Just weeks before her body was found at the bottom of a South Loop stairwell, Caitlin Tracey, according to prosecutors, made a fateful comment to a court advocate helping her through a domestic violence case that was filed against her husband in Michigan.
Her husband, she reportedly said, had threatened to throw her over the stairs.
On Oct. 27, 2024, residents of the high-rise in the 1200 block of South Prairie Avenue made a gruesome discovery, reporting to building staff that they found what they believed to be a severed foot. Tracey’s body was found shortly after.
More than a year later, Adam Beckerink, 47, a Chicago attorney, has been charged with first-degree murder in Tracey’s death, accused of throwing the 36-year-old over a railing on the 24th floor in a stairwell in a building.
During a lengthy detention hearing Friday, though, his attorneys fought back against the charges, arguing that no one witnessed Tracey’s death, which they said was “self-inflicted.”
Cook County Judge Susana Ortiz nonetheless ordered Beckerink detained while awaiting trial, pointing to a lengthy history of domestic violence alleged by prosecutors.
“The court cannot ignore this history of intimate partner violence,” Ortiz said.
Described in her obituary as a “force of nature,” Tracey lived with her husband in the South Loop condo, while also owning a home in New Buffalo, Michigan.
“Her sassy attitude, infectious energy, and unapologetic joy for life touched everyone she met. Caitlin, or CT, as some may know her, had a way of lighting up a room, whether with her quick wit, her unmistakable laugh, or her unfiltered honesty,” the obituary said.
But Tracey was caught up in a cycle of domestic violence, trying at times to leave her husband, prosecutors said.
“She tried to get out of that cycle. She couldn’t,” Assistant State’s Attorney Anne McCord said. “It cost her her life.”
McCord alleged a litany of abuse during their two-year relationship and short marriage.
In July 2023, in New Buffalo, Beckerink threw a pickle jar at her head and grabbed her hair, pulling her around her residence, McCord said. He stripped off her clothes and poured vodka on her wounds, she said.
Then, in August, Tracey walked into a Chicago police station to report that Beckerink choked her until she passed out. About a month later, the couple was spending a night in a Chicago hotel when police were called by guests who reported hearing screams for help, McCord said. Officers arrived and found him dragging her by her hair.
In October of that year, Tracey sought an order of protection, alleging that Beckerink called her derogatory names and contacted her around 20 times a day.
In January 2024, in New Buffalo, police were called to the residence and noted cuts and bruises on Tracey, McCord said. Prosecutors in Michigan filed domestic violence-related charges and he served a 93-day jail sentence after pleading no contest.
“He abused Caitlin Tracey over the course of their relationship systematically and in escalating fashion,” McCord said.
On Oct. 25, 2024, about 3:30 p.m., Tracey called the doorman at the South Loop condo to ask him to carry up groceries that had been delivered to the building.
Later, about 11:30 p.m., residents of the building reported hearing an unusually loud noise, McCord said.
The next day, McCord said, Beckerink told a concierge that Tracey had gone missing.
He then proceeded to tell police different stories about when he last saw Tracey, McCord said.
McCord also contended that Beckerink’s DNA was found on the railing.
Beckerink’s attorney, Todd Pugh, though, argued to the judge that prosecutors had not met their burden to support charges of first-degree murder.
“Caitlin Tracey was alone in that stairwell at some point between Friday night and Sunday,” Pugh said. “She fell to her death. That is what the evidence is in this case.”
Pugh said that both Beckerink and Tracey battled alcohol and drug addictions, which resulted in a troubled relationship, but he denied that Beckerink abused her.
“They were known as partiers, known to scream and yell at each other,” he said. “It was a life together that had an aspect of toxicity.”
Tracey’s killing spawned legal battles between Beckerink and Tracey’s parents, who have said that Beckerink physically and emotionally abused Tracey throughout their relationship.
Last year, Tracey’s parents won custody of her remains after arguing in court that Beckerink, who was married to their daughter for six months, had a history of abusing her.
He had filed a motion last year to temporarily prevent Tracey’s parents from proceeding with her funeral. He argued in an affidavit that he would be “irreparably harmed and deprived of the ability to direct the disposition of his wife’s remains for which he is entitled to and has priority under both Illinois and Michigan law.”
https://www.chicagotribune.com/2026/01/16/adam-beckerink-detention-hearing/
