Chicago attorney indicted for 2024 murder of his wife at South Loop condo building

CHICAGO (WLS) -- A Chicago tax attorney has been indicted by a grand jury for the murder of his wife.

Adam Beckerink, 47, was in court Tuesday when prosecutors announced the indictment on a first-degree murder charge for the death of 36-year-old Caitlin Tracey.

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Beckerink is accused of throwing Tracey over the railing of their 24th floor South Loop condo building in October 2024.

Beckerink's attorneys have argued he's innocent, but he has yet to enter a plea.

At Tuesday's hearing, in what appeared to be a surprise to Beckerink's attorneys, prosecutors asked Judge Ankurto Srivastava to order Beckerink to submit his DNA to Illinois State Police under a rarely invoked 2011 Illinois law.

That law requires anyone indicted for qualifying offenses, like murder, to submit their genetic material for reference in state and federal law enforcement databases.

Beckerink's attorney objected, arguing Chicago police had already taken their client's DNA, contending that this would be a subsequent search.

Prosecutors revealed in court that while the statute has been in effect for nearly 15 years, it's only been regularly enforced by the Cook County State's Attorney's office in the last four months.

When the law was passed, the ACLU of Illinois opposed it, writing the new bill "understates the constitutional and practical implications of collecting DNA from people who have not been convicted of any crime... Such compelled DNA testing violates the right to privacy under the US and the Illinois constitutions."

However, the judge sided with prosecutors, issuing an order for Beckerink to submit a DNA specimen to the Illinois State Police in the next two weeks.

Judge Srivastava also ordered Beckerink to remain in custody.

Beckerink's next court appearance is scheduled for Feb. 19, where his case will be assigned to a trial judge for arraignment, where the defendant will enter a formal plea to the charge.

The ABC7 I-Team has been covering the investigation into Tracey's death for more than a year, including a prior domestic violence conviction that Beckerink served time for in Michigan, also involving Tracey.

During his first court appearance last month, the Cook County State's Attorney's Office laid out key pieces of evidence they plan to present at trial that they say prove Beckerink is the sole person to carry out Tracey's death, including only Beckerink's DNA discovered on a door handle to the stairwell outside of the couple's 24th-floor condo unit, from where Tracey allegedly fell.

Prosecutors also revealed a victim's advocate testified to the grand jury that a month before her death, Tracey told the advocate that Beckerink had "threatened to throw her over the stairs."

You can contact the Illinois domestic violence hotline at 1-877-863-6338 click here for more information.

You can contact the national domestic violence hotline at 1-800-799-SAFE (7233) or click here for more information.