More than a year after Chicago police found Caitlin Tracey dead at the bottom of a stairwell in her luxury high-rise condo in South Loop, Tracey’s estranged husband was set to make his first appearance Tuesday morning in Cook County court to face murder charges.
Adam Beckerink, 47, faces two felony counts of murder for allegedly throwing Tracey, 36, over a railing on the 24th floor of the high-rise stairwell where building managers and police later found her dead, with her foot severed.
He was charged a year later, after a Cook County judge had already sent him to Michigan regarding a different domestic violence case that also stemmed from his on-again, off-again relationship with Tracey.
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 had begun 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 had 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. The pair were married in the spring of 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.”
