Caitlin Tracey's husband ordered held in custody while awaiting trial in her 2024 death
In recounting her history of alleged abuse, Caitlin Tracey disclosed to a court-appointed victim advocate that her husband, Adam Beckerink, had previously threatened to throw her over a flight of stairs, according to prosecutors.
Weeks later, on Oct. 27, 2024, Tracey was found dead at the bottom of a stairwell in a South Loop high-rise after residents of the building found a severed foot in the stairwell.
Beckerink, 47, a Chicago lawyer, was arrested Monday and charged with first-degree murder in Tracey’s death. A Cook County judge on Friday ordered him held in jail while he awaits trial. His next court date is Feb. 3.
Adam Beckerink filed a missing persons report with Chicago police in October 2024 for his wife, Caitlin Tracey. He said he’d been in Michigan in the days prior to her disappearance and hadn’t see her in a month. But surveillance video showed the two together a day before she disappeared.
Cook County Sheriff’s Department
He recently finished serving a 93-day sentence in the Berrien County jail in Michigan for domestic abuse against Tracey.
Cook County prosecutors accused Beckerink of throwing Tracey, 36, over a stairwell from the 24th floor of their condo building in the 1200 block of South Prairie Avenue. A Cook County medical examiner’s autopsy found that she died from a fall from height.
Tracey had been in a relationship with Beckerink since 2022. They lived together at the South Loop condo, but Tracey also owned a home in New Buffalo, Michigan.
Shortly before 11:30 p.m. Oct. 25, 2024, four residents in the South Loop high-rise reported hearing an “unusually loud noise” that sounded like something striking metal from inside the building’s stairwell, prosecutors said.
Around 3 a.m. the next morning, surveillance camera footage showed Beckerink hauling a luggage cart filled with jackets and bags from the building’s parking garage.
Later that day, Beckerink told the building’s concierge, whom he had befriended while living there, that Tracey had been missing since 10 p.m. the day before.
Beckerink later filed a missing person report with Chicago police, telling officers that Tracey had left their home around 9 or 10 p.m. the night before to go for a run and didn’t bring her phone or keys with her. He also told officers that he had been in Michigan and hadn’t seen Tracey in more than a month, according to prosecutors. However, detectives found building surveillance video showing the two together on Oct. 24, according to a Chicago police report.
Surveillance footage from the condo didn’t show Tracey leaving the building around the time that Beckerink had reported, prosecutors said.
A day after Tracey’s body was found, Beckerink was arrested and accused of filing a false police report. He was later released without charges being filed.
Evidence technicians swabbed the stairwell door handles on the condo’s 24th floor. An Illinois State Police crime lab analysis found the DNA from the swabs “showed very strong support” for a match to Beckerink’s DNA profile, prosecutors said.
Prosecutors also detailed a history of Beckerink’s abuse against Tracey.
Police were called to Tracey’s home in Michigan three times on suspicion of abuse, including on Jan. 13, 2024, when officers noticed cuts to Tracey’s lip, a bruise on her back where she was allegedly kicked and redness on her face, prosecutors said.
Chicago police were called to a hotel where the couple was staying on Sept. 20, 2023, after guests reported hearing screams for help coming from Tracey and Beckerink's room, prosecutors said. Hotel security entered the room and found Beckerink dragging Tracey by her hair across the room. Tracey had alleged she was asleep when Beckerink came into the room and struck her on the face and body, causing her to lose consciousness.
Tracey obtained an order of protection against Beckerink in Cook County a little more than a week later. In her petition for the order, Tracey said Beckerink routinely called her derogatory names and would contact her 20 times a day. During an incident at her Michigan home, Beckerink threw a jar at her head, dragged her by her hair throughout the home and stripped her clothes and poured vodka on her wounds, according to prosecutors.
Beckerink, a tax attorney, was fired from his job as a partner at Duane Morris LLP after the case became public.
After Tracey’s death, her parents and Beckerink fought over the custody of her remains. A Michigan judge eventually granted custody to Tracey’s parents, and a Cook County judge later accepted that ruling.