The parents of a woman who was found dead in the stairwell of a South Loop luxury high-rise last month have been granted a temporary order preventing their daughter’s husband from retrieving her remains, alleging in court documents a pattern of abusive behavior.
The deceased woman was identified last week as 36-year-old Caitlin Tracey of New Buffalo, Michigan, according to the Cook County medical examiner’s office. The cause and manner of her death are still undetermined, pending an investigation by the Chicago Police Department, the office said.
In court documents, Tracey’s parents allege that her husband, Adam Beckerink, a tax attorney, physically and emotionally abused Tracey throughout their relationship. In a petition they filed in probate court in Berrien County, Michigan, which is where Tracey resided, her parents argued that “based on the circumstances surrounding the death along with the abusive history,” their family would “not be psychologically or emotionally capable in participating in any services that are handled and arranged by” Beckerink.
Beckerink is currently facing two domestic violence charges in Berrien County for alleged physical attacks on Tracey in addition to felony charges including resisting and obstructing arrest.
On Thursday, the probate court judge in Berrien County set an emergency hearing date of Nov. 12 for Tracey’s parents’ petition for the authority to retrieve their daughter’s remains and arrange a burial.
The same day, a Cook County judge granted a temporary restraining order preventing the Cook County medical examiner’s office from releasing Tracey’s remains to Beckerink through Nov. 17, given that her parents’ Michigan petition is pending in probate court. The next status conference on the Cook County case will take place this coming Friday.
Chicago criminal defense attorney Todd Pugh, who is representing Beckerink, said Friday that there was “no link” between his client and Tracey’s death.
“Caitlin was the love of Adam’s life, they’ve been married since April, her family has not had any contact with her in the several months since she married Adam,” Pugh said. “He wanted to include them in honoring her memory and wanted to do this at the funeral home that her family selected, but based on the filing that we just received, that wasn’t sufficient.”
Attorneys for Tracey’s parents, who reside in Chicago, declined to comment at this time.
As Tracey’s surviving spouse, Beckerink is presumed to have the legal right to control her remains, according to Thursday’s Cook County filing. However, under Michigan law, that right can be revoked if the surviving spouse is shown to be “incompetent or unsuitable.”
The Cook County complaint notes that “in the event that Beckerink is criminally charged with Caitlin’s death, he will be automatically disqualified” from controlling her remains and funeral.
Court documents list the South Loop apartment building where Tracey was found dead as Beckerink’s home address.
According to the parents’ filing in Michigan, “Law enforcement has advised the family that the Respondent is the primary suspect and he was immediately taken into custody by the Chicago Police Department – Violent Crimes Unit.”
Tracey’s parents claim that Beckerink has refused to give Tracey’s remains to her parents and instead expressed his plans to keep “personal possession of her ashes,” according to the Cook County filing.
In an email from Nov. 4, an attorney with Breen & Pugh Attorneys at Law, the firm representing Beckerink, wrote to Tracey’s parents’ attorney that “the remains will be released to our client, care of the funeral home,” according to documents filed with the Cook County court.
The parents alleged in their Wednesday petition in Berrien County that Tracey’s body was found “directly below” Beckerink’s condominium after he contacted Chicago police the day prior to inform them about her disappearance. She was staying with him that weekend, the filing states.
According to a police report, Tracey was found dead at the bottom of the stairwell of the building at approximately 7:20 p.m. Oct. 27.
A resident of the building had found a severed foot near a railing in the east stairwell and reported it to a building manager, the report said. While responding officers searched the area, the manager spotted Tracey’s body at the bottom of the stairwell.
According to the Michigan court filing, Tracey’s parents claim that Beckerink had “manipulated (Tracey) and purposefully isolated her from her family so that he could continue his campaign of abuse and terror unnoticed,” and that Tracey had told them in September 2023 that Beckerink had held her hostage and physically brutalized her to the point where she required medical attention.
Tracey filed an emergency protective order in Cook County against Beckerink in October 2023.
In her affidavit in support of the order of protection, Tracey detailed multiple occasions of physical and verbal abuse, alleging that Beckerink had strangled her, punched her, thrown objects at her and taken her belongings away.
In July 2023 at Tracey’s residence in New Buffalo, Beckerink allegedly threw a pickle jar at her head, stripped her out of her clothes, punched her and poured vodka on her wounds, taking her to the hospital approximately two days later “to seek medical attention for (her) open head wound,” according to Tracey’s affidavit.
In August 2023, at the same South Loop address where Tracey was found dead, Beckerink allegedly strangled her and slammed her head against a cabinet before taking her keys, wallet and phone, according to her affidavit. She filed a police report for aggravated domestic battery, according to the affidavit.
In September 2023, Tracey filed another police report after Beckerink allegedly hit, strangled and “attempted to sexually abuse” her in a hotel room at The Ritz-Carlton, according to the affidavit.
The protective order Tracey obtained was extended by the court in late October. However, on Nov. 13, 2023, Tracey moved to vacate the order and dismiss the case, which her parents allege in the court filing was due to Beckerink threatening to sue her for “defamation and libel.”
Two domestic violence cases against Beckerink in Berrien County remain pending, both from 2024 and with Tracey listed as the victim.
On Oct. 21, a status conference was held for the most recent case regarding an August incident that took place in New Buffalo. Beckerink is alleged to have assaulted Tracey, interfered with her attempt to call 911 and then violently resisted arrest once police officers arrived, according to court records.
A jury trial for the case, in which Beckerink faces felony charges for resisting arrest in addition to a domestic violence charge, was initially scheduled to begin on Oct. 29 but will now take place in January 2025.
The other case pending is from a January incident, with charges including multiple felonies — larceny over $20,000, larceny in a building and interference with an electronic communication device causing injury or death — and domestic violence.
