Overview
- After a detention hearing Friday, a Cook County judge ruled Beckerink will remain jailed pending trial, finding he poses a risk to the community, with his next court date set for Feb. 3.
- Beckerink faces one count of first-degree murder and a second count alleging he acted with a strong probability of death in the 2024 killing of Caitlin Tracey.
- Prosecutors said DNA showed only Beckerink touched the exterior stairwell door, described inconsistent statements to police, and cited testimony that Tracey reported a threat he would throw her over the stairs.
- The complaint alleges Tracey was thrown from the 24th-floor stairwell at 1201 South Prairie Avenue on Oct. 25, 2024; a tenant later found a severed foot and police recovered her body at the bottom of the stairs.
- Defense attorneys argue the death may have been an accident or suicide and challenge the state’s evidence, while Beckerink requested protective custody in jail after being returned from Michigan following a 93-day sentence in a domestic case.