Caitlin Tracey was found dead last October at the bottom of a stairwell in her husband Adam Beckerink’s high-rise condo building in the South Loop

Beckerink hasn’t been charged in Tracey’s death, but he faces trial for allegedly abusing her earlier last year in southwestern Michigan

Court ruled Tuesday that previous video of Adam Beckerink abusing his wife Caitlin Tracy, could be introduced during his trial for domestic abuse

Chicago tax attorney Adam Beckerink, has not been charged in the death of his wife

He was in court answering charges from complaints of battering his estranged wife inside her home in New Buffalo, Michigan, in January and August 2024

He’s also accused of assaulting the police officers when they were arresting him

Tracey was found dead just days before Beckerink was due to appear in court for those domestic abuse complaints

Eight months ago, a Chicago tech executive was found “pulverized” and missing a foot in a stairwell of the luxury condo building where she was visiting her estranged husband lived, her heartbroken family has revealed. Her relatives are now fighting for justice against the widower, a renowned Chicago tax attorney.
36-year-old Caitlin Walch Tracey, chief people officer at data analytics company, Nousot, died from “multiple injuries” and a “fall from height” after falling more than 20 stories down a stairwell at her South Loop building, the Cook County medical examiner has ruled.
Tracey was found with a severed foot at the bottom of a stairwell in Beckerink’s high-rise building on South Prairie Avenue, Chicago, on October 27, 2024.
However, the manner of her death was left “undetermined,” and there have been no charges filed in Tracey’s gruesome demise.

The body camera footage at the root of the court wrangling on Tuesday, shows Caitlin Tracey telling police she was abused by her husband months before she was found dead at his South Loop condo building can be played at his upcoming trial in Michigan, a judge ruled Tuesday.
Attorneys hired by her parents, during a media interview in March, revealed that her body was “pulverized” and her foot was severed in the fall.
Her husband Adam Beckerink, 46, was detained and questioned by Chicago police after he filed a missing persons report for Tracey before her body was found on Oct. 27, but he was later released without charges.
Beckerink, a well known Chicago based tax attorney, has not been charged in Tracey’s death, which remains under investigation by the Cook County medical examiner’s office.
Her parents were embroiled in a legal dispute earlier this year over the handling of her remains after Beckerink claimed he had the rights to her body as the surviving spouse.
The parents eventually won custody of her remains, which they brought back to Michigan.

Beckerink was appearing before a judge in Berrien County, Michigan, on prior charges from two separate incidents of domestic abuse against his now-deceased wife in 2024. Beckerink had previously been charged twice with attacking Caitlin earlier last year at her home in Berrien County, Michigan.
Police responding to a domestic disturbance call in the house in January 2024, found Tracey with visible injuries. She accused Beckerink of assault and theft, according to a felony complaint.
Tracey was found dead just a few days before Beckerink was scheduled to face trial on domestic battery charges for two incidents at Tracey’s home in New Buffalo last year.
Prosecutors there asked Judge Gary Bruce to allow police body camera footage to be shown in court during a trial because Tracey can’t testify.
The video shows Tracey detailing Beckerink’s alleged abuse during his first arrest in January 2024, according to her family.
The screams of Beckerink, charged with domestic abuse, were captured on police body camera video. The sounds echoed through the Berrien County, Michigan, courtroom. This footage from August 19, 2024, shows Beckerink held to the floor by police officers, wailing for help as his wife, Caitlin Tracey, lay nearby on the bed in tears.

It was Tracey who had called for help, pleading again for police intervention from a husband she had sought protective orders against. A New Buffalo police officer testified it happened repeatedly.
“We seek justice in all of our domestic violence cases, regardless of whether a victim is able or willing to come forward and testify. Obviously, in this case, our victim is unable, due to tragedy, to come forward,” said Berrien County Prosecutor Amy Byrd.
The judge said the footage can be entered as evidence and allowed the testimony of an officer who was present, prosecutor Amy Byrd said. Bruce also rejected a defense motion to dismiss the second domestic violence case.
Mitt Drew, a lawyer for Tracey’s relatives, said the family was “thankful for the court’s rulings, which ensure that Caitlin’s voice will be heard and that her abuser will be held accountable for his actions.”
Beckerink spent two days in Cook County Jail after he was arrested at his home in March for violating the terms of his release in the Michigan cases. Before he was extradited, prosecutors and his attorney said he was a suspect in Tracey’s death.
On Tuesday, Bruce ordered Beckerink held on $15,000 bond because he was charged with contempt following his arrest in Chicago, Byrd said. Beckerink, a licensed attorney in Illinois, could have been detained while awaiting trial.
Byrd said that may have been comforting for Tracey’s family, though she acknowledged Beckerink hasn’t missed court.
“These are hard decisions for the court to make, it is up to the judge to make that decision,” Byrd said. “It appears the public eye is on him and perhaps that is sufficient.”

With agreement from a judge, the videos and 911 call will now be the only chance for Tracey to tell her story of alleged abuse.
“She was afraid to be in the house alone, because he had accosted her in every room in the house,” Tracey’s neighbor, Bunny Coyner, told the I-Team.
Fighting to withhold the body camera footage, Beckerink’s defense attorney argued, “What Ms. Tracey said to you was, um, that you did not have consent to come in the house, that’s what she said to you,” Joseph Fletcher, Beckerink’s attorney, said to the officer who responded to Tracey’s house on at least two occasions.
Two months after the chaotic arrest of Beckerink last August, Chicago police found Tracey’s body at the bottom of a stairwell in the South Loop building where her husband lives.
The Cook County medical examiner ruled her manner of death “undetermined.” The report details multiple skull and rib fractures, and a traumatic amputation of the right lower leg.
Beckerink left the courtroom handcuffed on contempt charges, for what a Berrien County judge ruled were violations of his bond. He is under a court-ordered 24/7 curfew and monitoring for alcohol and drug use after he failed a drug test and Chicago Police were called to his apartment in May, when he was intoxicated and harassing an employee at his condo building.
So far, a trial date has not been set for the Michigan abuse charges.