334: Mom Kills Son Before 18th B-Day, Wife Found ‘Pulverized’ in Condo & Emmanuel Haro: "Jake CHANGED Rebecca!"

In this week’s episode, we cover several devastating cases shaking communities across the country — a mother who killed her son the day before his 18th birthday in what she called a “death wish,” a Chicago attorney charged after his wife was found “pulverized” in their high-rise condo stairwell, and the latest updates in the heartbreaking disappearance of baby Emmanuel Haro, whose father has now pleaded guilty to his murder while the search for Emmanuel’s remains continues. If you’re new here, don’t forget to subscribe for weekly deep dives into the darkest true crime cases: youtube.com/@annieelise ⭐SponsorsCheck out https://www.dosedaily.co/AE or enter AE to get 35% off your first subscription. 🔎 Join Our True Crime Club & Get Exclusive Content & PerksJoin The Club: patreon.com/AnnieElise 🎧 Need More to Binge? Listen to both of my weekly true crime series 10 to Life & Serialously with Annie Elise wherever you get your podcasts on the Annie Elise Channel!🍎 Apple Podcasts: https://apple.co/3WpfSP8 Where you can also unlock access to 100+ and growing extra exclusive deep dives.💚 Spotify: bit.ly/10TLSpotify 🎙️ All Other Platforms: bit.ly/AnnieEliseAudioboom🚩Announcements Want to catch Annie LIVE on tour? 🎟 Grab your tickets now for a city near you! bit.ly/AnnieElise_Tour 📸 Follow Annie on Socials Instagram: instagram.com/_annieelise TikTok: tiktok.com/@_annieelise Facebook: facebook.com/@10tolifeSubstack: bit.ly/AnnieEliseSubstack 👗 Shop Annie’s Must-Haves! ShopMY: bit.ly/AnnieElise_ShopMy Amazon: bit.ly/AnnieElise_Amazon ••••••••••••••••••🚨Disclaimers1️⃣ Some links may be affiliate links, they do not cost you anything, but I make a small percentage from the sale. Thank you so much for watching and supporting me. 2️⃣ Sources used to collect this information include various public news sites, interviews, court documents, FB groups dedicated to the case, and various news channel segments. When quoting statements made by others, they are strictly alleged until confirmed otherwise. Please remember my videos are my independent opinion and to always do your own research. 3️⃣ The views and opinions expressed in this video are personal and do not necessarily reflect the official policy or position of any other agency, organization, employer, or company. Assumptions made in the analysis are not reflective of the position of any entity other than the creator(s). These views are subject to change, revision, and rethinking at any time and are not to be held in perpetuity. We make no representations as to the accuracy, completeness, correctness, suitability, or validity of any information on this video and will not be liable for any errors, omissions, or delays in this information or any losses, injuries, or damages arising from its display or use. All information is provided on an as-is basis. It is the reader’s responsibility to verify their own facts.

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• 1:27Annie Elise?

  Hey, true crime besties. Welcome back to an all new episode of Serial Sleuth.

• 1:49Annie Elise?

  Hello, hello, hello, and welcome back to an all new episode of Serial Sleuth with me, your host, Annie E. Lys. And we are going over headline highlights today, which I have to say, there have definitely been some case updates from recent cases that we've talked about. So I want to definitely, you know, just touch on those a little bit first. But before we get into all of that, I hope you guys are all having a great week. It is finally Thursday. It's officially fall. We are in the throes of it. It's November, so hopefully you have something, you know, warm and cozy planned for this weekend. I don't know, maybe, but let's start with some of these updates. There has been a huge update in the Lola Davier case. And if you are not familiar with that case, I did a deep dive on it back in September

• 2:34Annie Elise?

  on my YouTube channel and on the show 10 to Life. It unfortunately isn't on the 10 to Life podcast feed because we didn't launch the podcast until after that. But I will link the video version in the episode show notes because it is a case that when I first was researching it, it not only was haunting and so despicable and disgusting, but just the evil of it, the callousness of it. It happened back in 2022 and Lola is a 12 year old little girl, or unfortunately, I should say Lola was a 12 year old little girl. And she was brutally murdered by someone who lived near her family. And not only murdered,

• 3:13Annie Elise?

  but she was sexually assaulted. She was tormented in awful, awful ways. Just inhumane things were done. And then when this monster was done killing Lola, she stuffed her body in a storage container and left it near her family's home for them to find her. I mean, absolutely awful. So the update with this case, again, you can go listen to the deep dive. But the update now is that 27 year old Dabia Ben Kirad was finally sentenced to life and prison for the murder of Lola. And this is the harshest punishment that she could have been sentenced to. And I believe to my knowledge, this took place in Paris, France. I believe to my knowledge that no woman has ever been sentenced to that. So

• 3:58Annie Elise?

  her family did speak out very happy and feeling as though they got justice, knowing that although that won't bring Lola back, it certainly is a step forward in the right direction. So in a quote from Lola's mom before she thanked the court, she said, even if this won't bring my Lola back, we believed in justice and we got it. We got it. So again, I will link that deep dive for you, but I want to give you a very, very massive trigger warning. It is Not an easy case to hear, but that will be in the show notes for you. Another update, we actually talked about this case a few weeks ago on headline highlights. And it was the one about, you probably have seen it on the news or on TikTok too, but it was about the three people, the Halloween trio.

• 4:40Annie Elise?

  Who went up to this door and were banging on the door. They were caught on ring camera footage. They were wearing like the scary nun mask, all of these Halloween costumes. And I remember saying, it kind of felt like that movie, The Strangers. I think it's called The Strangers, but just super scary. And everybody was trying to identify not only who they were, but was this a prank? After they wouldn't answer the front door, this group went back to around the house to the back door. I mean, awful. Well, come to find out, this Halloween trio has now been identified as family members of the homeowners. A woman, her two teenage sons and her nephew were the ones behind the masks. And they said that it was all just supposed to be a prank, you know, harmless Halloween fun. But there were two other adults and a child who also were involved in this.

• 5:26Annie Elise?

  That although they weren't wearing the masks and banging on the door, they were apparently in the street recording all of this going down. Which, first of all, let's talk about that because in a day like today, pranks like that just don't fly because there are so many very real threats that you can't do something like this, right? But also imagine for a moment you were that family who put the Halloween masks on and thought you were pranking a family member. And then you saw that ring footage all over the news and everybody was trying to identify you. Everybody was talking about it like, you've got to feel like a complete idiot, right? I mean, you thought that this would be some funny prank.

• 6:06Annie Elise?

  Not only did you terrify your family, which is not funny at all, but everybody in the world heard about you and was seeing what you were doing. It's just like for two adults to be involved in this, it seems highly, highly irresponsible. And maybe I'm just being a tight ass. I don't know, but I just feel like I would never take my kids to do something like that. It feels again, very reckless, given. How much hate is already out there and how fearful people are, but that's just my opinion. There was a quote from the sheriff in which they said, "While this incident may not result in a criminal prosecution, for me, my team, and this community, it represents a moral failure. A moral failure where consequences could result in deadly consequences."

• 6:50Annie Elise?

  And I think that this goes back to the idea that when we first talked about this too, we had talked about, okay, if somebody is scared and they have a firearm on them, who's to say this could not have ended disastrously? So hopefully it's just a very difficult learning lesson for a lot of people or anybody else out there who thinks that this is a funny prank because obviously it's not. And I'm just glad that Halloween's over. I'm glad that Halloween's over. Now let's talk about the Emmanuel Haro case because this is a case that we've been talking about for several weeks. Actually, probably more than a month now, now that I think about it. And Emmanuel is the little boy who reportedly has been murdered by his two parents, his father Jake and his mother Rebecca.

• 7:31Annie Elise?

  They first had reported him as missing with this completely fictitious bullshit story about her being hit to the ground in a Big Five parking lot and Emmanuel being kidnapped. Within days, the two of them were arrested. And it appeared early on that Jake was cooperating with the investigation, even leading the investigators to where a potential dump site may have been for Emmanuel's remains. However, when law enforcement got there, they were unable to find Emmanuel. So the thought was maybe Jake didn't remember exactly where they placed him. Perhaps animals got to his little remains because he was only, he was under a year old. He was very, very small. And so anyway, they had both been arrested and Jake, the father, has now pled guilty to murder charges.

• 8:15Annie Elise?

  While the mother Rebecca maintains her innocence. And I don't understand how you can maintain your innocence when you're the one who also created the lie about the kidnapping and about you being hit to the ground, unless she's trying to argue that she only aided in the cover up after Jake murdered him, which could very well be possible. Jake also has an extensive history of his own and had abused his 10-week-old daughter years ago to... horrific horrific conditions so we're gonna see what comes with that Rebecca was scheduled originally for a pre-trial settlement and hearing on October 28th but it got rescheduled to January 2026 now getting into Jake this week Jake was sentenced and as you know Jake is

• 9:00Annie Elise?

  the father of missing Emmanuel who by the way still has not been located so he was sentenced to 25 years to life in prison this was after he pleaded guilty to Emmanuel's murder he was also sentenced to over six years in prison for other offenses all to run consecutively he of course is ineligible for probation because he was already on probation for severely hurting another child his daughter from years ago which don't even get me started on that I went into a whole deep dive of it when this case first broke but there is no reason he should have even been free to be able to hurt Emmanuel in my opinion but even this sentence 25 years to life I get

• 9:38Annie Elise?

  it that is a serious sentence but in my opinion it is way way way too light especially since he has already been convicted of hurting his daughter years ago like this guy should get honestly the worst possible punishment available I just feel like 25 years to life is not enough for being a repeat offender and hurting the most vulnerable your own children now Emmanuel's grandmother the maternal grandmother Mary during all of this she addressed the court during Jake's sentencing and she said which I thought was really interesting she said he destroyed my family everybody in my family all my children are destroyed by this she also said he changed

• 10:23Annie Elise?

  my daughter we don't know who she is he kept my daughter away I don't know what he did or how he changed my daughter's life but she was never the same person after she went to live with him and I find this very very interesting because very early on when this case first broke a lot of photos came out of Rebecca and I'm gonna show them for you in the video version of this episode on YouTube but this isn't to give her a pass at all she is just as guilty in my opinion whether she was complicit in the murder itself or the cover-up I don't care she's complicit she harmed her baby and ultimately did not get him justice but I will say this in photos of Rebecca pre Jake before she met Jake

• 11:06Annie Elise?

  She looked like an entirely different person, at least to me. And now, even before she was arrested, she looks broken down, she looks rundown, and like, she doesn't look like the same person. And that's something that I had mentioned very early on. So now, hearing her mom saying how he changed my daughter, she was never the same after she went to live with him. I think it's also pretty clear through these photos that she did change. And again, that's not to give her a pass or excuse her behavior and her actions or her lack of actions, certainly not. But it does give an illustration of just how much control seems to have been in that relationship and what, you know, a power player, I guess, if

• 11:50Annie Elise?

  you will, Jake was. It's just very unsettling, but I wish he got a bigger sentence. I think that this is inexcusable. I think that it is way too lax for what he did. We still don't even know where Emmanuel's remains are. We don't know what happened to him, what they did, like, why this happened. It's just, I don't know, it infuriates me. And so I'm gonna be watching this and continuing to watch it as we get more information. And it's just incredibly sad. So lots of updates, obviously, happening this week, but there are some new cases that I want to share with you. And not just me, but Amy is also in studio, joining me today. So she has a case she wants to share with you, too. So I'm gonna pass it to her for

• 12:33Annie Elise?

  this first one, and then I'm gonna come back with you and share some more.

• 12:37Speaker 04

  I can't believe that Halloween prank ended up being family members.

• 12:40Annie Elise?

  I know. Like, honestly, I'd be fucking furious.

• 12:45Speaker 04

  That's not funny.

• 12:46Annie Elise?

  And like, what, now you're all gonna just like have Thanksgiving together and like, act like everything's okay, like, split the wishbone? I wish you were never not a part of this family. Like, get out of my face. Get out of my face.

• 12:58Speaker 04

  All right, let's get into this next one. It's one that makes you stop and think like many of these other ones. Like, how did things get this far? It's the case of Katie Austin Lee, who's a 39-year-old mother who committed an unthinkable act against her son Austin in February earlier this year. So in the early morning hours of February 21st, police were called to an apartment in Holland Township, Michigan. The woman who made the 911 call, Katie, told dispatchers, quote, "My son won't stop breathing." To which the dispatcher responded, "He won't stop what?" So Katie repeated, "Breathing." She went on to say that her 17-year-old son Austin didn't want to turn 18 and that he had asked her to help him die.

• 13:44Speaker 04

  And she was very calm when saying this. She didn't seem upset like you would expect from any parent in this situation. Listen to this.

• 13:51Speaker 05

  I don't know. Hi, I need an officer here immediately. Okay, to where? Bay Point Apartments, 791 East 16th Apartment.

• 14:09Speaker 05

  Okay, what's going on? My son won't stop breathing. He won't stop what? Breathing. He won't stop breathing? Right. Okay. Like, is he, like, breathing too fast? I don't... We were gonna leave yesterday and it got way out of hand.

• 14:33Speaker 05

  And I couldn't get him to stop breathing like he made me promise to do.

• 14:41Speaker 05

  Okay, so is he asking you to, like, kill him? I just, like, don't understand. Yeah, that's what I've been doing for a while. And I can't get him to stop breathing. Okay, hang on one second here.

• 15:00Speaker 05

  How old is your son? He is gonna be 18 tomorrow, but he didn't want to turn 18.

• 15:07Speaker 04

  So within minutes, officers arrived at the apartment. When they walked in, the first thing they saw was Katie standing there, holding this knife. And of course, they asked her to drop it. She refused, but eventually she did drop the knife and then quickly picked it back up. But when she reached down for it, the officers had to use a taser to subdue her. And as they moved further into the apartment, that's where they saw Austin lying on the ground, unresponsive with his throat cut. Paramedics attempted life-saving measures, but Austin was pronounced dead at the scene shortly after. Police noted that Katie showed little to no emotion while the paramedics were working to save Austin. She repeatedly kept telling them, quote, "He didn't want to be here anymore," and kept saying that she, quote, "helped him die."

• 15:49Speaker 04

  Detectives later noted that the scene itself wasn't chaotic. There were no signs of a struggle like you would expect. No overturned furniture, no forced entry, just Katie still armed when officers arrived. It all seemed very calm and didn't make sense with what had just happened. But that quiet, deliberate atmosphere actually did line up with what Katie later told investigators that day. After securing the apartment, Katie was arrested and taken to the Ottawa County Jail for questioning. Katie actually told police that she had wanted to take her own life and that she and Austin had both tried to overdose on prescription medications around 1:00 PM the day before. And about five long hours later, Austin passed out. And that's when Katie cut his throat.

• 16:33Speaker 04

  She decided to cut his throat and his left arm in an attempt to actually end his life. But when he was still breathing several hours later, that's when she made that chilling 911 call. So Katie was arrested, and she was charged with what they call "open murder", along with resisting and obstructing a police officer. And for those of you that aren't clear with what "open murder" is, I wasn't. It basically means that she's charged, and then a jury can decide what degree of murder based on the evidence that's presented in the trial. So it gives the prosecution just a little bit more flexibility in the trial. However, on October 22nd, just one week before her trial was set to begin, Katie took a plea deal.

• 17:14Speaker 04

  She pleaded guilty to second degree murder, torture, and resisting and obstructing an officer. And the state dropped the open murder charge as a result. So this deal included a sentence of 60 to 90 years, meaning she won't be eligible for parole until she's over 100 years old. And her sentence is scheduled for January 19th, 2026. In her plea hearing, Katie confirmed that she gave Austin a sedative, quote, "making him unable to have control over his body", then gave him the mind-altering drug, before grabbing the knife and then eventually killing him. You can listen to that here.

• 17:50Speaker 06

  Is it true that, Honor, about February 21 of 2025, you were in Highland City, Otto County, Michigan?

• 17:57Speaker 05

  Yes.

• 17:58Speaker 06

  Okay. And you are the mother of Austin, correct?

• 18:03Speaker 05

  I am.

• 18:03Speaker 06

  And on that date, he was 17 years old, a minor?

• 18:06Speaker 05

  Yes.

• 18:12Speaker 06

  And did you administer a drug or a sedative to him?

• 18:17Speaker 05

  I did.

• 18:19Speaker 06

  As a result of administering that drug or sedative to him, was he unable to have control over his body?

• 18:26Speaker 05

  He was.

• 18:28Speaker 06

  I'm sorry?

• 18:29Speaker 05

  Yes.

• 18:32Speaker 06

  So you administered a drug and thereby he no longer had physical control of his body? Is that true?

• 18:37Speaker 05

  True.

• 18:39Speaker 06

  And then you then exercised physical control over his body? Is that fair to say?

• 18:44Speaker 05

  Yes.

• 18:47Speaker 06

  And while you had him under your control, did you intentionally inflict severe mental pain or anguish on him?

• 18:56Speaker 05

  Yes.

• 18:58Speaker 06

  And did you administer a mind-altering substance to him?

• 19:02Speaker 05

  Yes.

• 19:02Speaker 06

  And that was done deliberately?

• 19:04Speaker 05

  Yes.

• 19:05Speaker 06

  And by the administering of that mind-altering drug, did that disrupt his sense of personality, his senses or personality?

• 19:14Speaker 05

  Yes.

• 19:19Speaker 06

  You then, is it true that while he was under your control and unconscious, that you then had a knife? Is that true?

• 19:26Speaker 00

  Yes.

• 19:27Speaker 06

  And did you cut his arm on at least two occasions?

• 19:32Speaker 00

  Yes.

• 19:33Speaker 06

  And then did you also use that knife to slice his throat?

• 19:38Speaker 00

  Yes.

• 19:39Speaker 06

  As a result of you slicing his throat, did that result in his death?

• 19:46Speaker 00

  Yes.

• 19:48Speaker 04

  So, family members have started a GoFundMe for Austin's celebration of life. They said, quote, "Austin was caring, humorous, playful, and most of all, loved and cared for his family and friends. He loved video games and all things space and galaxy themed. And someday, we plan to launch his ashes into space on an actual rocket ship for his final destination. It was truly an honor to have known him, and he will be deeply missed." So, obviously, we will keep you posted on any updates, and hopefully, we will get a little more clarity on why this whole thing may have happened in the first place. But, of course, feel awful for Austin and his whole family.

• 20:26Annie Elise?

  Yeah, I can't imagine a 17-year-old just deciding, "I don't want to live at 18 anymore. Let's do this, like, dual self-harm pact with one another." And then, the mom carrying that out, it makes absolutely no sense. I also have never heard of anybody going into space with ashes, but that does feel like the next step in the world.

• 20:45Speaker 04

  Well, I was just thinking too, like, if he's turning 18, was he about to leave? And she was like one of those parents that just, you know, didn't want him to, you know?

• 20:53Annie Elise?

  Yeah, I don't think he was the root of this.

• 20:54Speaker 04

  Oh, no, of course not. But like, what was the root of him maybe wanting to leave?

• 20:58Annie Elise?

  I know.

• 20:59Speaker 04

  You know?

• 20:59Annie Elise?

  Oh, so sad.

• 21:06Annie Elise?

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• 21:51Annie Elise?

  And when I tell you, not only was it the best decision of my life, I now have like service in places my husband doesn't even have service, but it was so easy. It took me 15 minutes, kept my phone, kept my phone number. It was the best. So for a new wireless plan, starting at 15 bucks a month, go to mintmobile.com/ae. That's mintmobile.com/ae. $45 upfront payment required, equivalent to $15 per month. New customers on first three month plan only. Taxes and fees extra. See Mint Mobile for details. This episode is sponsored by Chime. Get more of your money with Chime. With the Chime card, you get 5% cash back in a category of your choice with qualifying direct deposits, from gas to travel to dining. Choose the category that fits where you're spending most that month,

• 22:35Annie Elise?

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• 23:25Annie Elise?

  Okay, so I want to talk to you guys about the Kaitlyn Tracy case really quickly. Now, we first covered this story back in May. It was a bonus episode at the time. It was for subscribers only. There wasn't a ton of information on it, but everybody was kind of like, everybody now is glued to it. Even back then, I certainly was glued to it because none of it made sense. It was this beautiful young woman who was found literally pulverized at the bottom of her staircase of their complex and had been having some disputes with her husband, but there was no arrest and like, nothing made sense. And so now, everybody's talking about this case. I'm seeing it all over my feed, but I want to break it down for you and walk you through the case, and then I'm going to share with you the important updates. Kaitlyn is the kind of woman who people really admired.

• 24:10Annie Elise?

  She was ambitious, she was determined, she kind of built this life that seemed really well-balanced. I mean, a mix of like, career success, friendships, all sorts of things. She even had a recent marriage to a really respected lawyer. So from the outside, it kind of looked like this power couple who was in the making, right? But as we know, behind closed doors, things were far from perfect because just six months after the wedding, a discovery was made that completely shocked everybody. A severed foot was found inside the building where Kaitlyn and her husband lived. And moments after finding the foot, the pulverized body that it belonged to was also discovered. So what exactly happened here? It's a question that investigators are still trying to completely answer.

• 24:54Annie Elise?

  So in 2024, 36-year-old Kaitlyn Tracy, like I said, looked like she had it all. She had a condo in Chicago, a vacation home in a lakeside Michigan town, and this new husband that she was just absolutely obsessed with. On top of that, she had a really bubbly, super like, personable personality, a sarcastic sense of humor, and she was just stunning. She had long, dark, shiny hair. Perfect white teeth, hazel eyes, which like hazel eyes with dark hair. I mean, it's such a great look, but she wasn't all looks. I mean, she had brains too. She even graduated college a year early with a business degree in hospitality management. She ultimately landed a job in data analytics where she became chief people officer, which is a super high

• 25:36Annie Elise?

  up executive position where she was in charge of seeing lots of employees. So everyone who knew Caitlin was really impressed with how put together her life seemed. Even her style was perfect. I mean, she loved everything, fashion, design. She was just like so well put together. Now, in the spring of 2024, Caitlin married her husband, 46 year old Adam Beckerink. And this was after the two of them had dated for just a couple of years. Adam had like shaggier hair that was starting to turn gray. He had blue eyes. He had a very prominent T shaped cleft chin. And he was like this big wig tax lawyer. So he was working pretty much all the time. Later that year in the fall of 2024, Caitlin, for whatever reason, decided to step down from her job. And the full details as to why she decided

• 26:21Annie Elise?

  to leave her position are not super clear. But it kind of seems like she was ready for just like a little break of sorts, which seemed a little weird or surprising, but I think sometimes too, maybe you just need a break, maybe when you're in a high up position. I don't know. But then on October 27th, 2024, something even stranger happened. Because that day Caitlin's husband Adam contacted the Chicago Police Department to file a missing person report for her. He told the cops he didn't know where she was. The last time he had ever seen her was two days earlier. And even weirder, nobody else in her life had any clue as to where she might have been. No friends, no family members, no one. It was really, really unlike Caitlin because she was usually pretty good about keeping up with all the people in her life. Now, Adam also told the police that the reason

• 27:04Annie Elise?

  why he hadn't reported her as missing or even realized she was missing is because he had been out of town the entire week before. He didn't know. But maybe the strangest thing so far in all of this is the fact that Adam had Caitlin's phone. It wasn't clear why he had her phone though. I mean, it wasn't clear if he found it at his condo after he got back from the trip. He was just being really vague about everything. So now at this point, Not only was Kaitlyn MIA, but she also didn't have her phone with her either. And like I have said so many times on here now, who the heck goes anywhere without their phone? So it was looking like maybe Kaitlyn had been taken from her home and she left her phone behind because it happened so abruptly. Naturally, investigators asked Adam if they could take a look at both he and Kaitlyn's phone.

• 27:48Annie Elise?

  They wanted to see if there was any sort of digital footprint. So Adam handed over these phones without question. And the cops started going through all the text messages between the two of them. And when they were looking through it, they saw that a ton of the messages between the two of them had been deleted. But when he was asked about it, Adam didn't have a reason as to why. Then, later that same day, a male tenant who lived in the same Chicago condo building as Kaitlyn and Adam called the police after he made a horrifying discovery. The man said that he was heading outside and he took the stairs. And then he came across a severed, bloody foot just lying there on the ground. He also saw multiple bloodstains on the wall near the foot. Now, at first, he wasn't sure if this was maybe some sort of elaborate prank or something like that.

• 28:32Annie Elise?

  I mean, this guy thought that maybe this foot wasn't even real because it's not every day you see a random foot just on your way in the stairwell when you're heading out. But it didn't take long for this man to decide that this foot was definitely real. So the police arrived at the condo shortly after. Now, when the officers got to the building, they confirmed that this foot belonged to a human being. But now, they needed to figure out who. And just a few moments later, they realized that they would have their answer. Because the cops found a woman lying in that same stairwell, not very far from where the foot had been found. The severed foot was found in the stairwell on floor two, and the rest of the body was found in the stairwell on floor five. And this woman was clearly deceased.

• 29:13Annie Elise?

  Her body was found face down, pulverized, and covered in blood. And based on the injuries, it was determined that she had fallen down 24 floors. As cops worked to ID this woman, it became clear it was Kaitlyn. So between finding Kaitlyn in the stairwell and Adam filing a missing persons report earlier that day, the detectives opened up an investigation to try and determine what had exactly happened here. So the cops started with the building's security footage and they quickly found some inconsistencies in Adam's story. I mean, first off, Adam had told the cops that he had been out of town for practically the entire week, right? But the surveillance footage showed him with Caitlin on October 24th, just a few days before her body was found.

• 29:57Annie Elise?

  It was enough for the cops to become incredibly suspicious of Adam, and they actually ended up arresting him that very day. Now, when they did, they hadn't mentioned that Caitlin's body was found. So as Adam was being handcuffed, he asked the cops, is she alive? Is she okay? Is everything okay? And as the cops dug further into Adam and his story, it became clear he was lying about a lot. And not only that, but they learned that Adam and Caitlin's relationship had a lot of problems as well. And what was really going on in their relationship was actually super dark, which, let's just rewind a little bit here for one second, because back in October of 2023, Caitlin had filed a restraining order against Adam. This was about six months before they got married, just to give you a little bit of

• 30:40Annie Elise?

  a timeline. And when she filed the report, Caitlin cited three detailed examples of times that Adam had attacked her. The first incident happened on July 11th, 2023, around 3 o'clock in the afternoon. She said that she was at her home in Michigan and Adam came over and stripped her naked and attacked her. In her petition, she wrote, quote, "He physically abused me by throwing a pickle jar, which then struck me on the head, punching me, pushing me, pulling my hair, dragging me by my clothes, and stripping me out of my clothes. He also poured vodka on my body, which burned my wounds, and he would motion as if he was going to hit me with the alcohol bottle." Caitlin tried to run away, but eventually Adam caught up with her. So they ended up going to the hospital and she was treated

• 31:24Annie Elise?

  for a, quote, "open head wound." Which, to that, I have a feeling that Adam convinced her to tell the staff that it was a fall that she had that gave her the wound, obviously not that he did. The second attack happened the following month on August 21st, 2023, and this time it was at Adam's condo in Chicago, and the attack happened at around 8:00 a.m. The couple got into a fight, and Adam started to verbally abuse Caitlin by calling her a cheater, a whore, a piece of shit, a liar, a bitch, every word imaginable. But the verbal abuse wasn't enough for Adam, because then he took it to a physical level. And according to Caitlin herself, she said, quote, "He physically abused me by dragging me by my ankle, strangling me, suffocating me, slamming my head against a cabinet, slapping me, punching me,

• 32:08Annie Elise?

  putting my head in a headlock and dragging me away from the door to prevent me from leaving." And even that wasn't enough for Adam, because this time he went even further than the first time. He took Caitlin's keys, her wallet, her iPad, her phone, so she'd have no way to try and get help. Thankfully, though, she was able to get away by foot, and she headed to a police station nearby. After she spoke with the cops, they went to Adam's condo, but he wouldn't open the door for them. And for whatever reason, I don't know why, but the cops did not push the matter any further. Now, the third attack that led Caitlin to filing the restraining order happened on September 20th, 2023, at the Ritz-Carlton in Chicago. This is where Caitlin was staying at the time.

• 32:50Annie Elise?

  And at around 5:30 that night, Adam came barreling into her room and immediately started to attack her. This time, he also tried sexually abusing her as well. Caitlin didn't give the detectives further details about that attack or why she was staying at the hotel instead of his condo, which I'm speculating here, but I could assume that maybe Caitlin didn't feel safe to staying at Adam's place, hence the hotel room, and maybe why Adam wasn't happy. But either way, Caitlin filed a police report for domestic battery. Then, after this incident, Caitlin ended her relationship with Adam, and she finally shared with her parents what she had been going through. Up until that point, they had no idea what their daughter's relationship was really like. They just assumed she was happy. So Caitlin filed a restraining order in October of 2023, saying,

• 33:33Annie Elise?

  "I'm seeking an emergency order of protection because I am fearful for further abuse." Not long after she filed the restraining order, Adam got into Caitlin's head somehow and said that he was going to sue her for defamation and libel. And because of that, it spooked her enough that it was enough to make her drop the petition. And then after that, at some point, the two of them ended up getting back together. But that, of course, was not the end of the abuse because in January of 2024, the police were called. And when they arrived, she had cuts on her, she had other red markings, and she told the officers that not only had Adam assaulted her, but he had stolen some of her stuff. She was the one who made the 911 call. But allegedly, Adam told her to tell the officers that the 911 call was all an accident.

• 34:16Annie Elise?

  And it was also around this time that Kaitlyn began confiding in some of her neighbors about the tumultuous relationship with Adam. She would tell them how Adam cut her off from her family and friends, that he was the reason she was no longer working, that he had forced her to quit. And it pretty much appeared that Adam was isolating Kaitlyn from the world. But for what reason, though? Just for power and control? And even with his history of serious abuse toward her, they still ended up getting married in April of 2024, which, by the way, none of Kaitlyn's family members attended because she had told her parents about what he had put her through in the past, and they did not support it. Now, I'm sure when Kaitlyn decided to marry Adam, she did it with hope, you know? Hope that maybe now, being husband and wife, things might change, they might be different.

• 34:58Annie Elise?

  But of course, we know that in most times and most situations, marriage does not change anything. And in their case, it didn't make Adam turn into, you know, suddenly this kind or rational human being, because later that summer, the second incident happened that year. And this time, it resulted in Adam being taken away in handcuffs. One of Kaitlyn's neighbors even texted after they saw Adam being hauled off, saying, "Are you okay? Do you need me to come down?" And the neighbor figured Kaitlyn probably wouldn't take him up on this offer because she was pretty independent, but surprisingly, she did say yes. She was so shaken up by the incident, she didn't know what had made Adam snap. She said they were shopping at the grocery store together and that everything seemed fine, until it just wasn't. Kaitlyn said, quote, "I have no idea what I said, but I must have said something to upset him."

• 35:43Annie Elise?

  Then she said he started freaking out and she told him she was gonna lock the doors and not let him in until he calmed down, which of course it only fueled his anger more. But at that point, he figured out a different way to get in. So Kaitlyn just took off. She went running, hiding under the dining room table. But he saw her there and he yanked her out by the hair. So during that altercation, she was able to grab her phone and call 911. After that incident, she finally ended up getting some space from Adam and she sent her neighbors a text which read, 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, I have a great advocate in the prosecutor's office. Adam left yesterday in typical fashion, apologizing for any noise,

• 36:28Annie Elise?

  but now it's time to rebuild and move forward with a calmer and healthier life and future relationships. Thank you again for your support. I couldn't have asked for a better community and supporting strong women. I'm around this weekend picking up the pieces that were damaged mentally and physically, but I would love to have a glass of wine or two when you are free. And I feel like that text was pretty telling. I mean, she knew what she had to do. She knew that she had to be done with him once and for all. She also had the support in place, not only from her friends and family, but the advocate in the prosecutor's office, and she really seemed to have the tools and the confidence needed. But then, fast forward to the discovery of her body. And even though it wasn't certain that Adam was the one who did this to her, I'm sure that at the point when she was found dead at her abusive husband's

• 37:11Annie Elise?

  condo complex, the people in Kaitlyn's life were in some way not surprised and figured it was Adam. But I'm sure they were also upset that the tools and resources that Kaitlyn had in place weren't enough. That is, if it was in fact Adam who was responsible. But Kaitlyn had seemed to be done with Adam, so why would she even have been back in his life? Which let's get back to the day in question, the day that Kaitlyn's body was discovered, October 27th, 2024. Detective spoke with Adam and held him for 48 hours on the basis of filing a false missing persons report. Because remember, he got caught lying about being out of town for work that week because he was seen on security footage at his condo. Unfortunately, at that point, the cops didn't have enough to prove that he was the one who murdered Kaitlyn. And all of a sudden, 48 hours came and went and he was free to go.

• 37:56Annie Elise?

  They were able to keep part of Adam's phone as part of an investigative hold, even though they couldn't keep Adam himself, but they did still consider him a primary suspect in this. Meanwhile, Kaitlyn's parents were just in absolute shock hearing the news about their daughter. They knew they wanted to give Kaitlyn a proper burial, and for them, that meant a full-blown Catholic funeral. But of course, Adam didn't want that. He was hell-bent on cremating Kaitlyn. He felt like he should be the one who would make that choice too, because he was married to her. Which her parents felt like they had enough proof and knowledge about Adam's history and of him abusing her, to where they could bypass him and make sure that didn't happen. But it actually led to a judge putting a restraining order on Kaitlyn's remains, all while her body just lay at the medical examiner's

• 38:40Annie Elise?

  office awaiting an official cause of death. And in true Adam fashion, he did not make that process easy.

• 38:46Speaker 07

  We're not sure what the defendant is trying to accomplish with these filings. We can't imagine why he would want to keep Kaitlyn away from her family even now. In the meantime, we will continue to fight until Kaitlyn is laid to rest, surrounded by family who loved and supported her.

• 39:04Annie Elise?

  When her parents presented all the evidence they had against Adam being abusive toward Kaitlyn, a judge ended up ruling in their favor and allowed them to take control of Kaitlyn's remains. Her family did not make a public statement, but their lawyer did make a statement on their behalf, saying, "Today's ruling in Michigan is a critical step in the family's efforts to protect and preserve Kaitlyn's legacy. The family will continue to fight for Kaitlyn until she is laid to rest with the respect and dignity that she deserves." And with that ruling, Kaitlyn's family was able to hold the Catholic service and burial for their daughter that they had hoped for. Adam was not in attendance, and he was also not mentioned in her obituary. Now, even with Kaitlyn being laid to rest, there were still a lot of unanswered questions, and the biggest one being the cause of her death and why this happened. Of course, things

• 39:49Annie Elise?

  were not looking great for Adam during this, but it also couldn't be ruled out at that time that Kaitlyn hadn't just fallen down the stairwell herself. A body falling that many floors would certainly have caused enough severe damage, like what was seen on Kaitlyn. So after the funeral, people were hoping for some answers. But the weeks turned into months, and nothing happened. And at this point, Adam was still a free man. Adam's lawyers kept maintaining his innocence, saying, "Adam had nothing to do with his Wife's death, he will continue to appear in court and we will continue to speak through our filings in court on his behalf. His lawyer also spoke about all the domestic violence claims that Caitlin had filed against Adam, saying, "There was no physical violence that Adam had ever directed toward Caitlin. There was no corroboration of any of her claims.

• 40:33Annie Elise?

  There was a layer of emotional volatility in the relationship, but Caitlin enjoyed an incredibly close relationship with Adam's parents and with Adam." Which, kind of feels sleazy, but they're just trying to protect his client, I guess? And things were actually quiet for Adam for a while. That is until this past March 2025, because Adam found himself in handcuffs and arrested for aggravated assault. Here's the thing, though. This arrest of Adam actually had nothing to do with Caitlin's murder investigation.

• 41:02Speaker 08

  Arrested at his condo in Chicago. Not a fugitive at all.

• 41:06Speaker 09

  Adam Beckerink's defense attorney at Chicago's Criminal Courts Building denying allegations his client was a fugitive from justice. But Cook County Judge Antara Nath Rivera refusing to release Beckerink, citing the Michigan arrest warrant. "There was a finding of probable cause on the warrant from Michigan," Cook County spokespeople say. The defendant then waived extradition. Michigan authorities have 30 days to pick him up. A Chicago police sergeant, according to the arrest report, and an 18th District Tactical Officer arresting Beckerink Friday in his condo on the 1200 block of South Prairie Avenue. He'll remain in the Cook County Jail for now, waiting for Marion County, Michigan's sheriff's

• 41:49Speaker 09

  deputies to pick him up to return him to Michigan, where he faces half a dozen felony counts, ranging from domestic violence to resisting and assaulting two police officers, his Marion County trial set for April 15.

• 42:03Speaker 08

  He had nothing to do with his wife's death.

• 42:06Annie Elise?

  Adam had assaulted police officers back in August of 2024. This was related to the second time police were called to Caitlin's Michigan home that year. So he was supposed to pretend a pre-trial hearing for that incident in October of 2024, but he didn't show up for it. When the actual trial was supposed to begin, he was being held at the Chicago Police Department in relation to her death. So essentially, he was being arrested for an outstanding warrant and was then transferred to Michigan for his trial on aggravated abuse charges, which was set to happen on April 15th, 2025. So obviously, there was always suspicion that Adam was behind Kaitlyn's murder, but there were never any charges that had been filed against him. Until now, because on October 20th, Adam was sentenced to 93 days in jail, followed by two years of probation.

• 42:51Annie Elise?

  Now, this isn't directly for the murder, but it is for the domestic dispute charge and contempt of court after he had pleaded no contest to the charges. And then five days after that, a new charge against Adam, first degree murder. Now, the criminal complaint said that Adam killed Kaitlyn on October 25th, 2024, and that he did this by, quote, "throwing her over the railing of the 24th floor of the east stairwell." And this was at the condo building where Adam lives. So this was obviously a huge move in Kaitlyn's case, and her family made a statement a few days later, saying, "We dearly miss Kaitlyn, as do her friends. Our family hopes that during the murder case against Adam, that the truth about the last

• 43:34Annie Elise?

  months of Kaitlyn's life and the events leading up to her tragic death are revealed. That so our wonderful daughter can finally be laid to rest." So like I said, we've been following this for several months now, and it looks like now there is finally some forward motion, which we love to see that, we love when justice happens. So I will continue following this one very closely to see what happens, to see exactly what the motive was, what really happened. I think we probably all have an idea of that and, you know, can speculate a little bit, but thank goodness, they finally got this guy, because what scum. I mean, honestly, awful human being. So that is what we've got for this week with headline highlights. I will be back on the mic with you first thing Monday morning with an all new episode

• 44:17Annie Elise?

  of Serialistically, and as a reminder, we also now do Tend to Life, which is our second true crime show as a podcast. So if you're a podcast listener and not a YouTube watcher, that's totally fine. You get the exact same content, just on the two different podcasts. So new episodes every Monday, Tuesday. Thursday and bonus episodes every other Friday. So just make sure that you're following both of those podcasts serialistically and tend to life. They're on all the podcast platforms. And as a reminder too, for my YouTube watchers who don't love the censorship that YouTube does, all these episodes are always uncensored on the podcast, unfiltered, uncensored, because

• 44:58Annie Elise?

  they don't require me to mute certain words that are legal terms, which thank God, because it's annoying. So anyway, thank you guys so much for tuning in and until the next one, be nice, don't kill people, just get a divorce and be a good human. All right. Bye. Bye.

• 45:27Speaker 01

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• 45:52Speaker 10

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