Prosecutors: Man accused of killing wife with hatchet asked police to 'give him the death penalty'

MT. PLEASANT, Wis. (WLS) -- The Arlington Heights man accused of tracking down and murdering his estranged wife appeared in a Wisconsin courtroom Friday. Prosecutors revealed what they say led up to a deadly hatchet attack in Racine County Wednesday night.

Cristian Loga-Negru was divorced from his second wife last April. He was married a third time in July to Roxana Abrudan. Within a matter of weeks, their neighbors in Arlington Heights noticed that this was not a happy marriage.

Police were called to their apartment on several occasions. Abrudan confided in friends, and last month got a temporary order of protection that was meant to keep her husband away from her. It did not work.

Abrudan spent the last month of her life hiding from her physically abusive husband, police said. Abrudan traveled from suburban Arlington Heights to Wisconsin to hide from Cristian Loga-Negru.

Police said when Loga-Negru found his estranged wife, he checked into a hotel a mile-and-a-half away from where she was staying. The next evening, as Abrudan returned to her friend's home, he attacked her with a hatchet.

"He was lying in wait in that rented vehicle with binoculars, with a hatchet, waiting for the opportunity to strike," Richard Chiapete, Racine Co. district attorney, said.

Abrudan worked asked an office manager for a mortgage firm in northwest suburban Niles. She was eagerly pursuing a new career in architecture. Friends said they knew there was abuse in her brief marriage and had encouraged her to seek an order of protection against Loga-Negru, which she did.

"There were many times I suggested to her to call police, get a restraining order. It's saddening that the system is broken," Dawn Sabathne, coworker and friend, said. "I was hurt, I was very sad about it. (But not surprised.) No, I wasn't surprised at all. Not too many people here are."

Loga-Negru did not resist police when they caught up with him minutes after he allegedly attacked Abrudan. In the criminal complaint, Loga-Negru "asked officers if they could give him the death penalty right now." He asked an officer to shoot him and "seemed disappointed" when told Wisconsin had not had the death penalty for 160 years.

When police went to Loga-Negru's hotel room, they found his father, Marius, a Romanian national who said he'd arrived in Chicago Tuesday to "deal with his son." He said he was unaware of any marital problems.

Police also found a Romanian passport and Romanian ID cards, they said.

Prosecutors said Loga-Negru had told his father on Wednesday when they were in the hotel room that he was going to briefly leave, but that he'd be back. When he returned, covered with blood, he allegedly told his father "I killed Roxana."

The husband and wife were to be in Rolling Meadows court circuit for a hearing Monday on a permanent order of protection.

Loga-Negru is being held without bond. He could potentially face life in prison.