The parents of a woman found dead in a South Loop apartment building can bury their daughter after a judge denied her husband's latest efforts to delay a funeral and reclaim custody of her remains.
Caitlin Tracey, 37, was found dead with a severed foot Oct. 27 at the bottom of a stairwell in her husband’s apartment building. Police said she had fallen 20 stories.
Her parents, Andrew and Monica Tracey, have since been involved in a weekslong custody battle seeking to block her husband, Adam Beckerink, from retrieving her remains — citing his alleged history of abuse against her and the suspicious circumstances of her death.
The family believed this fight had come to an end Friday,when a Cook County judge upheld a Michigan ruling granting Tracey’s parents exclusive control over her remains and sole responsibility for her funeral arrangements.
But on Monday, Beckerink filed an emergency motion seeking to halt funeral arrangements, giving him time to challenge the Michigan ruling.
In court Wednesday, Cook County Judge Eve Reilly questioned Beckerink’s intentions for filing the motion, as Tracey’s body had already been released to her parents and could not be returned to the medical examiner’s office.
In a written ruling, Reilly denied Beckerink's motion, stating that his attorney had not addressed whether it was even possible that Tracey’s body could be stored for the duration of an appeal, adding, “Certainly, it does not feel just or equitable to do so.”
The Tracey family can now move forward with the “dignified memorial” they have planned for their daughter, according to their attorney.
“No one should have to bury their child, much less fight a legal battle to do it,” the Tracey’s attorney, Andrew Cunniff, said in a statement Wednesday. “Thankfully, the right side prevailed, and Caitlin will remain with her family where she belongs.”
The police investigation into Tracey’s death is ongoing.
Beckerink, a Chicago-based tax attorney who was fired as partner of Duane Morris LLP after the case became public, has not been charged with a crime in connection with her death.
He was temporarily detained for including false information on a missing persons report he had filed about Tracey, hours before her death. He was later released.
In the report, Beckerink claimed that he returned to Chicago two days earlier, on Oct. 25, after spending time in Michigan and had not seen Tracey for about a month.
During the investigation, detectives found building surveillance video showing the two together on Oct. 24, according to a Chicago police report.
In 2023, Tracey reported at least two incidents of alleged domestic violence to Chicago police.
She was granted an order of protection against Beckerink in November of 2023, but later dropped the order after he threatened to sue her for defamation, according to her parents' petition to gain custody of her body.
Beckerink has two active felony cases pending in Michigan, both domestic violence charges involving his wife, according to the petition.
