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Crime House 24/7
Night Watch: Wife Fell 24-Floors to Her Death. Her Husband Last Saw Her Alive
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- [00:03]
Vanessa Richardson
Hi Crime House Community. It's Vanessa Richardson. Exciting news. Conspiracy theories, cults and crimes is leveling up starting the week of January 12th. You'll be getting two episodes every week. Wednesdays we unravel the conspiracy or the cult and on Fridays we look at a corresponding crime. Every week has a theme. Tech, bioterror, power, paranoia, you name it. Follow conspiracy theories, cults and crimes now on your podcast app because you're about to dive deeper, get weirder and go darker than ever before.
- [00:47]
Crime House Promo Announcer
This is Crime House.
- [00:50]
Katie Ring
Please hurry. That's what 36 year old Caitlyn Tracy told a dispatcher in January of 2020. Four months later, she was found dead at the bottom of a luxury high rise stairwell in Chicago's South Loop.
- [01:02]
Adam Beckerink
The husband of a woman found dead in the stairwell of a South Loop condo building last fall is free Denied after bonding out of jail in Michigan.
- [01:10]
Katie Ring
Questions continue to swirl around the brutal death of a young woman in a South Loop condo building in October.
- [01:16]
Adam Beckerink
Adam Beckerink, arraigned on new contempt of court charges and sentenced to more than three months in jail for domestic violence and contempt charges after pleading no contest to abusing his wife, Caitlin Tracy Foreign.
- [01:32]
Katie Ring
Hi, welcome to Crime House Daily. I'm your host Katie Ring. Here we follow the cases making headlines now, where justice is still unfolding. Follow us wherever you're listening and if you want ad free episodes, subscribe to Crime House plus on Apple Podcasts. This episode discusses active criminal cases and breaking news. The information we share is based on what's publicly available at the time of recording and may change as new evidence comes to light. We aim to inform, not to decide guilt or innocence. So everyone mentioned is presumed innocent until proven guilty in a court of law.
- [02:12]
Vanessa Richardson
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- [03:26]
Katie Ring
Caitlyn Tracy grew up in New Buffalo, Michigan, the kind of place where time feels a little slower, neighbors wave from their driveways, and Friday night football games count as community gatherings. Her obituary describes her as someone who brought a sense of calm wherever she went. The kind of daughter who checked in often, the kind of friend who remembered small details. The kind of colleague who who made things brighter just by being in the room. Her childhood wasn't flashy, but it was full. She went to Catholic school, loved her family and attended church. That was her routine. Caitlin's family described her as a force of nature, someone vibrant and bold. They said she had a sassy attitude and infectious energy and that she was always reliable. After high school, Caitlin decided to pursue hospitality management at Michigan State University, graduating in three years with a business degree, a field perfectly aligned with who she was. Hospitality is built on service, diplomacy, reading a room and anticipating problems before they happen. Caitlin excelled at that. She made people feel comfortable, and her family said that she had the uncanny ability to foster connections. Eventually, Caitlin decided to switch careers from hospitality to data analytics. But even with the shift, she was always the one smoothing tensions, organizing the chaos and making people feel seen. By her mid-30s, Caitlin, who is affectionately known by her family as C T, had stepped fully into that version of herself. She had become a tech executive, serving as chief people officer at a Chicago based boutique business management consulting firm called New sot, a position that put her at the intersection of leadership, culture, hiring and conflict resolution. People who worked with her said it made perfect sense. Caitlin had always been a people person. Even after moving to Chicago for her big city career, she never let go of her Michigan roots. In fact, she made sure home was never too far away. She lived right next door to her sister, Carly. She was also the kind of person who always showed up for her family. She called home, often drove back for holidays, birthdays and to simply visit when it had been too long. She checked in on her parents with the same steady warmth she'd shown since she was a teenager. Michigan wasn't just where she grew up, it was part of who she was. When she married 47 year old Adam Beckerink, a successful Chicago tax attorney. She believed she was building the next chapter of her life, a partnership, a home and a future in the South Loop neighborhood where Adam lived. And for a while it seemed like everything was lining up. Her friend said. Caitlin was genuinely excited about this period of her life. She was thriving at work and settling into the city while keeping her close knit bond with her family. She was in many ways the emotional center of multiple circles. But by the fall of 2023, the first cracks appeared and they continued to break as the months rolled on. In July 2023, Caitlyn reported that Adam became physically abusive. In her report, she said that he hit her in the head with a pickle jar at her new Buffalo home and poured vodka on her wounds, which stung badly. Two days later, Adam finally took her to the hospital to treat an open head wound that she had sustained from his outburst. That August, Adam's abuse escalated. He allegedly became even more violent, slamming her head against a cabinet, slapping her, punching her, putting her head into a headlock and dragging her away from the door. A month later, in September, Caitlyn again reported that Adam had physically assaulted her. At the time, Kaitlin was staying at the Ritz Carlton in Chicago, and she accused Adam of going into her room and attacking her while she was sleeping and defenseless. Caitlyn was caught in a vicious cycle. Adam tormented her month after month, but she was likely holding onto the man she met in the beginning of their relationship with when he was hiding his true colors in the love bombing stage. Caitlyn's parents said she was so full of empathy that she truly believed people could change. And they believed she was still trying to see the good in him. Abusers, unfortunately tend to choose empathetic people just like Caitlyn, because they know an empathetic person will stay with them, believe they can change and try and fix them. But abusers don't change. Caitlyn's mother, Dr. Monica Tracy, said that when Caitlyn met Adam, she kept trying to bring out the good in him, even as he, quote, isolated and dominated her. But Katelyn's parents saw through the facade. Their loving, trusting and empathetic daughter held onto hope that he would change. But her parents weren't as convinced. They didn't think Adam would ever change. In fact, they said that they were terrified for her. And for over a year they tried to intervene. But Adam wouldn't let that happen. This is one of the most devastating tactics abusers use. They slowly start isolating their victims and cut them off from their support systems. Because if their victims have a strong support system, it is much easier for them to shatter the rose colored glasses and have the emotional and financial resources to leave. It seemed like Caitlin never thought she'd have a way out. But By October of 2023, she bravely decided that she had had enough. Caitlin went to an Illinois court and filed for a protection order against Adam. In that petition, she described being physically overpowered, shoved and restrained by her husband, and described multiple instances that took place in 2023 to police. For someone who had always been strong, successful and so full of life, filing something like that was enormous. It was brave. But within weeks, Caitlyn withdrew the order. According to her family, she didn't withdraw it because the abuse had stopped. She withdrew it because Adam threatened to sue her for defamation if she didn't. Kaitlin had taken the step that is so incredibly hard for victims of DV and reached out for help. But her abuser wasn't going to allow her to get away that easily or damaged the facade he had meticulously built to hide his abuse and true nature, threats and fear pulled Kaitlin back into the cycle of abuse. But a few months later, Katelyn tried again. On January 13, 2024, just a few weeks into the new year, Kaitlin was at her other home in New Buffalo, Michigan, the home that had been her safe place, her escape, her reset button. But everything changed in an instant.
- [10:16]
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- [11:22]
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- [12:19]
Katie Ring
Code RADIO15@naturalcycles.com On January 13, 2024, Katelyn Tracy was at her home in Michigan when she made a frantic call to 911, a call that would later be analyzed over and over again. On that call, her voice was urgent. She told dispatchers, he's assaulted me before. Please hurry. She said Adam was drunk and that he was attacking her. By the time officers arrived at Kaitlin's house, her husband, Adam Beckerink, had fled. But before he left, he allegedly told Kaitlin to tell police that she called them on accident. The cops knew this was clearly no accident, though. Kaitlin had multiple injuries, cuts on her lips and red marks all over her body. And this time, the undeniable evidence of his violent abuse was captured on body cam footage. Kaitlin is seen sobbing on the tape and she told the police what really happened. Adam attacked her and stole some of her things. Michigan authorities charged him with domestic violence and interfering in her attempt to call for help. Regardless of everything that had gone down, Kaitlin kept trying to hold her life together like she always had, with organization, grace and determination. But the people around her could feel the shift. She was still showing up, but she seemed more guarded and more like she was trying to hold something together that was already breaking. And then came the summer. In August of 2024, police were called again. She reported another domestic incident at the Michigan property. She had another set of injuries, opening yet another case against Adam. This time around, Adam was charged with domestic violence, interfering with electronic communications and resisting and obstruction. By the end of the summer, Caitlyn had two active domestic violence cases in Michigan, both naming Adam. And regardless of everything she was going through, she was still trying to keep going. But the danger was getting closer, and whether she said it out loud or not, it was becoming harder to outrun. On October 24, 2024, Caitlyn and Adam were seen together on building surveillance inside Adam's South Loop condo building. Chillingly, that recording is the last confirmed sighting of Caitlin being alive, because three days later on October 27, a building worker opened the east stairwell door and saw her lifeless body at the bottom of the stairwell. She had fallen roughly 20 to 24 stories and her injuries were disturbing. Her remains were described as pulverized because one of her feet had been severed from her body. The Cook county medical examiner ruled that she died from a fall from height, and her manner of death was ruled as undetermined. That means that for the time being, the ME couldn't tell whether this was a freak accident, if someone had pushed Caitlyn, or if she had thrown herself. But Adam had done something extremely suspicious the day before Kaitlin's death, and the police questioned him for hours about it. Adam had filed a missing persons report, and in it he claimed that he hadn't seen Kaitlin in weeks. Clearly, Adam wasn't aware of the cameras that captured him with his wife days earlier. To investigators, that lie wasn't just suspicious, he it was damning. When Caitlin's parents drove to Chicago to identify her body, I'm guessing their first thought was that Adam was responsible for her death. The authorities thought so too, because they told them there was no evidence their daughter had simply slipped and stumbled to her death or taken her own life. They believed that Caitlyn had been murdered.
- [16:08]
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- [16:38]
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- [17:08]
Adam Beckerink
Hey, Sal. Hank. What's going on? We haven't worked a case in years. I just bought my car at Carvana. And it was so easy. Too easy. Think something's up? You tell me. They got thousands of options, found a great car at a great price, prize.
- [17:23]
Katie Ring
Uhhuh.
- [17:23]
Adam Beckerink
And it got delivered the next day. It sounds like Carvana just makes it easy to buy your car, Hank. Yeah, you're right. Case closed.
- [17:32]
Katie Ring
Buy your car today on Carana. Delivery fees may apply. When investigators in Chicago began piecing together the earliest timeline of Caitlyn Tracy's death, one thing became clear almost immediately. The days and hours surrounding October 27, 2024, needed to be reconstructed down to the minute. They believed this wasn't a simple fall, an accident, a mystery, or a suicide attempt. They believed that she had been thrown over the railing. But this case was a bit complex. Although she was discovered dead in Chicago, there were multiple domestic violence charges in Michigan. This was a woman whose life had been unraveling for years between two states, which meant two police departments and two court systems were involved in this investigation. As investigators worked through the footage and building logs, they tried to understand what those final days looked like for Kaitlin. On October 24, she was seen walking through the condo building that she shared with Adam. But after that, the timeline becomes murkier. So far, detectives haven't confirmed any outgoing calls or data that placed her outside the building. And they haven't reported any confirmed sightings between October 24th and October 27th. So here's what they alleged. There was no evidence Kaitlin simply slipped on a step. While Illinois detectives worked on the stairwell investigation, prosecutors in Michigan were moving forward with The January and August 2024 domestic violence charges against Adam that both named Kaitlyn as a victim because her death didn't stop these files. Domestic violence charges are considered crimes against the state, and Michigan continued to pursue them, even as everyone involved now understood the devastating context behind them. Then, nearly 10 months after Kaitlin's death, Adam appeared in a Michigan courtroom in August of 2025. He pleaded no contest to domestic violence and to interfering with her attempt to call 911. And he admitted contempt of court for violating a no contact order. If you don't know what a no contest plea is, it means that he didn't admit guilt, but he accepted punishment. Because of this, he waived his right to a trial. Two months later, in October of 2025, Adam was sentenced to 93 days in jail and two years of probation. This was the first time any court imposed criminal penalties on Adam for violence connected to Caitlyn. At his sentencing, Adam did something surprising. He wore his wedding ring, telling the judge that he had lost his wife, too, that he couldn't grieve her, and that he loved her more than anything. He said he missed her just as much as everyone else. But for the prosecutors, his words and actions didn't align with the evidence. As Michigan pushed forward with accountability for the violence Caitlyn Tracy lived through at the hands of her husband and Adam Beckerink, Illinois prosecutors focused on the violence she did not survive. Although justice was served in the domestic violence case, many people were shocked that the prosecutors in Illinois hadn't come forward with any charges related to her death. But finally, on October 27, 2025, exactly one year after Caitlyn's body was found, they officially filed a first degree murder charge against Adam. According to prosecutors, they now believe they had enough evidence to allege that her death was not an accident. They believe that Adam threw Caitlyn over the railing of the 24th floor of the east stairwell, causing her fatal fall. With the filing of that complaint, Adam became a fugitive on an Illinois murder warrant while sitting in a Michigan jail serving his domestic violence sentence. This means that Illinois wanted him to, but Michigan was holding him. There were two states, one defendant and one woman whose story connected them both. But there was also a sickening fight happening behind the scenes. In his last act of control, Adam claimed spousal rights and tried to take custody of Caitlyn's remains, which he intended to cremate and keep her ashes as a personal possession. But Kaitlin's parents were not about to let that happen. They wanted to arrange a Catholic funeral and burial for their daughter in Michigan. Her parents filed petitions in both Michigan and Illinois to gain custody of her remains and cited the long history of abuse. Her father Andrew's affidavit says Beckerink beat, punched, slapped, choked, and struck Caitlin with blunt objects. The judge in Cook County, Illinois, put a temporary restraining order in place that that would prevent the release of Kaitlin's remains to Adam while the court in Michigan considered the case. Luckily, the Michigan court sided with Kaitlin's parents and granted them custody of her body, and the Illinois court upheld the ruling. So they were able to bury her and honor her memory the way they wanted. But the legal battle between Kaitlin's family and Adam didn't end there. Since Kaitlin died without updating her will, her husband was her next surviving spouse, which meant that he was legally next in line to inherit her estate. But again, her parents were not about to let that happen on their watch. And In October of 2025, about a year after her death, Caitlyn's estate filed a petition to exclude Adam from any inheritance rights, to keep Caitlyn's burial site private, and to freeze her assets so Adam couldn't access them while facing allegations connected to her death. By the end of 2025, Kaitlin's case had become a two state legal saga. Michigan prosecuted Adam for the violence Caitlyn suffered while alive. Illinois pursued a murder complaint for the violence they allege killed her. Caitlin's parents, Dr. Monica and Andrew Tracy, attended hearings in both states probate criminal sentencing appeals. And they were determined to hold her abuser accountable and not let their daughter's experience be overshadowed by legal technicalities. They also kept pushing the protection order petition she once filed in 2023 as a crucial part of the official record. For them, it mattered that the world understood the full story, not just how Caitlyn died, but what she endured while she was alive. And here's the thing. Just as the Illinois murder complaint was filed, Adam made headlines again. In November 2025, ABC 7 Chicago reported that Adam had pleaded guilty to contempt of court after being flagged for intoxication during a court ordered drug test at Concentra. Urgent care clinicians had to alert police after realizing he was drunk. And with that, his legal troubles were growing, not shrinking. For prosecutors, this was one more example of Adam's recklessness. They thought he was unstable, risky, and disregarded court orders. They're bringing his character into question, ultimately demanding one Is his recklessness evidence of a dark past? Is he a distraught husband who is struggling to deal with his grief? Or is he a murderer who pushed his own wife over a stair railing and killed her in cold blood? That brings us to where the case stands now. Once Adam's Michigan sentence is over, Illinois will need to coordinate with Michigan prosecutors to get him extradited over his first degree murder charge. And while they wait that out, one thing in this entire case hasn't changed. Kaitlin's parents. Despite the complexity of this case, they keep showing up. Because to them, this wasn't just a case. It was their daughter's life. And they wanted the truth to come out. The Crime House team will be on standby to see how this case plays out. We'll be sure to monitor any updates to this case as they roll in. So as always, make sure to follow us on social media. Rimehouse247 for any major developments. What did you think of tonight's case? Drop your thoughts and theories in the comments. See you next time. If you haven't already, subscribe to our YouTube channel Rimehouse Daily and follow us on social media Rimehouse 247 for real time updates. Because the pursuit of justice never stops.
- [26:05]
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- [26:07]
Katie Ring
Right? And the best part? They accept Discover. Accept Discover? In a little place like this? I don't think so.
- [26:14]
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- [26:14]
Katie Ring
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- [26:30]
Adam Beckerink
That take credit cards nationwide.
- [26:32]
Katie Ring
Based on the February 2025 Nielsen report.
- [26:37]
Vanessa Richardson
Looking for your next listen? Hi, it's Vanessa Richardson and I have exciting news. Conspiracy Theories, Cults and Crimes. Crimes is leveling up starting the week of January 12th. You'll be getting two episodes every week. Wednesdays we unravel the conspiracy or the cult, and on Fridays, we look at a corresponding crime. Follow Conspiracy Theories, Cults and Crimes now on Apple Podcasts, Spotify, Amazon Music, or wherever you listen.