A Doctor in Massachusetts charged for killing his wife has a history of abuse

Dr Ingolf Tuerk, a doctor, specializing in robotic and laparoscopic surgery for urinary obstruction at St. Elizabeth's Medical Center in Boston, where he was head of urology, and Steward Carney Hospital in Dorchester enjoyed the respect and status of a mini-celebrity are charged with his wife's murder. 

Popularly known as Harry, on Thursday night, he was sitting with his wife having a drink where they argued. During the argument, his now-deceased wife Kathleen McLean, hit on his hand with an object and he retorted says the criminal complaint, "he reacted to that aggressive situation and choked Katie.,"

Dr Ingolf Tuerk and Katie McLean, who was a Reiki Healer and owner of Birch Tree Energy and Healing in Sudbury were in a relationship for two years and later got married. They have two teenage sons lost his job at St. Elizabeth's Medical Center for inappropriate billing the state's Medicaid program. Since then, his stress grew and was abusive towards his wife.

According to the Dover police report of February 3, he was physically abusive, and Katie wanted a divorce. As per the Globe reports, "She said she was afraid of Ingolf and did not know what he would do once she had filed for divorce.,"

In February, she pressed charges of repeated attack, strangulation, suffocating her by stopping her breath with hands and cutting her with scissors. Tuerk was on a restraining order for a while after the attack. However, in Early May, McLean reconciled with her husband as she wanted to reunite her family. "I feel safe and would like to bring my family back together with my husband," McLean wrote in a May 2 court paper, the Globe reports. "My goal is to salvage our family."

But on a dreadful night, she was choked to death, and her body was placed in a pond with a rock on top of her and a few rocks in her pocket. Dr Tuerk confessed choking and hiding the dead body. 

The judge at Dedham District Court ordered his arrest without any bail and was not allowed to talk to anyone from his wife's family. 

I cannot comment on the pending charge," Tuerk's attorney, Howard Cooper, tells PEOPLE in an email. "I can say that Dr Teurk is a renowned physician and surgeon. Over the years, he has saved the lives of many patients suffering from a serious illness. His life story is one of a great accomplishment, all of which is utterly inconsistent with the charge brought against him."