A once-prominent Massachusetts doctor accused of killing his wife in the early days of the COVID-19 pandemic was in court Wednesday for a hearing where new documents were briefly discussed mentioning the closely watched investigation into the Karen Read case.
Dr. Ingolf Tuerk was charged with murder for Kathleen McLean’s body found in a pond near the couple’s Dover home in 2020. He appeared for a hearing in Norfolk Superior Court, where his new attorney, Kevin Reddington, discussed several motions.
Last week, Reddington filed several requests, including a request for personal text messages and emails from investigators who worked on the case. Investigator Michael Proctor, a Massachusetts state trooper who was suspended by the agency following revelations about his investigation into the Read case, also investigated McLean’s killing.
Tuerk’s case is one of several in Norfolk County that could be affected by the fallout from the Proctor revelations. But Judge Beverly Cannone, who also heard the Read case, ruled that Reddington must file an affidavit explaining why it was important to obtain the messages from Proctor and others before the motion goes to trial.
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. on Saturday.
Several other matters were addressed at Wednesday’s hearing, including additional document requests and requests for access to electronic devices.
Tuerk was a renowned urologist who specialized in robotic surgery and was once featured on a Boston hospital poster. However, in 2019, he was charged by Attorney General Maura Healey with billing fraud. The case was settled.
Prosecutors have said he admitted to strangling McLean and dumping his body in the pond. Among the new documents filed by Tuerk’s attorney is a lengthy statement giving Tuerk’s side of the story, but it was not addressed in court Wednesday.
In it, Reddington describes the history of the couple’s relationship, claiming that on the night of the murder, McLean admitted to setting him up to provide for her children and that she continued to meet other men even after the couple reconciled.
“She referred to the men on the dating site as (Tuerk), pleaded with McLean on her knees, ‘Please don’t do this,’ and then she hit him with a glass, hitting him on the head and forehead, and lunged at him with her arms outstretched. He stood up and grabbed her, and that’s when he realized she went limp and had actually died,” the case statement concluded.
The document does not contain any further details about the alleged murder.
Investigators said Tuerk called 911 to report McLean missing a day after she was last seen and that he texted a mutual friend of the couple.
“Curt, I’m sorry brother, but she’s a vengeful devil. She tricked us all. I’m really sorry brother, but she manipulated us all. I love you Harry,” the text read, according to authorities.
After being found unconscious in a Dedham hotel room, Tuerk allegedly told investigators he strangled his wife after an argument in their home and dumped her body in a nearby pond, prosecutors said in court.
At that trial, Tuerk pleaded not guilty and was ordered remanded in custody without bail.
