DOVER, MASS. (WHDH) – The former Dover doctor accused of strangling his wife testified on Tuesday at his own trial and admitted to getting rid of her body.
Prosecutors say Tuerk strangled his wife, Kathleen McLean, in their home in 2020. Tuerk was once the Chief of Urology at St. Elizabeth’s Medical Center in Boston.
While testifying, Tuerk said the two got into an argument while drinking and she hit him with a glass. Tuerk says he “snapped” and grabbed her by the neck.
“She just flailed around, kind of flailed around. We fell to the floor together, in sync,” said Tuerk during his testimony. “When I came out of my blackout, that’s where we were… She was not responsive. I asked her, Katie, c’mon, please wake up. Katie, wake up.”
When asked if he realized she didn’t wake up and what he did then, Tuerk says he put her on a bed, tried CPR, and sat there crying when it didn’t work. Tuerk said he panicked.
Tuerk testified that he carried her out of the house, put her in the passenger seat of their car, drove to a nearby pond, and dumped her body in the water. He also admitted on the witness stand that he used rocks to try to weigh her body down.
Tuerk said he eventually moved his wife’s body because he didn’t want her children to find her dead.
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