By Caroline Kubzansky
Chicago Tribune
(TNS)
A Chicago man accused of throwing his estranged wife to her death down a South Loop luxury condo stairwell will have a full detention hearing Friday, a Cook County judge ordered, after making a first, brief appearance Tuesday.
By the time Adam Beckerink walked into a Cook County courtroom to face charges in Caitlin Tracey’s murder, it had been more than a year since Chicago police found Tracey dead with her foot severed in a high-rise at 1201 S. Prairie Avenue.
Beckerink and Tracey’s parents had spent much of that time in court over custody of Tracey’s remains, the timing of her funeral, and an earlier domestic violence case brought in Michigan that also stemmed from the on-again, off-again relationship between Tracey, 36, and Beckerink, 47.
But at 11:28 a.m. Tuesday, Tracey’s parents and several companions filed into a row of seats toward the back of a detention hearing room in the Leighton Criminal Court Building. They sat silently before being shown to a set of seats in the second row. Judge Susana Ortiz brought the room to order at 11:30 a.m.
At 11:35 a.m., a Cook County sheriff’s deputy called into a back hallway: “Beckerink, Adam.”
Beckerink appeared wearing a blue sweatshirt, blue pants and glasses, without handcuffs. Courtroom officials read the felony charges against Beckerink and walked through his criminal history before the hearing came to a halt. At the request of Beckerink’s attorneys—who said they hadn’t yet been able to review materials from prosecutors—Ortiz delayed the full detention hearing until Friday morning and ordered him held until that time.
The Traceys, dressed formally, filed out of the room with dozens of people, holding hands. Afterward, their attorney gave a short statement on their behalf, thanking Chicago police and the Cook County state’s attorney’s office for their work on the case and saying that Beckerink’s previous domestic violence conviction had given them some sense of peace.
“He must now be held accountable for his actions in the days and months that led to this moment,” the Traceys said in their statement.
Tracey’s death drew headlines when, in November 2025, her parents successfully won custody of her remains after arguing in court both in Michigan and Cook County that Beckerink had a history of abusing her.
According to court records, Tracey began dating Beckerink, a tax attorney at a prominent law firm, in October 2022. Beckerink had a unit in the same downtown high-rise in Chicago that Tracey had lived in with her ex-husband prior to the divorce.
Tracey filed for a court order of protection against Beckerink in 2023, accusing him of slapping her, punching her and choking her during two incidents in 2023, and throughout their relationship. She later moved to vacate the order after her parents said Beckerink threatened to sue her for defamation.
After the couple broke up, Tracey said in the order of protection petition, he continued to harass her, calling, texting or emailing some 20 times a day to see her, and calling her horrible names, according to records. The pair were married in spring 2024, but soon separated.
Beckerink was a tax attorney with Duane Morris LLP but was terminated after Tracey’s death became public. Tracey worked in human resources for a tech firm and had built a home in New Buffalo, Michigan, where the earlier domestic violence case had taken place.
In an obituary for Tracey, her family described Caitlin as “a force of nature—vibrant, bold, and always ready to make you laugh until your sides hurt” with a “sassy attitude, infectious energy, and unapologetic joy for life.”
Photo credit: Suspended Image/iStock
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©2026 Chicago Tribune. Visit chicagotribune.com. Distributed by Tribune Content Agency LLC.
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Tags: Chicago, courts, domestic violence, murder charges, tax attorney, Taxes
