Check-raising the turn was probably the right play. In a live 3/6 game the guy is going to call your raise and river bet with almost anything. If he happened to have absolutely nothing and fold to the check-raise then he would not be calling the river bet anyway, so nothing is lost. By just calling the turn you have a chance to draw in the UTG player for another bet, but at this point he will only call a bet with a high PP or a K, and would probably also call your raise with the K.

I think you make the wrong argument for playing it the way you did, the only argument for not check-raising the turn is to get another bet out of the UTG player.