who admitted to strangling his wife read an apology letter in court on Friday before a judge sentenced him to prison for the 2022 killing.
Ingolf Tuerk, who was convicted last month of voluntary manslaughter in the death of his wife, 45-year-old Kathleen McLean, appeared in Dedham’s Norfolk Superior Court and was handed a sentence of 12-16 years in the Souza-Baranowski Correctional Center.
He expressed remorse for his actions after listening to emotional victim impact statements.
“I’m sorry, Katie. Please forgive me for having reacted in such a way on May 15, 2020, that it caused the end of your life,” the 63-year-old said as he read from notes on a sheet of paper. “I’m thinking about you every day. I wish I could make it all unhappen.”
Tuerk also apologized to his wife’s three children: Sophia, Grace, and Sam.
“I’ve been waiting for five years to be able to reach out to Katie’s children...As well as Katie’s family, to tell them how sorry I am,” Tuerk said. “Please accept my condolences and apologies, Sophia, Grace, and Sam, for having taken your mom away from you. I can’t even imagine the pain I’ve caused you.”
Tuerk, the former chief of urology at St. Elizabeth’s Medical Center in Boston, took the stand during his murder trial and delivered emotional testimony, detailing his wife’s final moments.
The Dover resident told the jury through tears that he was acting in self-defense and “scared to hell” when he grabbed his wife’s neck until she passed out.
Tuerk claimed that McLean had struck him in the head with a glass during a heated argument, prompting him to “snap,” “blackout,” and strangle her.
“I snapped, I kind of blacked out,” Tuerk testified. “She just flailed around. She kind of flailed around, and we fell on the floor together. When I came out of my blackout, that’s where we were.”
The prosecution sought a first-degree murder conviction, but during trial, Tuerk’s attorney, Kevin Reddington, argued that the murder was not premeditated.
Because the jury cleared Tuerk of murder, he was able to avoid life in prison.
Before handing down the sentence, the judge presiding over the hearing described Tuerk’s attack on his wife as “brutal” and unimaginable.
“I can’t imagine a human being facing her last moments on Earth while being strangled by her husband,” the judge told the court. “It’s simply difficult to fathom.”
Dedham police found cars that belonged to Tuerk and McLean in the parking lot of a hotel where Tuerk had reserved a room from May 8 to May 17, 2020.
Police said that they found Tuerk passed out on the bed in the hotel room with scrapes on his arms, legs, and forehead. Tuerk was then taken to Norwood Hospital for treatment.
In an interview at Norwood Hospital, police said Tuerk, who goes by the name Harry, admitted to fighting with his wife.
Police said he told investigators that he strangled her and, when he realized she was dead, carried her body through thick brush and dumped her body into a pond at a new home construction site near their own home.
Police said Tuerk’s detailed instructions led them to McLean’s body, which they say was found naked from the waist up and with rocks weighing down her pants.
“While Mr. Tuerk is not charged with the improper disposal of human remains, the court notes that Ms. McLean’s body was truly discarded like a bag of trash,” the judge concluded before handing down his sentence.
Tuerk was credited with more than 1,000 days served.
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