Latest news with #MonicaTracey
Daily Mail
18-05-2025
- Daily Mail
Attorney husband of beautiful wife found 'pulverized' in luxury condo arrested - as her cause of death is revealed
The high-flying attorney husband of a beautiful young woman whose body was found 'pulverized' in a luxury Chicago high-rise has been arrested - as medical examiners finally reveal how she died. Caitlin Tracey, 36, died from 'multiple injuries' and a 'fall from height,' according to the Cook County Medical Examiner's Office - though mystery still shrouds the case as the manner of death remains 'undetermined'. Tracey's body was discovered in the stairwell of her husband's luxury South Loop condominium on October 27, 2024, and the medical examiner's office released it's findings this week after several months of investigations. Her husband, Illinois attorney Adam Beckerink, was arrested months later on March 7, 2025, on a fugitive warrant out of Michigan. However, according to Chicago Police and court records, the arrest is not directly related to his wife's tragic death. He was detained on unrelated domestic violence charges. previously revealed that Tracey's parents, retired real estate tycoon Andrew Tracey, 69, and college professor Dr. Monica Tracey, 65, accused Beckerink of wreaking a secret 'campaign and abuse of terror' against her in her final months. Their claims came as they battled against him for custody of their daughter's remains. Beckerink, a former partner of international law firm Duane Morris who had been married to Tracey for six months, argued that he had the rights to her body as the surviving spouse. But on November 6, her family filed documents accusing him of wreaking a 'campaign of abuse and terror' against their daughter, including allegedly throwing a glass pickle jar at her head and pouring vodka on her wounds. According to the Traceys, their daughter had been in a relationship with Beckerink from October 2022 until September 2023, but the couple never lived together or had children. At some point after September, they got back together, and married in a private ceremony on April 8, 2024, which did not involve any of Tracey's relatives. Amid the wrangling for control of her body, her parents accused Beckerink of 'manipulating' their daughter, of 'purposefully isolating her from her family' and being responsible for her 'tragic and highly suspicious death'. To support their argument, the Michigan-based family presented a since-rescinded petition Tracey made to Cook County Court a year before she died in a desperate attempt to obtain a restraining order against her husband. In her October 4, 2023 filing, Tracey detailed three examples of horrific attacks by the tax attorney. Tracey said that on July 11, 2023, at around 3 pm, Beckerink stripped her naked and attacked her at her three-story home in New Buffalo on the banks of Lake Michigan, where her parents said she lived to be close to them and away from her partner. Though they had a fraught relationship, Tracey split her time between Beckerink's flat and her home in New Buffalo, on the banks of Lake Michigan. Neighbors in the Michigan town opened up about disturbing events which unfolded during her final months, while remembering their beloved friend. Joyce Lantz and Bunny Coyner lived on Tracey's street, and they recalled how scared she was of Beckerink. 'She said, "I felt like he was going to kill me,"',' Lantz told Fox News. Lantz also told the Chicago Tribune that Tracey's house, close to the lake, was 'like something that you'd see in a design magazine'. 'As another woman, you just want to cheer her on, because she's on her own, and built this amazing life,' Lantz said. 'It's just amazing to me how one person can come into your life and change the trajectory in such a major way. It's deeply sad, right? That she's not with us anymore.' Coyner said she met Tracey in the fall of 2023, after Tracey offered to help with DIY around her house. She said Tracey told her, 'I know my way around a drill and some drywall.' Coyner said Tracey invited her for a tour of her home, and mentioned she had taken a temporary restraining order out against an ex-boyfriend. She even described his car and asked Coyner to let her know if she saw it on their street. 'She was a beautiful, intelligent young woman and had a wonderful life ahead of her,' Coyner told the Chicago Tribune. 'I think she was looking forward to maybe getting out of this and searching out a new life, and I wished only the best for her, and she just couldn't do it.' Lantz said that earlier this year, something changed and Tracey seemed to abruptly disappear from their neighborhood. She said she began sending 'cryptic' texts, and they witnessed police cars pull up to her home while she was inside on August 19. Tracey fell down 24 flights of stairs in Beckerink's high rise (pictured) on the 1200 block of Prairie Street in South Loop, severing her foot during the descent This matches with court records seen by which outline how Beckerink was charged with two counts of resisting and obstruction, interference with electronic communications and more counts of domestic violence against Tracey on that date. Lantz and Coyner said when they saw Beckerink being taken away from the home in handcuffs that day, they text Tracey to ask if she wanted her to come over. 'She said yes, which surprised me, honestly, because you know, I felt like she was a pretty independent woman that just handled things on her own,' Lantz told the Chicago Tribune. 'And when I got down there, I walked up the steps to her home, to her front door, I went to hug her … she felt so small and tiny, and honestly, frail. Almost like a shell of what she used to be.' 'We told her she had to get out of it, this was the time to get out of it. You're better than this, you're a wonderful woman, you're beautiful,' Coyner added. In the following days, Tracey told the women she wanted to 'start her life over again here in Michigan' and 'turn that corner', Lantz said. 'I thought she was getting to a point finally where she was going to get back on track, and that makes me feel incredibly sad,' Lantz added. 'I felt like she was hopeful.' She also sent them a text days later - on August 29 - saying: 'Bunny and Joyce - Thank you for being fabulous neighbors. Your support (and space) has meant the world to me. 'I've been to court twice since you were last over and yesterday was tough but moving forward and have a great advocate in the prosecutor's office. 'Now it's time for me to rebuild and move forward with a calmer and healthier life and future relationships.' The women remembered Tracey for her love of travel, dancing, fine wine, fashion, and hosting dinner parties. Lantz also described her as 'such a shining star' who was fashionable, with an 'intelligence that's (also) a humor'. Beckerink's lawyer Todd Pugh said he denies the domestic violence claims. 'There was no physical violence that Adam had directed towards CT,' he told the Chicago Tribune. 'There is no corroboration to any of her claims. There was a layer of emotional volatility to the relationship, but CT enjoyed an incredibly close relationship with Adam's parents and Adam.' Beckerink's disheveled mugshot was unearthed by a FOIA request in November, following from his arrest the day she was found dead. Chicago PD officers initially charged the attorney with disorderly conduct and accused him of making a false report of an offense on October 28, but he was released without charge after questioning. Beckerink appeared with stubble and his hair skewed to one side in the mugshot pictured in his police report. Since Tracey's autopsy results are pending and the investigation into her death is ongoing, police declined to give any further information. The report came after Tracey's parents won custody of her body from Beckerink amid an acrimonious court battle. Beckerink hit back by filing an emergency motion to prevent them from proceeding with her funeral and give him the opportunity to challenge the decision. However, a Cook County judge denied his motion, according to the Chicago Tribune, which allowed them to proceed with the Catholic burial they had planned for their daughter on November 23.
Yahoo
11-03-2025
- Entertainment
- Yahoo
How Entertainment Workers Are Finding New Careers in Homeless Services — With a Little Help From Keanu Reeves
The past few years have seen many entertainment workers questioning whether it's sustainable to stay in the business in L.A. And despite pushes for more incentives and #StayinLA efforts, there's no clear turnaround in sight. Take Monica Tracey. The former production manager for NBC and The Asylum recently completed a five-day intensive training program with Los Angeles Unhoused Response Academy, or LAURA — and is already putting her problem-solving experience to work with a street medicine organization. With over 75,000 unhoused people in Los Angeles County alone, the situation remains dire, and it's proved very challenging to find enough case managers and housing navigators to help unhoused people move into housing and get crucial medical care. Enter LAURA (Los Angeles Unhoused Response Academy) — a five-day training program that seeks to connect people changing careers with a fast-track path to becoming a case manager or another position in the homeless services area. LAURA isn't only for those transitioning out of entertainment, but several people in the first group of fellows were exploring new careers beyond TV and film, where they worried opportunities have all but dried up. The pilot week last October was backed by Keanu Reeves, who knew LAURA founder Justin Szlasa from when they worked on the documentary 'Side by Side' together. The second LAURA cohort of 10 participants will start April 10, this time with backing from the United Way. Szlasa, currently a commissioner with the county's housing board LAHSA, joined the program's sponsor Future Communities after being on the board of the SELAH homeless outreach organization, which has become a springboard for several former industry creatives to move into social services and politics. 'In terms of frontline workers, about 8,000 work in homeless services and there's about 2,000 open spots. There's a lot of unfilled need, with a 30% attrition annually,' says Szlasa. Of the six participants in the pilot program, which focused on Downtown L.A.'s Skid Row, five were offered full-time jobs and four are already working, Szlasa reports. The goal is to run five sessions a year, with at least two in Hollywood, where he sees a strong need. During the program, people from agencies and organizations that provide housing, medical care, addiction services and other areas lead tours and briefings on their specialties, giving participants a quick but intensive course in how the byzantine homeless services system works. With increasing scrutiny on accountability for the many organizations receiving public funding, it's crucial they recruit enough trained workers to get people efficiently housed and treated. Tracey started volunteering with SELAH after observing the scope of homelesness in the city. 'It's so prevalent here, in L.A. you cannot escape it,' she says. 'So that kind of did tug on my heartstrings. And then with the way the business has been, it's been awful this past year.' After completing the LAURA program, Tracey was hired by Akido Labs' Street Medicine team as a lead care manager. Tracey has a caseload of 30 Skid Row-area patients dealing with mental health and substance abuse issues in addition to other health issues. She also helps her clients move to the next step to obtaining temporary or permanent housing. It's not entirely different from managing the many challenges of a big production — except that the issues are life and death instead of whether the director got the wrong lunch delivered. 'I've always been pretty good in crazy situations, and I love putting out fires,' Tracey says. 'And now, this is real life.' 'I'm making a lot less,' she admits, but sighs, 'Television is really changing now.' Another participant in LAURA's pilot program, filmmaker Adam Assad, worked in the art department on various productions and is still deciding whether a career in entertainment will be viable. 'Obviously filmmaking has always been a dream, but this is more of a rewarding line of work,' he says. 'So if it's something I can make work permanently, that would be the goal.' But the salaries in social services are a roadblock, Assad says, so for now he's working for L.A.'s Metro transit agency. 'When you first start, the salaries are very low,' Szlasa admits, 'but they can move up relatively quickly.' He'd like to find funding to help bridge that gap and make it more feasible for people to enter the profession, particularly for those used to higher salaries. 'It's been a struggle,' says Assad, describing the one-two-three punch of the pandemic, strikes and streaming companies producing less. But that pause gave him time to volunteer in homeless services and start thinking about other careers. 'I always thought I can't be a case manager because I don't have a degree in social work or whatever. And it's like, no, you can do this and we can help you. You can link up with people who are hiring right now,' Assad says. It's going to take a lot of effort to solve the homeless crisis in Los Angeles, but programs like LAURA can bridge gaps in the system — and maybe open up new career paths at the same time. (Pictured above: LAURA program leaders Justin Szlasa, left, and Dr. Julie Hudman, far right, visit Homeboy Industries with the first class of LAURA Fellows.) Best of Variety New Movies Out Now in Theaters: What to See This Week Oscars 2026: First Blind Predictions Including Timothée Chalamet, Emma Stone, 'Wicked: For Good' and More What's Coming to Disney+ in March 2025
